
If you needed another excuse to go see Ridley Scott’s Prometheus next month, how about this: the first teaser trailer for Django Unchained will play in front of it. Marketing for the sci-fi pseudo-prequel to Alien has been relatively slow and steady (then again, everything is relatively slow and steady compared to The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises), but we did recently post two new featurettes and a clip in addition to the somewhat spoilery trailer. All just part of the buildup to the June 8th release right around the corner. Django Unchained, on the other hand, won’t open for more than six months after Prometheus, but that doesn’t mean we’ve been resting on our laurels. Hit the jump to see a recap of all of our previous and continuing coverage on both films.

Earlier today, we got our first look at director Paul Thomas Anderson’s long-awaited new film The Master by way of a brief teaser. While it was definitely great way to start the day, select folks over at the Cannes Film Festival were treated to something a bit more special. The Weinstein Company offered an extended look at The Master, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and David O. Russell’s The Silver Linings Playbook a few hours ago.
While us common folk have to wait a while to see anything from the aforementioned titles, we’ve compiled a round-up of reactions to the footage from Tarantino’s latest for those interested to see how the pic is shaping up. Hit the jump for more.

Director Quentin Tarantino must have written a doozie of a role for a certain Django Unchained character; not only has Kevin Costner left the picture, but now Kurt Russell has exited as well. Both veterans were slated to play the role of Ace Woody, a villainous character who trains slaves to fight each other for public amusement. Granted, the role isn’t feel-good like Man of Steel’s Pa Kent or Miracle’s Herb Brooks, but it’s a Tarantino flick; no one gets out unscathed. Costner had previously cited scheduling difficulties for his departure from Django Unchained, but Russell’s camp has yet to provide a reason. Slightly concerning is the fact that with a December 25th release date, there hasn’t been a replacement announced just yet.
Sacha Baron Cohen also let slip that his planned cameo won’t happen due to a scheduling conflict. The rest of the Django Unchained cast, however, needs little support, boasting Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, M.C. Gainey, Garrett Dillahunt, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, and Tom Savini. Hit the jump for more. [Update: We've added new information regarding Russell's role]

I want to send a big “Thank You” to my colleagues Matt, Adam, and Dave for inviting me to be a part of our new podcast, The Collision, last week. I had an excellent time chatting it up with Matt and Adam and I give those guys and Dave a ton of credit for using what might otherwise be well deserved time off (i.e. Sunday nights) in the name of continuing to offer our readers additional original content. In case you missed it, I encourage you to click here to listen to Episode 4 and click here to add The Collision to your RSS feed.
In this week’s Top 5, you’ll find a slew of new assets for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, video interviews with Jason Segel, Emily Blunt and more for The Five-Year Engagement, the first images from Django Unchained, a stellar first trailer for Lawless, and a recap of all of our CinemaCon 2012 coverage. Check out a brief recap and link to each after the jump.

The first official images from Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained have gone online. The film stars Jamie Foxx as Django, an escaped slave who goes to rescue his wife (Kerry Washington) from sadistic plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) by teaming up with bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). The story is set in the pre-Civil War south but has the style of a spaghetti western.
Hit the jump to check out the images along with what Foxx had to say about the movie. The film also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, M.C. Gainey, Garrett Dillahunt, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, Tom Savini, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Django Unchained opens December 25th.

While Samuel L. Jackson’s role in the upcoming superhero epic The Avengers certainly won’t hurt his status as “highest grossing actor ever,” that doesn’t mean the veteran will neglect his acting roots. Jackson once again teams with director Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained later this year, a movie which draws inspiration from some of the ugliest events in American history. While we’ve brought you some good looking images of Christoph Waltz in character and of the first teaser poster, the plot itself is a bit on the ugly side. It revolves around Django, a freed slave (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. King Schultz, a German-born bounty hunter (Waltz) who are out to rescue Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Jackson plays a “house slave” of plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). The outstanding cast also includes Kurt Russell, Garrett Dillahunt, Walton Goggins, RZA, M.C. Gainey, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, Tom Savini, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Django Unchained opens December 25th. Hit the jump to see what Jackson had to say about how Tarantino aims to handle the sensitive subject matter.

Following the release of the excellent teaser poster for Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained, The Weinstein Company has now released the film’s official synopsis. Briefly, the movie takes place before the Civil War, and follows Django (Jamie Foxx), an escaped slave who teams up with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) in order to rescue Django’s wife (Kerry Washington) from a cruel plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). The outstanding cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Garrett Dillahunt, Walton Goggins, RZA, M.C. Gainey, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, Tom Savini, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Hit the jump to check out the full synopsis. Django Unchained opens December 25th.

The world premiere of The Avengers is tonight, but let’s not forget that we’ve also got a brand new Quentin Tarantino film to look forward to later this year. We recently got a look at Christoph Waltz in costume by way of some set photos, and now the first teaser poster for the film may or may not be on the web. It’s apparently only the Spanish poster, but it’s a great design nonetheless and certainly reminiscent of something Tarantino would sign off on. There’s no official confirmation that this poster is real, but we’ll be sure to update the article if it turns out to be a fake. For those unaware, the film stars Jamie Foxx as an escaped slave who teams up with a German bounty hunter (Waltz) to rescue his wife from an evil plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Hit the jump to check out the official/unofficial first teaser poster. The film also stars Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Garrett Dillahunt, Walton Goggins, RZA, M.C. Gainey, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, Tom Savini, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Django Unchained opens on December 25th. [Update: We've confirmed that this is the teaser poster. We've added a larger version after the jump]

Quentin Tarantino is currently busy shooting his slavery-era spaghetti western Django Unchained, and now the first images from the set have landed online. We get our first look at Christoph Waltz in character as a German bounty hunter who teams up with an escaped slave (Jamie Foxx) who’s bent on rescuing his wife from an evil plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). It’s not much, but the sight of Waltz decked out in his period gear has me giddy at the thought of a Tarantino-fied full blown Western. We also get an image of the director on set with cinematographer Robert Richardson.
We’ve also got the first set photos of Mark Wahlberg and Rob Corddry in Michael Bay’s crime comedy Pain and Gain, including some images of Wahlberg doing some harness-enhanced crunches. Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson play bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that go terribly wrong. Hit the jump to check out the images.

Every Auteur has his signature visual fetish. For Alfred Hitchcock it is women in pieces, for Martin Scorsese it is the omnipotent God’s-eye-view of the tracking shot and for Roman Polanski it is the domestic space made wild. So, when development began on an adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s award winning play, God of Carnage, it only made sense for Polanski to take the helm. Carnage, which stars Christoph Waltz, Kate Winselt, Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly, is a brutally funny and subtly disturbing film set entirely within the confines of a slightly bougie New York apartment, detailing the sublimated rage, self-righteousness and self-loathing that come to the surface when two sets of parents who come together to discuss a minor fistfight between their sons.
Recently, I sat down with Oscar Winner Christoph Waltz to discuss his role in the film and his approach to acting. During the interview, Waltz eloquently explained the differences between stage and screen acting, finding truth in his character and the faulty logic of always believing that you are the hero in your own story. Hit the jump to watch.

Water for Elephants is tasteful. Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz are all good actors, Francis Lawrence knows his way around a camera, and screenwriter Richard LaGravenese knows his way around a sentence. It’s an adaptation of a popular novel about a circus show. One of those books that find an audience with women, is often well regarded, but not taken all that seriously.
Robert Pattinson is famous for Twilight. But like any actor he wants to show that he’s not just the captain of Team Edward. Christoph Waltz won an academy award, but he needs to show he can work in Hollywood, so why not play a slightly less evil character than last time? Reese Witherspoon is a bankable actress – or at least used to be – and who else are you going to cast if Angelina Jolie is out of your price range? Francis Lawrence is a director who wants to show he’s not just a genre filmmaker after Constantine and I Am Legend. You can clearly see everyone’s motivations for making the movie. That the end results are half-cooked is also not surprising. Our review of Water for Elephants on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

We’ve got a few new posters to share with you today. First up is a truly terrible one sheet for Roman Polanski’s comedy Carnage. The film itself doesn’t look bad at all—with a stellar cast made up of Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz, and John C. Reilly—but this poster makes the film look like Hallmark’s Movie of the Week. We’ve also got a warm and fuzzy holiday-themed poster for the alien invasion pic The Darkest Hour. The film stars Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Mighella, and Joel Kinnaman, and features aliens that are “creatures of electricity and electromagnetism” rather than scaly, insect-looking things like every other sci-fi movie these days.
Last but not least is a nostalgia-inducing poster for the 3D re-release of the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast. As we previously reported, Disney is re-releasing a number of animated films theatrically in 3D after the smashing success of The Lion King. Carnage opens December 16th, The Darkest Hour arrives December 25th, and Beauty and the Beast 3D returns January 13th. Hit the jump for the posters.

A new clip from Roman Polanski’s comedy Carnage has been released. Based on the play God of Carnage, the film tells the story of two sets of parents who meet to settle a dispute between their children. The cast is spectacular—Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster, and John C. Reilly—and this is Polanski’s first foray into comedy. This clip centers on the parents getting to the crux of their meeting, as they’re hashing out why their children were fighting in the first place. Reilly is great here as he keeps getting sidetracked by bragging about a fight he had when he was a kid, and Foster keeps trying to reign him back in. I’m really looking forward to seeing the interplay between the quartet of actors when the film hits theaters.
Hit the jump to watch the clip. Carnage opens on December 16th.

A new trailer for Roman Polanski’s Carnage has gone online. Based on Yasmina Reza’s play God of Carnage, the story takes place entirely in one house and revolves around two sets of parents who sit down to discuss a dispute between their children. The phenomenal cast is comprised of Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, Jodie Foster, and Christoph Waltz. This trailer gives us a sense of the slow-building tension that no doubt drives the film. None of the jokes really stand out, and Waltz seems a bit one-note, but I’m assuming it’s hard to get a sense of the comedy from a trailer for a film that plays out in real-time. However, Reilly certainly seems like a stand-out amongst the immensely talented cast. Given the outstanding ensemble and Polanski’s involvement, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the finished film.
Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Carnage opens on December 16th

With director Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers opening October 21, Summit Entertainment has provided us with eight clips from the reboot of Alexandre Dumas’ classic story. The film stars Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden and Mads Mikkelsen. In the reboot, “the hot-headed young D’Artagnan (Lerman) joins forces with three rogue Musketeers (MacFadyen, Evans and Stevenson). They must stop the evil Richlieu (Waltz) and face off with Buckingham (Bloom) and the treacherous Milady (Jovovich).” And unlike many films that have been post converted into a 3D release, the Musketeers was shot in 3D. Hit the jump to watch the clips.
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