The first trailer for the 3D re-release of Steven Spielberg‘s 1993 classic Jurassic Park has been released.  The trailer makes great, playful use of John Williams‘ iconic score and drums up a major dose of nostalgia.  Whether 3D is your thing or not, it’s gonna be incredibly hard to pass up seeing Jurassic Park on the big screen again once this thing returns to theaters.  Even though it’s been 20 years, the effects actually look like they hold up pretty well (thank you, Stan Winston), and Jeff Goldblum‘s dry delivery remains spot-on.  Hold on to your butts.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Sam Neill, Richard Attenborough, Laura Dern, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Wayne Knight, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Jurassic Park 3D hits theaters on April 5th, 2013.

Filming has commenced on director Pascal Chaumeil’s (Heartbreaker) adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel A Long Way Down.  The story revolves around a group of strangers who coincidentally meet on the top of a London skyscraper on New Year’s Eve where they individually had gone to commit suicide.  The four strangers make a pact to stay alive until Valentine’s Day at least, and the story follows this group of unlikely friends “as they try to pull back from the brink.”  The ensemble cast includes Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, and Imogen Poots, with Sam Neill and Rosamund Pike (Pride and Prejudice) also signing on.

The four central strangers are played by Brosnan, Collette, Paul, and Poots, who are set as a once-beloved TV personality, single mother, failed musician turned pizza-delivery boy and a “sassy teen” respectively.  Hornby is the author behind such great works as High Fidelity, About a Boy and Fever Pitch, so the source material is a solid foundation.  Jack Thorne (How I Live Now) wrote the screenplay and production is taking place in England and Spain.  Hit the jump to read the full press release (which includes a synopsis) and to check out the first image.

You’re driving down the street, and it’s suddenly blocked off.  You notice these weird yellow signs with nonsensical letters or numbers.  There’s unusual glow lighting up a neighborhood you can’t usually see from your house.  What you might have here is a film company shooting in your town.  It happens a lot, and you never know where they might pop up…until now.

The following is a semi-comprehensive list of films currently shooting, what they’re shooting, and where they’re shooting.  We’ll be telling you where you might get to see the very famous, the kinda famous and (if all goes well) the soon-to-be famous. While we can’t list every single movie, television show, or student film in production, you’ll get a pretty good idea of what the heck is going on where all those people are buzzing about.  Want to know where in the world are Matt Damon, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Woody Harrelson, and Leonardo DiCaprio? Hit the jump for more.

You’ll have to wait until August 17th to see Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone together again in The Expendables 2, but this video from the set visit of The Tomb should hold you over.  Production started recently in New Orleans on the Mikael Hafstrom (1408) picture that stars Sly as Ray Breslin, the world’s foremost authority on structural security who is framed and incarcerated in a prison of his own design.  In prison, Breslin meets Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger), the leader of the prisoners who wants to get out just as badly as Breslin does.  In this video, Stallone and Schwarzenegger comment further on their characters in The Tomb, their work together on The Expendables and The Expendables 2, and the old-school machismo of action movies and their stars, which Sly calls, “male pattern badness.”  Written by Miles Chapman (Road House 2: Last Call) and Jason Keller (Machine Gun Preacher), The Tomb also stars Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jim Caviezel, Amy Ryan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vinnie Jones, and new addition Sam Neill.  Hit the jump to check it out along with some images from the set.

Production is officially underway in New Orleans on the action-thriller The Tomb. Sylvester Stallone stars as Ray Breslin, the world’s foremost authority on structural security. Breslin is framed and incarcerated in a prison of his own master design, and must now figure out how to break out.  Stallone is joined by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who plays a fellow inmate (and likely accomplice in said jail break), as well as Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jim Caviezel, Amy Ryan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vinnie Jones, and new addition Sam Neill.

In an interesting turn, Caviezel will be playing the warden of the prison, with Jones set as his head of security.  Mikael Hafstrom (The Rite) is onboard to direct, and I’m really looking forward to watching a Stallone and Schwarzenegger prison break pic.  Hit the jump to read the full press release, which has details regarding the other characters in the film.

The new trailer and poster for The Hunter have been released. The film stars Willem Dafoe as a mysterious man who has been hired to track and hunt the last remaining Tasmanian Tiger. While on the hunting mission, Dafoe must keep his employer and true intent a secret from the suspicious townspeople. While the logline may seem a bit generic (and familiar, given the upcoming release of the survival pic The Grey), the trailer is actually pretty damn enthralling. Dafoe is great as always, and a tremendous air of suspense envelops every scene. The pic premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, where Matt wasn’t all too taken by it (read his review here). I’m really hoping the film delivers, as I’m quite intrigued by this trailer.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster. Directed by Daniel Nettheim, the film also stars Frances O’Connor and Sam Neill. The Hunter will be available VOD on March 2nd, and hits theaters April 6th.

One of the most anticipated midseason premieres of 2012 is the J.J. Abrams produced Alcatraz, a supernatural procedural about a team of detectives who hunt and capture inmates from the infamous island prison after the convicts begin to mysteriously appear in modern day San Francisco.

To promote the show, Fox flew select journalists out to the bay area for a premiere party and screening at the prison (here’s my recap of the event). While on location, I got to talk to stars Sam Neill, Robert Forester and Parminder Nagra and Executive Producer and Director Jack Bender about their work on the show. During the interviews we discussed how the series will end, researching time travel, potential appearances by Machinegun Kelly, what it’s like to sit in a real electric chair and much, much more.  Hit the jump for the video interviews.

When I started doing web journalism as a hobby, I never thought it would lead me to a cell deep in the bowels of an infamous maximum security prison. But last week that is exactly where I found myself.

Of course, this was the kind of prison stay that included catered food, open bars – both on the cells and in the mess hall – and a screening of Fox’s new J.J. Abrams produced supernatural procedural Alactraz. Hit the jump for the whole story including some brief thoughts on the pilot and pictures from the event.

“This is Alcatraz. Things can always get worse.” Frankly, I hope they get a lot better when Alcatraz, the new supernaturally infused drama series from J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production banner, premieres next year. However, from the looks of this trailer, Fox is holding back the mystery of the series for now with a tease that has Sam Neill welcoming viewers to Alcatraz much in the same way Stephen Lang welcomed everyone to Terra Nova earlier this year. With the producers and creator of Lost behind this new venture though, I’m hoping that my stay at Alcatraz will last longer than the few episodes I spent on Terra Nova before boredom set in eventually. Get a taste of the series after the jump to find out if it’s worth tuning in on Monday, January 16th.

The Jurassic Park series is awe inspiring and deeply flawed; a game changer for effects, but story-wise mostly pedestrian. Steven Spielberg directed the first two films with an eye toward some of the most awe inspiring set pieces put to film, with stars like Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum stuck in the midst of dino-mayhem. For the third picture Joe Johnston took over and stripped the series down to its bare essentials. In terms of great dinosaur action these films deliver and are fun to revisit, even if there are scenes in all three that bog them down. Our review of the Jurassic Park Blu-ray trilogy follows after the jump.

The teaser trailer for Australian director Daniel Nettheim’s adaptation of The Hunter is now available online. Based on the novel by Julia Leigh (who directed this year’s Cannes-entry Sleeping Beauty starring Emily Browning), The Hunter tells the story of Martin David (played by Willem Dafoe), a mysterious man who is in search of the last Tasmanian tiger known to exist. While this may sound like a straightforward enough narrative, the twist comes from the fact that David must keep his employer and true intent a secret from suspicious townspeople.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer which features some really nice cinematography combined with enough foreboding for two teaser trailers. In addition to Dafoe, The Hunter also stars Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor. The film is scheduled to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival which runs from September 8th – 18th.

We have a couple of quick casting stories for you this afternoon.  First up, Josh Lucas has joined the cast of Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar.  According to Deadline, Lucas will play famous pilot/Nazi-symathizer/baby-misplacer Charles Lindbergh.  The biopic will star Leonardo DiCaprio as FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover.  The cast also includes Armie Hammer (The Social Network), Damon Herriman (Justified), Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl), and Dame Judi Dench.  Eastwood is also reportedly considering Amy Adams and Naomi Watts for the role of Hoover’s secretary now that Charlize Theron has passed on the flick.  As we previously reported, Lucas is also rumored to be in the running to play Abraham Lincoln in Timur Bekmambetov’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Hit the jump for casting news regarding Robert Connolley’s adaptation of Arthur Miller’s 1955 play A View from the Bridge.

Zack Snyder. A CG animated owl movie. Holy crap, did that actually happen? Yes it did, it’s that movie with the terrible name Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. It’s based on a kid’s book, but still. The story of a young owl named Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) who’s stolen with his siblings to be a slave for the “Pure Ones” headed by Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton) and his wife Nyra (Helen Mirren), but Soren’s destined to be a great owl, and perhaps savior. Abbie Cornish, Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Richard Roxburgh, Hugo Weaving, and David Wenham are also feature voice performers. The review of Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Though he’ll always be Dr. Alan Grant in my eyes, Sam Neill has done a myriad of different films with just the right amount of gravitas. Now it looks like he’ll be bringing his talents to the small screen as Deadline reports the actor has landed a role in J.J. Abrams mysterious new series Alcatraz over at Fox. Neill will play Emerson Hauser, the head of a government agency who radiates authority and piercing intelligence. The story itself follows a team of FBI agents and a female police officer (previously announced Sarah Jones) as they track down a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day after disappearing 30 years ago. Neill joins Jorge Garcia (Lost), Jonny Coyne and Jason Butler Harner.

Hit the jump for details on a new cast member for HBO’s new series Luck.

We have two bits of casting news.  First up, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor have singed on to star in The Hunter.  THR reports that the film will be a psychological thriller based on the novel Hunter by Julia Leigh, which centers on “a mercenary sent from Europe by an anonymous biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a dramatic hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.”  Australian director Daniel Nettheim will be directing the film, which already started production this week in Tasmania.

After the jump, you can read about Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) being attached to star in The Hand Job.