Back in November, we reported that Zack Snyder wouldn’t be directing Star Wars: Episode VII.  This remains true, but Vulture is now reporting the surprising news that Snyder will be involved in the upcoming Star Wars universe with a spin-off feature.  As we previously reported, screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg were working on scripts that could be part of the upcoming sequel trilogy or they could be spin-off features.  Episode VII is due out in 2015, and Disney CEO Bob Iger has said he wants a new Star Wars movie ever 2-3 years.

Hit the jump for more on Zack Snyder’s upcoming Star Wars film. [Update: Snyder's reps have released a statement denying this story. Read the statement after the jump]

We’ve previously featured the impressive screenprint posters by artist David O’Daniel and today he’s released a new batch that’s probably going to empty your wallet a little bit.  His new limited edition posters are for Seven Samurai, The Lady from Shanghai, The Godfather (parts I and II), La Dolce Vita, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  I picked up O’Daniel’s Chinatown poster back in February and the image online doesn’t really do credit to the level of detail and high quality of the print.  Also, the prices aren’t outrageous.  Hit the jump to check out all of the new posters along with their prices and details.

Remaking Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is an exercise in futility* but so is railing against remakes.  They’re going to happen, and they’re probably not going to be as good as the original, but you’ll always have that original.  The Weinstein Company is remaking Seven Samurai but that doesn’t mean Harvey Weinstein is coming to my house and confiscating my Criterion Collection Blu-ray.  Variety reports that the studio has hired Scott Mann to helm the remake (written by Young Guns screenwriter John Fusco).  The new Seven Samurai will have a $60 million budget, reset the action from feudal Japan to modern-day Thailand, and replace the samurai with paramilitary contractors.  It’s a smart update because as we all know, the age of the paramilitary contractor is coming to an end and those mercenaries who work for companies like Blackwater are truly noble and tragic figures.

Mann’s been receiving some attention for his recent film The Tournament, but The Playlist says the flick is “pretty turgid overall.”  For those who’ve never seen Seven Samurai, I’ve included a synopsis for the film after the jump, but I want you to promise me you’ll see the movie ASAP.  Deal?

For years now Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai has been ranked as one of the best movies ever made, and is usually considered one of the finest achievement in cinema. In the most recent Sight and Sound poll of the best films ever made, critics ranked it eleventh (its highest charting was in 1982 at #3) while filmmakers ranked it ninth. It’s ranked thirteenth on IMDb.com’s list of the greatest films of all time. Ain’t no denying that Kurosawa and his cast (including Toshiro Mifune) made a masterwork. And my review of The Criterion collection’s Seven Samurai after the jump.

Criterion has announced their October releases and they’ve lined up some great titles including Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 film House.  Criterion has provided us with high resolution front and back cover art as well as details on each release.  Hit the jump to take a look.  All are being released on DVD and Blu-ray:

Now here’s a subway we’d all like to take.  It seems a website called Vodkaster has created “The Best Movies Of All Time Map” much in the vein of those Lord of the Rings Flow Charts/Maps that circulated around the web a few months ago (we missed it).  It’s incredibly cool and detailed, even if the stops along the way don’t exactly make the most sense.

Starting with a series of “Universally Acclaimed Masterpieces” in the middle, such as Seven Samuari, Star Wars and Citizen Kane, it then branches off into sub genres such as the broad “Drama” and “Comedy,” to more specific ones like “Masterpiece about show business” and “Drama about tolerance.”

Hit the jump to look at the huge image.