20th Century Fox has released a new trailer for director Allen Hughes’ (The Book of Eli) political thriller Broken City.  The film stars Mark Wahlberg as a private detective who is hired to identify the lover of a powerful politician’s wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), with Russell Crowe playing the shady politician.  This trailer focuses quite a bit more on the film’s plot, teasing an enticing power play between Wahlberg and Crowe’s characters.  We also see a bit more of Zeta-Jones’ character, though her intentions aren’t entirely made clear.  The real draw, though, seems to the face-off between Wahlberg and Crowe, and I’m eager to see the two go toe-to-toe when the full film hits theaters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and here’s our recent interview with Wahlberg for the film.  The film also stars Jeffrey Wright.  Broken City opens on January 18th.

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill as Superman.  Rather than focusing on the action, the trailer tries to sell us on what would happen if Superman really existed on our planet and would people really accept someone with God like powers.  Of course towards the end of the trailer, we get a good look at some of the big action set pieces and Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as the villain Zod.  But the fact is, every big budget Hollywood movie has action.  Without a strong story and characters you care about, the action means nothing.  Thankfully, everything I’ve seen thus far on the Man of Steel tells me Snyder has crafted a great Superman film that will deliver everything the fans want and more.  It’s easily one of my most anticipated films of 2013.  Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and then be prepared to start counting down the days to June 14.

Man of Steel also stars Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, and Russell Crowe star.  Man of Steel opens on June 14, 2013.

The first clip from director Allen Hughes’ (The Book of Eli) political thriller Broken City has been released.  The film stars Mark Wahlberg as a private detective who is hired to identify the lover of a powerful politician’s wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones).  Russell Crowe plays the morally ambiguous politician, and this first clip highlights a short scene in which Crowe asserts his power over Wahlberg’s character.  Word of warning: The politician who hires you to spy on his wife’s lover is probably not a nice guy.

Hit the jump to watch the clip.  The film also stars Jeffrey Wright.  Broken City opens on January 18th.

And the barrage of marketing material for the Oscar hopefuls continues. Two highly anticipated December films—Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty—recently made their screening debuts, and on the heels of much awards buzz we’ve seen a number of materials from said pics hit the web over the past two weeks.  Earlier today we got a look at five extended clips from director Tom Hooper’s musical adaptation Les Miserables, and now Universal has released 18 high-resolution images from the film.  The production value on this thing continues to look fantastic, and I’m eager to experience the 2+ hours of song when the pic hits theaters.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Anne Hathaway.  Les Miserables opens on Christmas Day.

Having just finished his cut of the film at 2 a.m., Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper (A King’s Speech) presented the first screening of Les Miserables to a New York audience this afternoon. Not since 2002′s Chicago has a musical feature been a serious Oscar contender for Best Picture, but early reactions indicate that the trend could change this year. Each musical number was followed by raucous applause with the principal cast taking the stage to a standing ovation at the end of the film. It looks like Christmas has come early for the cast and crew of Les Miserables. 

The film stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.  Les Miserables opens on December 25th. Hit the jump to read some audience reactions.

Oscar season is in full swing, folks.  2012 has been a fantastic year in film so far, and with merely weeks to go before 2013 begins there are still a couple of highly anticipated films that have yet to be seen.  Just like last year, I’ll be running down a preview of the upcoming Oscar race during this fine Thanksgiving week, giving readers a look at what the state of the race looks like right now.  To be clear, this isn’t a personal list but rather an objective look at how things look to be shaping up.  I’ve divided each category into frontrunners, likely to be nominated, and other contenders in order to parse out where things stand at the moment.  There are multiple strong contenders in nearly every category, so this is looking to be a rather heated run to the finish line.

We’ll be looking at a couple of different major categories each day over the next four days, and we’re kicking things off with the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories.  Hit the jump to read on.

Director Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Les Miserables is sure to have audiences leaving the theater humming tunes from the musical, but the film also looks to be a visual feast as well.  The production design and costumes look fantastic in the few pieces of footage we’ve seen in the trailers, and now famed photographer Annie Leibovitz has worked her magic with the main cast.  The result is a batch of gorgeous and moving images of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Isabelle Allen, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Helena Bonham Carter in character.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images.  Les Miserables opens in theaters Christmas Day.

A new full-length trailer for director Tom Hooper’s musical adaptation Les Miserables has been released.  This trailer highlights quite a few of the film’s musical numbers, especially showcasing Hooper’s method of recording the actors’ vocal performances live on set rather than in a studio.  The bare performances go hand-in-hand with Hooper’s gorgeous yet grounded set design and atypical camera work, and it should be interesting to see how audiences respond to this approach.  I remain impressed by this new footage and can’t wait to see the full film on a giant screen.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.  Les Miserables opens on December 25th.

Warner Bros. has confirmed that director Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel will be released in 2D, 3D and IMAX versions next summer.  We previously reported that Man of Steel would be post-converted to 3D as well as the promise of “An IMAX 3D Experience,” but those reports were retracted when IMAX claimed the announcement was an “inputting error” and that WB was still contemplating a 3D post-conversion.  In the new press release, Snyder was quick to assuage fears of sub-par post-conversion by stating that the film was designed and shot with 3D in mind, but not at the expense of story and character.

Written by David S. Goyer (who was recently interviewed by Steve), Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Amy Adams and Michael Shannon.  Look for the film in 2D, 3D and IMAX on June 14th, 2013.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

Two new TV spots for director Tom Hooper’s (The King’s Speech) highly anticipated musical adaptation Les Miserables have been released.  In addition to inducing even more chills with the film’s music, we get a peek at new footage including some impressive effects work done to enrich a few backgrounds.  Running at 2 hours and 32 minutes long without end credits, fans are sure to be plenty satisfied by Hooper’s lush yet grounded iteration of the wildly popular musical and I’m further encouraged by the visuals displayed in these here TV spots.

Hit the jump to check out both the 30 second and 90 second new TV spots.  The film stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.  Les Miserables opens on December 25th.

As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the Northeast, a somewhat odd twist has occurred regarding an upcoming film.  As we’ve previously reported, Darren Aronofsky‘s Noah, based on the biblical story, is filming in Oyster Bay, New York.  It’s not a bad location, and one that makes sense since hurricanes almost never hit the Northeast, and certainly not at this time of year.  Aronofsky built his ark to the measurements outlined in the bible in terms of the height and width, but the L.A. Times is reporting that the ark has been partially dismantled as a precautionary measure.  The ark, which is outdoors, is “450 feet long and 75 feet tall and 45 feet wide, was not intended to be seaworthy,” and let’s be fair: authenticity should only have to go so far.  The Times continues that if the storm hits the set, flood repairs may have to be organized.

The irony of the situation was not lost on Aronofsky, cinematographer Matthew Libatique, or stars Russell Crowe and Emma Watson, according to her Twitter.  God could not be reached for comment.  Noah opens on March 14, 2014.

Recently seen battling the unded in Resident Evil: Retribution, Boris Kodjoe will next battle sex-addiction in the Lionsgate drama, Addicted.  Paul Hall will produce with Bille Woodruff (Honey) attached to direct.  The picture centers on a supposedly happily-married mother of three children who satisfies her sex addiction by sleeping around.  Sex addiction tales seem to be a trend on the rise (Shame, Thank You For Sharing), all paving the way to the inevitable Fifty Shades of Grey. Variety’s report shares no details as to Kodjoe’s role, so it’s unclear as to which side of the addiction he will be on.  Kodjoe can next be seen in another film that deals with infidelity in brutal ways in director Douglas Aarniokoski’s Nurse 3-D.

Hit the jump for news on the newest addition to Akiva Goldsman’s directorial debut, Winter’s Tale, starring Russell Crowe. 

We’ve seen a number of images from the set of director Darren Aronofsky’s Biblical epic Noah thus far, giving us peeks at Russell Crowe as the titular hero and Logan Lerman in his period garb, but we’ve yet to see the film’s antagonist, Ray Winstone.  That changes today, as the first images of Winstone’s character have landed online.  We don’t know much about the role other than it’s that of Noah’s nemesis, but Winstone’s sporting some fairly bloody wounds so it appears that he gets into a skirmish of sorts at some point in the film.  Liam Neeson and Liev Schreiber were reportedly considered for the role early on, but I think Winstone will make for a suitable baddie opposite Crowe.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Emma Watson, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, Douglas Booth, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Durand, Martin Csokas and Mark Margolis.  Noah opens March 28, 2014. [Update: More set images have surfaced of Crowe, Booth, and Lerman and are included after the jump]

We have three new clips to share with you today from writer/director/star RZA’s kung-fu epic, The Man with the Iron Fists.  First up is Bronze Lion (Cung Le) taking on Madame Blossom (Lucy Liu), followed by a bloody introduction to Jack Knife (Russell Crowe) and finally, a clash between the wrought iron fists of the Blacksmith (RZA) and the zinc and copper alloy of Brass Body (David Bautista).  The clips do a nice job at showcasing the fighting styles of each of our characters, but also give a glimpse into the overall tone of the film.  Part kung-fu cliche and part homage, The Man with the Iron Fists looks to mix in a fair dose of humor alongside the action (if Crowe’s craziness is any indication).  The Man with the Iron Fists opens November 2nd.  Hit the jump to check out the clips.

If you can’t wait the two weeks to see writer/director/star RZA’s The Man with the Iron Fists, perhaps this animated prequel will suffice for now.  Narrated by RZA, the short follows the Blacksmith (RZA) traveling on his path to China and shows that not all of the fighting is confined to Jungle Village.  While it’s more of a compilation of concept art than actual animated film, it’s got a great feel to it (similar to Afro Samurai) and even establishes a history between the Blacksmith and one of the other characters from the feature film.

Also starring Lucy Liu, Russell Crowe, Jamie Chung, Cung Le and David Bautista, The Man with the Iron Fists opens November 2nd.  Hit the jump to check out the prequel.