In Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance, Violante Placido plays Nadya, a street-smart character of Romanian descent who is the mother of Danny Ketch (Fergus Riordan).  When the devil (Ciaran Hinds) comes after her son, Placido meets up with Nicolas Cage, who has been brought in by a secret sect of the church to try and save him.

Last year I got to travel to Romania to visit the production while they were filming outside of Bucharest.  While on set I participated in a group interview with Placido where she talked about how she got cast, what it was like to work with Cage and directors Neveldine/Taylor, the differences between making movies in Italy and Hollywood, who she plays, filming in Eastern Europe, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read or listen to the interview.

In Neveldine/Taylor’s Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance, Fergus Riordan plays the son of the devil (played by Ciaran Hinds).  And while having the devil as a parent might be cool, when your father’s body is falling apart and he needs to take over his own flesh and blood to live, you’re always looking over your shoulder as you try and survive.

Last year while the Ghost Rider sequel was filming in Romania, I participated in a group interview with Riordan.  He talked about how he got involved in the film, what it’s like to work with Nicolas Cage, the rest of the cast, and Neveldine/Taylor, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read or listen to the interview.

The best movie posters come from Mondo, other art-boutiques, and individual artists who take their passion for a film and turn it into something that every fan has to own.  Studios don’t have that luxury.  They need to sell a movie to an audience that has no idea what they’re in for.  They need to find a way to appeal to everyone, or at least get their attention.  Usually studios go for the dull route of floating movie star heads and/or blue-orange color schemes.  My picks for the best studio-produced posters of 2011 were the posters that went beyond and tried to do something better.

Hit the jump to check out my choices for the Top 10 Posters of 2011.

A new trailer for Neveldine/Taylor‘s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance has gone online.  The trailer explains the plot—Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider (Nicolas Cage) must save a kid from becoming the Antichrist and bringing forth the apocalypse—with brooding and one-liners abounding.  There are some fun moments, but the trailer makes the movie look a little too self-serious (a far cry from the previous trailer, which featured Ghost Rider pissing flames).  I’m also not sure why the trailer doesn’t say “From the Makers of Crank” since for me it’s the biggest selling point.  I still don’t think Ghost Rider is an interesting character, but since we’re short on superheroes in R-rated escapades, I’m willing to see what kind of damage the flame-skulled biker is going to dish out.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Violante Placido, Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba, and Johnny Whitworth.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens in 3D on February 17, 2012.

Sony has released a new poster for Neveldine/Taylor‘s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.   It’s pretty much the standee but in poster form.  As you can see, Ghost Rider (Nicolas Cage) swung his whip so hard that it knocked the title 90-degrees clockwise.  And while having the main character rush towards you with his flaming bike is all well and good, nothing in this poster lets audiences know that they’re getting a much different (and hopefully much better) movie than what they got in 2007.  Also, the final poster doesn’t hold a candle to these badass one-sheets.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens February 17th.

Today we got our hands on pictures of theater standees for a trio of upcoming movies that we thought might be of interest to you.  The first features your favorite fiery Marvel superhero announcing Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.  The second features Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum double-gunning it on behalf of 21 Jump Street.  The last is the standee version of the new Men in Black 3 posters that recreate the faces of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones with a couple dozen MIB logos.

Hit the jump to see the standee pictures, accompanied by more info on each film.

We’ve got a few new posters to share with you today. First up is the poster debut for the all-star action pic The Expendables 2. It showcases all the badasses you can expect to see in the movie Toy Story 3-style (thank God they didn’t go the New Year’s Eve route). It’s not a bad poster, and it’s effective in informing audiences that Chuck Norris will always look like Walker Texas Ranger no matter the hat.  We’ve also got the first poster for producer Todd Phillips’ party balls comedy Project X. The trailer is a bit insane, as the film centers on a group of kids who decide to throw a party. With Phillips involved, you can go ahead and assume that things will get more than a little out of hand.  Additionally, we’ve got some pretty nifty poster art for the sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Hit the jump to check them out.

Last night’s Scream Awards gave a sneak peek at some upcoming films and one of the movies on the list was Neveldine/Taylor’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.  The movie has Nicolas Cage reprising his role as damned biker Johnny Blaze but Neveldine/Taylor is promising a complete 180 from the bland, forgettable first movie.  So re-introductions are in order and this clip from last night’s Scream Awards (regrettably taped off a TV, but hopefully a higher-quality version will be along soon) has Ghost Rider making a grand entrance as he comes to save the day.  Saving the day isn’t worthwhile if you blow the entrance.  Ghost Rider is all about showmanship.

Hit the jump to check out the clip.  The film also stars Idris Elba and Ciaran Hinds.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens February 17, 2012.

With the fall film season now in full swing, I’m 100% ashamed to admit that I’ve yet to see two of my most anticipated fall films: Moneyball and 50/50. Now, I have every intention of ending this charade at some point this weekend but, for now, I hope you’ll give me a pass. If I’ve still yet to check them out when we meet here next week, I’ll understand if you choose to revoke my “mildly credible film blogger” credentials. In the meantime…

…In this week’s “Top 5″ installment, you can find all of our Fantastic Fest 2011 coverage. After that, interviews abound with the cast of Jonathan Levine’s dramedy 50/50, the cast, creators, and real-life inspiration for Machine Gun Preacher, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance director Brian Taylor, and Thor/The Avengers‘ Tom Hiddleston. Check out a brief recap and link to each after the jump.

A few days ago, I got to sit down with director Brian Taylor for an exclusive interview on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.  With a February 17, 2012 release date fast approaching, Taylor is currently in post-production finishing up the movie.   However, while the movie is still almost five months from getting released, they already have a few deleted scenes and Taylor says the sequel will be 90 minutes (the original was 114).

During the interview we talked about where they are in the editing process, the experience of post converting to 3D and his thoughts on 3D, what to expect from Idris Elba and Nicolas Cage in the film, the deleted scenes, the run time, what will be on the DVD/Blu-ray (they captured thousands of hours of footage: interviews, features, behind-the-scenes stuff), what it was like to film in Eastern Europe (he tells some crazy stories), will there be other Marvel characters in the sequel, the full trailer, and a lot more.  Trust me, if you’re a fan of Neveldine/Taylor and have been looking forward to Ghost Rider 2, you’re going to like this interview.  Hit the jump to watch.

Every once in a while, I like to remind readers that our weekly “Top 5″ is a perpetual “work in progress.” That in mind, if you ever find yourself thinking, “Man, I wish Jason wasn’t such an idiot and would do this or that with the ‘Top 5′,” then I’m inviting you to either leave your suggestion in the comments section and/or e-mail me (colliderjason@gmail.com). The goal is to make the weekly feature as beneficial and entertaining to you, the reader, as possible. So, by all means, let us know if there is something missing that you would like to see. Now, with that out of the way…

In this week’s installment, you’ll find all of our video interviews with the cast of Conan the Barbarian, Matt’s editorial documenting what he views as the rise and fall of cult status, the first trailer and 34 hi-res images from Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, news confirming all of our worst fears regarding a Blade Runner follow-up, and our visit to the Alamo Drafthouse to check out the new Fright Night with stars Anton Yelchin and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Hit the jump for links and brief recaps for each.

With the release of the awesome teaser trailer for Neveldine/Taylor’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, I decided to screengrab a ton of images because the trailer is loaded with tons of new images.  As you’ll see after the jump, we now have our first look at Christopher Lambert’s character, Ciarán Hinds as the Devil, Violante Placido as Nadya, and if you look close…you might see Johnny Whitworth as Blackout.  While I thought Neveldine/Taylor would do a great job on the sequel to Ghost Rider, I’ll admit the trailer looks way better than I expected.  I love the way Ghost Rider looks and also how they tease his new transformation.  Hit the jump for 34 high resolution images from Ghost Rider 2.

The first trailer for Neveldine/Taylor’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance has gone online.  It’s odd because the trailer starts out trying to be weighty and having text like “Evil will force him to face his demon,” and that’s not what people want from a Ghost Rider movie.  We tried that with the first movie and it sucked.  What we want, and what we expect from the guys who brought us Crank, is something far more insane.  There are hints of that madness throughout the trailer, but it still hews a little too close to “Another Ghost Rider” rather than “A new Ghost Rider“.  I do like that they end it with Ghost Rider pissing fire.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens in 3D on February 17, 2012.

New posters for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Melancholia, and Abduction are now available online. Beginning with Ghost Rider, the film stars Nicolas Cage, Idris Elba, and Ciaran Hinds. The pic centers on Cage’s reprised Johnny Blaze who, while kicking it in Eastern Europe, is called upon to stop the Devil (Hinds) from taking human form. Although I prefer the teaser promos found at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, this new sheet seems effective enough in positioning the film as a grittier take on the character than its predecessor. The new Melancholia poster is essentially the full, hi-res shot of a Kirsten Dunst image we seen back in April while the Abduction sheet features star Taylor Lautner running from a city skyline.

Check out each of the posters after the jump. Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens on February 17th, 2012. Written/directed by Lars von Trier, Melancholia will hit VOD platforms on October 7th before opening in theaters on November 11th. Directed by John Singleton, Abduction will be released on September 23rd.

A few days ago we showed you some scanned images from Neveldine/Taylor’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.  Now higher-quality versions of those images have gone online.  As I previously mentioned, judging by what I saw at Comic-Con, the sequel has the potential to be so silly that it’s fun.  Or it could just remind us all that Ghost Rider is an uninteresting character, but I think when your sizzle real shows the character pissing flames, you’re on the right track.

Hit the jump to check out the images, click here for our recap of the Comic-Con panel, and click here for our interviews with Nicolas Cage, Idris Elba, and Neveldine/Taylor.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens in 3D on February 17, 2012.