About a hundred knights are standing inside the castle of Albion.  They’re wearing silver armor with swords in their hands as the castle is gearing up for a fight.  Outside the walls, the King rides along with his daughter (the princess) and about a dozen knights on horseback.  They’re being chased by 24-feet-tall giants.  Well I think they are 24-feet-talle, because the truth is the King and his men are really only riding from a few cameras, as the giants will be added in during post production.

Let me back up a second.

It’s August 4th, 2011, and I’m flying back from London.  The other day I was standing on the set of Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer about an hour outside London.  While there, I got to watch a lot of filming, see tons of raw footage, and I also got to see a great deal of pre-viz.  While some set visits are guarded with the actors being careful what they say, Singer and everyone on the film opened their arms to the visiting online reporters and showed us why they’re excited to be making this film.  And based on what I saw, Jack has the possibility of being a really cool fantasy film.  Much more after the jump.

While some may remember Nicholas Hoult as the kid in About a Boy, over the past few years he’s proven that he’s definitely capable of playing adult roles in such films as A Single Man, X-Men: First Class, and Clash of the Titans.  However, while he might have been playing more mature roles, he hasn’t been the lead in any of these films.

That all changes in 2013.

With leading roles in Warm Bodies and Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer, Hoult is starting a new chapter in his career, and based on what I saw while visiting the set of Jack back in 2011, I think he’s going to easily make the jump.  During a group interview on the set, Hoult talked about bringing the fairy tale to life, the 3D, what his version of Jack is like, and so much more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.

Even though we’re nearly three months removed from Halloween, I want to use this week’s opening paragraph to throw some support behind director Michael Stephenson‘s touching documentary, The American Scream. I recently caught the film via Netflix where it’s available to “Watch Instantly” and I was impressed to say the least. Stephenson’s previous entry, the indelible Best Worst Movie, quickly became one of my all-time favorite docs for the unexpected emotional punch it packed in following the lives of those impacted by Troll 2. Scream delivered on a similar level with its themes of family, community, and the pursuit of one’s passion (in this case, home haunting). If you haven’t seen it already, I recommend either checking it out on Netflix or picking up a copy for yourself from the film’s website.

All recommendations aside, much to the surprise of no one, this week’s Top 5 is headlined by the announcement that J.J. Abrams will direct/produce Star Wars: Episode VII with accompaniment by our Bullet to the Head set visit, Warm Bodies video interviews with Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and more, a G.I. Joe: Retaliation set visit preview and interviews with director Jon M. Chu and more, and all of our coverage out of Sundance 2013 to date. A brief recap and link to each is hidden in plain view after the jump.

From writer/director Jonathan Levine (50/50) comes Warm Bodies, the zombie romantic comedy starring Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class) and Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four).  Today, five new clips and five new posters from the film have become available, including an interactive infographic on zombie anatomy with bits of footage embedded within it.  While Warm Bodies is not my preferred take on zombies, it does seem to offer something different to the genre along with a lot of humor and heart.  Also starring John Malkovich, Dave Franco, Analeigh Tipton and Rob Corddry, Warm Bodies opens February 1st.  Hit the jump to watch the new clips and check out the new posters.

Ever since Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, zombies have become synonymous with lifeless, dead-eyed beings, a void – existential nothingness in its simplest form. Zombies, as characterized, exhibit no human emotion, feeling, remembrance – and it’s been that way through Dawn of the Dead (1978) to Dawn of the Dead (2004) to The Walking Dead (2013). This Friday’s release Warm Bodies attempts to redefine the zombie not as death incarnate but merely as a lost and lonely soul… Sure the zombies still want to eat human brains but it has less to do with hunger than a need to connect. It should come as no surprise that the cure for all that brain munching, lethargic walking and indecipherable growling – as posed in Warm Bodies – is quite simple: love.

Nick Hoult stars in the picture as R, a zombie who slowly comes back to life after he falls in love with the beautiful ex-girlfriend (Teresa Palmer) of the guy he’s just eaten. Complications obviously then ensue. In the following interview with Hoult, he discusses imbuing the living dead with personality, transitioning from being a child actor (he was the titular boy in About A Boy), and his bevy of future film projects (Jack The Giant Slayer, Mad Max: Fury Road and X Men: Days of Future Past). For the full interview, hit the jump.

We’ve got some media from two long-in-development pictures today, as follows:

• Riddick – The third film in the Riddick franchise starring Vin Diesel from writer/director David Twohy.  This new image shows off the brooding anti-hero who someone left out in the rain.  The long-awaited film, also starring Karl Urban (Dredd 3D) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica), will finally land in theaters September 6th.
• Mad Max: Fury Road – The fourth film in writer/director George Miller’s post-apocalyptic action franchise.  The latest iteration features Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) as Max Rockatansky along with Charlize Theron (Prometheus) and Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class).  New video shows behind-the-scenes footage of the film’s crazy vehicles in action.

Hit the jump to check them out.

Warner Bros. has released a new banner for director Bryan Singer’s upcoming adventure pic Jack the Giant Slayer.  Last week we saw a series of posters for the film that introduced us to the titular giants, and now this banner highlight’s the pic’s human characters.  Everyone’s putting on their best “I’m going to kill you…but also does my hair look okay?” faces while they wield an assortment of weapons.

Hit the jump to check out the new banner.  The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Bill Nighy, Ian McShane and Eleanor Tomlinson.  Jack the Giant Slayer opens in 3D on March 1st.

The first TV spot for Jonathan Levin’s ZomRomCom Warm Bodies has debuted.  It’s a quick look at principal cast members Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer, as well as some flashes of a supporting character played by John Malkovich.  Buzz has been positive so far, but you can decide for yourself when the picture opens on February 1st.

We also have a new TV spot for Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful which clues audiences in to who’s on whose side by pointing out the good, bad wise and powerful characters.  There’s not a lot here in terms of new footage, but the opening release date of March 8th is still two months away.  Oz the Great and Powerful stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.  Hit the jump to see the new TV spots.

Nicholas Hoult, one of the most in-demand young actors of the moment (most recognizable as a young Beast/Hank McCoy in X:Men First Class), has a bevy of projects coming out.  The former About A Boy child star spoke at the press junket for his most recent film Warm Bodies about a number of these upcoming films.  On Jack The Giant Slayer, Hoult revealed his thoughts on the select clips he’s seen and talked of the pressures of being the lead in a big budget studio tent-pole picture.  On the just-wrapped Mad Max: Fury Road, Hoult discussed working with the great George Miller and what character he plays in the the reboot/sequel.  And finally Hoult spoke about what he’s heard about the X-Men sequel (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and how far along the sequel is to production.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Summit Entertainment has released three clips and 13 minutes of B-roll for Jonathan Levine‘s rom-zom-com, Warm Bodies.  The film centers on R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains.  I haven’t watched the clips or the footage since I want to go in having seen as little of the movie as possible.  Warm Bodies is one of my most-anticipated movies of the next three months, and I want to be surprised.  However, if you still need to be sold on the flick, then you might want to see the new material.

Hit the jump to check out the clips and the B-roll.  The film also stars Rob Corddry and John Malkovich.  Warm Bodies opens February 1st.  Click on the corresponding links to read about my visit to the set and my interviews with Levine, Hoult, Palmer, Corddry, and producer Bruna Papandrea.

Welcome to 2013, folks. If you’re reading this it means that you survived the Mayan Apocalypse, the first Dick Clark-less New Year’s Rockin’ Eve celebration in like four decades, likely some sort of mandatory holiday time with your extended family, and incessant political jabber about some sort of “fiscal cliff”, all in a matter of about two weeks. Congratulations on a job well done. In spite of all these accomplishments, though, odds are you still haven’t spent any part of 2013 hanging out with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his tank. So, to this point, our Dave Trumbore still wins 2013.

All tank envy aside, let’s keep our heads up and focus on the first Top 5 installment of the new year. This week’s recap includes Brendan’s editorial plea for giving 48fps the old college try, Justice League rumors, Matt’s Warm Bodies set visit and ensuing zombie transformation, news of Jay-Z being brought on to score Baz Luhrmann‘s The Great Gatsby, and the results of our first ever readers poll that asked for your top movies of 2012. Brief recaps and links to all of the above are dying for your attention after the jump.

Being undead isn’t so bad.  Your clothes are filthy, you could probably do with a little more sun, and the quality of conversation is somewhat diminished, but I didn’t mind being a zombie for a day.  I was given this opportunity when Summit Entertainment decided to fly me up to Montreal to the set of Warm Bodies, the new film from director Jonathan Levine (50/50).  The film follows R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who falls in love with the non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains.

I’ve been on a few set visits, but for Warm Bodies, Summit invited me and my fellow movie journalists to be zombie extras.  In addition to interviewing Levine, Hoult, Palmer, co-star Rob Corddry, and producer Bruna Papandrea, we got to go through the zombification process without the nasty biting-and-dying part.  Hit the jump to read about my visit to the set of Warm Bodies.

In October 2011, I was lucky enough to visit the set of Jonathan Levine‘s Warm Bodies.  The film follows R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who falls in love with the non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains.  Judging by the trailers, it looks like Levine has crafted a sweet, funny rom-zom-com.

In addition to getting zombified on the set, I got the chance to sit down and talk with Hoult.  During out conversation, we spoke about eating brains, zombie school, influential zombie movies, playing an unconventional hero, communication without words, and much more.  Hit the jump to check out the interview.  Warm Bodies opens February 1st.

Summit Entertainment has released eight new images from director Jonathan Levine’s (50/50) upcoming zombie love story Warm Bodies.  The film stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie named “R” who starts to act more human than zombie when he falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer).  Levine promises to bring something fresh and fun to the zombie genre with this pic, and the film landed on our recent list of most anticipated titles for the first quarter of 2013.

Hit the jump to take a look at the new images.  The film also stars John Malkovich, Dave Franco, and Analeigh Tipton.  Warm Bodies opens on February 1st.

For those hankering for some genre fare in the heart of awards season, Summit Entertainment has released the first four minutes of director Jonathan Levine’s (50/50) zombie love story Warm Bodies online.  The film stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie named “R” who starts to act more human than zombie when he falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer).  This clip opens with a charming and funny voiceover from Hoult as we see R stumbling around an airport alongside countless other zombies, wondering what everyone used to be before they became undead.  Everything we’ve seen thus far promises an original take on what’s become a cliché-driven genre, and this clip highlights a few promisingly interesting visual cues from Levine.

Hit the jump to watch the first four minutes of the film.  The pic also stars John Malkovich, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, and Analeigh Tipton.  Warm Bodies opens on February 1, 2013.