Continuing our coverage of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 20th Century Fox has sent over high resolution images of the concept art that was shown during yesterday’s webcast.  While the trailer that premiered earlier today definitely focuses on the action, I’m hoping the story is solid and it’s more than just some cool action set pieces.  After reading Germain’s set report, I’m very optimistic.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes stars James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, and Andy Serkis as the ape Caesar.  The film opens August 5th.  Hit the jump for the concept art.

Fox has released the first trailer for Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  I’m a bit disappointed by the take I’m seeing it but I’ll admit that an Apes movie is an incredibly tough sell.  The movie looks far more action-oriented and I was hoping for a moral story involving James Franco’s character and the main ape Caesar (played by Andy Serkis using motion capture)  that seems only hinted at in this teaser.  Finally, I don’t think people really care where their special effects come from and while I know that WETA is a fine effects company, people didn’t walk away from Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake thinking “Wow!  ILM really did a bang-up job with those effects!”  I know people respond to action, but having an ape towering over your bed and watching you sleep just looks silly.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster.  The film also stars, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, and Tom Felton.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes opens August 5th.

Fox’s Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Apes, was scheduled to come out this summer, but was pushed back to the holiday season so that there was more time to work on the special effects.  The new Apes flick centers on a young scientist (James Franco) whose attempts to cure Alzheimer’s leads to the creation of a super-intelligent ape (played by Andy Serkis using motion-capture).  The first official image from the film has been released, and while there are no apes rising, we do get to see Franco working hard at the science.

Hit the jump to check out the image.  Rise of the Apes also stars Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Tom Felton, Tyler Labine, and Brian Cox.  The film opens November 23rd.

There’s a bitter pill to swallow in owning the Deadwood complete series on Blu-ray. One of the best shows ever to be on television, Deadwood ends unceremoniously. There is no sense of closure, there is no sense of a finished narrative – creator David Milch gets a twenty minute segment on the set to talk about the end of the show and expresses nothing but frustration about the show’s demise. He tries to intellectualize it, but struggles to come to grips with the euthanasia HBO performed. Alas, with an existing set and the cast of characters Deadwood had it was not a cheap show, and where The Wire was able to struggle against low ratings Deadwood fell because it never exceeded its modest but committed fanbase. But Deadwood is one of the best shows ever put to television, and I come here not to mourn its end, but celebrate its greatness. My review of Deadwood: The Complete Series on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Kristoffer Aaron Morgan and Eric Vespe (aka Kraken and Quint of AICN) have begun to assemble a cast for their horror film The Home: namely Louis Gossett Jr. (Iron Eagle), Ed Asner (Up) and Fionnula Flanagan (the Lucy to Desmond Hume’s Charlie Brown on Lost). Bloody Disgusting reports that Brian Cox (chewing scenery in the recent Red) and the great Cloris Leachman (Raising Hope) are also in talks to star in the horror thriller.

The Home concerns a young man who, after suffering a horrible accident, goes to recuperate at a nursing home… that just so happens to be infested with carnivorous monsters. Tough break. Having unfortunately visited a nursing home not too long ago, I can tell you that they are heartbreakingly sad and terrifying all at once. I wasn’t sure whether to cry for the elder woman, who stared transfixed at a blank unplugged television screen as yellow droplets rolled down her leg, or run screaming from the poor woman. Add monsters into the mix — and well, I get the shudders just thinking about it. More about old people and monsters after the jump. (No easy jokes about them being the same thing, please.)

Red is a movie that’s better than it should be and yet isn’t as good as it could be.  The jokes could be funnier, the action could be more exhilarating, the pacing could be quicker, but the film is still a success.  And yet with stronger direction and a more polished script, Red could have been one of the better films of the year thanks to its strong cast.  Not only do they play off each other well, but Mary Louise-Parker, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, and Helen Mirren all give terrific performances.  Red gets the job done, but there’s frustration in seeing it come up as only passable.

At the New York City press junket for Red, I got to participate in a press conference with Ernest Borgnine.  While it was great to be able to talk with Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, the chance to hear Borgnine reminisce about his decades in the movie business was also extremely cool.  Also, with Borgnine being 93 years old, I’m well aware this might have been my last chance to interview him.

During the press conference, Borgnine talked about how he first got into the “picture” business, making such films as Marty and From Here to Eternity, working with Frank Sinatra, what really went on behind the scenes of McHale’s Navy, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch what he had to say:

Opening on October 15 is the really fun movie Red. Featuring an all-star cast that’s more impressive than The Expendables, Red stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, and Ernest Borgnine. Based on the graphic novel Red (Retired Extremely Dangerous), the movie is about a group of retired black ops agents that get back together to try and figure out why some former agents are getting killed.

I was recently in NYC for the press junket and I was able to sit down with Helen Mirren.  During the interview we talked about whether or not her fans are ready to watch her fire a 50 caliber machine gun (I think they are), are there any challenges working in different movie genres, what was it like with the rest of the cast, and she gave me an update on how Arthur was going with Russell Brand.  Hit the jump to see what she had to say and make sure to see Red this weekend:

Opening on October 15 is a really fun movie called Red.  Featuring an all-star cast that’s more impressive than The Expendables, Red stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, and Ernest Borgnine.  Based on the graphic novel Red (Retired Extremely Dangerous), the movie is about a group of retired black ops agents that get back together to try and figure out why some former agents are getting killed. You can watch some clips from Red here.

A few days ago I was in NYC for the press junket and I was able to sit down with Bruce Willis and Karl Urban.  During the very relaxed interview, Willis and Urban talked to me about making the movie, using fake names at Starbucks and on dressing room doors, filming on location, their fight scene, and Willis talked about why he wanted to make Rian Johnson’s Looper and Urban talked about Pete Travis’ Judge Dredd.

Finally, one last thing before watching…while my interview was supposed to end after three minutes, you’ll see Willis tell me to keep asking questions even though the person running the interview wanted it to stop.  I’ve never had a big movie star tell me to keep asking questions after my time was over.  For my first time getting to ask Bruce Willis some questions on camera…it was very cool.  Hit the jump to watch.

Somewhere, there’s hours of footage of Bruce Wills, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren laughing their asses off. There has to be. The four award winning actors are having so much fun in their action comedy Red that there’s no way they kept a straight face after director Robert Schwentke called cut. Their obvious joy for the material comes across in every scene and that energy, combined with some cool action, makes Red a lot of fun to watch, even if the narrative is a bit thin. Hit the jump for more.

Summit Entertainment has released four clips from their upcoming action flick Red.  The cast alone is impressive: You’ve got Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Morgan Freeman as retired black ops agents out to clear their names before the agency kills them.  Also along for the ride are Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, and Ernest Borgnine.  I’m also digging the action and humor that’s been shown off in the trailers and clips.  Let’s hope that the film delivers.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  Red opens October 15th.

Summit Entertainment has released almost a dozen new images from director Robert Schwentke’s Red.  Since we’ve been covering the film extensively the past few months, you probably know Red is based on the three issue comic book mini-series by writer Warren Ellis and artist Cully Hamner and it’s about a group of former CIA agents that are framed for assassination so they must get back together to clear their names.  Red stars Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Karl Urban, Helen Mirren, James Remar, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Richard Dreyfuss.

I visited the set earlier this year and thought it looked great.  On top of that, the trailer is fantastic and I’ve heard the film is testing extremely well.  That’s probably why Summit was willing to do some additional filming this weekend to add a bit to the ending. Anyway, hit the jump for the new images.  Red opens October 15.

Yet another piece of the Rise of the Apes puzzle has come together. Already starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, and Andy Serkis, the Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) film has now added Harry Potter alum Tom Felton to the cast. Per Fox’s Twitter Feed, Felton will play Cox’s son.  As mentioned last week, Cox plays the villainous owner of a primate sanctuary who runs the facility without compassion for the animals that live there.

The prequel is set to begin filming later this month and is currently aiming for a June 24^th, 2011 release. Hit the jump for a synopsis and for a video reminder of Felton’s rudely interrupted award speech at this year’s MTV Movie Awards.

In case you haven’t figured it out, Summit Entertainment is using the week before Comic-Con toraise awareness on their upcoming action film Red.  If you haven’t seen the awesome trailer, you should check it out, as Red looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I did a set visit a few months ago and thought it looked great.  Click here to read it.  Also, the other day I posted all my on set interviews, so click on the names to read/listen to what they had to say:  Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban.

Anyway, the studio has been releasing new character posters all week and we’ve previously posted Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman.  For the last poster article, Summit has sent over Karl Urban and Mary-Louise Parker.  Hit the jump to check them out:

In case you haven’t figured it out, Summit Entertainment is using the week before Comic-Con to kick the promotional machine into high gear on their upcoming action film Red.  If you haven’t seen the awesome trailer, you should check it out, as Red looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I did a set visit a few months ago and thought it looked great.  Click here to read it.  Also, yesterday I posted all my on set interviews, so click on the names to read/listen to what they had to say:  Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban.

Anyway, we’ve previously posted the Bruce Willis character poster, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich poster and today Summit has released the Morgan Freeman character poster.  Hit the jump to check it out: