A new teaser trailer and images from The Hurt Locker-director Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty have gone online. The military drama looks to tell the story behind the story of Osama bin Laden’s death on May 2, 2011 during an operation by the Navy’s SEAL Team Six.  The trailer hints at a more intimate breakdown of the events leading up to bin Laden’s death rather than making it a more distant political thriller.

Zero Dark Thirty, written by Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) and starring Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Scott Adkins, Joel Edgerton and Kyle Chandler opens December 19th.  Hit the jump to see the teaser trailer and images, and click here to read what Bigelow and Boal have to say about the film’s controversy, history, and characters.

We’ve got a few casting stories to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• Chris Pratt is in talks to star opposite Vince Vaughn in the comedy remake of Starbuck.
• Mos Def has joined Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley in the music-themed drama Can a Song Save Your Life?
• X-Men: First Class star Lucas Till is in talks to lead the werewolf film Wolves.

Hit the jump for more details.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) are powering up their Lego feature film with the addition of Batman and Superman.  The film, now titled Lego: The Piece of Resistance, stars Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) as Emmet, an “instruction worker” in the Lego world who has zero creative skills and can only build from the provided manual.  When he is mistakenly identified as a legendary MasterBuilder, Emmet reluctantly embarks on a quest to prevent an evil tyrant from gluing the world together.  Lego: The Piece of Resistance, itself an 80/20 blend of Lego-animation and live-action, also features Robot Chicken director Chris McKay as a co-director under Lord and Miller.  Hit the jump for more on the project, including who will voice the Lego superheroes.

The Cult of Judd Apatow needs to learn that sometimes you have to cut a scene even if it’s funny.  The refusal to learn this lesson has resulted in movies where every scene will get some laughs, but the pacing falls into a rut.  The 40-Year-Old Virgin managed to escape this fate, but writer-director Nicholas Stoller has repeatedly fallen prey to the belief that he can sacrifice pacing for a few more jokes.  It happened in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it happened in Get Him to the Greek, and it happens in his new film, The Five-Year Engagement.  Apatow has produced all of Stoller’s films and never thrown up a stop sign.  The Five-Year Engagement may be Stoller’s biggest offender to date as the wonderful performances and great humor are constantly at war with a narrative that struggles to move forward even when it’s jumping ahead in time.

A red-band trailer for The Five-Year Engagement has gone online.  The film follows Jason Segel and Emily Blunt through the ups and downs of their prolonged engagement.  Segel reteams with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller on the film, and I’m a big fan of what we’ve seen thus far.  This red-band trailer focuses on some of the dirtier jokes we were expecting from a Judd Apatow-produced comedy, with a fairly great sex scene between Segel and Blunt thrown in for good measure.  It’s also nice to see The 40-Year Old Virgin scene-stealer Kevin Hart back in an Apatow comedy.  I love the ensemble cast that Stoller has put together and I’m excited to watch everyone play off of one another in the finished film.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and don’t forget to check out Steve’s set visit coverage including 20 things to know about the film and bunch of on set interviews.  We also posted 24 images and five clips.  The film also stars Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, David Paymer, Mimi Kennedy, Jacki Weaver, Brian Posehn, and Mindy Kaling. The Five-Year Engagement opens on April 27th.

We’ve got five new clips from the upcoming comedy The Five-Year Engagement to share today.  The film comes from Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller, who co-wrote the screenplay with star Jason Segel, and follows a couple through the ups and downs of their extended engagement.  I loved the first trailer and included the pic in our most recent iteration of the Most Anticipated feature, so I’m quite looking forward to what Stoller and Segel have put together.  If you missed them, you can check out Steve’s set visit coverage including 20 things to know about the film and bunch of on set interviews.  We also just posted 24 images, which you can check out here.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, David Paymer, Mimi Kennedy, Jacki Weaver, Jim Piddock, Kevin Hart, Brian Posehn, Mindy Kaling. The Five-Year Engagement opens on April 27th.

Universal has released 24 images from director Nicholas Stoller‘s (Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) The Five-Year Engagement.  If you’re not familiar with the film, The Five-Year Engagement “looks at what happens when an engaged couple, Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, keeps getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle.”  The film stars also stars Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, David Paymer, Mimi Kennedy, Jacki Weaver, Jim Piddock, Kevin Hart, Brian Posehn, Mindy Kaling, and many other familiar faces.  I did a set visit last year and listed twenty things to know about the film.  In addition, here’s a bunch of on set interviews.  Hit the jump for the images and full synopsis.  The Five-Year Engagement opens April 27.

With the 84th Annual Academy Awards nearly one week into our past, I’d be interested in hearing from our readers what the one genuine surprise of the night was for them. For me, it was Meryl Streep’s Best Actress win. Now, don’t get me wrong, Streep is obviously an incredible actress who requires zero justification from a movie blogger. It’s just that, of all the award categories in question, I genuinely expected Viola Davis to win Best Actress. So, if you feel so inclined, sound off in the comments section below about your biggest surprise win/loss of the night. Sarcasm, including “your mom” responses, is encouraged.

In the bag of goodies that is this week’s “Top 5″ you’ll find the new trailer and a ton of new images from The Avengers, a new television spot for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, a Prometheus viral video that reassures my suspicions that Guy Pearce could indeed take over the planet if he wanted to, interviews for The Lorax with Danny Devito, Ed Helms, and more, and all of our coverage from the set of Jason Segel and Emily Blunt‘s The Five-Year Engagement. A brief recap and link to each follows after the jump.

Emily Blunt is trying to find the perfect place to hold her wedding with Jason Segel.  As she walks around a local bed and breakfast in Sonoma, California, she thinks she’s finally found it and starts to talk to the owner about price and dates.  It’s at this point the owner starts to proposition her with some filthy language that I can’t write here.  Startled but determined to use the location, she tries to persevere until he finally crosses the line.  It’s at this point that everyone watching starts to laugh and writer-director Nicholas Stoller (Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) calls cut.

But let me back up a second.

In late June of last year, I got to visit the set of The Five-Year Engagement when the production was filming at the Beltane Ranch in Somona, California.  In the film, the Ranch is going to be a local B&B called the Drunken Pig.  If you’re not familiar with the story, Five-Year Engagement “looks at what happens when an engaged couple, Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, keeps getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle.”  The film stars also stars Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, David Paymer, Mimi Kennedy, Jacki Weaver, Jim Piddock, Kevin Hart, Brian Posehn, Mindy Kaling, and many other familiar faces.  Hit the jump for more.

If you’re a fan of Alison Brie (Community) and Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation), director Nicholas Stoller‘s (Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) The Five-Year Engagement was probably already on your must-watch list.  Thankfully, the film looks extremely funny and everything I saw on set tells me that it’s going to be a special film.  For those not familiar, Five-Year Engagement “looks at what happens when an engaged couple, Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, keeps getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle.”  The film stars also stars Rhys Ifans, David Paymer, Mimi Kennedy, Jacki Weaver, Jim Piddock, Kevin Hart, Brian Posehn and Mindy Kaling.

During my group interview on set, Brie and Pratt talked about who they play (Blunts sister and Segel’s friend) and how their characters are the complete opposite of Blunt and Segel, the freedom of working with an R rating, how Brie perfected her British accent, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read or listen to the interview

What if you made a scrappy underdog sports film that wasn’t funny? In some ways that’s what Moneyball is, it’s the story of Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and how he works with Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to build a team to win using statistics over star players. Bennett Miller’s film is engaging enough even for those who don’t follow the game (and those that do may dismiss what they accomplished – as many have) but as a narrative it’s the rare serious attempt to tell an underdog sports story without focusing on jokes or the players. Our review of Moneyball on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Joel Edgerton is in, again. After having been previously reported as the star of Kathryn Bigelow’s (The Hurt Locker) untitled hunt for Osama Bin Laden drama, the Warrior star was forced to withdraw from consideration after scheduling issues with the 300 prequel looked to prevent him from toplining the project. Now Variety reports that Edgerton has officially signed on to star in the pic, which centers on the Navy Seal team that tracked and eventually killed Bin Laden. We recently reported that Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) was in talks to topline the drama, but Variety’s new report makes no mention of the actor. It’s possible he was the second choice to Edgerton, and now that Edgerton’s scheduling issues have been cleared up (he passed on the 300 prequel) Pratt is out.

The script was written by Bigelow’s Hurt Locker scribe Mark Boal, and the only other actor officially signed on is Jason Clarke. Rooney Mara had been eyed to play a female reporter embedded with the Seal team, but her Girl with the Dragon Tattoo promotion schedule prevented her from joining the pic. Edgerton is currently filming The Great Gatsby. The untitled film (previously titled Kill Bin Laden) opens December 19th, 2012. [Update: Deadline reports that in addition to Edgerton, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, and Edgar Ramirez (Carlos) have joined the stellar ensemble. They also include Pratt in the cast listing, so it looks like he's still on the project after all.]

It looks like director Kathryn Bigelow may have finally found the lead for her untitled drama about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden (formerly titled Kill Bin Laden). Joel Edgerton was previously set to topline, but scheduling conflicts forced him to drop out and now Twitch reports that Parks and Recreation star Chris Pratt is in talks to take the lead role. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal (who also wrote Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker) retooled the project after Bin Laden was finally killed, and now it looks like they’re getting around to firming up the cast. The only other confirmed actor is Jason Clarke (The Chicago Code), but a number of performers have been rumored as possibilities for supporting roles (Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Jennifer Ehle, and Guy Pearce to name a few).

Pratt is a peculiar choice as he’s not necessarily known for dramatic roles, but I’m interested to see what the role calls for. He plays lovable schlub Andy on NBC’s stellar comedy Parks and Recreation, and had a fine supporting role in this summer’s Moneyball. Bigelow’s drama is set to go in front of cameras in February, and is slated to open December 19th, 2012.

Universal has debuted the first trailer for The Five-Year Engagement. Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and produced by Judd Apatow, the film follows a young couple’s extended engagement and the ups and downs they experience along the way. The trailer looks pretty great, as it’s very much what you’d expect from an Apatow production. Parks and Recreation‘s Chris Pratt had me cracking up by the first 10 seconds, and Jason Segel and Emily Blunt look to have some superb comedic chemistry. Segel and Stoller co-wrote the pic and I’m really liking the feel of this “relationship comedy” so far. The supporting cast doesn’t hurt as well, with Alison Brie, Mindy Kaling, and Jacki Weaver rounding out the cast.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster. If you missed Steve’s interview with Stoller where he talked about the test screening process of the film (which sounds very positive) click here. The Five-Year Engagement opens April 27th. [Update: We've been sent a high resolution version of the poster and two images which are now included after the jump].

When the NBC comedy series first started, Parks and Recreation only seemed to be riding on the coattails of The Office with its mockumentary style and somewhat weak start in the first season. However, two season later the show has quickly found its footing, crafted some spectacular characters, fantastic comedy and a series that has actually surpassed the quality of the series it once seemed to simply copy. Aside from previous series regulars like Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman and Aziz Ansari consistently delivering some of the best comedic performances on television, the addition of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe as series regulars also bring some magic to Pawnee, Indiana. For a more in-depth analysis of the third season of Parks and Recreation, hit the jump.