The first trailer has snuck online for Dead Man Down, an action thriller from writer J.H. Wyman (Fringe) and director Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 2009).  Dead Man Down stars Colin Farrell (Seven Psychopaths) as Victor, a right hand man for a New York crime lord who seeks vengeance against his boss for the death of his wife and daughter.  When a victim (Noomi Rapace - Prometheus) blackmails Victor into getting some revenge of her own, the two get caught up in the fallout.  The trailer, if overlong, is a balanced presentation of a dramatic character story and a Hollywood shoot em up.  Dead Man Down might have just nudged its way into my “Most Anticipated” list of early 2013.

Also starring Dominic Cooper (The Devil’s Double) and Terrence Howard (Iron Man), Dead Man Down opens theatrically March 8th.  Hit the jump to watch the first trailer.

Monday evening, Universal held an impromptu dinner with filmmaker Oliver Stone and actor Benicio Del Toro. The topic at hand: the underrated Savages – which met a caustic reception at the time of release and next week will be released on Blu-Ray & DVD. However Stone, ever the wordsmith and thinker, ran through a gamut of topics ranging from his feelings on Blu-Ray to this past election to even another (this would be fourth) cut of his initially maligned epic Alexander.

Stone told the press that, due to the success of Alexander: The Final Cut, Warner Bros. has asked him to go back and do another cut of the film for a future DVD release.  Hit the jump for the director’s full thoughts on a proposed fourth cut of Alexander.

[This is a re-post of my review from the Toronto International Film Festival.  Seven Psychopaths opens today.]

A way to work through writer’s block is to write about the writer’s block. At least you’re writing, and you may get something more creative than if you had carefully mapped out your path. I’m not sure if writer-director Martin McDonagh suffered a case of writer’s block on his way to creating Seven Psychopaths, but the end result is brash, brilliant, wickedly fun, and the best film about screenwriting since Adaptation. Psychopaths is viciously funny, delightfully clever, and meta without being cloyingly self-conscious. McDonagh’s machine-gun script races with energy fueled by wild performances from stars Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, and Christopher Walken. The movie doesn’t simply break through writer’s block; Seven Psychopaths gleefully blows the block to hell.

Earlier today, we showed you our exclusive poster for Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths by Chris Thornley.  The film centers on a screenwriter (Colin Farrell) suffering writer’s block, who then gets drawn into the mayhem created by his two dog-napping friends (Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken) after they kidnap a shih tzu belonging to a psychotic gangster (Woody Harrelson).

Five other character posters have been posted on various websites, and you can check out those posters after the jump.  A seventh poster will be selected from artwork submitted to the movie’s official Facebook page.  The film also stars Olga Kurylenko, Abbie Cornish, and Tom Waits. Seven Psychopaths opens October 12th.  Click here to read my review.

One of the best films I saw at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was writer-director Martin McDonagh‘s (In Bruges) dark comedy Seven Psychopaths.  The film centers on a screenwriter (Colin Farrell) suffering writer’s block, who then gets drawn into the mischief of his two dog-napping friends (Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken) after they kidnap a pooch belonging to a psychotic gangster (Woody Harrelson).  For more on the film that also stars Tom Waits, Zeljko Ivanek, Abbie Cornish, and Olga Kurylenko, here’s Matt’s review, seven clips, and all our previous coverage.

The day after the world premiere I sat down with McDonagh and Farrell for an exclusive interview.  We talked about what it was like to premiere in Toronto, how controlling is McDonagh with the dialogue and did anything change on set, deleted scenes, and what will it take for McDonagh to make a movie every year.  Hit the jump to watch.

Filming has commenced on Disney’s star-studded real life drama Saving Mr. Banks.  The film chronicles Walt Disney’s twenty-year pursuit of the film rights to author P.L. Travers’ novel Mary Poppins, and the rocky relationship that formed between the two.  Tom Hanks will take on the daunting task of portraying Disney (the first time he’s ever been portrayed in a dramatic film), while Emma Thompson is set as Travers.  Director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) has assembled a killer cast that includes Colin Farrell and Ruth Wilson (Anna Karenina) as Travers’ parents, Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) as Travers’ aunt who was the inspiration for the character of Mary Poppins, Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) as screenwriter Don Dagradi, and Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak as the songwriting Sherman Brothers.  Moreover, Paul Giamatti and Kathy Baker also appear in supporting roles.

Hit the jump for more on the project, including the film’s full synopsis.

A way to work through writer’s block is to write about the writer’s block.  At least you’re writing, and you may get something more creative than if you had carefully mapped out your path.  I’m not sure if writer-director Martin McDonagh suffered a case of writer’s block on his way to creating Seven Psychopaths, but the end result is brash, brilliant, wickedly fun, and the best film about screenwriting since Adaptation.  Psychopaths is viciously funny, delightfully clever, and meta without being cloyingly self-conscious.  McDonagh’s machine-gun script races with energy fueled by wild performances from stars Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, and Christopher Walken.  The movie doesn’t simply break through writer’s block; Seven Psychopaths gleefully blows the block to hell.

A red band trailer for director Martin McDonagh‘s (In Bruges) dark comedy Seven Psychopaths has been released.  The film follows a trio of dognappers (Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, and Christopher Walken) who steal the wrong shih tzu and end up running afoul of a psychotic gangster (Woody Harrelson).  I actually think I slightly prefer the green band trailer, but the cast is still aces in this clip.  Walken again steals the show with his genius looks/delivery, but there really doesn’t seem to be a weak link anywhere.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Tom Waits, Gabourey Sidibe, Abbie Cornish, and Olga Kurylenko.  Seven Psychopaths opens on October 12th.

Yesterday, we showed you the entertaining trailer for Martin McDonagh‘s Seven Psychopaths.  The movie follows a trio of dognappers (Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, and Christopher Walken) who steal the wrong shih tzu end up running afoul of a psychotic gangster (Woody Harrelson).  But the gangster is only 1/7th of the film’s group of psychopaths, and CBS films has released seven character posters highlighting the eponymous lunatics.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The film also stars Olga Kurylenko, Abbie Cornish, and Tom Waits.  Seven Psychopaths will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, and opens domestically October 12th.

The first trailer for Seven Psychopaths has been released, and it left a big smile on my face.  It looks like director Martin McDonagh has delivered the same darkly comic verve he brought to In Bruges, and the entire cast looks terrific.  I’m particularly impressed that the trailer quickly breaks down all the psychopaths and still squeezes in the brief synopsis: three hapless dog kidnappers steal a pup from a gangster.  When you pair a brilliant cast with McDonagh’s comic sensibilities, you probably have a great movie in store.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, Gabourey Sidibe, Abbie Cornish, and Olga Kurylenko.  Seven Psychopaths opens on October 12th.

Going into this weekend, there were some people who believed Sony’s remake of Total Recall would give The Dark Knight Rises a run for its money. Those people were wrong. With an estimate of $36.4 million, TDKR claimed its third straight weekend at number one while Total Recall barely topped the debut of the Arnold Schwarzenegger original… back in 1990.

Last week, I admitted to being among those who become hopelessly caught up in the Olympic Summer Games. One week later and things have taken an unexpected turn for the pathetic as I now find myself legitimately concerned with the “Medal Count”. As if it has any sort of bearing on my own life in any way, shape, and/or form, I’m consistently pulling for the U.S. to overtake China not only in total medals, but also in total Gold medals. In short, whether by virtue of patriotism or just sheer boredom, living vicariously through world-class athletes is what my life has come to.

Sports talk aside, awaiting you on the other end of this week’s Top 5 are brief recaps and links to Steve’s Total Recall video interviews with Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, and more, the first full trailer for James Bond’s Skyfall, our multi-part interview with the great Guillermo del Toro, the news that The Hobbit will be a trilogy, and all of our Saturn Awards interviews including talks with writer/director Drew Goddard and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.

Opening this Friday is director Len Wiseman‘s remake of Total Recall.  Based on the short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick, Total Recall stars Colin Farrell in the role originated by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  In the film, Farrell stars as Douglas Quaid, a man who is bored with his life (even though he’s married to Kate Beckinsale) and seeks to have adventurous memories implanted in his brain.  However, after visiting Recall, both friends and family are after him for different reasons.  But the big problem is he doesn’t know what’s real.  The film also stars Jessica Biel, John Cho, Bill Nighy, and Bryan Cranston.

The other day I got to speak with Colin Farrell here in Los Angeles.  We talked about how the film is non-stop action, what he did to prepare for the role, the practical sets and how it wasn’t a CG fest, and why he agreed to do the movie.  In addition, one of my most anticipated movies is Martin McDonagh‘s Seven Psychopaths (In Bruges).  Farrell told me one of his friends saw it and said “it’s out there and it’s amazing.”  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

Director Len Wiseman’s remake of Total Recall hits theaters next weekend, and Sony has released five clips and 15 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage from the film in anticipation of the release.  Colin Farrell takes over the role originated by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and judging by these clips and previous trailers, Wiseman’s got a whole lotta sci-fi action in store for moviegoers.  So much so that the director recently revealed to Steve that he put together a director’s cut for the Blu-ray that includes 17 minutes of extra footage.

Hit the jump to check out the clips and behind-the-scenes footage, and be sure to check out Steve’s Comic-Con interviews with stars Jessica Biel and Bryan Cranston.  The film also stars Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy, and John Cho.  Total Recall opens on August 3rd.

Returning to Comic-Con for a big Hall H presentation, with its August 3^rd theatrical release imminent, Total Recall is now finished and ready for audiences, and the fans were able to get a good idea of what to expect when it hits the big screen. The film is about a factory worker, named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), who begins to suspect that he is a spy after a visit to Rekall – a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led – goes wrong and he finds himself on the run.

During a press conference with director Len Wiseman and actors Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel and Bryan Cranston, they spoke about how they decided what to keep from the original, identifying with such over-the-top material, what excited them about the script, Cranston’s horrible case of pink eye in both eyes (that had to later be digitally removed from the film), the theme of paranoia about the invasion of technology in our society, building a futuristic world, and whether the sci-fi genre still has a lower level of respect than other genres. Jessica Biel also said that it’s still a bit too early to say that she’s signed on as Viper for the Wolverine film. Check out what they had to say after the jump.  Also, check out our recap of the Total Recall panel.