New posters have been released for Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus, Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, and Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  The Coriolanus poster is one of the best I’ve seen all year and I would happily hang it on my wall (provided the film is good, and it certainly looks good).  The Contagion poster is made up of the character posters we’ve already seen.  Finally, there’s a new code-face poster for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  This one features Mark Strong as MI6 agent Jim Prideaux.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  Coriolanus opens December 2nd.  Contagion opens September 9th.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opens November 18th.

Entertainment Weekly has posted its fall movie preview, which offers quite a few new images for us to pore over.  Most notably, this is our first official look at Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar.  And we’ve seen Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in a number of promotional images, but this looks like the first still from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  After the jump, you’ll also find new images of Chloe Moretz and Asa Butterfield in Hugo, George Clooney and co-stars in The Descendants, Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet in Contagion, and Adam Sandler and Adam Sandler in Jack and Jill.

As part of their Fall/Holiday Preview, Warner Bros. has released the first official images from Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion and the rom-com anthology New Year’s Eve.  They’ve also released new images from the family film Dolphin Tale.  The images don’t hold any grand surprises. The Contagion images show that a virus is probably going down. The New Year’s Eve image shows Lea Michele and Jon Bon Jovi making sweet, sweet music together. The Dolphin Tale images show dolphins.

You can check out the images after the jump.  Contagion opens September 9th.  Dolphin Tale opens in 3D on September 23rd.  New Year’s Eve opens December 9th.  Click here for the first image from A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and click here for the first image from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Steven Soderbergh’s disease horror flick Contagion boasts an outstanding cast and now six of them have their own posters for the film.  Hit the jump to check out the character posters featuring stars Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, and Gwyneth Paltrow.  Contagion opens September 9th.

At this point in my life, the possibility I could go to the Venice Film Festival is about the same as me going to Mars.  However, this fall I would much prefer to go to Venice because Mars doesn’t have an amazing selection of films lined up for their film festival (at least not that I know of).  We already knew that George Clooney’s The Ides of March would be opening the festival but Variety has now confirmed some must-see films will be premiering in Venice as well.  Among the high-profile movies playing in competition are Roman Polanski’s Carnage, Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, and David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method.

Hit the jump for the complete list of movies announced thus far for Venice and my speculation on what will be left to debut at Toronto.  The 2011 Venice Film Festival runs from August 31st through September 10th.

Warner Bros. has released the first teaser poster for Contagion, a thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh.  The script by Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!) tracks a lethal airborne virus: “As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.”  The stylish design lists the various metropolises that will be destroyed by the outbreak in accordance with the international scope promised by the tagline: “The world goes viral September 9.”  Personally, I was already infected by the trailer.

The all-star cast features Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Lawrence Fishbourne, Bryan Cranston, Demitri Martin, and Elliott Gould.  See the full poster after the jump.

Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for director Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, and it’s slightly terrifying. The film centers on a deadly virus outbreak, and at the beginning of the trailer the whole thing seems kinda silly (see: 1995’s Outbreak), but then the enormity of it hits and…well, you’ll see. With this being one of Soderbergh’s last efforts before retirement, combined with the incredible cast he’s assembled, Contagion has the makings of a fantastic thriller. This one was already high on my “most-anticipated” list, but after this trailer it has definitely jumped up towards the top.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film stars Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Lawrence Fishbourne, Bryan Cranston, Demitri Martin and Elliott Gould. Contagion opens September 9^th.

We should be getting a trailer soon for Steven Soderbergh’s epidemic thriller Contagion, but because studios still think that anyone watches Entertainment Tonight, the show still gets to premiere footage from the latest movies which the ET anchors then proceed to ruin with their chirpy voiceovers.  However, since I’m jazzed for this film and this is the first look we’re getting at the flick, I’ll begrudgingly encourage you to hit the jump to check out some brief footage.  I’m hearing that the film is both epic in scope and truly terrifying.

Hit the jump to check out the footage.  The film stars Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Bryan Cranston, Kate Winslet, and Laurence Fishburne.  Contagion opens September 9th.

Warner Bros. has announced some release date news for Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim and Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion. The studio will roll out del Toro’s “biggest giant monster movie ever made” on July 12th, 2013. While it’s more than two years in the future, the pic is currently the sole occupant of that date meaning that other studios now get to work around Pacific Rim when considering their own 2013 release slate. For those new to the program, Pacific Rim stars Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba and is set in a near future where humans fight aliens via piloting giant robots.

In addition to the Pacific Rim release date, Warner Bros. also announced that it is bumping up the sci-fi/thriller Contagion from October 21st to September 9th, 2011. The move means that the pic no longer has to worry about dueling with Paranormal Activity 3 and will instead duke it out with Lionsgate’s Warrior starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton. Starring Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Bryan Cranston, and Gwyneth Paltrow, Contagion centers on a team of international doctors who are contracted by the CDC to help control a deadly virus outbreak.

Steven Soderbergh is retiring from filmmaking soon, and I will weep when he does.  But the director puts the move in the proper perspective:

“I’m still following my plan. I’ve been stupid about it, I should have kept my mouth shut, but at the same time, I don’t think there’s anything that unusual about it. By the time I finish with the series of projects I’m planning, it will be 26 or 27 films. That’s plenty and if you take volume over quality, I’m twice as good as Kubrick.”

Indeed, there are five more Soderbergh movies to come.  Contagion opens on October 21 and earlier today Relativity announced a January 12, 2012 release for Haywire.  In September, he’ll start work on Magic Mike, which casts Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer as male strippers (finally!).  The Man from U.N.C.L.E. starring frequent collaborator George Clooney is up next with a February 2012 start date.  The final project on Soderbergh’s to-do list is Liberace, led by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.  More quotes from Soderbergh after the jump:

The Cannes Film Festival is only halfway finished but we’re already looking ahead to another major European film fest: Venice.  Early selections have been announced for the 68th Venice Film Festival and there are already some fantastic additions.  Roman Polanski’s Carnage and David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method will both be making their world premieres at the festival along with Steve McQueen’s Shame, Todd Solondz’ Dark Horse, Cameron Crowe’s Pearl Jam documentary PJ20, and more.  Variety also reports that films submitted but not yet approved for the festival include Madonna’s W.E., Walter Salles’ On the Road, and Luc Besson’s The Lady.  Then there’s the film that are being tipped to premiere at Venice: Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, Steven Sodebergh’s Contagion and Haywire, and a toss-up between Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

So if you’re already seething with jealousy that you’re not attending Cannes this year, hold on to that jealousy because it looks like you’re going to need it when Venice rolls around.  The 68th Venice Film Festival runs from August 31st to September 10th.

While some of the studios at CinemaCon start their presentation in the slow lane, Warner Bros. showed up in 5th gear and opened their panel by world premiering footage from Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar, Final Destination 5, The Hangover Part II, Contagion, Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Crazy Stupid Love, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, A Harold and Kumar Christmas in 3D, and a number of other big releases.  For a film nerd like me that’s been looking forward to a number of these movies, it was awesome.

Shortly after the presentation ended, I recorded a video blog with Peter from /Film and Alex from Firstshowing.  Since we decided to just talk about the new footage from Green Lantern and Harry Potter, I’ve also written a bit about the other movies before the video.

While many have been nervous about Green Lantern based on the footage from the first trailer, all three of us were blown away by what WB showed.  Also, the footage will be at WonderCon tomorrow, so fans will get the chance to see it for themselves.  Trust me, after tomorrow’s presentation, the buzz online about Green Lantern is going to be very strong.  Hit the jump for more.

Steven Soderbergh’s action-thriller Contagion is now filming, and Jude Law has been spotted on set. The star-studded thriller features Law, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Lawrence Fishbourne, Bryan Cranston, Demitri Martin and Elliott Gould. The film centers on a team of international doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with a deadly virus outbreak. As if the cast wasn’t reason enough to see the flick, Matt Damon recently revealed that Soderbergh will be retiring soon, after his biopic Liberace with Damon and Michael Douglas and one last possible foray with George Clooney. Hit the jump to see Law looking like a spaceman.

Right before the Christmas break, I got to sit down with Gwyneth Paltrow to talk about her new movie Country Strong.  By now you’ve probably seen the clips (or the trailer) and know Paltrow plays an emotionally unstable country star that gets involved with a rising young singer-songwriter (Garrett Hedlund). In addition, Tim McGraw plays her husband and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) plays a beauty-queen-turned-singer who is trying to make a name for herself.

Anyway, during the interview Paltrow talked about the challenges of making the film (she actually sings and she’s good), how she got attached to the project, what this year has been like for her, and will she record an album.  But I think the best part of the interview was the very beginning.  That’s because I got Simon Pegg to give me two questions to ask her (they’re close friends) and her reaction is great.  I won’t spoil what I asked.  Finally, towards the end of the interview, Paltrow talked about how Pepper Potts won’t be in Joss Whedon’s Avengers movie and reveals who she plays in on Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion.  Hit the jump to watch:

With the holiday movie season coming to a close, and the cinematic dead-zone that is January just around the corner, what better time than now to look ahead to the next 12 months in film? We’ve compiled a list of what we see as the 35 most anticipated films of 2011, conveniently separated into five categories: Superheroes, Sequels, Dramas, Comedies/Family and Action/Sci-Fi. For each film, we’ve provided basic director/cast information, as well as what it’s about and why we’re excited about it. Sure to be another great year in film, 2011 has sequels galore, two Marvel films, two Steven Spielberg films, the return of Cameron Crowe, and Martin Scorsese’s first foray into 3D. So what are you waiting for? Hit the jump and check out what 2011 has in store for us movie lovers.