The first clip from Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2 is now online.  While I’m surprised that this massive fight scene between costumed heroes and villains is the first clip we’re getting, I’m not complaining!  Some of our old favorites are back but there is a host of new characters on both sides of the battle.  Battle Guy, Night Bitch and Doctor Gravity get in on the action and it’s not just Kick-Ass and The Mother Fucker who square off.  Hit-Girl takes on a big challenge when she goes up against Mother Russia by herself.

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, Jim Carrey and Olga Kurkulina, Kick-Ass 2 opens August 16th.  Hit the jump to watch the clip. [Update: Unfortunately it looks as if this clip has been taken down.  Sorry if you missed it!]

An international trailer for Kick-Ass 2 has been released.  The red-band trailer focused on the plot of the film where we saw heroes banding together against the threat of The Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).  The international trailer mostly ignores all that (there’s no Motherfucker to be found), and shines a light directly on Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz).  That’s not too surprising when you consider she was the most popular character in the first film, and Moretz looks like she’s even better this time around.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  There’s also a new character poster for Jim Carrey‘s superhero, Colonel Stars and Stripes.  The movie co-stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, and Olga Kurkulina.  Kick-Ass 2 opens August 16th.

A couple of days ago, director Gareth Edwards (Monsters) revealed the first video from the set of Godzilla along with the first behind-the-scenes images.  Now, new images of star Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass) in military uniform have appeared, along with video from the two-week shoot in a small Canadian town.  It’s your straightforward military action stuff complete with camouflaged troops and (possibly nuclear) missiles.

Also starring Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn,  Bryan Crantson, Ken Watanabe and Richard T. Jones, with a script from Max Borenstein, Frank Darabont, and Dave Callaham, Godzilla opens in 3D on May 16, 2014.  Hit the jump to see the new set images and video. 

Tackling a seminal work of fiction always presents a filmmaker with a unique set of challenges, even more so than book adaptations in general.  For director Joe Wright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard on Anna Karenina, those included not only condensing a mammoth book into a slightly over two-hour movie but doing so in a manner that stood out from the numerous previous adaptations.  The result is a mixed bag with many parts to love individually but a whole that simply falls short. 

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures announced today that filming has begun in Vancouver on director Gareth Edwards’ (Monster) new Godzilla film. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Juliette Binoche lead a cast that also includes David Strathairn and Bryan Cranson.  Additionally, the press release notes that Ken Watanabe has now joined the film as well.  Though plot details are firmly under wraps, we know from the film’s brief Comic-Con appearance last year that Edwards is taking a grounded, realistic approach to the classic monster.  His take attempts to answer the question, “What would it be like if all of this really happened?”

Edwards is working from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Frank Darabont, and Dave Callaham.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.  Godzilla opens in 3D on May 16, 2014.

The first red-band trailer for the sequel Kick-Ass 2 debut this morning, and now Universal has released a batch of high-resolution images and the first poster for the film. Jeff Wadlow takes over from the first film’s director Matthew Vaughn this time around, and the story finds Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick-Ass and Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl inspiring a new wave of masked superheroes that join in their fight against evil.  On the flipside, Christopher Mintz-Plasse has now become a supervillain named The Mother Fucker and is assembling his own masked evil league.

Hit the jump to check out the images and poster.  The film also stars Morris Chestnut, John Leguizamo, Donald Faison, and Jim Carrey.  Kick-Ass 2 opens on August 16th.

This weekend, we’ve been showing you toys from Toy Fair 2013 including action figures for Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 3, and more. It’s all about the merchandising, and if you’re going to get reasonably-priced action figures, you can’t do much better than NECA.  The toymaker has released images for some of their big 2013 toys with a look at their figures for The Lone Ranger and Kick-Ass 2.  The figures look good, but they also provide our first look at Kick-Ass 2‘s villain, “The Motherfucker” (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), formerly Red Mist.  It’s a wild costume, I’m curious to see what it looks like in real life.

Hit the jump to check out the toys.  The Lone Ranger opens July 3rd.  Kick-Ass 2 opens June 28th.

New posters for Kick-Ass 2 are about to get in our faces by getting up in the faces of the film’s characters.  In the sequel, Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has inspired a wave of superheroes led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey).  When the group becomes the target of Red Mist’s (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) fury—now going by the name of “The Motherfucker”—only Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) can save them.  I enjoyed the posters for the first film, and I suppose the recruitment-style posters have had an unexpected payoff for the new movie.

Hit the jump to take a look at the posters.  Hopefully, the official versions will be released soon.  The film also stars Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, Olga Kurkulina, and Nicolas Cage.  Kick-Ass 2 opens June 28th. [Update: Universal has asked us to remove the posters.  You can still read the film's full synopsis after the jump.]

Earlier this month, we got our first official look at Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) in Jeff Wadlow‘s Kick-Ass 2.  Today, the latest issue of Empire Magazine has revealed new images of Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) along with a glimpse of the Colonel’s “Justice Forever” headquarters.  When the sequel’s story picks up, Kick-Ass has inspired a wave of superheroes led by Colonel Stars and Stripes.  When the group becomes the target of Red Mist’s (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) fury—now going by the name of “The Motherfucker”—only Hit-Girl can save them.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, Olga Kurkulina, and Nicolas Cage.  Kick-Ass 2 opens June 28th.

In case you missed the recent news, the first image from Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2 debuted, featuring Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular tough guy and the Colonel’s sidekick, Sophia.  A new hi-res version of the image is now available after the jump.  Kick-Ass 2, also starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Nicolas Cage opens June 28th.

Another new image that recently popped up is from the newly titled Julian Assange/WikiLeaks film The Fifth Estate.  A hi-res version of the first image, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange with Daniel Brühl as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, is now available.  Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate will open November 15th.  Hit the jump to view both images in hi-res.

The first official image has been released for Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2.  The superhero sequel to Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 comic adaptation features the return of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as titular hero, Kick-Ass, plus plenty of newcomers.  One such addition is Jim Carrey, who is showcased in the first image as Colonel Stars and Stripes, the leader of a new band of crime-fighters named Justice Forever.

Also starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Nicolas Cage, Donald Faison and Clark Duke, Kick-Ass 2 opens June 28th.  Hit the jump to see the image.

Oliver Stone has always hit home runs controversially and commercially, but lately he’s been striking out critically. Savages, which came out back in July, is a break from Stone’s controversial oeuvre. Revolving around a drug cartel kidnapping and an unlikely friendship, Savages is one well-crafted, sexy-ass slugfest. It’s more U-Turn Stone than W. (I have no idea what Wall-Street: Money Never Sleeps was supposed to be) and despite its mediocre run in theaters (nothing this summer fared well in the shadow of The Avengers), it was one of the most entertaining films of summer 2012. Hit the jump to find out how the Universal Blu-ray holds up.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  Anna Karenina opens today in limited release.]

Joe Wright is a gifted director. His direction is daring, inventive, captivating, and unforgettable. But that doesn’t make him a great director. A great director finds a way to take the material he’s given and bring it to its maximum potential. Joe Wright doesn’t elevate his movies; he exceeds them. Pride and Prejudice and Hanna are marvelous, but Atonement and The Soloist are terrible. Granted, any director can only do so much with a script he’s given, but Wright seems content to leave his poor stories in the dust so that we can sit in awe at his bold direction like the long take of Dunkirk in Atonement or the musical colors in The Soloist. In his new film, Anna Karenina, Wright has once again blown past his story by using a melodrama to wrap his fascinating framing device rather than the other way around. Anna Karenina is a wonder to behold, but it leaves you wondering what you’re holding.

Focus Features has released eight posters for Joe Wright‘s Anna Karenina.  Each poster highlights a different kind of love featured in the movie, although some of them are a bit redundant like the “forbidden love” and “scandalous love” between Anna (Keira Knightley) and Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) or the “pure love” and “romantic love” between Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) and Kitty (Alicia Vikander).  Adjectives aside, Anna Karenina is a big, bold romance film, and while I wasn’t completely taken with it, I talked to plenty of people at TIFF who were.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The film also stars Jude Law, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, and Olivia Williams.  Anna Karenina opens November 16th.

Joe Wright is a gifted director.  His direction is daring, inventive, captivating, and unforgettable.  But that doesn’t make him a great director.  A great director finds a way to take the material he’s given and bring it to its maximum potential.  Joe Wright doesn’t elevate his movies; he exceeds them.  Pride and Prejudice and Hanna are marvelous, but Atonement and The Soloist are terrible.  Granted, any director can only do so much with a script he’s given, but Wright seems content to leave his poor stories in the dust so that we can sit in awe at his bold direction like the long take of Dunkirk in Atonement or the musical colors in The Soloist.  In his new film, Anna Karenina, Wright has once again blown past his story by using a melodrama to wrap his fascinating framing device rather than the other way around.  Anna Karenina is a wonder to behold, but it leaves you wondering what you’re holding.