The events of September 11, 2001 had a profound effect on the United States of America that forever changed us as a nation.  We live in a post-9/11 world, and it is impossible to go back to “the way things were before.”  Though it’s been a decade since the event, in the scope of things we’re still living in the immediate aftermath of the most devastating domestic terror attack in history.  Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow has now dealt with these effects in two films, as she previously focused on the events of the Iraq War with her 2008 Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker, and her brilliant 2012 drama Zero Dark Thirty masterfully chronicles the decade-long hunt for the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks: Osama Bin Laden.  The result of the latter is a taut procedural thriller that not only entertains, but also provides a difficult and introspective look at America’s place in the post-9/11 world.  Hit the jump for my review of Zero Dark Thirty on Blu-ray.

After countless shortlist stories and rumors concerning who would play Star-Lord in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the search for the lead role is finally over, and fittingly the actor is someone who never appeared on any of the aforementioned lists.  Deadline reports that Chris Pratt has been tapped to play Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, a character who was born of a human mother and alien father, and is a master strategist and combat expert who wears an ability-enhancing suit and pilots a psychically-linked ship.  As Guardians features a cast of strange and cosmic characters, Quill was an important role to fill because he will likely act as the audience’s introduction to the vast, unfamiliar Guardians world.  Hit the jump for more.

Director Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty has stirred up quite a lot of awards buzz lately, thanks in part to Jessica Chastain’s performance. Chastain is front and center in this final trailer for the picture. There’s plenty of new footage to go around in addition to the reveal of more side-plots, since we already know how the operation to kill Osama bin Laden worked out. The added musical accompaniment of a children’s choir singing Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” puts this thing over the top; I wish it was in theaters right now.

Written by Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty also stars Kyle Chandler, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong, Scott Adkins, Joel Edgerton and James Gandolfini.  The film opens in limited release on December 19th, then expands nationwide on January 11th. Hit the jump to watch the powerful final trailer. 

A few new images and a new clip from director Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty have landed online.  The film documents the decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden, focusing on a CIA analyst whose obsession with tracking the terrorist down eventually led to his assassination.  The drama has picked up plenty of praise since the first critics’ screenings took place last weekend, and judging by the amount of marketing material released in the past few days, Columbia Pictures is gunning for the Oscar win.

Hit the jump to check out the images and the clip, which shows SEAL Team Six taking off for their mission.  The film stars Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Kyle Chandler, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong, Scott Adkins, and James Gandolfini.  Zero Dark Thirty opens in limited release on December 19th and expands nationwide on January 11th.

If you like your movie trailers short on plot, heavy on the ad-libbing and redder than a Romney state, then you’ll love this new red-band effort from Movie 43.  The Peter Farrelly ensemble comedy stars everyone you’ve ever heard of in Hollywood and even some you haven’t.  Movie 43 has released another red-band trailer previously, but the new one mostly focuses on a stream of improv from Jason Sudeikis who is admiring Kristen Bell’s crotch.

Starring Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Leslie Bibb, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler and everyone else, Movie 43 opens on January 25th, 2013.  Hit the jump to see the new red-band trailer.

Disney has slated the Vince Vaughn comedy The Delivery Man (formerly titled Starbuck)  for October 4, 2013.  As we previously reported, the comedy, which is a remake of a 2011 film, centers on a middle-aged man (Vaughn) who finds out that he fathered 533 children via sperm donation.  His life is turned upside down when a few hundred of the donor babies “express an irrepressible need to meet their father.” The film also stars Cobie Smulders, Britt Robinson, and Chris Pratt.  Ken Schott, who wrote and directed the original film, will helm the remake.  This is the second delay for The Delivery Man, which was originally set to open on September 28th of this year before getting kicked back to March 29, 2013.

The Delivery Man will square off against Robert Rodriguez‘ Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and the thriller Paranoia starring Chris Hemsworth, Harrison Ford, and Gary Oldman.

A new trailer for director Kathryn Bigelow’s (The Hurt Locker) thriller Zero Dark Thirty has been released.  The film documents the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, culminating in the now-famous SEAL Team Six operation.  The new cut is heads above the first trailer, in which a war room speech presided over the trailer with scenes of covert operations taking place.  This time around, we actually see the words being spoken in the war room as well as the soldiers in the thick of it, with their boots on the ground.  And the sense of tension here is much more palpable, as it should be.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Jessica Chastain, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong, Scott Adkins, Joel Edgerton, James Gandolfini, and Kyle Chandler.  Zero Dark Thirty opens on December 19th.

The first red-band trailer from the R-rated ensemble comedy Movie 43 has gone online.  I ran out of room to list my thoughts because there’s so Goddamned-many people in this movie!

The films in the collection were directed by Brett Ratner, Elizabeth Banks, Mike Judge, Peter Farrelly, Bob Odenkirk, Steve Baker, Damon Escot, among others.  Here’s a crazy rundown of the cast:  Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Terrence Howard, Halle Berry, Jason Sudeikis, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Chloe Moretz, Josh Duhamel, Johnny Knoxville, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Richard Gere, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Liev Schreiber, Uma Thurman, Seann William Scott, Kieran Culkin, Leslie Bibb, Jimmy Bennett, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Kate Bosworth, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Pratt, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi, and Bobby Cannavale.  Movie 43 opens January 25, 2013.

A bit of a release date shuffle today and man are these titles hard on my lisp:

• Sinister, the horror thriller from director Scott Derrickson and starring Ethan Hawke and Juliet Rylance moves back a week from October 5th to October 12th, 2012.
• The Sessions, from director Ben Lewin and starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy moves up from October 26th to October 19th, 2012.
• The Starbuck remake by Ken Scott (the writer/director of the original 2011 film) has been bumped from September 28th of this year to March 29th, 2013.  Starbuck stars Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt and Cobie Smulders.

Hit the jump for synopses and posters.

When last we reported on Lego: The Piece of Resistance, it was to tell you that Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) would be voicing the protagonist.  Now, it looks like directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) will be adding Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games) and Morgan Freeman (The Dark Knight Rises) to their voice cast.  The picture, which is an 80/20 blend of animation/live-action, centers on Emmet (Pratt), an “instruction worker” who is mistaken for the Master Builder.  The Lego crew them embarks on a quest to prevent an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together.  Hit the jump for more on Banks and Freeman’s roles in the film, as well as updates on other cast members.

We’ve got the first trailer for 10 Years, an ensemble comedy centering on a group of friends at their high school reunion.  The directorial debut of Jamie Linden (Dear John), 10 Years stars Channing Tatum as Jake, who is ready to propose to his girlfriend (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) until he runs into his old flame (Rosario Dawson) at the reunion.  The film also stars Chris Pratt, Justin Long, Max Minghella, Kate Mara, Oscar Isaac, Ari Graynor and Lynn Collins.  Hit the jump to watch the trailer.

Today, we’ve got a poster round-up for you, featuring some new domestic and international looks:

• Liberal Arts, stars writer/director Josh Radnor (Happythankyoumoreplease) as a thirty-something  loser who falls for a 19-year-old college student (Elizabeth Olsen) when he returns to his alma mater.  Look for Liberal Arts in wide release starting September 21st.
• Zero Dark Thirty, the Osama bin Laden picture from director Kathryn Bigelow, stars Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt and Jessica Chastain in the revealing story of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six operation.  Zero Dark Thirty lands December 19th.
• Alex Cross, the adaptation of the James Patterson novel, stars Tyler Perry in the title role opposite Matthew Fox as the antagonist.  Alex Cross debuts October 19th.
• Looper, a sci-fi time-traveling actioner from writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick) and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt, opens September 28th.

Hit the jump to see the posters.

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.