If you’re one of those people who loved all of The Matrix movies (okay, or at least a couple of them), and especially Agent Smith, have we got some good news for you. Fans will be happy to hear that Australian actor Hugo Weaving has reprised his role of the mysterious agent.

Well, sort of.

Okay, so it’s not a new Matrix movie, but fans can still get to see Agent Smith again. Weaving is appearing in a new GE commercial for software and other medical equipment that is designed to make patient care better in hospitals.  Hit the jump to check out the commercial.

Our return to Middle Earth is now just over a week away, but if you can’t wait that long a 13-minute preview/featurette for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has landed online to quench your thirst for all things Tolkein.  The preview boasts a great deal of new footage and interviews with the cast (including Elijah Wood) and director Peter Jackson.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette, and click here to read Dave’s review of the film.  The pic stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett and Andy Serkis, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D December 14^th.

Warner Bros. has released six new clips from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  I don’t know what’s in the clips because I’ve gone dark on the film and want to see as much of it as unspoiled as possible.  But that’s just me.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  Click on the respective links for Dave’s review (my review will go up the day before the film opens), Steve’s set visit, and his interviews with Peter Jackson, Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, and Weta Workshop Head Richard Taylor.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th.

In our cinematic age of superhero and sci-fi films, director Peter Jackson is doing his part to shoulder the fantasy genre with a return to Middle Earth in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The first in a trilogy of films adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” An Unexpected Journey sets out to tell the tale of titular protagonist Bilbo Baggins and a company of Dwarves on a quest to reclaim their ancestral home from the grip of the fearsome dragon, Smaug. The film also serves to establish an origin point for the events leading up to and through Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a classic adventure quest in the making; packed with colorful characters, gorgeous settings and plenty of action, the only setbacks are technical ones.

Starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett and Andy Serkis, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D December 14^th. Hit the jump for my review.

A new TV spot for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has gone online. It features Ian Holm reprising his role as an older Bilbo Baggins. Seen with Elijah Wood, this short spot gives us a glimpse at what is likely to be an opening scene from the picture. If you want more in depth information about The Hobbit trilogy, director Peter Jackson previously recorded a video interview in which he discusses creature designs for the orcs, goblins and a bit about the cameo of the dragon, Smaug, who will briefly appear in the first film. The discussion is well-timed, since The Hobbit was just announced at having earned a VFX Oscar nomination.

Starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage and Hugo Weaving, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens December 14th. Hit the jump to watch the new TV spot and to read up on what Jackson had to say. 

The first clip and a large batch of high-resolution images from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have been released.  The clip is quite nice, as it features Ian McKellan’s Gandalf entrusting Martin Freeman’s Bilbo with a very familiar-looking sword.  We’ve seen plenty of money shots in the film’s trailers and TV spots, but this clip highlights one of the softer moments of the film and brings to mind the earnestness that worked so well in The Lord of the Rings.  The new images are also a swell treat for fans, as we’re given a first look at Christopher Lee back as Saruman alongside the angelic Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, as well as The Goblin King and some seriously nasty-looking trolls.

Hit the jump to check out the clip and images.  The film also stars Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Peter Hambleton, John Callen, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, William Kircher, Aidan Turner, Dean O’Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown and Stephen Hunter.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens December 14th.

If are looking for some Hobbit content, you came to the right place because I have something for all tastes:

• A featurette sponsored by Denny’s that understandably focuses on the boorish feast of the dwarfs.
• Four posters.
• An image of Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Fili (Dean O’Gorman), and Kili (Aidan Turner)
• Set photos that provide our first look at Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman.

Hit the jump for everything.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey kicks off the trilogy on December 14.

Tickets for both The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and theatrical marathons for the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy go on sale this coming Wednesday, and a new TV spot for Peter Jackson’s upcoming adaptation of the former has now landed online.  The spot highlights the advanced tickets sale and boasts a bit of new footage, but more excitingly a preview of Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore’s score for The Hobbit has also been released.  We recently got a look at the full tracklisting, and now “Radagast the Brown” has landed online in its entirety.  It’s at once familiar and new, with some lighter/more playful bits reflecting the different tone of The Hobbit in relation to Lord of the Rings.

I’m eager to see Jackson’s three-part adaptation of The Hobbit on the big screen, but I’m almost just as excited to hear Howard Shore’s return to Middle Earth.  Hit the jump to check out the TV spot and to preview the soundtrack.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th. [Update: Warner Bros. has released 7 new high-resolution images which are now included after the jump.]

I recently had the privilege to pose a number of questions to the inimitable Frank Welker.  While you may not know his name, you should know his voice.  In his continuing 45-year acting/voice-acting career, Welker’s voice has brought Scooby-Doo’s Fred Jones, Transformer’s Megatron and countless other characters to life.  Welker is still going strong, voicing multiple characters in Transformers Prime, the title role in The Garfield Show, plus video games, movie work and more.

In this recent interview with Welker, he talked about the changing landscape of the voice acting world over the years, how much time he spends in the studio, which voices give him the most trouble and which roles he’d like to see revisited.  He also commented on the recent remarks by Hugo Weaving, who voiced Megatron in Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. Welker also reflects on his long-time working relationship with Peter Cullen, the on-going voice of Optimus Prime.  Hit the jump for the interview.

If you haven’t gotten enough casting news from us today, we’ve got even more.  First up, THR reports that Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving, and Mirando Otto have joined the Australian anthology film, The Turning.  As we previously reported, the film is based off the short story collection by Tim Winton, and will feature 17 short films each from a different director.  Per THR, “All of the stories in The Turning revolve around turning points in the lives of the people of the Australian coastal town of Angelus. While the segments are separate, there are plot and thematic links between them.” Actors Cate Blanchett, Mia Wasikowska, and David Wenham are all set to make their directing debuts on the film.  There’s currently no word on who Byrne, Weaving, and Otto will play or if they’ll be in the same segment.

Hit the jump for casting news on the 80s-set caper flick Electric Slide.

Tonight the wife and I are hosting an inaugural Halloween gathering for three primary reasons: 1) it’s an excuse to hang out with friends, 2) it’s an opportunity to watch horror classics with said friends and 3) our street name is Elm and we can’t pass on the chance to christen the get together with the least original Halloween party name of all time (I’ll let you do the math). All of this in mind, I was finding it difficult to strike a healthy balance of scary movie goodness that was equal parts frightening (for fans of the horror genre like myself) and fun/of the “Halloween spirit” (for those who don’t necessarily enjoy the genre but can appreciate the season). That was until I remembered that we owned Ernest Scared Stupid on Blu-ray. Now the biggest concern I have is making sure no one walks out of the house at the end of the night with that little gem in hand.

All Hallows Eve 2012 party plans aside, in this week’s Top 5 we’ve got a lineup that includes a visit to the New Zealand set of The Hobbit, the first trailer amongst other new assets from Iron Man 3, Cloud Atlas interviews with Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and more, the first red band trailer for director Fede Alvarez‘s Evil Dead remake, and a heartfelt plea for a Hollywood adaptation of The Legend of Zelda. A brief recap and link to each lives on after the jump.

From acclaimed filmmakers Andy & Lana Wachowski (The Matrix trilogy, Speed Racer) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) comes the stunning, epic and powerful Cloud Atlas, based on the best-selling novel by David Mitchell. Through various genres and time periods, spanning 500 years, and with the actors playing a variety of characters that cross genders and races, the story contains drama, mystery, action and love, interwoven in such a way that illustrates how everything is connected and that the actions and choices in one era can have consequences in another. The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Wishaw and James D’Arcy.

At the film’s press day, actor Hugo Weaving spoke to Collider, in both a roundtable and 1-on-1 interview, about what it was like to finally get to see the film all put together, how he hopes people will be willing to get it a chance , his impression of the book when he first read it back while shooting V for Vendetta, what made this such a special and unique experience, which character he was most excited to embody, and the roles that fans approach him about most often.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

The first TV spot has gone online for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.   It’s a quick thirty-second bit that shows some of the scenes and scenery that have previously been released, but we get two bits of dialogue: one with Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and one with Thorin (Richard Armitage) who both happen to be picking on poor Bilbo (Martin Freeman).

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey also stars Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett and Andy Serkis.  It opens in 3D on December 14th.  Hit the jump to watch the first TV spot.

The wildly ambitious adaptation of Cloud Atlas is a brilliant piece of filmmaking from writers/directors Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, but it’s also a very hard sell for general audiences.  The film takes place across multiple settings and time periods, with the fantastic ensemble cast taking on a number of different characters.  In order to entice those who may be a bit apprehensive about the film, an extensive 13-minute featurette has been released that features interviews with the directors and the entire cast explaining how the film works.  It’s a fascinating watch not only to see how The Wachowskis and Tykwer pulled this thing off, but also to get a look at the whole cast in their various make-up and costumes.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette, and click here to catch up on all of our previous coverage.  The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Doona Bae, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Keith David, Ben Whishaw and James D’Arcy.  Cloud Atlas opens on October 26th.

In the spirit of the Halloween season, last night I watched The Cabin in the Woods again for the first time since catching it in theaters back in April. After a second viewing, my feelings on the film haven’t really changed. I love it. I love it with the passion of an army of “Mermen”. It’s just a brilliant blend of satire, horror and comedy and I’ll argue all day/all night with anyone who tells me differently (in all fairness, it’s okay if you don’t like the movie…you’re wrong, but it’s okay). If you’re like me and enjoy taking in horror classics around good ol’ All Hallows’ Eve, I ask that you do yourself a favor and include The Cabin in the Woods in your classic programming slate. You’ll either (A) love it or (B) have the opportunity to argue with me all day/all night. It’s a win-win.

With my Halloween viewing recommendation in hand, I’ll now present to you this week’s edition of our Top 5. In this week’s iteration is our coverage of New York Comic-Con 2012, yours truly’s Texas Chainsaw 3D set visit, Wally Pfister using the words “appalling” and The Avengers in the same sentence and all hell breaking loose shortly thereafter, the first teaser trailer for director Kimberly Peirce‘s Carrie remake, and Hugo Weaving vs. Transformers. A brief recap and link to each patiently awaits your attention after the jump.