Tarsem Singh directed Immortals, which is readily apparent from the first few seconds. There are few directors working today with such a distinct visual style, and that can be commended – to some extent. What he doesn’t have is a good grasp on how to build a narrative, and so his films play better as an instillation pieces. His movies are filled with pretty images, but they don’t really build a greater narrative. With Immortals he’s got the story of the Greek gods, with humans Theseus (Henry Cavill) facing up against Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), while the gods (Luke Evans, Isabella Lucas, Kellan Lutz) watch and decide if they risk helping mortals. Our review of the Blu-ray of Immortals follows after the jump.

As the 84th Academy Awards move closer, we’re starting to get a better sense of how things will pan out. We recently shared the 39 songs that will contend for the Best Original Song category, and now the Academy has announced the 97 original scores eligible for the Best Original Score award. AMPAS is notoriously picky when it comes to eligibility in this category, and as we feared the scores for both Drive and Attack the Block have been deemed ineligible. Also disappointing is the ineligibility of Alexandre Desplat’s mesmerizing score for The Tree of Life.

While it’s upsetting to see some of the year’s best work side-lined, there’s plenty to be happy about. I was a huge fan of Howard Shore’s work in Hugo and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as well as The Chemical Brothers’ brilliant work in the criminally underseen Hanna. Hit the jump for the full list, as well as who I think will make the cut.

Jack and Jill gained some ground on Saturday, though not enough to slay the Immortals.  The 3D action/fantasy film finished first with an estimated $32 million from 3,112 locations. Considering that the film’s distributor was expecting a top opening of $26 million that has to be seen as a win.  And even if the film’s total does look somewhat anemic compared to past 3D hits, with the year we’ve had I’d prefer to focus on the positive.

I’m going to bypass my usual opening paragraph musings this week and simply wish everyone a Happy Veterans Day weekend. Given that I don’t have any immediate family or friends who serve, I won’t claim to know the first thing about the sacrifices that each serviceman/woman and their respective families and friends are continually asked to make. I reap all of the benefits of their service without any of the concessions. As a result, I owe a debt of gratitude to each and every one of them.

In this week’s “Top 5″ installment you can find the first trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman, a cornucopia of interviews for Immortals and Cars 2, new set images from the set of The Expendables 2 featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and a look at the road that led Billy Crystal and Brian Grazer to the top of the 2012 Oscars. Hit the jump for a brief recap and link to each.

Surprise! After two financially bruising weekends, things are looking up for the American box office. With estimates for Friday’s top five coming in higher than expected, it looks like this weekend should easily top 2010 levels. But that’s not the surprise. The surprise is which film is leading the charge. Relativity Media’s Immortals was Friday’s breakout hit – taking in an estimated $15 million from 3,438 locations. That puts the 3D action title on track to earn $35 million by Sunday, a figure that significantly beats the film’s most optimistic early projections. In fact, a few days ago the smart money was on a third place finish for Immortals behind Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill and two-time champ Puss in Boots. Instead, Jack and Jill is tracking well below Sandler’s recent comps, taking in $9.8 million on Friday for what should be a $24 million weekend. And, after its limited release on Wednesday, director Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar took in an estimated $4.2 million from its expanded run in 1,901 locations.  Details tomorrow.

“The director is God.”  It’s a saying that has been applied to directors of both stage and screen.  Directors (theoretically) control every aspect of a production and they marshal armies of various departments to bring forth a vision.  Director Tarsem Singh took the saying as the subtext for his new movie, Immortals.  Singh has always been an indulgent visual stylist, but with Immortals, he has bent a script to create a shining tribute to his own genius.  On the page, the movie is a standard “Hero from humble beginnings”, but in the hands of Singh, it becomes lush, outlandish, baffling, and above all, vainglorious.

With director Tarsem Singh’s new film Immortals opening this weekend, Collider has been overrun with exclusive interviews with the filmmakers and cast over the past few days.  For those not familiar with Immortals (watch the trailer and clips), the film centers on Theseus (Henry Cavill), a mortal who teams up with the Greek gods in order to defeat the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).  The film also stars Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff.

During my interview with producer Gianni Nunnari, we spoke about the challenge of getting the project made, filming in Montreal, the practical sets, how much things changed while filming, and what’s up with Frank Miller‘s Ronin.  In addition, Nunnari talked about the young Julius Caesar film he’s developing with Mark Canton called Emperor that’s based on a four-book series.  Hit the jump to watch.

With director Tarsem Singh’s new film Immortals opening this weekend, Collider has been overrun with exclusive interviews with the filmmakers and cast over the past few days.  For those not familiar with Immortals (watch the trailer and clips), the film centers on Theseus (Henry Cavill), a mortal who teams up with the Greek gods in order to defeat the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).  The film also stars Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff.

During my interview with producer Mark Canton, we spoke about the challenge of getting the project made, the comparisons to 300, the practical sets and the 3D, the violence, and working within the budget.  We also talked about Canton’s other projects such as the 300 sequel (300: Battle for Artemisia), Piranha 3DD, Freelancers, The Tomb and Emperor – which will be directed by Burr Steers.  Hit the jump to watch.

“If you anger the gods, prepare to have your ass handed to you.” That’s what Immortals director Tarsem Singh (The Cell) appears to be saying in this clip from the upcoming Greek epic. Definitely not approved by the MPAA for primetime promos, the 80-second fight scene features glowing golden gods rending creatures apart in spectacularly bloody fashion. I don’t recall the Greek gods having chain whips or kamas, but I’m not complaining.

Immortals follows Theseus (Henry Cavill) as he teams up with the Greek gods to take down the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke). The film also stars Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff. Immortals opens this Friday, November 11. Hit the jump to check out the clip.

With director Tarsem Singh’s new film Immortals opening this weekend, Collider has been overrun with exclusive interviews with the filmmakers and cast over the past few days.  For those not familiar with Immortals (watch the trailer and clips), the film centers on Theseus (Henry Cavill), a mortal who teams up with the Greek gods in order to defeat the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).  The film also stars Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff.

The other day I sat down with Stephen Dorff for an extended interview.  During our wide ranging conversation, we discussed how he got involved in Immortals, the practical sets and extravagant costumes, his research and preparation, the last video game he played, his go-to karaoke song, and what people always want to talk about when they spot him in a Starbucks.  In addition, he revealed a lot of information about an upcoming film called Brake that he filmed over 11 days.  He called it a “one man show” and described it as, “Die Hard in the trunk of a car.”  Hit the jump for more.

With director Tarsem Singh’s new film Immortals opening this weekend, Collider will be overrun with exclusive interviews with the filmmakers and cast over the next few days.  For those not familiar with Immortals (watch the trailer and clips), the film centers on Theseus (Henry Cavill), a mortal who teams up with the Greek gods in order to defeat the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).  The film also stars Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff.

Anyway, earlier today I got on the phone with Henry Cavill for an exclusive interview.  We talked about how he got involved in Immortals, the training, working with Tarsem and Mickey Rourke, the practical sets, his reaction to seeing the finished film, and what it was like to promote the film at WonderCon and Comic-Con.  In addition, since Cavill is currently filming Man of Steel for director Zack Snyder, he talked about what has surprised him about the production, his interaction with producer Christopher Nolan, his reaction to getting cast as Superman, how he prepared for the role, and whether he ever dressed up as Superman as a kid.  Hit the jump for more.

We’ve got an exclusive new TV spot from director Tarsem Singh’s new film Immortals. The spot shows off more of the impressive visual effects and action sequences from the film. Given Singh’s penchant for breathtaking (and unique) visuals, this should be one great looking action pic. The film centers on Theseus (Henry Cavill), a mortal, who teams up with the Greek gods in order to defeat the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).

Hit the jump to watch the spot. The cast also includes Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff. Immortals opens in 3D on November 11th.

We’ve been provided with eight clips from The Fall director Tarsem Singh’s new film Immortals. The pic centers on Theseus (Henry Cavill), a mortal, who teams up with the Greek gods in order to defeat the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke). Instead of depicting the gods as ginormous otherworldly creatures, Singh has taken a different route and instead the gods take the form of chiseled immortal beings that don’t look dissimilar from humans.

The film also stars Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff.  Immortals opens in 3D on November 11th and we’ll have exclusive interviews with the cast the week of release.  Hit the jump to watch the clips.

Relativity has released more images from Tarsem Singh’s Immortals.  The movie centers on the mortal Theseus (Henry Cavill) joining forces with the Greek gods to defeat the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).  As you’ll see from these set photos (or really almost anything released to promote this movie), the costumes are goofy beyond all reason.  It’s one thing to think outside the box on costuming, especially for the gods, but this looks painfully distracting.  At least the mortals look alright.  One of the images has Theseus casually holding a spear and probably thinking, “I’m pretty sure I can stab that guy in the face even though his helmet has a visor.”

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff.  Immortals opens in 3D on November 11th.

We’ve been given two exclusive images from Tarsem Singh’s upcoming sword-and-sandals action flick Immortals.  The film stars Henry Cavill (Superman in the upcoming Man of Steel) as Thesues, a mortal called by the gods to help them defeat the power-hungry Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).  Of these two images, I like the one with the guy getting the spear to the face because the helmet clearly isn’t protecting him.  The guy probably asked the blacksmith “Will this protect me against spears to the face?” and the blacksmith was all like, “Oh yeah, definitely.”  “Are you sure?  Because I really don’t want to get a spear in my face.”  “Dude, it’s got a visor and everything.  You’ll be fine.  Now get out there and fight that shirtless guy.”

This is probably why I didn’t get to write the script.  Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, and Stephen Dorff.  Immortals opens in 3D on November 11th.