Plagued by production troubles, rumored tension between star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster, and expensive reshoots that entirely reworked the final 45 minutes of the film, World War Z opened this summer with a very large target on its back.  The final result, however, was far from a disaster.  Though many anticipated a major box office bomb from Paramount, World War Z was actually a rather effective summer tentpole whose intensity caught on with audiences to the tune of $540 million worldwide.  With a potential sequel on the way, the film is now available on home video.  Hit the jump for my review of World War Z on Blu-ray.

Opening this weekend is writer-director Peter Landesman’s JFK assassination drama Parkland.  Produced by Tom Hanks, the pic revolves around the chaotic events that occurred at Parkland Hospital in Dallas on the days surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.  Parkland Hospital is where Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby all died.  Rather than focusing on one person, the film looks beyond the assassination and even President Kennedy to examine the surrounding figures on that infamous day and their roles in one of the most important events in American history.   Parkland is loaded with a great cast featuring Zac Efron, Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, Jacki Weaver, James Badge Dale, Mark Duplass, Marcia Gay Harden, Jackie Earle Haley, Ron Livingston, Colin Hanks, Tom Welling, Jeremy Strong, and David Harbour.  For more on the film, read Matt’s review or watch the trailer.

At the Toronto International Film Festival, I landed a video interview with Weaver and Badge Dale (they play Marguerite Oswald and Robert Oswald).  They talked about getting ready for the role, whether anything surprised them while researching the part, and more.  In addition, Weaver talks about how she was cast in Woody Allen‘s next film and I try to get Badge Dale to talk about Joe Carnahan‘s Stretch.  Hit the jump to watch.

This November will be the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.  There will be TV specials, memorials, and think pieces.  Peter Landesman’s Parkland looks beyond the assassination and even President Kennedy to examine the surrounding figures on that infamous day and their roles in one of the most important events in American history.  It’s a paradoxical film that mythologizes the people who have been overlooked by the history books, but also demythologizes the actual events by showing the details that were overshadowed by the moment when the course of history changed.  The result is a movie that captivates in how it depicts little moments from average people, but also undermines the story’s power by forcing drama on an inherently dramatic situation.

The first trailer for writer/director Peter Landesman’s upcoming drama Parkland has landed online.  Produced by Tom Hanks, the pic revolves around the chaotic events that occurred at Parkland Hospital in Dallas on the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  Parkland Hospital is where Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby all died.   At first blush, Parkland could easily be passed off as a film that simply wants to capitalize on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination, especially since it must exist in the same spectrum as Oliver Stone’s 1991 effort JFK, along with the raw imagery of Abraham Zapruder’s historic home movie.  However, this trailer suggests that the film has captured the chaos of the event itself and the ensuing finger-pointing, along with the period-specific aesthetic; let’s hope the decision to focus on Parkland Hospital turns out to be an inspired one.  There are a few hammy moments in this first look, but Paul Giamatti’s performance is certainly one worth watching.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Billy Bob Thornton, Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, Jacki Weaver, James Badge Dale, Jackie Earle Haley, Ron Livingston, Colin Hanks, Tom Welling, Jeremy Strong, and David Harbour.  Parkland will debut at the Venice Film Festival and hits theaters later this year.

I almost feel like whenever we refer to Ben Kingsley as “The Mandarin”, quotes are now required to indicate the misleading name of the character.  Some people will never forgive the movie for the bait-and-switch because they wanted to see the Mandarin from the comics, which they were probably never going to get in the movie Iron Man world Marvel had been established.  There wasn’t going to be a guy with ten magic rings, and while I understand Iron Man 3 had a radical reinvention of the character for the screen, it was still highly entertaining.  For those who can’t get enough of co-writer and director Shane Black‘s take on the character, a deleted scene from the upcoming Iron Man 3 Blu-ray has been released online, and it features Kingsley in his hammy Mandarin persona.

Hit the jump to check out the deleted scene.  Iron Man 3 will be release on DVD, Blu-ray, and 3D Blu-ray on September 24th. [Update: We've added a just-released gag reel that will also be on the Blu-ray.]

With a production budget in the neighborhood of $150 million and a worldwide pull of just under $50 million entering its second weekend, it’s probably fair to say that White House Down will ultimately be seen by the powers that be as a bust. Blame its proximity to the similarly themed Olympus Has Fallen (which, on the whole, received similar critical reaction but comparatively more box office success) if you will, but having watched and enjoyed the heck out of the film last night I believe at least some of the blame lies at the feet of Sony’s marketing. Whereas Fallen was packaged, and ultimately delivered, as a dead serious action/thriller, I don’t think White House Down marketing did enough to prep its potential audience members for the over-the-top, often times ridiculous, self-aware genre piece they would encounter. The best examples I can give to support this theory are the multiple scenes that left me laughing out loud while the majority of my fellow moviegoers sat quietly, unsure whether the movie was actually asking them to laugh with it or was just that silly and contrived. It’s possible that I’m going Roland Emmerich and co. too much credit, but I went with the former every single time and ended up having a great time with the film as a result.

All White House drama aside, this week’s Top 5 includes a slew of interviews from The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp and more, a list of 15 movies from the first half of 2013 that you may have missed but definitely deserve a look, Christian Bale insisting that he is not involved with the Justice League movie in any way, The Way, Way Back interviews with Steve Carell and more, and a look at our most anticipated movies from July to September.

From Academy Award-winning director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, The Lone Ranger is an action-adventure that tells the origin tale of the famed masked hero, John Reid (Armie Hammer), and how he became a legend of justice, with a little help from Native American warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp).  The movie also stars Tom Wilkinson, William Fichtner, Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson and Helena Bonham Carter.

During this recent exclusive interview with Collider, the undeniably charming James Badge Dale (who plays the Lone Ranger’s older brother, Texas Ranger Dan Reid) talked about how cool it is to be in three of the biggest blockbusters of the summer (Iron Man 3, World War Z and The Lone Ranger), how The Lone Ranger was the most physically demanding, finding a treehouse out in Canyon de Chelly where he could grab a nap between takes, the process of finding the perfect cowboy hat for his character, working with a horse that was scared of gunfire, and the experience of cowboy boot camp.  Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers.

After appearing in brief but memorable roles in a number of swell films as of late, including Iron Man 3, Flight, and World War Z, James Badge Dale has become the latest actor to sign on to The Grey director Joe Carnahan’s low-budget action-comedy Stretch.  The film stars Patrick Wilson as a down-on-his-luck chauffeur looking to relieve his debt by driving around a mysterious billionaire who drags him to hell and back.  Chris Pine, Brooklyn Decker, and Ed Helms are also poised to appear, and Carnahan broke the news of Dale’s casting on Twitter by saying, “James Badge Dale, my boy AND one of the best actors walking the planet, has joined the cast of STRETCH.”  The two previously worked together on Carnahan’s terrific existential survival drama The Grey.

Hit the jump for news concerning an up-and-comer taking on a mysterious role in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Paramount Pictures has released a large batch of high-resolution images from director Marc Forster’s large-scale zombie pic World War Z.  The film stars Brad Pitt as a United Nations employee who traverses the globe in a race to stop a growing zombie pandemic that threatens to put an end to humanity.  The pic’s production troubles have not exactly been a secret, but Pitt has been doing everything he can to promote the film so one assumes he’s happy with the finished product.  The prospect of crafting a globe-trotting horror film on a tentpole scale still intrigues me, so here’s hoping everything came together in the end.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images.  The film also stars Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, David Morse, and Daniella Kertesz.  World War Z opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on June 21st.

With a little over a month away until the release of Gore Verbinski‘s The Lone Ranger, Disney has a released a new trailer.  The story focuses on John Reid (Armie Hammer) surviving an attack, being saved by Native American warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp), and the two teaming up to fight injustice.  The new trailer speeds through the premise to get to the set pieces, and while I want to be excited for this movie, I just keep seeing Wild Wild West.  There’s hardly any of the humor that made Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean movies so enjoyable, or the strangeness that brought Rango to life.  Then again, if Disney wants to leave the best stuff out of the trailer, that’s fine by me.  I’d like to be surprised.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Tom Wilkinson, William Fichtner, Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson, and Helena Bonham Carter.  The Lone Ranger opens July 3rd.

From director Shane Black, Iron Man 3 has certainly gotten the blockbuster movie season off to a pretty incredible start.  This time out, brilliant billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), aka Iron Man, faces a terrifying enemy, known as The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley), whose reach knows no bounds, and he must rely on his own instincts to protect those that he loves.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor James Badge Dale, who plays Extremis agent and all-around bad-ass Eric Savin, talked about how he came to be a part of the film, having to read pages from a cop movie for his audition, due to secrecy, how he finally gut a full script after negotiations for the role were finished, what it means to him to get to be a part of the Iron Man franchise, how he viewed Savin, and what he wanted to bring to the character’s physicality.  He also talked about his roles in two more upcoming blockbusters, World War Z with Brad Pitt and The Lone Ranger with Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp, and the great experiences he had on each.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Although Iron Man 3 has already had its world premiere, we here in the States have to wait a little over a week before we get to see it.  In the meantime, a new TV spot and 10 new images feature not only the principal cast of Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, but new looks at the supporting cast.  We get new looks at James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, Guy Pearce and Ty Simpkins, plus a TV spot takes us inside the surprisingly rustic cabin retreat of Tony Stark.

Also starring Don Cheadle and Ben Kingsley,  Iron Man 3 opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on May 3rd.  Hit the jump to watch the TV spot and check out the new images.

A new featurette for the Shane Black-directed sequel Iron Man 3 has been released online.  Its primary focus is to explain Extremis, the technology used by Ben Kingsley’s The Mandarin to pull off his terrorist tactics and inflict chaos in the world of Tony Stark.  Black and producer Kevin Feige explain the basics of Extremis and how it works in the human body to generate a new breed of unstoppable human beings.  We also get a bit of insight from James Badge Dale on why this new technology appealed to him in relation to his character.  Robert Downey Jr. seems particularly amused by the concept, citing it as one of the things he’s most excited about in the film.

Hit the jump to watch the new featurette.  If you missed the first two clips, you can check them out here and here.  The film also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall, and Jon Favreau.  Iron Man 3 opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on May 3rd.

Disney has released a new trailer for director Gore Verbinski‘s upcoming film The Lone Ranger.  This lengthy theatrical trailer begins by focusing on the origin of Armie Hammer‘s titular ranger and how his partnership with Johnny Depp‘s Tonto was forged, and from there we get quite a few looks at the many characters and set pieces that make up the action/adventure pic.  There are more than a few similarities to be found between this and Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, as this trailer showcases a massive scale, a kooky Depp performance, plenty of dirty, nefarious characters, and a possible supernatural element.  The visuals here look gorgeous, and while I’m not sold on Depp’s performance or even necessarily the story, I’m still eager to see what Verbinski has cooked up on a very big screen when this thing hits theaters.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film also stars Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, William Fichtner, Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale, and Helena Bonham Carter.  The Lone Ranger opens on July 3rd.

Paramount has released a new trailer for director Marc Forster’s (Quantum of Solace) zombie apocalypse film World War Z.  The film stars Brad Pitt as a United Nations employee who traverses the globe in a race to stop a growing Zombie pandemic that threatens to put an end to humanity.  This trailer does a better job at humanizing Pitt’s character as a family man as well as hinting at the plot arc he’ll have to follow.  While the CG still looks a bit suspect, the zombie hordes of World War Z have proven to be not only resilient but rather resourceful in getting around.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Matthew Fox, James Badge Dale, and David Morse.  World War Z opens on June 21, 2013.