Sometimes a film makes you wonder if Hollywood truly is running out of ideas. Or maybe director James McTeigue just wanted to put John Cusack in period dress and the Sherlock Holmes franchise was already taken. Tone-deaf, The Raven squanders an intriguing idea with dull action set pieces and an unfocused theme. The plot revolves around grisly murders that replicate Edgar Allan Poe’s most horrific works in an attempt to get the not-so-famous Poe to solve the case in Baltimore. For those unaware, this isn’t based on a true story. Hit the jump for my full review.

Opening next weekend is director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven.  If you’re not familiar with the film, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

During my wide ranging interview with McTeigue, we talked about making The Raven, the mixture of fact and fiction, film versus digital, his favorite director, actor and movie, the necessity of an R rating, future projects like Message from the King, The Gringo, and Ness/Capone (a retelling of the Eliot Ness/Al Capone myth that’s “nothing like The Untouchables”) and a lot more.  According to McTeigue, it seems like Message from the King is the one with the one with the most momentum, as he’s “going through the casting process of that at the moment” and it’s being produced by Aaron Ryder and FilmNation.  Hit the jump to watch. 

Director James McTeigue’s (V for Vendetta) twist on Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven, is set to open next weekend, and we’ve been provided with a short featurette from the film to share with our readers.  Instead of having actors speak generally about the film in between clips of action, this featurette is a conversation between McTeigue and star John Cusack about what drew them to the project and what makes Poe such an intriguing person.  It’s actually a fascinating watch and worth checking out if you’re a fan of Poe or any of the people involved in the film.  For those unfamiliar, the story finds the author teaming up with a detective (Luke Evans) in order to catch a killer who is modeling his crimes after Poe’s stories.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  The film also stars Alice Eve, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.  The Raven opens on April 27th.

With director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven opening April 27, yesterday afternoon I got to speak with him here in Los Angeles.  If you’re not familiar with The Raven, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

While I’ll have the full interview online the week of release, towards the end of our conversation, we discussed some of the projects he’s developing like Message from the King, The Gringo, and Ness/Capone (a retelling of the Eliot Ness/Al Capone myth that’s “nothing like The Untouchables”).  According to McTeigue, it seems like Message from the King is the one with any momentum, as he’s “going through the casting process of that at the moment” and it’s being produced by Aaron Ryder and FilmNation.  He says it’s an R rated picture that takes place in L.A. and it’s about “a mysterious outsider who comes into L.A. from South Africa looking for his sister who’s dropped off the radar.”  Hit the jump for more.

The Raven has the unenviable task of drawing audience’s attention (and dollars) away from this year’s slate of big action movies. Luckily for the Gothic murder mystery inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, April looks to be one of the weaker months for this year’s box office. However, it will only have about one week to rake in the cash until a little movie called The Avengers comes out. Until then, we have a host of new images from The Raven featuring John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans, Bredan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen in various shades of Gothic black. The James McTeigue thriller opens April 27th. Hit the jump to see the images.

In this week’s poster round up, we’ve got a nice selection of advertising from various genres of films. There’s sure to be something you like in the mix. Here’s what we’ve got:

• A graffiti banner from the viral site of Men in Black 3.
• Two stylish posters from John Cusack-starrer, The Raven.
• An in-your-face poster of Jason Statham for his upcoming actioner, Safe.
• Finally, a dude-centric wide shot of the gents from What to Expect When You’re Expecting.

Hit the jump to see the posters and for more on each film.

Although the release date for The Raven has been pushed back a month, that’s allowed Relativity to give us more looks at the property, like this new poster. It’s not quite as ink-soaked or blood-soaked as previous efforts and resembles more of a phoenix than a raven, but it’s stylish nonetheless. Here’s what you need to know about the posters we’ve rounded up today:

• Director James McTeigue’s The Raven stars John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe, who joins a detective (Luke Evans of Immortals) to stop a killer who’s committing crimes based on Poe’s works.
• The Imposter, a documentary film by director Bart Layton (Locked Up Abroad) that follows a young Frenchman who posed as a Texas family’s 16-year-old son who had been missing for three years
• From director Rodrigo Cortes (Buried) comes Red Lights, a paranormal thriller that questions the supernatural and whether a world-renowned psychic is actually gifted or just a charlatan. The film stars Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Olsen.

Hit the jump to check out the full-size posters.

An international trailer for the period crime-thriller The Raven has gone online.  The story follows a Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) who teams up with Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) to solve a string of serial killings based on Poe’s stories.  It’s amazing how much a trailer can give away in the short span of one minute and fourteen seconds.  I’m afraid I won’t be able to go into the film and be surprised at how each Poe story is tied to a separate killing.  I’m also dismayed that the trailer is trying to sell Poe as an action-hero, which makes the movie look ridiculous rather than a gothic murder mystery.  This is all the fault of the trailer and I’m hoping that the film turned out alright.  At least the movie features this great line:  “We are in dire need of your unwholesome expertise.”  Then again, it also has Poe screaming, “I’ll send you to hell!”

Hit the jump to check out the international trailer.  The Raven opens March 9, 2012.

The first trailer for James McTeigue’s The Raven has gone online.  The story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves.  While I think the premise is intriguing and I’m always up for a crime thriller that pulls the setting out of the modern day, this trailer comes off like “Hey, remember From Hell?  Let’s try that again.”  Hopefully McTeigue’s film will play far better than the unfortunate adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel.

Hit the jump for the trailer.  The film also stars Alice Eve, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.  The Raven opens March 9, 2012.

Relativity has released new images from James McTeigue’s The Raven and Tarsem Singh’s Immortals.  The Raven is a period thriller that has Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) teaming up with Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) to stop a serial killer who’s using Poe’s work as inspiration.  It’s an interesting premise and McTeigue still has my goodwill from V for Vendetta. As you can see from the image above, Fields will chase someone down but keep a firm grip on his top hat.  Can’t afford to lose top hats.  Speaking of hat-love, Singh continues his affection for ridiculous head-attire as seen by the first image of Athena (Isabel Lucas) in Immortals.  The story is about the gods calling on Theseus (Henry Cavill) to help them defeat the power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).  It looks less promising than The Raven.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The Raven opens March 9, 2012.  Immortals opens in 3D on November 11th.

Relativity has sent over a new hi-res image of co-star Alice Eve from their upcoming thriller The Raven. Written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare, the film is set in 19th century Baltimore and sees a young detective (Luke Evans) join forces with Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack) in an attempt to track down a serial killer who has been dispatching of his/her victims in ways that are inspired by the writer’s own works. Check out the full image after the jump. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), The Raven hits theaters on March 9th, 2012. Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen also star.

This past April, we reported that Relativity had bought the Black List script Ness/Capone to rival Warner Bros.’ Al Capone story Cicero. Harry Potter director David Yates has been developing Cicero for quite some time, with Tom Hardy attached to star, but he recently committed to a multi-film adaptation of The Stand, so it may be a while before Cicero gets going. Well, Relativity looks to be taking advantage of Yates’ busy schedule as they’re turning to V for Vendetta director James McTeigue to helm to crime drama.

Deadline reports that McTeigue is in negotiations to helm the pic, which chronicles the Elliott Ness/Al Capone saga in more detail than Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables. McTeigue, who recently completed the Edgar Allen Poe flick The Raven, is currently readying his next film Message From the King which centers on an outsider who travels to L.A. to investigate the disappearance of his sister.

How do you follow a panel with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson?  You don’t do it with another blockbuster.  Instead, you take some lesser known movies and attempt to boost their profile.  And for film nerds, having Steven Sodebergh on hand certainly doesn’t hurt.  Soderbergh has cast MMA fighter Gina Carano as the lead in his spy thriller Haywire and surrounded her with an outstanding cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, and Michael Douglas.

Relativity has also brought James McTeigue’s The Raven starring John Cusack, Alice Eve, and Luke Evans.  It’s an intriguing premise where Edgar Allan Poe (Cusack) and a detective (Evans) attempts to discover who is using his writing as the inspiration for a series of murders.  Hit the jump to read about Relativity’s presentation for Haywire and The Raven.

FilmNation Entertainment has set V For Vendetta director James McTeigue to helm Message from the King. The film centers on an outsider who comes to LA to investigate the sudden disappearance of his sister. Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell (Unknown) scripted the thriller. McTeigue recently directed the Edgar Allen Poe-centered thriller The Raven starring John Cusack and Luke Evans. It appears that things went well with the production, as FilmNation also financed that project and has now quickly set McTeigue for Message from the King. No other details on the film are known at this point besides that basic logline. The Raven opens March 9^th, 2012.

[Update: We've been sent the official press release. It's included after the jump]

Two upcoming Relativity Media films may not have titles, but they now have release dates.  First up, James McTeigue’s Untitled Raven Project (previously titled The Raven) will open on March 9, 2012.  Per the press release, “The film is a gritty thriller in which Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders.”  The untitled movie also stars Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

Relativity has also set the date for the Untitled Farrelly/Wessler Comedy that has an absolutely ridiculous cast starring in a series of interconnected stories.  Just some of the names on board include Johnny Knoxville, Gerard Butler, Anna Faris, Seann Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Halle Berry, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet, Terrence Howard, Liev Schreiber, Elizabeth Banks, Justin Long, Kristen Bell, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Stephen Merchant.  Hit the jump for the full press release.