Sony Pictures has released a new trailer for Roland Emmerich’s new action film, White House Down.  The story follows a rejected Secret Service applicant (Channing Tatum) who must save the President (Jamie Foxx) when a heavily-armed paramilitary group takes over the White House.  I haven’t watched this four-minute trailer because the previous trailer already sold me on the movie.  It looks like loads of fun by setting up one of most unlikely buddy-cop-esque partnerships, and then blowing up Washington, but not in an uncomfortable, far-too-serious, Olympus Has Fallen way.

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer.  The film also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Richard Jenkins, Joey King, Jake Weber, Lance Reddick, and Jason Clarke.  White House Down opens June 28th.

Sony Pictures has released a new featurette for director Roland Emmerich’s upcoming actioner White House Down.  The story follows a rejected Secret Service applicant (Channing Tatum) who must save the President (Jamie Foxx) when a heavily-armed paramilitary group takes over the White House.  We saw in the most recent trailer that the pic has an almost buddy cop feel to it, and this featurette shows off a few new bits of footage that continue to be promising.  We also get a fascinating look behind the scenes at the massive sets that Emmerich built in order to re-create the White House, as he shot almost exclusively on soundstages for the film.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette, and if you missed any of Steve’s set visit coverage be sure to check out 35 things to know and his interviews with Tatum, Emmerich, producers Brad Fischer and Reid Carolin, producer Harold Kloser, and production designer Kirk M. Petruecelli.  The film also stars Jason Clarke, James Woods, and Maggie Gyllenhaal and opens on June 28th.

We have a few casting stories for you this afternoon.  First up, Bruce Willis is set to lead the thriller Expiration.  According to Variety, Willis plays “a hitman who is poisoned and has to find a cure before he expires.”  So it’s like D.O.A. but probably with a lot more killing of other people.  The film is currently in negotiations for a director, and the script is from Broken City scribe Brian Tucker.  What’s slightly damning about this production is that it’s from producers Randall Emmett and George Furla.  The duo previously produced the Willis films Setup and Fire with Fire.  While Willis didn’t lead those movies, they still went direct-to-DVD.  Then again, they also co-starred talking mannequin 50 Cent, so perhaps Expiration will be better if they leave him out of it.

Hit the jump for casting news on Anita and Mojave.

Production is currently underway in Canada on the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and director Matt Reeves (Let Me In) has now shared the first official image from the set.  While we’ve previously seen Andy Serkis in his performance-capture gear for his work as lead ape Caesar, this image reveals that in the sequel (which takes place 15 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Caesar and his brethren have mastered the art of horseback riding.  It’s a nice nod to the original series of films, and I really can’t wait to see what the very talented Reeves brings to the new franchise.

Hit the jump to take a look at the image.  The film also stars Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirk Acevedo, Toby Kebbell, Enrique Murciano, and Judy Greer.  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens on May 23, 2014.

Filmmakers who adapt a novel are not beholden to the major themes of that novel.  They’re free to take away what they want to see and leave the richer aspects of the material behind.  Such is the case with Baz Luhrmann‘s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s The Great Gatsby.  Where Fitzgerald saw the relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan as a laughable excuse to escape into the past, Luhrmann sees a doomed romance because Baz Luhrmann likes stories about doomed romances*.  And like his previous movies—Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, and Australia—Luhrmann is too afraid of actual intimacy, and covers it up in glitter and other shiny objects while laboring under the delusion that it makes the story operatic.  With The Great Gatsby, Luhrmann isn’t adapting Fitzgerald as much as he’s remaking Baz Luhrmann.

Warner Bros. has released 7 clips (almost 5 minutes of footage) from director Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. For those unfamiliar with F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s source material, the story centers on a would-be writer (Tobey Maguire) chasing the American dream who moves to New York City in the spring of 1922 and encounters a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke and Adelaide Clemens.

If you weren’t aware, Luhrmann shot Gatsby in 3D, so I’d advise paying the extra money to see it in that format.  Also, I saw some of the film in 3D and it looked like Luhrmann used the format to help tell the story.  Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The Great Gatsby opens May 10th.

Production has begun on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and now we have the set photos to prove it.  Dawn is set 15 years after Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which means a new cast of humans led by Keri Russell, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.  The one constant is Andy Serkis, reprising his lead role as Caesar the ape.  Judy Greer is the major addition to the motion-capture crew, playing a potential love interest for Caesar.

The story jumps back and forth between Caesar’s new kingdom and a small human colony in San Francisco.  Caesar fights to maintain dominance over his subjects; the colony fights to survive.  Directed by Matt Reeves (Let Me In), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens May 23, 2014.  Check out the set photos featuring Serkis, Russell, Clarke, and a band of motion-capture apes after the jump.

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for director Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.  For those unfamiliar with F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s source material, the story centers on a would-be writer (Tobey Maguire) chasing the American dream who moves to New York City in the spring of 1922 and encounters a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).  This new trailer has a heavy focus on the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy (Carey Mulligan), while also giving us a strong dose of Joel Edgerton‘s Tom Buchanan.  Again Luhrmann’s vibrant visuals look fantastic, but the trailer also showcases a bounty of original music that the director has commissioned for the film from artists like Beyonce, Andre 3000, Lana Del Rey, and Florence + The Machine.  There’s a strong Romeo + Juliet vibe in this trailer, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing this thing on the biggest screen possible.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and to take a look at the full soundtrack listing.  The film also stars Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Adelaide Clemens.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th.

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.

The first trailer for director Roland Emmerich’s presidential thriller White House Down has been released.  While the trailer (and plot) have lots of elements in common with Antoine Fuqua’s Olympus Has Fallen, our first introduction to White House Down comes through the lens of various news outlets reporting an attack on Washington, D.C. rather than centering on the heroic lead; we don’t even seen Channing Tatum until about half-way through.  Emmerich’s usual flare for the dramatic is evident, but then he goes and does something interesting by allowing silence to fill a good portion of the trailer.  It also looks like the danger will come not from an outside enemy, but from within.  There are moments that appear to be more Die Hard in nature (and a few glimpses that could be considered spoilers), but there’s just enough here to warrant some interest even after a movie with the exact same plot was just released.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Richard Jenkins, Jason Clarke, Jake Weber, Lance Reddick and Joey King.  White House Down opens on June 28th, 2013.

We’ve got a couple of interesting casting stories to share this evening.  First up, it appears that a frequent collaborator of director Adam McKay and star Will Ferrell’s may be making an appearance in the upcoming sequel Anchorman: The Legend Continues.  Production on that film begins in Atlanta next week, and Bleeding Cool has a copy of a casting call sent to Atlanta agencies asking for people who look like John C. Reilly and have the same build as the actor.  It appears they’re attempting to nab a stand-in for Reilly, which means he’s most likely making at least a brief appearance in the follow-up.

If the first film’s bounty of familiar faces is any indication, I imagine this won’t be the last cameo appearance we hear about for Anchorman 2.  Hopefully they manage to keep at least a couple of them secret.  Hit the jump for casting news concerning Syriana writer/director Stephen Gaghan’s long-awaited follow-up film, Candy Store.

The sequel to 2011’s pleasantly surprising Rise of the Planet of the Apes has found its star.  Though Dawn of the Planet of the Apes had a bit of a stumble in development as director Rupert Wyatt exited the film over creative differences, it appears that everything is now smoothly on track to begin production later this year under director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In).  In the film’s first bit of casting, Zero Dark Thirty star Jason Clarke has been tapped to star in the pic, which will take place 15 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Hit the jump for more.

One of my favorite films of 2012, director Kathryn Bigelow’s drama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty, is finally playing in theaters nationwide.  Loaded with amazing performances, an incredible script by Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), and perfect direction, Zero Dark Thirty  should definitely be seen in a theater, and it’s absolutely worth the price of admission.  In the film, Jessica Chastain plays a CIA operative spearheading the manhunt, and she stars alongside Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong, Scott Adkins, Joel Edgerton, and James Gandolfini.  For more on the film, read Matt’s review.

During the Los Angeles press day, I got to speak with Clarke. We talked about what the last few years have been like since he’s landed some high profile projects, the way people are responding to the film, his reaction to seeing the film for the first time, deleted scenes, and more.  In addition, we also talked about some of his upcoming projects like Roland Emmerich’s White House Down and William Monahan’s next film, Mojave.  Hit the jump to watch.

[This is a re-post of my review from December when Zero Dark Thirty opened in limited release.  The film opens today in wide release.]

Kathryn Bigelow‘s previous film, The Hurt Locker, opened with the statement, “war is a drug.” Like The Hurt Locker and her earlier film K-19: The Widowmaker, Bigelow’s new picture, Zero Dark Thirty, deals with a deadly obsession created in wartime. But unlike Hurt Locker and K-19, Zero Dark Thirty exists on a different battlefield—one of intelligence gathering, subterfuge, shady tactics, and misinformation. It’s a battlefield that is arguably more lethal than what we’ve seen before. It’s not where we place our troops. It’s where we place our citizens, and every moment in a post-9/11 world is a time bomb waiting to explode. In this world, Bigelow has crafted a thrilling and disturbing tale about how deeply an obsession can warp an individual, and how far we’re willing to go for the illusion of safety.

A new trailer for director Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby has been released online.  The trailer opens with Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Gatsby telling Tobey Maguire‘s Nick Carraway his life story, complete with colorful flashbacks and fast cuts.  We see much more of the individual performances in this trailer, and DiCaprio plays Gatsby with a slightly sinister quality that makes me curious to see more.  The visuals again look spectacular; if there’s one thing that can be gleaned from the two trailers we’ve seen thus far, it’s that Luhrmann has brought the Jazz Age to the big screen in a way that we’ve never seen before.  The second half of the trailer switches out the hip-hop for a hard rock version of The Turtles‘ “So Happy Together,” and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of contemporary music the ambitious filmmaker uses in the actual film.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Isla Fisher, and Elizabeth Debicki.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10, 2013.