I generally don’t like to check out extended clips of footage from films ahead of their release. Call me old fashioned but, similar to how I try and avoid cherry picking music singles before listening to the entire album, I like to think of records and movies as complete bodies of work. Of course, I say all of this only to preface breaking my own general rule. I implore you to watch the first 12 minutes of writer/director/actress Brit Marling’s Sound of My Voice. I did, I don’t regret a single moment of it, and now I can’t wait to check out the entire film as soon as possible.

All self-contradiction aside, in this week’s “Top 5″ installment you’ll find Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance interviews with talent like Nicolas Cage, Idris Elba, Johnny Whitworth, and directors Neveldine/Taylor, a recap of our 21 Jump Street set visit, trailers and a featurette for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Transformers 4 news, and Avengers, Star Wars, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation toy images from the 2012 Toy Fair. Check out a brief recap and link to each after the jump.

With Neveldine/Taylor’s Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance opening tomorrow, last weekend I interviewed a lot of the cast in New York City.  In the sequel, Johnny Blaze (Cage) is hiding out in Eastern Europe when a motor-cycle riding warrior monk (Idris Elba) recruits him to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the Devil (Ciaran Hinds). The film also stars Violante Placido, Anthony Head, Christopher Lambert and Johnny Whitworth. For more on Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeace, here’s my Romania set visit, on set interviews, new images, five movie clips, and 12 minutes of behind the scenes footage from when the production was filming in Europe.

During my interview with Whitworth we talked about working for Neveldine/Taylor and playing blackout, which part he enjoyed filming the most, karaoke, do more people want to talk to him about Party of Five, Empire Records or Can’t Hardly Wait, his favorite movie, actor and director, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

With Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance opening next weekend, Sony has just released the EPK (electronic press kit) and it’s loaded with cool stuff from the film.  Just a little while ago we posted five clips, and now we’ve got around twelve minutes of behind the scenes footage from when the production was filming in Romania and across Eastern Europe.

In addition, for fans of directors Neveldine/Taylor, the footage features the two doing some crazy stunts to get a shot, and it’s also got the entire cast (Nicolas Cage , Violante Placido, Fergus Riordan, Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba, Christopher Lambert, Anthony Head, and Johnny Whitworth) filming stunts and acting crazy on the set.  Hit the jump to watch and look for my exclusive video interviews with the cast next week.

A new trailer for Neveldine/Taylor‘s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance has gone online.  The trailer explains the plot—Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider (Nicolas Cage) must save a kid from becoming the Antichrist and bringing forth the apocalypse—with brooding and one-liners abounding.  There are some fun moments, but the trailer makes the movie look a little too self-serious (a far cry from the previous trailer, which featured Ghost Rider pissing flames).  I’m also not sure why the trailer doesn’t say “From the Makers of Crank” since for me it’s the biggest selling point.  I still don’t think Ghost Rider is an interesting character, but since we’re short on superheroes in R-rated escapades, I’m willing to see what kind of damage the flame-skulled biker is going to dish out.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Violante Placido, Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba, and Johnny Whitworth.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens in 3D on February 17, 2012.

The Nicolas Cage-starred Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance recently wrapped filming in Europe, and co-director Brian Taylor recently sat down and spoke at length about the project. While 2007’s Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage, wasn’t necessarily met with an enthusiastic response, Taylor and co-director Mark Neveldine took a vastly different approach when they came on board for the sequel:

“We basically said, we want to do it, [would] absolutely love to do it, but it’s gotta be 100% different from the first movie, everything, except for Nic. We want the character to look different, feel different, sound different. The backstory of the character’s different, the origin of the story is expanded upon in ways that the first movie didn’t hint at, at all. The location’s different, the whole cast is different; the only thing that’s the same is Nic…It’s pretty much a reboot, only with the same actor, which makes it: a requel. Or a seboot, I can’t decide which one I like better.”

This definitely sounds like good news for fans who were unhappy with the first go-around. Hit the jump for more from Taylor on the project, including what attracted him to the film, his thoughts on villain Blackout, and when we can expect to see the first footage.

A film about a super-intelligent protagonist doesn’t necessarily need a smart script (although it never hurts), but it does need to act like a smart movie.  The direction needs a confident style, tone, and pacing that conveys the sense that the movie, like the protagonist, knows what’s going on and is ten steps ahead of the audience even though the actions on screen may be totally mundane and unremarkable.  Neil Burger’s Limitless never manages this task.  There’s plenty of visual flare, but it feels more like distraction than thoughtful support for its story.  Lead actor Bradley Cooper tries to make the most of his performance, but he lacks the everyman charm that would provide his character with some much-needed sympathy.  Undercut by poor writing, miscasting, and simplistic directing, Limitless may center on a brilliant mind but it lacks a convincing tone.

You can add Idris Elba (Takers) and Johnny Whitworth (Gamer) to the list of actors who are in negotiations to star in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance following the news of the involvement of Ciaran Hinds (Rome) and Violante Placido (The American).  According to Heat Vision, Elba plays an alcoholic warrior monk tasked with finding Ghost Rider (Nicolas Cage), who is hiding out in Eastern Europe.  Whitworth plays a criminal and eventual demonic creature who is recruited by the devil (Hinds).

Nicolas Cage confirmed earlier this summer that he will return for the sequel, which will be written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank) based on a story by David Goyer (The Dark Knight).  Ghost Rider: Spirit of the Vengeance hits theaters February 17, 2012.