John Carpenter is an old man, and he makes old man films. In one way that’s refreshing. He knows where to put his camera in a sequence with multiple people. He knows when to use a close up, and never shoots a film like it’s a TV show. But he’s also a man without a country in new Hollywood, working with low budgets and ambling on with no great respect from those who’ve ripped him off. His latest film, The Ward, was given limited theatrical release before hitting home video. It stars Amber Ward, Danielle Panabaker and Jared Harris in a tale about young girls in the 1960’s who are stuck in a mental institution with a ghost. Our review of the Blu-ray of the The Ward follows after the jump.

At this year’s Comic-Con, The CW held a panel for their hit show, Nikita, and it was an absolute riot.  They showed a brief teaser for the next season, as well as a music-infused highlight reel of the biggest moments of season one.  Oh, and star Maggie Q demonstrated how she climbs up tall guys in the show to knock them out…on an attendee.  Yea, things got crazy.  Hit the jump to check out my full recap of the panel and a preview of Nikita season two.

John Carpenter will always be a filmmaker to watch, even when all there is to watch is a half trailer of sorts for his latest, The Ward.  The Ward premiered earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival, and represents Carpenter’s first feature in nearly a decade after 2001′s Ghost of Mars.  Amber Heard stars as Kristen, a woman committed to a psychiatric hospital where she “begins to have strange run-ins with a shadowy phantom who roams the halls when the ward is locked down at night.”  Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Jared Harris, and Lyndsy Fonseca also star.  Check out the clip after the break.

I’ve never seen Luc Besson’s 1990 film La Femme Nikita, nor the 1993 American remake Point of No Return.  I have vague memories of commercials for the USA series that followed in the late 1990s, but I don’t recall ever, you know, watching it.

I’m in the heart of The CW’s target age group (if not gender), though, so I imagine that’s what the network expects — maybe even wants.  I recognize the brand, but I’m a blank slate.  I couldn’t tell you how The CW’s Nikita fares against prior iterations, but the first episode left me mostly impressed.  My review after the jump.

On The CW’s highly anticipated drama Nikita, actor Shane West plays Michael, a top lieutenant in Division, the secret organization that former assassin Nikita (Maggie Q) has vowed to destroy. Michael trained Nikita when she was a recruit and is now faced with the responsibility of tracking down his renegade student. At the same time, he is also in charge of training Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca), Nikita’s young replacement, along with other recruits.

During a recent phone interview, Shane West spoke exclusively to Collider about what attracted him to this re-imagining of the Nikita story, how much he enjoys working with Maggie Q, the physicality of the role and how good it feels to know that so many people are interested in tuning in to the series. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

As the executive producer of The CW’s new drama Nikita, Craig Silverstein wanted to make a female action show, but knew that if he was going to tell the story of Nikita (Maggie Q), it would have to be different from what fans already knew. Instead of doing a rehash, he decided to pick up where the origin story left off and show what has happened to the character after having been in hiding for three years, allowing him to surround the familiar figure with a new, fresh cast.

During an interview to promote the action series, Craig Silverstein talked about how this new Nikita story came to be, what makes the story so compelling and the importance of always surprising an audience. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

In The CW’s new drama Nikita, actress Lyndsy Fonseca stars as Alex, a young woman with a troubled past, who is now leading a double life. Division’s newest recruit, she is a beautiful girl with a violent history and a story that is very similar to Nikita.

During a recent interview to promote the new action series, Lyndsy Fonseca talked about being put through the auditioning ringer for the role, how being a dancer has helped her with the physical side of her role and that the series won’t stop having twists and surprises. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

As a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita (Maggie Q) was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known as Division. Fooled into believing that she was being given a second chance to start a new life and serve her country, she quickly learned that she was instead being trained as a spy and assassin. After being betrayed by the only people she thought she could trust, she did the impossible by escaping, in order to seek retribution and destroy their covert operations.

During an interview to promote the CW’s Nikita, show star Maggie Q talked about taking on the legendary character, her love of action roles and vowed never to wear that red bikini in the pilot episode again. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Continuing our first-look image series of movies playing at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, we have images from John Carpenter’s The Ward starring Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Jared Harris, and Lyndsy Fonseca.  The Ward is Carpenter’s first film in over a decade and that alone is reason enough to see it. We also have images from Shawn Ku’s Beautiful Boy, which has a killer cast that includes Michael Sheen, Maria Bello, Moon Bloodgood, Alan Tudyk, Kyle Gallner, Austin Nichols, and Meat Loaf Aday.

Hit the jump to check out all the images and synopses for both films.  The 2010 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 9 – 19th.