If you’ve followed the Top 5 for any amount of time you’ve probably already deduced that I like to use the opening paragraph in an anecdotal fashion. Whether I’m spinning a recap of my latest pop-culture excursions or using the latest wedding I’m attending as a gateway for complaining about the pop-culture excursions I’d rather be partaking of, I try and keep this space at least loosely based around entertainment. That said, this week is no different as I finally had the chance to sit down with writer/director David Ayer‘s End of Watch last night. I won’t do the film the disservice of reviewing it in two sentences, but I will say that I found Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña‘s chemistry to be excellent and the action to be consistently suspenseful/captivating. Is the script’s attempt to tie nearly every encounter the partner’s undertake into an interconnected climax a little bit of a stretch? I think so. Nevertheless, End of Watch is still a cop drama that pushes almost all of the right buttons.

But enough of my reviews in 100 words or less, in this week’s trek down memory lane is the first official image and trailer for A Good Day to Die Hard, Taken 2 interviews with Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and more, a recap of all our James Bond / Skyfall coverage from the past week, Frankenweenie interviews with Tim Burton, Winona Ryder and more, and finally a look at some classic video games that we feel deserve an HD remake.

Frankenweenie, from director Tim Burton and screenwriter John August, is a charming, macabre and heartwarming tale, about Victor (voiced by Charlie Tahan), a young boy who, after unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life, but quickly faces unintended and sometimes monstrous consequences for his actions. The voice cast also includes Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Winona Ryder and Atticus Shaffer.

At the film’s press junket, actor Martin Landau spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how happy he was to be a part of such a passion project, why he loved his character, how he determined the accent he would use, what he thought when he saw Mr. Rzykruski brought to life, why his collaboration with Burton works so well, and what compels him to advise other actors.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Director Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie is set to open in theaters on October 5th, but we have some previews to share with you today.  Two new clips have gone online for Disney’s stop-motion animated film that was based on Burton’s original idea and 1984 short film.  One of today’s clips shows young Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) in the process of resurrecting his deceased pet dog, Sparky (Frank Welker).  The second clip reveals that Victor’s secret is out, when classmate Edgar (Atticus Shaffer) pops by to share in Victor’s success.  The behind-the-scenes featurette is a bit spoilery and spotlights a good amount of plot points, but it does show some interesting puppetry work behind the camera.  Hit the jump to check it all out.

We recently brought you access to a 360-degree tour of Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated Frankenweenie set and tonight we’ve got a new clip to share with you.  Folks who attended this year’s Comic-Con event may remember it, but those of you who weren’t in attendance can now enjoy it, too.  The clip centers on Mr. Ryzkruski (Martin Landau), the creepy science teacher that inspires Victor’s (Charlie Tahan) curiosity.  Writer/director Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, also featuring the voices of Winona Rider, Martin Short, Christopher Lee and Catherine O’Hara, opens October 5th.  Hit the jump to view the clip.

Have you ever wanted to set foot on a movie set without having to deal with all the pesky credentials like education, experience and talent? Well, you’re in luck, because Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie has all new interactive tours that give you a 360-degree view of a working set.  The virtual tours are guided by some of the production’s creative team who are kind enough to explain the process of animating a stop-motion film.  If you look closely, you’ll even notice some new characters and creatures in the film that haven’t been revealed before.

Writer/director Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, featuring the voices of Charlie Tahan, Winona Rider, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Christopher Lee and Catherine O’Hara, opens October 5th.  Hit the jump to take the tour!

Some new character posters from Tim Burton’s upcoming stop-motion animated film, Frankenweenie, have gone online.  As we talked about in our Comic-Con panel recap, the film’s characters feature unique looks to differentiate them from each other.  The following posters give a good look at just how odd they are.  Frankenweenie, starring Charlie Tahan, Christopher Lee, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and Robert Capron, opens October 5th. Hit the jump to check out the posters.

A new full-length trailer for Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated feature Frankenweenie has been released.  The pic is a feature-length adaptation of Burton’s 1984 short film of the same name, which centered on a boy who takes a page from Frankenstein and brings his dead dog back to life.  This trailer is actually really great, and has me hoping that Frankenweenie might be a return to form for Burton.  The director’s recent output has been a bit, shall we say, lacking, but Frankenweenie promises the mix of creepy and goofy that he so expertly displayed with Beetlejuice (though I said the same thing about early trailers for Dark Shadows and we know how that turned out).  I’m really loving the quietly strange tone, and the visuals are gorgeous in black-and-white.  Between Frankenweenie and ParaNorman, hopefully we’re in for some truly original and offbeat stop-motion animated features in the next couple of months.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film features the voices of The film features the voices of Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, and Martin Landau. Frankenweenie opens in 3D on October 5th.

A slew of character images and corresponding character info from Tim Burton’s upcoming stop-motion animated film Frankenweenie have gone online.  The pic is a feature-length adaptation of Burton’s 1984 short film of the same name, which centered on a boy who takes a page from Frankenstein and brings his dead dog back to life.  This new batch of images along with character info gives us a better idea of what to expect storywise, and also gives us a chance to marvel at the impressive character designs.

Hit the jump to check out the images and character info.  The film features the voices of The film features the voices of Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, and Martin Landau.  Frankenweenie opens in 3D on October 5th.

The black and white, stop-motion animated 3D film Frankenweenie, from director Tim Burton and based on the ideas in his 1984 live-action short, is a heart-warming tale about a boy and his beloved dog.  After unexpectedly losing Sparky, young Victor (voiced by Charlie Tahan) sews him back together and harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life, but quickly faces unintended and sometimes monstrous consequences for his actions.  The voice cast also includes Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer and Winona Ryder.

During an early press day for the film, in which we got the chance to preview nearly 30 minutes of the film, director/producer Tim Burton talked about expanding the original story from his short, where the idea originally came from, casting actors that he hadn’t worked with in a while to voice some of the characters, how the stop-motion medium has changed over the years, his hope that younger audiences will want to explore the monsters that he’s paying tribute to in the film, and post-converting to 3D.  He also talked about the fact that Seth Grahame-Smith is working on writing Beetlejuice 2 and that he might be interested in getting involved depending on what he thinks of the script, the rumor about him doing a Pinocchio movie with Robert Downey Jr., and that Big Eyes is in the works, but that you never know what will be ready to go next.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

The first trailer for Tim Burton‘s Frankenweenie has gone online.  Half of the trailer is the set-up for people who never saw Burton’s 1984 live-action short of the same name.  A young boy loses his beloved dog, digs up his bet, and brings him back to life Victor Frankenstein-style.  The second half of the trailer shows the fun ways that Burton is going to expand on his original concept, and that seems to involve bringing in other staples of the Frankenstein movies–namely, Igor and the Bride of Frankenstein.  After seeing the trailer, I’m eager to see the other ways Burton will try to expand on his original short-film.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and the new images.  The film features the voices of Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, and Martin Landau.  Frankenweenie opens in 3D on October 5th.

Lost alumna Emilie de Ravin has a recurring role on ABC’s freshman drama, Once Upon a Time, but has recently landed another pilot for the network. She is set to co-star in Americana, a soap revolving around a famous fashion family. Here are some other recent casting additions:

• Twilight’s Edi Gathegi will star opposite Kyle Bornheimer in the ABC comedy pilot, White Van Man.
• The CW has added Nicole Gale Anderson and Nina Lisandrello to their Beauty and the Beast drama pilot.
• Martin Landau will team up with Roland Emmerich for an untitled ABC drama pilot.
• Another Twilight alum, Chaske Spencer will join Ethan Embry, Megan Ferguson and Jake McLaughlin in NBC’s Western drama pilot, The Frontier.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

If taking a sci-fi television series from the 20^th century and reworking it for a modern audience could work for ABC’s V, then there’s hope for Space: 2099. Not only does the series have the strong original run of Space: 1999 to draw from, but HDFilms (the company behind the V resurrection) is on board for the remake. The original 1970s series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson starred Martin Landau (Ed Wood) and Barbara Bain (Mission: Impossible) among the crew members of Moonbase Alpha. News of the reboot comes only months after Fox and Seth MacFarlane announced the revisiting of the Carl Sagan miniseries, Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey. Although the project is in early stages of development and hasn’t yet courted any networks, the creative team behind Space: 2099 seem enthusiastic. Hit the jump to see what they had to say and watch an intro from the original series.

Walt Disney Studios has released the official synopsis for Tim Burton’s feature-length adaptation of his own 1984 short Frankenweenie:

After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life—with just a few minor adjustments. He tries to hide his home-sewn creation, but when Sparky gets out, Victor’s fellow students, teachers and the entire town all learn that getting a new “leash on life” can be monstrous.

Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Landau, Charlie Tahan, and Atticus Shaffer will voice the characters in the 3D black-and-white stop-motion animated film, due October 5, 2012.  Hit the jump to see the full production notes.

It is about time that Space: 1999 has been released, not only on Blu-ray, but also as one complete season. This release gives you the entire first season packaged together in a seven-disc set, where it had previously been offered on DVD in numerous volumes.  I mean, who has that much shelf space that they can devote a yard and half of storage to Space: 1999 episodes?  Now you can have the entire Season One of Space 1999, occupying but a mere inch of valuable shelf real estate.  My review of the Season One Blu-ray, after the jump.

Even though the film is still a couple years away, Tim Burton has already lined up a voice cast for his upcoming 3D stop-motion animated film, Frankenweenie.  The film is an adaptation of his 1984 short, and tells the story of “a man who reanimates his dog after it gets hit by a car.” Deadline reports that Winona Ryder will voice the role of Elsa, and Martin Landau will provide the voice for Mr. Rzykruski.  Martin Short and Catherine O’Hara have also been cast and will provide five voices each.  Short will voice Bob, Nassor, Toshiaki, Victor’s Dad, and Mr. Bergermeister.  Meanwhile, O’Hara will voice Edgar, Weird Girl, Victor’s Mom, and Gym Teacher.

The role of each character in the film is still unknown.  Frankenweenie marks the fourth collaboration between Burton and screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and will be released by Disney on March 9, 2012.  Hit the jump to check out the original short film.