Megan Fox is probably going to shoot down your tried-and-true pick-up lines on the best of days, even if you’re not wearing a geometrically-patterned turtle shell with oven mitts on your hands and deedlybops on your head.  So imagine how difficult it must be for Raphael (Alan Ritchson) to convince April O’Neil (Megan Fox) to give him back his signature sais.  This new batch of set images from Jonathan Liebesman’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shows just that scene unfolding.  I’m assuming the red bandana around Ritchson’s arm is to distinguish him as Raph and that he’s not robbing O’Neil as some sort of gang initiation rewrite.

Hit the jump to view the new images.  The film also stars Danny Woodburn, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opens on June 6, 2014.

Last night I turned to Xbox Live to check out Shane Carruth‘s Upstream Color for the first time. While not quite as impenetrable after one viewing as its predecessor, 2004′s Primer, Upstream still demands the utmost attention of its viewers in exchange for the slightest hint of clarity. The dialogue is sparse, the setting is ever-changing, the editing is heavily dependent on juxtaposition as a way of creating meaning, and the sound design/foley work is turned up to “11″ at times. Whereas Primer played more to the intellect behind making time travel a reality, Upstream is an extremely visceral experience that is more interested, or at least more successful, in eliciting an emotional response than explaining how a rare organism can be harvested, used as a method of mind control, and ultimately link humans to pigs. The exact degree to which it succeeds will vary from viewer to viewer but it’s ultimately an experience I recommend taking in.

Of course a movie like Upstream lends itself to more than a few lines of my humble analysis, but that’s not actually why we’re here. In this week’s Top 5 you can check out the first trailer and poster for Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity, a generous number of set pics from director Jonathan Liebesman‘s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, Steve’s exclusive phone interview with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, the first trailer for Ender’s Game, and a look at Iron Man by the Numbers. A brief recap and link to each will greet you after the jump.

A new batch of images from the set of director Jonathan Liebeseman’s (Battle: Los Angeles) reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has landed online, giving us our first look at the actors playing the turtles.  As previously reported, the titular characters will be created using performance capture technology, and in these images we see the film’s cast wearing turtle-shaped mo-cap suits complete with mo-cap shells.  We also get a new look at Megan Fox as April O’Neill and Will Arnett as…a character we don’t know just yet.  It’s admittedly unfair to judge a film like this without seeing what the finished turtles look like, but everything about this reboot just seems really sad.  The prospect of William Fichtner as Shredder is certainly promising, so here’s hoping TMNT is a pleasant surprise.

Hit the jump to check out the set images.  The film also stars Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opens on June 6, 2014.

The production delay for Jurassic Park 4 has scuttled Universal’s plans for a June 13, 2014 release date.  But you can’t let a good release day go to waste, and Sony has wasted no time in moving the 21 Jump Street sequel into that vacated spot.  This move makes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the only wide release on June 6, 2014.  Filming on TMNT is currently underway with Megan Fox on a trampoline.

As for the sequel to 21 Jump Street, filming is set to begin this fall.  Phil Lord and Chris Miller will return to direct; Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum will reprise their roles as Officers Schmidt and Jenko.  Korean Jesus be praised.

When the first bit of footage from the set of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is star Megan Fox jumping on a trampoline, you’d be within your rights to throw all credibility out the window.  But for those of you who like that sort of thing, we now have video of said same event, plus new images that reveal the logo for director Jonathan Liebesman’s remake and Fox in her more April O’Neil-appropriate attire.

Also starring Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher,  Ninja Turtles opens on June 6, 2014.  Hit the jump to check out the new set images and video.

Production is currently underway on director Jonathan Liebesman’s reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the first set photos have surfaced online giving us a look at Megan Fox as reporter April O’Neil.  It doesn’t look like Fox has done much to alter her appearance, and the scene in question has the actress covering some sort of outdoor workout regimen as she bounces up and down on a trampoline while wearing fitness gear.  So yeah, this doesn’t really give us any idea of what Liebesman’s vision for the Michael Bay-produced Ninja Turtles looks like, but if you wanna see Megan Fox jumping on a trampoline, these set images are right up your alley.

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  The film also stars Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher.  Ninja Turtles opens on June 6, 2014.

Opening this weekend is director Michael Bay’s fantastic dark comedy Pain & Gain.  The film is based on a crazy true story and stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as two bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.  Pain and Gain also stars Anthony Mackie, Rebel Wilson,  Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Corddry, Ken Jeong, and Bar Paly.  For more on the film, watch some clips or the red-band trailer.

Last week at the Miami press junket, I landed an exclusive interview with Michael Bay.  He talked about balancing the truth while making a movie, why it took so long to make the film, deleted scenes, whether he will release an extended cut on Blu-ray, test screenings, and a lot more.  In addition, beside telling a crazy true story involving the real people involved, I got an update on director Jonathan Liebesman‘s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Hit the jump to watch and definitely check out Pain and Gain this weekend.  It’s absolutely worth seeing.

We’ve got a couple of rather interesting casting stories to report this evening.  First up, Wally Pfister has added another familiar face to the cast of his directorial debut Transcendence.  Pfister previously worked as a cinematographer, most notably collaborating with Christopher Nolan on all of his films, and now Batman Begins and Inception star Cillian Murphy has been tapped to play one of three male leads in Transcendence.  The film stars Johnny Depp and is rumored to concern a scientist whose brain gets uploaded into a supercomputer, but confirmed plot details are being kept under tight wraps.

News of Murphy’s casting comes courtesy of Latino Review, but further details regarding his character are unknown.  Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, and Kate Mara also star.  The film is due out April 25, 2014.  Hit the jump to find out which Seinfeld alum has been cast as Master Splinter in the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles redo.

Will Arnett (Arrested Development) appears to be the latest addition to Jonathan Liebesman’s Ninja Turtles, the reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property that’s expected out on June 6, 2014.  We know that Megan Fox (Transformers) will play April O’Neil and that the Turtles themselves have been cast, but Arnett’s role is under wraps at the moment.  The major roles yet to be cast, at least if we’re staying in canon, are the team’s mentor and trainer, Splinter, and the main antagonist, Shredder.  Turtle-friend Casey Jones also needs to be cast, but reports have excluded Arnett from that role.  Hit the jump for more.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, Ninja Turtles, is starting to take shape. After recent news that newcomer Alan Ritchson (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) had been tapped to play Raphael, more casting news has come down the line about the rest of the turtle team. Deadline reports that Pete Ploszek will play Leonardo, Jeremy Howard will play Donatello, and Noel Fisher will play Michelangelo.

Hit the jump to find out more about the cast of the new film.   Ninja Turtles is due out June 6, 2014.

The first of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been cast in Jonathan Liebesman‘s Ninja Turtles.  According to Deadline, Alan Ritchson (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) will be picking up a pair of digital sai to do the motion capture performance for Raphael.  For those unfamiliar with TMNT, Raphael is usually the wise-cracking rebel of the group, which tends to bring him into direct conflict with the group’s by-the-book leader, Leonardo.  Last month, Megan Fox was cast as reporter April O’Neil.

Despite dropping “Teenage” and “Mutant” from the title, Liebesman and producer Michael Bay have said that this reboot will build off the original comic books by Kevin Eastman.  Fans raised on the animated series were a bit miffed when Bay announced that the characters would be created by aliens rather than radioactive “ooze”.  However, Eastman says the movie will have “Raid: Redemption-style fight scenes” and “epic Rise of the Planet of the Apes sort of effects,” so perhaps that will make some of the changes easier to accept.  Ninja Turtles is due out June 6, 2014.

Check out the latest release dates for the following movies:

• Ninja Turtles – The Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot directed by Jonathan Liebesman and starring Megan Fox will now open on June 6, 2014.
• Annie – Will Gluck’s Annie remake, starring Quvenzhané Wallis, will open on Christmas Day 2014.
• The Kings of Summer – Formerly titled Toy’s House and starring Nick Offerman, Megan Mulally and Alison Brie, The Kings of Summer gets a new release date of June 14, 2013.
• Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite - The direct-to-video animated Lego feature will be available on DVD/Blu-ray/On Demand/Digital Download starting May 21st.

Hit the jump for more on each movie.

Even though Megan Fox and Michael Bay had an infamous falling out during the Transformers days, it looks like the director has patched things up, not with roses, but with pizza.  Bay announced on his blog that Fox will be cast in his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot and will be playing “intrepid reporter and good-natured friend to reptiles” April O’Neil.  The actress was won over by a series of meetings with Bay, as well as impressive storyboard sessions with director Jonathan Liebesman (Battle Los Angeles).  Casting is currently underway for unknowns to play the heroes in a half-shell, who will be motion capture animated in the live-action/CG hybrid picture due out in 2014.  Hit the jump for more.

The upcoming Michael Bay-produced reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has brushed up quite a bit of passionate discussion regarding the finer points of turtle mutation, but the comic book series co-creator Kevin Eastman is put those reservations at bay (pun intended).  Though Bay’s comments about the Turtles coming from an alien race in this new iteration got many a Ninja Turtles fans’ undergarments in a twist, director Jonathan Liebesman shot back that whatever changes they were making to the source material were coming from Eastman himself:

“Whatever mythology we’re building on or expanding is coming from that guy, Kevin Eastman’s head, who created the Turtles in the first place.  And so everything will tie in with the mythology; fans will be extremely excited with what we’re coming up with.”

Now Eastman himself has spoken a bit about the property, confidently proclaiming that Ninja Turtles is the best adaptation of the comics yet, despite its glaring lack of Vanilla Ice.  Hit the jump for more from Eastman.

By now my reaction to a major Paramount film being pushed back to address major issues has become “classic Paramount!”  After pushing G.I. Joe: Retaliation back nine months in order to post-convert the film to 3D and revive Channing Tatum and then hiring Damon Lindelof to rewrite the Brad Pitt-fronted zombie pic World War Z ahead of massive reshoots and production problems, Paramount has now delayed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot (retitled Ninja Turtles) in order to address script issues.  Originally slated for release in December 2013, the Michael Bay-produced reboot has now been pushed to May 16th, 2014 assuming these issues can be resolved.  Hit the jump for more.