The official Facebook page of the comic book sequel 300: Rise of an Empire was updated with a new image showcasing the film’s title in typical Spartan fashion.  The title image shares many similarities with its predecessor, the Gerald Butler blockbuster 300, but fails to offer any new information aside from indicating that they intend to stick to this title (the follow-up was previously called 300: Battle of Artemisia).  300: Rise of an Empire is set to hit theaters August 2^nd 2013 and stars Rodrigo Santoro, Eva Green and Sullivan Stapleton, and is loosely based on the comic ”Xeres” by Frank Miller.  Hit the jump for the full res image and for more information on the spin-off/sequel.

This time last week I was two movies into the triple feature I teased the last time we met. While I can’t say I was overly impressed by Gangster Squad, both Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained made their respective cases as qualified Best Picture nominees. Of the two, Zero Dark‘s unrelenting final act not only made it my top pick of the day but also provided some of the most sustained tension I can remember experiencing in a movie theater. Having now seen it for myself, I must say that I wholeheartedly agree with those who have voiced their disbelief at Kathryn Bigelow‘s Best Director Oscar snub.

Zero Dark Thirty praise aside, on tap in this week’s Top 5 are The Last Stand interviews with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johnny Knoxville, and more, a live-action remake of Toy Story, a new trailer for Primer writer/director/star/almost literally everything else Shane Carruth‘s Upstream Color, Mama interviews with Guillermo del Toro and more, and all of our Sundance 2013 coverage to date. For your reading pleasure, a recap and link to each awaits after the jump.

Though they don’t have a lot of screen time together, Rodrigo Santoro and Forest Whitaker play two characters on opposite sides of the law who band together to fight a common evil in The Last Stand.  The Kim Jee-woon action picture sees a rag-tag bunch of sheriff’s deputies go up against a ruthless drug lord and his well-armed militia bent on crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.  In a recent video interview, Santoro and Whitaker talked about their approach to playing their characters, what it was like to work with action star Arnold Schwarzenegger and teased a little about The Butler and 300: Rise of an Empire. 

Also starring Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Luis Guzman, Eduardo Noriega, Peter Stormare and Zach Gilford, The Last Stand opens on January 18th.  Hit the jump to watch our video interview with Santoro and Whitaker.

Best known stateside for his portrayal of Xerxes in 300, Rodrigo Santoro will next be seen in considerably less makeup in Kim Jee-woon’s The Last Stand.  The old-fashioned action movie serves as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to a lead role, but Santoro gets in on the excitement as the newly-deputized Frank Martinez.  The Last Stand also stars Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Eduardo Noriega, Luis Guzman, Forest Whitaker and Peter Stormare and opens January 18th.

During a recent interview for The Last Stand, Santoro talked about the experience of working with the international cast and crew, the various relationships between his character and others, how much material was left on the cutting room floor and moments of improvisation on set.  Santoro also gave us updates on Senna, Rio 2 and 300: Rise of an Empire.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Rodrigo Santoro (300) is set to star as a trouble maker-turned-town hero in director Kim Jee-woon’s The Last Stand.  Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the town sheriff who deputizes Santoro’s character, The Last Stand centers on the last ditch effort of a rag-tag bunch of local law enforcement attempting to stop a powerful drug lord from coming through their town to cross the border.  Also starring Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Forest Whitaker and Eduardo Noriega, The Last Stand opens January 18th.

During a recent interview for The Last Stand, Santoro gave us updates on the status of Senna, as well as positive feedback from the studio for 300: Rise of an Empire, an update on his voice-work in Rio 2 and the status of his recent Brazilian picture, Heleno.  Hit the jump for the latest news. 

The sheriff of a small border town stands in front of a notorious drug cartel leader, blocking his path across the bridge that will take him safely out of the country.  Wanting to avoid a physical confrontation with the much larger man, the cartel leader attempts to buy him off. The sheriff responds by discarding his gun belt and shedding his jacket, dropping it to the ground.  The men rush each other.  They trade blows, neither getting the upper hand until the sheriff lifts the man into the air and prepares to slam him to the asphalt.  Director Kim Jee-Woon calls cut and sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger) slowly lowers cartel leader Gabriel Cortes (Eduardo Noriega) to the ground with the assistance of the actor’s stunt wires.

It’s late October 2011 and we’re on set of The Last Stand, Schwarzenegger’s first starring role since leaving the governorship of California and his triumphant return to the big screen.  While we’ll have interviews with the cast and crew of the film later on this week, you can hit the jump right now to view our “20 Things to Know” for The Last Stand.  Also starring Forest Whitaker, Rodrigo Santoro, Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Luis Guzman, Peter Stormare, Zach Gilford and Genesis Rodriguez, The Last Stand opens January 18th, 2013.

A new full-length trailer for director Kim Jee-Woon‘s actioner The Last Stand has been released.  The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the old sheriff of a sleepy border town who’s called to action when a drug kingpin flees an FBI prisoner convoy, and tries to make his way to Mexico.  This trailer gives us a better look at the action outside of the border town involving Forest Whitaker‘s law enforcement character and also highlights some of the lighter aspects of the pic.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Eduardo Noriega, Rodrigo Santoro, Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Peter Stormare, Zach Gilford, and Genesis Rodriguez.  The Last Stand opens January 18, 2013.

A few new images to share with you today from the following films:

• Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln stars Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role, but also features Jackie Earle Haley, Lee Pace, Hal Holbrook and James Spader.
• Jee-woon Kim’s actioner The Last Stand shows off a new look at stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rodrigo Santoro.
• Jon Lucas and Scott Moore’s 21 and Over starring Justin Chon, Miles Teller and Skylar Astin.  

Hit the jump to check out the new images.

Because it would be silly and confusing to name the sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300, 301 or 300: 2, the follow-up has now been given the official title of 300: Rise of an Empire.  Previously, the Noam Murro sequel/spin-off was titled 300: Battle of Artemisia, but perhaps that was too confusing and so we’re now left with this generic title that continues the theme of recent movies (The Dark Knight Rises, Rise of the Guardians, etc). Deadline reports that the Legendary Pictures film will keep its release date of August 2nd, 2013 intact.  300: Rise of an Empire stars Eva Green, Rodrigo Santoro, Sullivan Stapleton and Andrew Tiernan in a story based off of a Frank Miller comic.  Be sure to catch up with all of our previous coverage on the 300 spin-off here.

The first trailer for Kim Jee-Woon‘s The Last Stand has gone online.  Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as the old sheriff of a sleepy border town who’s called to action when a drug kingpin flees an FBI prisoner convoy, and tries to make his way to Mexico.  It’s a good premise for nice little action-thriller, but Schwarzenegger seems totally miscast.  He’s just not really meant for small movies because he’s a big persona.  There’s nothing subdued about him.  So when a huge guy with a thick Austrian accent is wandering around a small town like it’s no big deal, he seems horribly out of place.  Maybe it will work better in context, and I really like the action on display from Kim Jee-Woon.  It’s a nice break from the shaky-cam antics other directors may have brought to the picture.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Forest Whitaker, Eduardo Noriega, Rodrigo Santoro, Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Peter Stormare, Zach Gilford, and Genesis Rodriguez.  The Last Stand opens January 18, 2013.

You’ll see a little bit more of Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Expendables 2 than you did in the first film, but once The Last Stand rolls in next January, the whole screen belongs to the former Governor.  We previously brought you the first image from the film, but now we’re happy to share an official synopsis and poster.  The actioner from director Ji-woon Kim stars Schwarzenegger as the aging sheriff of a border town, which happens to be the last hope of keeping a drug cartel leader from fleeing the country.  The Last Stand, also starring Johnny Knoxville, Forest Whitaker, Eduardo Noriega, Rodrigo Santoro, Jaimie Alexander, Peter Stormare, Genesis Rodriguez and Zach Gilford, opens January 18th.  Hit the jump for the official synopsis and poster.

While not as well known in America as some of his counterparts in What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Rodrigo Santoro is absolutely the bigger star in places like Brazil.  That’s because while Santoro has acted in some Hollywood movies and TV shows like Love Actually, 300, I Love You Phillip Morris (which is severely underrated) and Lost (he played Paulo), in Brazil he’s acted in countless movies and he’s a big time movie star.

At the recent Los Angeles press day for What to Expect When You’re Expecting (he plays Jennifer Lopez‘s husband), I landed an extended interview with Santoro.  During our wide ranging conversation we talked about how he got into acting, his favorite movies, how he got cast in What to Expect, the success of Love Actually, and the 300 sequel/spin-off 300: Battle of Artemisia . In addition, Santoro addresses the rumor of him playing famed Brazilian Formula One racer, Ayrton Senna, in a feature film.  If the project comes together it sounds like it could be really cool, and he definitely looks the part.  Hit the jump to watch. 

Though his name may not be super familiar here in the United States, Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna is a legend around the world.  The Brazilian made a name for himself as one of the greatest F1 drivers to have ever raced, with an all-too-short career spanning nearly a decade.  Sadly, Senna was killed in a crash in 1994 during the San Marino Grand Prix.  His life was chronicled in Asif Kapadia’s excellent 2010 documentary Senna (currently available on Netflix Instant Watch), and rumors have been swirling that a biopic of the racer could be on its way soon.

Steve recently got the chance to sit down with actor Rodrigo Santoro at the press day for What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and he asked Santoro about the rumors that he might portray Senna in a feature film.  Santoro confirmed that, though nothing is official, “talks are going on” and elaborated a bit on how the project’s development is coming along and what a huge undertaking it would be to portray the racing legend.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

While attending the press junket for What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Steve got to sit down with actor Rodrigo Santoro, who talked about reprising his role as the God-King, Xerxes, in the upcoming 300 spin-off, 300: Battle of Artemisia. Originally based on the Frank Miller comic, “Xerxes,” the script has evolved to focus on an Athenian protagonist taking on the Persian king in a setting that parallels that of the original 300.  Santoro commented on the progress of the shoot, how it might be filming in Bulgaria, the overall story and the challenge of returning to play Xerxes again.  Check out our previous coverage of 300: Battle of Artemisia here.

Directed by Noam Murro (Smart People) and also starring Eva Green (Dark Shadows) and Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom), 300: Battle of Artemisia opens August 2nd, 2013.  Hit the jump to see what Santoro had to say.

We’ve been provided with an exclusive new TV spot from What to Expect When You’re Expecting to share with our readers.  The star-studded ensemble comedy tells the intertwining story of five couples that are having very different experiences while expecting babies.  This new spot focuses on the different ways the soon-to-be fathers and mothers deal with impending parenthood, with a nice appearance by Rebel Wilson to liven things up.

Hit the jump to watch the spot.  The film also stars Chris Rock, Rob Heubel, Anna Kendrick, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jennifer Lopez, Rodrigo Santoro, Joe Manganiello, Chace Crawford, Matthew Morrison, Brooklyn Decker, Thomas Lennon, and Wendy McLendon-Covey.  What to Expect When You’re Expecting opens on May 12th.