[With The Bourne Legacy set to open this Friday, we'll be taking a look back at the original Bourne trilogy.  These reviews will contain spoilers since the movies have been out for years.  Click here for my review of The Bourne Identity and click here for my review of The Bourne Supremacy.]

In 2004, the post-9/11 American had begun to take shape and The Bourne Supremacy reflected that change.  It provided a conscious subtext, but the movie remained first and foremost an action-thriller.  But by 2007, the change in our country was no longer worthy of a simple observation.  The change had produced a feeling, and that feeling was anger.  We had been misled into a war, and the government was taking extraordinary powers against Americans in the name of protecting Americans.  The Bourne Ultimatum is unapologetically political, which is its greatest weakness and its greatest strength.  Director Paul Greengrass still delivers a pulse-pounding blockbuster that retains the same intensity of Supremacy, but he pushes audiences to not only recognize the seismic shift in our country, but to confront our complicity in it.

Three new TV spots for The Bourne Legacy have gone online.  Despite the constant need to remind audiences that this is still a Bourne movie in lieu of Matt Damon’s absence, the footage actually looks pretty good.  It’s reassuring to know that Tony Gilroy, who scripted the three previous Bourne movies, is taking over the franchise.  I’m a fan of his past directorial efforts (Michael Clayton, Duplicity), and hopefully he can maintain the character-centered tone of the other Bourne films while providing a fresh and engaging story that stands on its own.  This footage hammers home the idea that Jeremy Renner’s character is some kind of genetic supersoldier, and I’m eager to see how Legacy‘s story plays out within the universe of the first three films.

Hit the jump to watch the TV spots.  The film also stars Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Stacy Keach, and Oscar Isaac.  The Bourne Legacy opens on August 10th.

A new trailer for The Bourne Legacy has gone online. Rather than just a reboot, this feels like a direct sequel with Jason Bourne’s actions from the previous films creating the conflict for the new movie.  This time around, a government task force led by Edward Norton‘s character is assassinating all their genetically-modified assets to prevent another Bourne situation.  However, one member of the program (Jeremy Renner) manages to escape with a scientist (Rachel Weisz), and the two go on the run for their lives.  There are some cool stunts in the trailer, but I want to see more of the characters’ personalities rather than just the conspiracy/chase angle.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Stacy Keach, and Oscar Isaac.  The Bourne Legacy opens August 3rd.

Last week, we reported that Lee Daniels‘ adaptation of The Paperboy would be premiering at the Cannes Film Festival.  The movie centers on a pair of brothers (Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey) who team-up to investigate the potential wrongful conviction of a death-row inmate (John Cusack).  Today, the first twenty-four images from the film have gone online, and the film looks sweaty, which makes sense since the story is set in Florida.  The poster already gave us a look at Efron, Nicole Kidman, and McConaughey, but these new images also give us a look at Cusack, Scott Glenn, and David Oyelowo.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The 2012 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 16 – 25th.

Scott Glenn, last seen trying to get out of Sucker Punch with his dignity intact, has signed on for two more films.  First up, he’ll be joining fellow Bourne alums Joan Allen and Albert Finney in Tony Gilroy’s re-launch of the series, The Bourne Legacy.  The movie doesn’t actually feature Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) but has Jeremy Renner as another alumnus of the Treadstone program.  Glenn will reprise his role as CIA director Ezra Kramer.  The Bourne Legacy also stars Rachel Weisz, Oscar Isaac, Stacy Keach, with Edward Norton playing the villain.  Universal plans to release the film on August 3, 2012.

Variety also reports that Glenn will play newspaper chief W.W. James in Lee Daniels’ adaptation of The Paperboy.  The movie stars “Matthew McConaughey as a reporter who returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate played by John Cusack.”

For the premiere of Zack Snyder’s fantasy thriller Sucker Punch, the stars of the film gathered under a tent housing the black carpet, in order to escape the rain and keep their gowns dry. The film’s leading ladies – Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone and Jamie Chung – were ultra-glam, as they came out to support the Watchmen and 300 director, who will next be taking on Superman: Man of Steel.

Joining the film’s main cast, co-stars Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn and Oscar Isaac, mingled at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood with Watchmen star Malin Akerman, Diane Lane (seen next as Martha Kent), Red Riding Hood star Max Irons, Scream 4 star Emma Roberts and Juno Temple, who will be in The Dark Knight Rises. Check out all of the exclusive photos after the jump:

Imagination does not exist in a vacuum.  We’re inspired by experiences both internal and external.  We build our dreams on the dreams of others and if we possess a brilliant imagination, then we can transform these ideas into something fresh and new.  With his new film Sucker Punch, director Zack Snyder shows he not only misunderstands how imagination works, he also has no understanding of inspiration, empowerment, or joy.  The movie swims through the wet dreams of a teenage boy but pretends at higher aspirations of thoughtful escapism and transcendent determination.  For a movie where dragons battle fighter jets and teenage girls in skimpy outfits take down samurai golems, Sucker Punch is a surprisingly dull and self-serious affair that can’t be bothered to develop its heroine, but wants a round of applause every time she defeats a CGI monstrosity.  Despite all of the energy put into the stunning vistas and designs, nothing in Sucker Punch‘s visuals comes close to the majesty of its delusions of grandeur.

Warner Bros. has released five movie clips Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch which stars Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, and Oscar Isaac.  Sucker Punch is an “epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary.”  Hit the jump to watch the clips and look for our exclusive video interviews with the cast next week.

Warner Bros. has released the full press kit for Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch.  Included are 45 high resolution images of Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, and Oscar Isaac.  Many of the images are new.  Sucker Punch opens March 25th.  Check them out after the jump:

Jena Malone is practicing her musical number.  Abbie Cornish and Jamie Chung are preparing to fight crazy-looking soldiers in a German trench during World War I.  Emily Browning is going to attack a huge red dragon.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg of Sucker Punch.

It’s November 24^th, 2009 and I’m on a plane leaving Vancouver bound for Los Angeles.  I spent all day yesterday on the set of writer-director Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch and came away extremely impressed by the vision and scope of his 5th feature film.  While his previous two films (300 and Watchmen) have been both applauded and derided by how they reflect the source material, Sucker Punch is Snyder’s first foray into having complete freedom to tell a story without having to work within the confines of a pre-established universe.  And while I loved his last two films, I feel like this is the one that’s going to really capture everything Snyder has learned over the past several years. The movie looks fiercely original and unlike anything Hollywood has ever released.  It features an almost all girl cast and they’re fighting as hard as the men of 300.

Like the Watchmen set visit, Snyder gave us a ton of freedom on set and let us see everything he has in store for audiences on March 25th.  For a complete report of my experience, hit the jump.

Earlier this week, we showed you a banner for Zack Snyder’s new film Sucker Punch.  Today, Warner Bros. has debuted a new poster for the film.  As expected, it shows off girls, guns, and explosions.  I think I’m pretty well prepared, although I’m not sure why the poster is so green when the movie doesn’t (to the best of my knowledge) involve a hornet, lantern, or sewer mutant.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  Sucker Punch stars Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jane Malone, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, and Jon Hamm.  It opens March 25th.  Click here for more of our coverage on the film.

Yesterday, we reported that James Franco was looking to direct adaptations of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian.  However, later in the day, Blood Meridian producer Scott Rudin cast doubt on the original report.  Now, EW has spoken to Franco directly on the matter.  Franco confirms the original report by saying that he hopes to direct both films, with As I Lay Dying shooting in the summer and then Blood Meridian going before cameras sometime in 2012.

Hit the jump for what Franco had to say regarding his approach to the difficult narrative structure of As I Lay Dying and how he won over Rudin on Blood Meridian.

A new featurette of the upcoming Zack Snyder action flick Sucker Punch has been released and it gives us a deeper look into the next installment of the Zack Snyder series – movies-with-mind-blowing-ass-kicking. It’s basically a collection of a bunch of previously released scenes but also compiles a few comments by the actors including Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, and Oscar Isaac.   The film also stars Scott Glenn.

Hit the jump to check out a brief synopsis and the featurette to see what else the film has to deliver besides a posse of hot girls with too many guns:

Warner Bros. has released their preview kit for 2011 and along with it they’re providing the first look at Sherlock Holmes II, The Hangover Part II, and Horrible Bosses. There’s also images for The Rite, Unknown, Hall Pass, Red Riding Hood, Sucker Punch, Born to Be Wild, Something Borrowed, Apparition, Final Destination 5, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.  Hit the jump to check out the high-resolution synopses and images from these films plus synopses  for Crazy Stupid Love, Green Lantern, Dolphin Tale, Contagion, Happy Feet 2, and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.

A year ago this month, I was invited – along with a few other online journalists – to the set of Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch while the production was filming in Vancouver.  At the time of the visit, all I’d heard was that the movie was “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns.”  While that description sort of makes sense, it’s also not even scratching the surface.  The thing to know is, while Snyder’s previous four films (Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen, and Legend of the Guardians) have been based on original source material, Sucker Punch is his first foray into having complete freedom to tell a story without having to answer to anyone.

As you probably saw in the trailer, Sucker Punch stars Emily Browning, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jaime Chung, Abby Cornish, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, and Carla Gugino, and features musical numbers, dragons, a massive trench battle during the WWI with German soldiers, orcs, twelve foot Samurai warriors, swords and plenty of guns.  Hit the jump for more.