collider-top-5-slice

Last night, I managed to squeeze in a double feature of Dredd 3D and The Master. While I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of not having a 2D showing available to choose from, I have to admit that director Pete Travis' film provided me with my first 3D screening since 2010's Piranha 3D that actually felt worth the extra dimension and additional ticket price. As for The Master, it's probably unfair to judge something so heavy after a single viewing. That said, my initial reaction is that I can't remember watching a film where its individual parts so far exceed the sum the first time around. From top to bottom the pic's technicality is superb. And yet, I don't see myself in any hurry to revisit Paul Thomas Anderson's latest world.

Moving forward to the reason we're all here, in this week's episode of the Top 5, The Hobbit celebrates Tolkien Week in a big way with a new trailer and images, we get our first looks at a new suit from director Jose Padilha's Robocop reboot, Steve sits down to talk End of Watch with Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, and more, Kick-Ass 2 set images continue to roll out while Aaron Johnson talks about the film at TIFF, and Fantastic Fest 2012 kicks off. Continue reading for a brief recap and link to each.

1. THE HOBBIT Celebrates Tolkien Week with a New Trailer and More

the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-slice

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit initial publishing (a.k.a. Tolkien Week), Peter Jackson greeted fans of the work a revolving door of new assets from his upcoming adaptation, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Included in said assets are: this brand new trailer with alternate endings, these new images, and, you guessed it, even more new images.

2. First Looks at Murphy's New Suit in the ROBOCOP Reboot

Let's face it: the weekends can sometimes be a slow time for movie news. So, you can imagine my excitement when, while putting together last week's Top 5, the first images from the Toronto set of Jose Padilha's Robocop reboot landed online and gave me the opportunity to cover something that spurred virtually immediate debate amongst fans. Even though I'm doing my best to keep my judgments at bay until I can actually see the suit in action, these additional set images and this hi-res licensing banner are providing plenty of early food for thought that I can use to formulate my own opinion that I can, in turn, sit on and not share with anyone so as to avoid being labeled "that guy".

3. END OF WATCH Interviews with Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, and More

jake-gyllenhaal-end-of-watch-slice

Armed with a few more hours in the day, I would have loved to have turned my aforementioned double feature into a triple feature that included End of Watch. As it stands, though, I'm left to fulfill my End of Watch needs with a look at Steve's semi off-the-cuff video interview with Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Anna Kendrick and Natalie Martinez, and writer/director David Ayer (let us also not forget Matt's own TIFF review). Until next weekend...

4. KICK-ASS 2 Set Images Galore Plus Aaron Johnson Talks the Film at TIFF

As a comic book fan who has never read Mark Millar's Kick-Ass run, I was pleasantly surprised with Matthew Vaughn's 2010 adaptation. I found it to be a refreshing change of pace for the genre and something I'm happy to have in my personal collection. Enter Kick-Ass 2 and I'm yet again unsure of what to expect this time around. Much of the film's core cast returns with the addition Jim Carrey, Donald Faison, and Lindy Booth just to name a few. The big question mark here for me is writer/director Jeff Wadlow whose previous outputs include Cry Wolf (which he also wrote/directed) and Never Back Down (which he only directed). All of this backstory aside, this week brought us a slew of new images from the film's set as well as Aaron Johnson talking with Steve about some of the areas in which the film deviates from Millar and John Romita Jr.'s comic. Here's to hoping pleasant surprise once again rears its head on the sequel...

5. Fantastic Fest 2012 Begins

fantastic-fest-2012-slice

It seems like only yesterday that Matt was in Toronto reviewing films like there was no tomorrow for TIFF 2012. But, alas, there is no rest for our own Mr. Goldberg as he is already back at it in Austin critiquing pics as part of Fantastic Fest 2012. Given that the festival runs all the way through the 27th of September, it's safe to say that we're going to have plenty of additional coverage in the coming days. For now, though, I recommend getting up to speed on all of our Fantastic Fest 2012 coverage to date (including a prep Limited Paper installment that attempts to get our readers ready for the inevitable Mondo drops that will take place in the next week).