Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. We’ve got ten new trailers for you this week; check ‘em all out after the jump.

Read More »

There’s been talk about a possible updating of Mary Harron’s American Psycho — based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis — for some time now. Word has arrived that Lionsgate is actually pushing forward with a remake of the twisted classic. The studio has brought on screenwriting unknown Noble Jones to update the story about yuppie psychotic, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), who slaughters his way through the 1980s. The studio will be hard-pressed to find another actor that can fill Bale’s (very expensive) shoes for the now famous role that became the symbol of cultural narcissism, materialism, and greed. Bale’s performance embodies everything Ellis set forth in his novel so perfectly, we think it will be impossible to top. What other iconic movie roles can never be remade? Click through to check out our picks, and leave yours in the comments below. Read More »

Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. We’ve got five new trailers for your post-turkey consumption this week; check ‘em out after the jump. Read More »

On this day in 1986, James Cameron’s sci-fi/action epic Aliens was released in American theaters. A sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1979 scare-fest Alien, Cameron’s picture was a smash with both audiences and critics, raking in $85 million at the box office and racking up seven Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nod for star Sigourney Weaver. More importantly, it reinvented Weaver’s Ellen Ripley as the kind of strong, muscular, tough action hero role played almost exclusively by male stars like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The trouble is, Aliens came out 25 years ago, and a female action hero like Ripley is still the exception to the rule.

Sure, there are occasional heirs — Milla Jovovich has fronted four Resident Evil movies (with a fifth on the way), Uma Thurman did the Kill Bills, and Linda Hamilton kicked major ass in Cameron’s Aliensfollow-up, Terminator 2. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis co-starred in Thelma and Louise. And there’s Angelina Jolie, who raised heart rates in the Tomb Raider movies, Wanted, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, as well as last year’s Salt — an action lead, incidentally, originally intended for Tom Cruise. But that’s a pretty lean mixture of ladies for 25 years of moviemaking. Why is the female action hero still such a rarity?

Read More »

Simon Pegg and his frequent co-star Nick Frost team up as both writers and actors in Paul, what looks like a parody of your typical road trip buddy comedy. Naturally the “best buddies,” a pair of comic book geeks traveling near Area 51, encounter a smoking alien (voiced by Seth Rogen), and that’s when the “trip of a lifetime” really begins. Jason Bateman plays a stern-faced, Men in Black-esque government agent, which should be hilarious (director Greg Mottola helmed a few episodes of Arrested Development), and the cast is rounded out by Kristen Wiig and sci-fi staple Sigourney Weaver. Despite an all-star ensemble, the success of this movie will rest heavily on Pegg and Frost. If internet rumors are to be believed, we need to wait for the red band trailer for the majority of the Superbad/Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead-style laughs. Which makes sense. Check out the teaser after the jump and let us know what you think.

Read More »

On Sunday there were reports, first appearing in London’s Sunday Times, that the United Nation had appointed Mazlan Othman, a Malaysian astrophysicist, as head of the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA… the sound an alien might make?). Unfortunately someone seems to have jumped the gun, as Othman has subsequently denied the appointment. To help cope with our disappointment, we thought we’d take a look at 10 Hollywood actors who’d also make fine ambassadors. You know, just in case.

Read More »

The Expendables opens today, and if you didn’t know already, it’s an action movie that features a leather bag brimming with bundled cash, a helpless woman with an accent, and lots of bad-ass dudes dressed in black running around killing other men lesser than themselves. Sylvester Stallone directs the cast of scowling veterans — whose average age must be around 50 — in a film that is sure to be about exactly what it looks like it’ll be about. We, however, wondered if this movie would be doing better with critics if the male action superstars were replaced by their female counterparts. Click past the jump to witness the possible genesis of The Expendables II.

Read More »

1. So this is fun: After they were introduced by mutual friend Alicia Keys, Jack White and Jay-Z have recorded a song together! [via TwentyFourBit]
2. Not at the SXSW Festival? IFC.com is live streaming a ton of panels, interviews, and live performances. [via Pop Candy]
3. Have you read Courtney Love‘s crazy Facebook apology to Billy Corgan? An excerpt: “We have again created beauty from the agony between us, all the buried and unburied anguish, all that is true, that is gold, that is meant to be is within this endless and somehow eternal cycle of Billy & Courtney.” [via Billboard]
4. We’d watch that: Conan O’Brien‘s upcoming 30-city tour, “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour,” could be the focus of a documentary film. [via Deadline]
5. For reasons that are unclear, Sigourney Weaver is joining the cast of that Amy Heckerling/Alicia Silverstone vampire romantic comedy. Do you think vampire queens get to chainsmoke? [via THR]

With all the speculation that’s been swirling around Ghostbusters 3, here’s a solid fact for us Bill Murray obsessives: Ivan Reitman will be directing. Reitman was at the helm on both the first and second films, and will be continuing the role despite whisperings that Harold Ramis might direct (after Year One, we’d say that’s a good thing). As for the plot and cast, those are still tightly under wraps.

Reitman refused to comment on Sigourney Weaver’s assertion that Bill Murray will play a ghost himself — or on speculation that the film will feature a “new generation” with cameos from the old. The younger Ghostbusters crew could include a grown-up Oscar, Sigourney’s baby from Ghostbusters 2. Despite all these rumors, one thing is clear: a script, written by original scrolls Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, is in the works. Here’s to hoping this ’80s reboot is better than Indiana Jones redux or Terminator Salvation.

Editor’s note: This review originally ran during the Tribeca Film Festival. We’re re-posting it because the film opens in theaters nationwide today.

Moon is a collage of sci-fi cinema whose cut and paste pieces will be familiar even to those not comfortable dropping terms like Replicant or Sleestack into polite conversation. That’s not to say it lacks originality — there’s a star-cluster of clever twists and style — but Moon manages to find that magical middle ground where both zealots of the genre and newbies will feel satisfied to spend 90 minutes on board. With only one actor. Much of this has to do with Sam Rockwell, and the simple concept that gets pulled in a number of contortions that are easy to follow yet avoid the soap-opera-in-space-syndrome that plagues too many frames of contemporary sci-fi celluloid. Read More »