AMC's Best Picture Showcase Part 1 Roundup

Every year we make the one trip to an AMC theater and sit down for almost a 24 hour period to watch their Best Picture Showcase. This year since Javi has a half marathon to go to the day after the 24 hour marathon, we decided split it up the event over two weekends. We just saw part one which included AMOUR, LES MISERABLES, ARGO, AND DJANGO UNCHAINED. Below are some of our brief thoughts.

THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS Red-Band Trailer Drop Kicks You in the Face!

Making his directorial debut, RZA of the Wu Tang Clan sets to make his mark with THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS. RZA has been talking about this project as early as 2005, and in 2007 after he written the story, Eli Roth came on as both producer and collaborator for the screenplay. Now his Kung Fu dreams have turned into reality with this film which looks visually engaging and insanely bloody.

Check out the red-band trailer after the break.

LES MISERABLES Teaser Trailer Drops!

The musical nerd in me is so excited right now. After almost agreeing with the casting Tom Hopper's LES MISERABLES, we now have our first teaser of the upcoming musical epic. I saw the stage show years ago in high school, and even though it's a sprawling tale that lasts almost three hours, the Schonberg music sucks you in and doesn't let you go. Even after all these years, it's still one of the most emotional musicals I've seen.

Musical to film adaptations are pretty trendy now for Hollywood, and with this film being released in December, it's pretty obvious what they're aiming for. I've had many issues with modern musical films because they just don't seem to translate well to screen. CHICAGO is a rare example of a musical working on screen, but not many have been able to crack the formula. Hopper has taken a different route with LES MIS by having his actors sing live on set, which will help bring authenticity to their performance. Will it work? We'll have to see.

Check the trailer after the jump.

Casting news: LES MISERABLES (please make it not true!)

One aspect that I haven't said much about here is my unabashed love of all things broadway.  Theatre and dance has been a passion of mine since I was little.  I'll see any dance movie or musical.  No ifs ands or buts about it.

Now, with that said, there's been some interesting casting news come down the pipe from Broadway.com for an upcoming adaptation of one of my favorite musicals, Les Miserables.