Mark Wahlberg is now in TRANSFORMERS 4; Michael Bay can't stop lying to nerds on the Internet

Having gone through this so many times with the last two sequels, as I heard Michael Bay denying that Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg was not going to be in TRANS4MERS (my own totally original title), I knew he would be in the movie. Thanks to a post on his personal site, Bay has confirmed that he will be hooking up with this guy to continue his giant robots franchise:

But let's be real for a second. I like Mark Wahlberg, but only when he does comedies (I HEART HUCKABEES, THE OTHER GUYS, TED). Whenever he does "serious" actions movies, I get super bored with him. All of the charm just goes out the window. I'm not sure I want to live in a world where Mark is doing "Michael Bay humor." But I'm sure we'll hear more about this in the coming months.

On a cool note, this is the new logo for the movie you see above. It's interesting that it's focused on the Decepticon sigil especially since....(SPOILER) none are alive because Optimus Prime is a murdering psychopath. Look for more news about the movie in the coming months as it's production ramps up for the 2014 spring shoot.

TRANS4MERS is directed by Michael Bay. It will definitely star Mark Wahlberg and other people. It will come out Summer 2015.

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Fantastic Fest 2012 annouces their Fantastic Fest Award winners

Even though I am insanely jealous of all our friends and colleagues that are still down in Austin for Fantastic Fest, I wanted to post about the award winners that were honored yesterday. I am very happy with a lot of the selections especially with the Audience Award Winner which is my favorite movie of the festival so far. Just as a heads-up, we will be having more reviews for the rest of the week and up to next week followed by a "best of" article from both Jonesy and I. For now, check out the award winners after the break.

Comic-Con Round Up of All the Movie Madness: Marvel Cinematic Universe, PACIFIC RIM, and THE HOBBIT

Comic-Con 2012 has finally come to a close, and even though not many of us were able to secure any of exclusive Mondo posters (like the one above), we received plenty of movie news that will make the next couple years quite interesting.

Has Benedict Cumberbatch's Villain Identity Been Revealed?

STAR TREK was a definite surprise when it came out a couple years ago. I think expectations were that it would be good, but no one could have really predicted how fun and actually great it ended up being. Now we're still a little less than a year away from the sequel, and this film is filled with even more speculation than the first one.

As we reported back in January, WDYMS sweetheart, Benedict Cumberbatch had landed the role of the main villain of the sequel. Ever since that announcement, there's just been rumor after rumor about which villain he would be. Badass Digest first broke that one of the more infamous bad guys in the Star Trek series, Khan, would not be the villain. Instead, their secret source stated this film would focus more on a "classic" Trek character:

It’s definitely a character that will make fans of TOS excited. Think along the lines of Harry Mudd or Trelane or Gary Mitchell or the Talosians or the Horta. Actually it’s one of those that I named.

Then, this interesting info came out today. Karl Urban, who plays Bones in the film, was giving an interview to SFX about his upcoming film, DREDD, and may have let Cumberbatch's identity out of the bag when talking about working with him on the movie:

He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.

Whoops! So if Urban is correct, then Mitchell is an acquaintance of Kirk from the original TV series. Mitchell ends up getting telepathic and telekinetic god-like powers, and in the end, he ends up battling Kirk in a showdown, like you do.

So, did Urban actually let it slip a key bit of information about the sequel? Or is he just being a troll? Good thing we have until next May to speculate!



STAR TREK 2 will be released May 17, 2013 starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, and Benedict Cumberbatch.


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Take the First Look at Guillermo Del Toro's Rowbits for his New Movie, PACIFIC RIM!

Javi here. If you don't know, I'm a fan of robots. I'm also a fan of movies. I'm a bigger fan of robots in movies that are not directed by Michael Bay. With that being said, I am so excited for director Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming PACIFIC RIM. This was the project that was started after his previous movie, AT THE MOUNTAIN OF MADNESS, was cancelled. PACIFIC RIM, according to IMDB, is about "When an alien attack threatens the Earth's existence, giant robots piloted by humans are deployed to fight off the menace."

Now, with this poster coming to you thanks to Badass Digest, shows the exact scale of the robots. That is to say, they're freaking huge! This movie is looking to be the culmnation of a lot of good things finally coming together, an actual Guillermo Del Toro movie, guys getting into huge robots and then figting monsters in said huge robots. This is basically a serious look at all of those crazy Super Sentai shows from Japan that inspired the robot/monster parts of the Power Rangers series. Plus, it stars Idris Elba. So what do you guys think? I'm really interested to see how they work on the scale of these machines and the monsters. I want to be in awe of them and I really hope that the movie gets this across. Stay tuned here for more news on the movie as they come to us.

PACIFIC RIM is directed by Guillermo Del Toro, written by Travis Beacham and stars Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, and Charlie Day.


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The Drafthouse Alliance: Get Drafthouse Films Movies Delivered to Your Doorstep!

The Alamo Drafthouse has become a staple stop whenever any of my friends travel down to Austin. And we cannot wait for them to finally open up here in Dallas! Their movie going experience is unbeatable, and almost all of that is attributed to founder Tim League's passion of creating a movie theatre and community for true movie fans.

A couple years ago, League branched out and created Drafthouse Films, the distributing arm of the theatre. Since its inception, Drafthouse Films has distributed FOUR LIONS, MIAMI CONNECTION, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS, KLOWN, THE FP, and the Oscar nominated BULLHEAD.

Now it's time for the next step. An announcement came today that Drafthouse Films placed out a call to action:

Our motto is simple: "share the movies we love with the widest audience possible." Under the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema banner — a progressive institution for movie fans, run by movie fans — we follow the same principles with our brand by curating a distribution label with only the movies we believe in. With this membership, you are joining us in the collective pursuit of diverse visionary and provocative films new and old from around the globe. Join us.

Their new subscription service in which members pay a flat fee of $124.99 and receive loads of perks:

• Receive a current or upcoming Drafthouse Films release of your choice and the next 9 releases on DVD or Blu-ray automatically to your door step

• High-quality 720p HD Digital Download of each film (redeem code included in DVD/Blu-ray packaging)

• Instant download of each film's Soundtrack in 320kbps MP3 (when available)

• Invites to exclusive Drafthouse Films events and screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and venues around the country

All shipping and handling charges are included in the Drafthouse Films Alliance membership.

The last bullet really got my attention. The Alamo Drafthouse always has awesome special events including movie themed dinners, rare 35mm screenings, and summer-long weekly parties. However, unless you're watching twitter or on your computer at the perfect time, a lot of those events can sell out within minutes. So, to be able to be basically on a VIP list for events and screenings is pretty awesome. They always seem to come up with new and unique events every year, and it's always exciting to go.

Now where can I find some extra cash??

For all the details head over HERE!


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DIFF Announces Honorees, South Korea Spotlight, and More Movies!

The Dallas International Film Festival presented by
Boardwalk Auto Group Volkswagen Dealers Announces
Costume Designer Bernie Pollack to be Honored with the
Dallas Star Award

Academy Award Nominee Gabourey Sidibe to be Honored with the
Dallas Shining Star Award

Full Line Up of the Spotlight on South Korea

Additions to the Full Schedule

The Dallas International Film Festival presented by Boardwalk Auto Group Volkswagen Dealers announced today that a Dallas Star Award would be presented to one of the great legends of costume design, Mr. Bernie Pollack.  DIFF also announced that rising star, Ms. Gabourey Sidibe will be honored with the Dallas Shining Star Award for the contribution she has made to film in her short, yet impressive career to date.  Both Pollack and Sidibe will receive their awards at DIFF’s annual awards dinner, the Dallas Film Society Honors on Friday, April 20, 2012.  Other announcements include the full line-up for the South Korean International Spotlight and programming duo James Faust and Sarah Harris have announced the titles of additional films which will play in the Premiere Series, World Cinema and Deep Ellum Sounds categories.

Awesome News of the Day: THE LOVED ONES Being Released in June!

Jonesy here. One benefit of going to film festivals is getting to see some great foreign films. However the downside is 90% of the time these films never get distribution in the US, so it's unfair to rave and go on and on about them when the mainstream audience won't ever get a chance to see them. And then we get exciting news like this: THE LOVED ONES, an Australian horror film, is getting distribution in the US!

We were lucky to get to see this film at The Dallas International Film Festival in 2010, and it became one of our favorites from the festival. It's dark, sinister, and twisted. And come June, you'll be able to see it in theatres.

Check out the trailer and synopsis:

Lola Stone asked Brent Mitchell to the prom, but Brent said no, and now he's screwed. What happens when Lola doesn't get what she wants? She enlists Daddy's help to throw a prom of her own where she is queen and Brent is king, whether he likes it or not. THE LOVED ONES is what happens when puppy love goes horribly, violently wrong. Brent should have said yes.

You can go to the film's official website and sign up to bring THE LOVED ONES to your town. Trust me. If you're into unique and twisted horror films, you will want this to come to your town.

THE LOVED ONES starring Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, and John Brumpton will be released in June, 2012. 

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Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Will Be Showing "Summer of '82" Series of Movies, Makes Us Wish We Could Move Down There ASAP.

If the increase of trailers on television are any indication, you know that summer is just around the corner. Even though you may be counting down the days until THE DARK KNIGHT RISES or STEP-UP 4, The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin has decided to celebrate summer in a different way.

The Drafthouse will be showing movies that were released in the summer of 1982, which they dub as "The Greatest Summer of Movies...Ever", which makes us want to move down to Austin, like yesterday.

Check out the trailer for this event after the jump.

In Javi Man-Crush News: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Will Make His Directorial Debut.

Javi here. As you guys should know, I'm a huge fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He is a young(er) actor that has managed to always have interesting roles, and even while playing in hipster type movies like (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, he brings something great to the performances. He also created hitRECord, an awesome online creative collective where people openly remix and collaborate. Adding to his resume according to Deadline, will be directing his first full-length feature. Hit the jump for more info.

The Man With The Most British Name Ever, Benedict Cumberbatch, Will Play A Villain in STAR TREK 2

Javi here. The WDYMS duo is a big fan of Benedict Cumberbatch; both for his awesome name, and the fact that he is a damn good actor. For those that don't know him, and there are plenty of you, he has played Sherlock Holmes in the Steven Moffat BBC version of SHERLOCK along with new hobbit, Martin Freeman. He has had roles in TINKER TAYLOR SOLDIER SPY and WAR HORSE most recently this year, and he was both Dr. Frankenstein and his monster in Danny Boyle's stage production of FRANKENSTEIN.

Now Variety reports that he will be playing the villain role in J.J. Abrams up coming STAR TREK sequel. Very much like every other Abrams movie, there is very little that's actually known about the movie except that he is actually shooting the movie and it will come out supposedly on May 13, 2013. This is exciting news as this is an actor much like Michael Fassbender and Tom Hiddleston that deserves more exposure. We'll keep you up to date when more information becomes available.

UPDATE (7/9/12) Jonesy has now posted more information about what Cumberbatch's role might be. Go here for the new article.
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Michael Bay Might Do Transformers 4, Nerds Everywhere Freak Out. UPDATED!

UPDATE:Thanks to TFW2005.com for aggregating the news, but there's some very interesting pieces of information regarding the TRANSFORMERS 4 rumors. First, there's the fact that Tyrese "Left Cheek" Gibson tweeted this earlier today around 8 hours ago  from this posting: "Transformers 4 ......................................................... In MOTION!!!!!!!"
Then, there's the quote taken from a random commenter at the Michael Bay forums that seems to be full of interesting tidbits. Check out the TFW2005 link above for the quote and join the discussion. Does this mean all the rumors are true and we'll be for certain getting another Michael Bay Transformers movie? 

Original Story: If there's one thing I've learned in my short time about writing about movies is two things: comedians might be the most money-whoring beings on the planet (see: GROWN UPS 2) and Michael Bay will always do TRANSFORMERS movie whether anyone that's not a studio suit wants him to or not. According to Vulture, it seems that Bay is close to signing a deal with Paramount to come back to the adventures of our favorite Cybertronians after filming his "small film," PAIN & GAIN about a group of dim-witted bodybuilders that kidnap a business man. Hit the jump for more details.

ENDER'S GAME Casting News Galore!

The adaptation of Orson Scott Card's sci-fy classic ENDER'S GAME has been a tumolutous one. The book is about a futuristic Earth that has been attacked by aliens, The Buggers, and the military recruits young kids to be groomed into leaders to fight The Buggers.  Card had developed a script as far back as 2003 working with Warner Bros. and Wolfgang Peterson. The project fell through for many years, but now Summit Entertainment has picked up distribution rights. With the almost perfect timing with the new craze of young adult book-to-movie adaptations nowadays, production is finally starting to kick into gear with a finished script by director Gavin Hood with the producing duo of Kurtzman and Orci.

Hell yes news for today: BEFORE SUNRISE could get a third film!

BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET are the brain child of Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, and director, Richard Linklater. The movies follow a couple who, through a chance meeting on a train, spend a night talking about love and life during a memorable night in Vienna. The later movie picks up nine years later when they meet again in Paris still longing for each other, but now other obligations in the way.

Vulture broke the story today that Hawke, Delpy, and Linklater are talking about writing a third film:

"I don't know what we're going to do but I know the three of us have been talking a lot in the last six months," Hawke said. "All three of us have been having similar feelings that we're ready to revisit those characters. There's nine years between the first two movies and, if we made the film next summer, it would be nine years again so we've really started thinking that would be a good thing to do. We're going to try write it this year."

I for one adore these films and would be stoked if a third is in the works. In a world of cheesy romantic movies, both SUNRISE and SUNSET feel like a real depiction of a blossoming relationship with realistic dialogue and genuine performances. And with all the original actors and director could give this wonderful series a substantial ending.  




Both BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET are available on Netflix Instant.

 

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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.

Because Hollywood Wants You To BitTorrent Their Stuff More: Starz Ends Deal With Netflix

Javi here. Sadly, today's news post is an unfortunate one.  Starz has decided not to renew their deal with Netflix to distribute their movies through their Watch Instant service.  According to Variety, with the contract not being renewed, Netflix will be losing thousands of very popular movies February 2012. Statements from Netflix and Starz follow the jump.

D23 Expo: Two new Pixar projects announced!

The D23 Expo is happening this weekend, and some pretty big announcements have surfaced from the Expo already.There are two new Pixar projects in the works that follow BRAVE, which is slated to be released June 2012, and the sequel to MONSTERS, INC. titled MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, which is scheduled to be released June 21st, 2013.

First, there's an untitled dinosaur movie which will explore the question, "What if that life-changing asteroid missed the Earth?"  Longtime Pixar vet, Bob Peterson, has been named director.  Peterson has most recently been a writer on FINDING NEMO and UP.  He also co-directed UP with Pete Doctor, and he even voiced the character, Dug the dog, who everyone adores.

A Pixar fan noticed these storyboards while watching some behind the scenes footage for UP.

The idea that dinosaurs never became extinct is such an interesting and exciting concept to explore, and I find it pretty ironically hilarious that this movie, which I would assume would play with the concepts of evolution of a species, is scheduled to come out during the 2013 holiday season.  I can already hear the controversy now.


The second announcement is another movie that will "explores the inside of the human mind".  Peter Doctor will helm the project and is set to be released May 2014.  Now whether the script will "explore" the mind like the magic school bus or INCEPTION is yet to be seen.  Hopefully the story will fall somewhere in between.


So, could Pixar strike gold again with these two movies?  Thoughts?

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In This Week's Installment Of "People Freaking Out Way Too Much": Possible First Looks At The Batwing from THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Javi here, I wanted to write about this a while ago, but if you know where I work and what's been going on, I've been really really busy.  But hey! It's the weekend, so let's talk some obligatory weekly THE DARK KNIGHT RISES news.  Apparently there's been a reported sighting of what people speculate might be the Batwing.  Thanks to Batman-News for the pics and subsequent video. Check them out after the break.

Casting rumors: Bruce Willis in talks for G.I. Joe sequel

After raking in over $300,000,000 worldwide last year, a G.I. Joe sequel was inevitable.  We have learned that Bruce Willis is in talks to play General Joe Colton,the original G.I. Joe and the man behind the G.I. Joe strike team.

General Joe Colton

If a deal is made, Willis will join Channing Tatum, Ray Park, and Byung Hun-lee, who all will reprise their roles from the original, and join newcomers to the team: Dwayne Johnson, Ray Stevenson, RZA, and Adrianne Palicki.


Now, I never saw G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in the theatres.  In fact, I never had any intention of seeing this movie...ever.  However, my cohort convinced me to watch one day, after it had arrived on Netflix Instant and after he had gushed about it multiple times to me, and I then understood the craze for the movie.  If Willis takes on the role of the original Joe, he would add a great element to the fun tone the original created.


We'll keep you updated as news is released.



G.I. JOE 2: RETALIATION will be released June 29th, 2012.

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First look at Catwoman from THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

You knew it was a matter of time.  Earlier this week, photos surfaced of Bane from the upcoming Batman movie.  Now, Warner Bros officially released our first photo of Selina Kyle aka Catwoman.  This revamped Catwoman's costume was described earlier as "more tactile, like the comic book and less sexy than the Michelle Pfeiffer or Halle Berry's Catwoman costume".

How can she move in that?

A little too Halloween-y for me

Check it out after the break.