Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale mix it up in THE FIGHTER trailer

Mark Wahlberg gets to flex his muscles and Christan Bale seems to have turned in a possible Oscar-winning performance as revealed by the trailer for The Fighter, released online (via Apple) by Paramout Pictures.

Directed by David O. Russell (Three Kings) and co-starring Amy Adams, The Fighter tells the incredible true story of Boston fighter “Irish” Mickey Ward (Wahlberg) and how he was helped to the world lightweight championship by half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale). Eklund once decked Sugar Ray Leonard and went the distance against the boxing legend before forfeiting his career to drugs and crime. He redeemed himself by training Ward through his Rocky-like run to the title.

Seriously, I was expecting a trailer for just another boxing movie. Seems this one delves into brotherhood, family and struggle in which boxing just happens to be the setting. A surprisingly good trailer that has me anticipating good things from the film. Too early to pencil Bale in for Best Supporting Actor? No, really– check out the trailer and see what I mean.

The Fighter is release 10 December 2010 in the States.
Australian release date? Not yet, no.

First trailer for THE TOURIST, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp

Columbia Pictures have released the first trailer from their highly anticipated suspense film The Tourist, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. The film is directed by Oscar winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) is about an American tourist (Depp) whose playful dalliance with a stranger (Jolie) leads to a web of intrigue, romance and danger during an impromptu trip to Europe.

I had figured this film to be a little more cut-and-dry than the trailer suggests it might be. Instead of being just a straight-laced suspense thriller, I was treated to some surprising dry comedy that improves the premise a great deal. Depp has kept the beard on for this one (Jack Sparrow commitments while filming??) and Jolie looks elegantly stunning, as always.

The Tourist opens 10 December in the States.
No Australian dates have been announced yet.

New feature trailer and images for Disney’s animated family friendly comedy TANGLED

Disney have released a new feature trailer (with titles aimed at UK audiences) and crisp images for their upcoming family friendly animated adventure Tangled.

Remember how Shrek took fairy tales and sort of gave ‘em a hip update for today’s audiences (back then)? That’s what this is doing for the Rapunzel tale, starting by having her voiced by Mandy Moore. Naturally. Check out the new trailer and images embedded below.

The film has a release date locked in for just about every other territory besides Australia, but I suspect we’ll be seeing it on our screens during the Summer school holidays (makes sense, right?) And Christmas is the perfect time for families to go to the cinema.

Anyway, Tangled it opens 24 November in the U.S., and the story synopsis is below if the trailer leaves you hanging.

When the kingdom’s most wanted — and most charming — bandit, Flynn Rider (voice of Zachary Levi), hides out in a mysterious tower, he’s taken hostage by Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. Flynn’s curious captor, who’s looking for her ticket out of the tower where she’s been locked away for years, strikes a deal with the handsome thief and the unlikely duo set off on an action-packed escapade, complete with a super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon and a gruff gang of pub thugs. Disney’s Tangled is a story of adventure, heart, humour and hair — lots of hair

Images via Collider

RAMPART secures an impressive ensemble cast, including Steve Buscemi, Sigourney Weaver, Woody Harrelson and more

Writer/director Oren Moverman (The Messenger) has been busy casting his new film Rampart, about widespread corruption in the anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department during the 1990s.

According to Variety, joining the already-attached Woody Harrelson, Ice Cube and Ben Foster will be Anne Heche, Steve Buscemi, Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver, and Robin Wright. A rather impressive bunch of familiar names, the kind that you watch with friends who will spot faces and continually be tortured about where they’ve seen that guy before, and what they know her from?? I do that all the time…

Harrelson leads, playing an innocent LAPD officer (or IS he??) who gets caught up in the scandal. Foster and Cube will play Harrelson’s fellow officers.

There are no release dates slated for this one yet, and production is set to get under way in October.

Russell Crowe will be in RZA-directed THE MAN WITH THE IRON FIST

Rapper-turned-actor RZA has told E! Online (I know, I know) that Australia’s own New Zealand-born Russell Crowe has signed on to appear in The Man With The Iron Fist, a kung-fu film RZA (yep, that’s the dude’s name) will direct and star in.

RZA couldn’t go deep into juicy details, but did say:

“Russell’s gonna be the baddest man alive.  That man is in fighting shape. That man will knock you out. Crowe’s a master of the craft. I’m quite sure that I may learn something from him.”

No shit, Sherlock.

This will be the third time RZA and Crowe have appeared on film together, following 2007′s American Gangster and the upcoming The Next Three Days.

The Man With The Iron Fist starts filming in December.

Watch the first ten minutes of EASY A online, starring Emma Stone

Screen Gems have made the first ten minutes of their upcoming teen comedy movie Easy A available to watch online. The film stars Emma Stone (Zombieland, Superbad) and was directed by Will Gluck.

The cute-as-a-button personality of Emma Stone snuck up on me unexpectedly, and I was surprised to find how keen I was to see this film based on her alone. The reasonably original premise (though I’m guessing it’s wrapped in blatantly obvious themes and plot) is an added bonus. You can watch the first ten minutes of Easy A embedded below– be warned, it leaves you wanting to see more (duh!), bit like a ten minute trailer.

Easy A opens in Australia Thursday, 16 September, 2010.
Opens the next day, Friday 17, in the U.S.

Al Pacino and Joe Pesci might co-star with Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s THE IRISHMAN

We deliberately steer away from posting rumour news headlines that end in question marks. (This guy might star with this chick in That Movie??) Often variations of the same rumour will leak and dribble over movie blogs for a week or two before a publicist or a studio gets around to denying or confirming it. This particular rumour news, however, is far too exciting to leave alone…

The almost always trusty Deadline Hollywood blog reported today that Oscar winners Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are ‘circling’ The Irishman, a project that already has Martin Scorsese attached to direct and Robert De Niro attached to star. The film is based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses, a fascinating account of a dark side of American history. The book’s title comes from the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors.

The mere fact that there will be another Scorsese-De Niro film collaboration is exciting enough, but add long-time collaborator Joe Pesci and Al Pacino into the mix and expectations become extraordinarily high.

Scorsese has directed De Niro on eight occasions, producing some of the most impactful and memorable films of all time, including Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. The last time they worked together was 1995′s Casino. Joe Pesci co-starred with De Niro in Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Casino.

Al Pacino first appeared with De Niro in 1977′s The Godfather Part II, though they didn’t share any scenes together until the critically acclaimed Heat in 1995. They have since appeared in some stinkers together (Righteous Kill, for instance) clearly needing the guidance of proven mobster story master Martin Scorsese to bring out their best. In my opinion, anyway.

Hopefully this casting gets locked in and the project gets under way soon. Everyone has full schedules and timing will be everything. We may not hear about this one again for a while.

In the meantime, I’m going watch Goodfellas yet again while I wait for Scorsese’s HBO series Boardwalk Empire to start.

A new poster and clip for those looking forward to JACKASS 3D

I discovered how much I am truly aging recently when I saw the film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. I was definitely the older guy in the cinema who hardly laughed and many of the jokes zoom over my head. It looked great, though.

I will not need Jackass 3D to confirm my age (I’m only 30, by the way… but a married father of two, so I might as well be 37 in reality) I haven’t been part of he Jackass at any stage of the franchise. I certainly see appreciate appeal, but it simply doesn’t make me laugh. Rather, I raise my eyebrows in bewilderment. It takes all sorts, I guess.

Fellow Reel Thinker writer Robin is keen on the Jackass gang, and apparently he’s dead-set keen on this 3D installment. He’ll enjoy this new retro-ish poster and new clip. As might you.

Jackass 3D stars Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, and Jason Acuña and 15 October 2010. No Aussie release dates, yet. Of course.

Reel Short: NUIT BLANCHE

Shot independently and resulting in many lucrative industry offers for Director/Producer/Cinematographer Arev Manoukian, short film Nuit Blanche explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection in a hyper real fantasy.

It’s a gorgeous example of taking early film inspirations and blending them with modern-day technology, a style that needs to be handled carefully. The visuals in Nuit Blanche (French translated ‘Sleepless Night‘) are incredibly stunning and took Manoukian and his team at Spy Films over a year to complete.

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

First trailer for Clint Eastwood’s ‘chick flick’ with tsunamis: HEREAFTER

When I heard that Hereafter dealt with the 2004 tsunami in south-east Asia, I had no idea the movie would actually show it. Show, don’t tell, huh?

This trailer keeps much of the plot under wraps, but provides enough hints and clues to pique an audience’s interest. On the other hand, Matt Damon as a real-life psychic? I think most people will be seeing this for the tsunami.

Hereafter is directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon and Bryce Dallas Howard. The US gets the film on 22 October 2010; no release dates for us as yet.

First trailer for PRIEST is a little bit of Blade Runner, a lot of stupid

The folks cutting the Priest trailer have been careful to include as many “phwoar!”-inducing shots as possible. As such, the first half of the trailer is packed full of shots that looked like they’ve been ripped straight out of Blade Runner. You recognise them, don’t you? Don’t you? They may look swell, but they paint the film in a derivative light.

The second half gets even sillier. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a bit sick of seeing slimy grey humanoid monsters with giant teeth; you know, the kind of monsters from The Descent, Daybreakers, Pandorum, etc. Plus, calling them vampires is just silly. As boring as it may be, vampires are human-shaped symbols of love and death; not faceless video game enemies as this trailer would have you believe.

Contrary to what the poster below indicates, Priest is actually due on 13 May 2011 in the US. Expect a similarly wintry date for our release, too. Oh, and in case you couldn’t tell, that’s Paul Bettany riding that bike-thing.

SAW 3D teaser pushes the 3D aspect too hard

There’s one way to sell 3D, and that’s to promise a subtle layer of immersion to suck viewers into the action. Then there’s the way Hollywood has actually chosen to sell 3D: throw shit at the audience’s face and make them duck instinctively.

Saw 3D falls squarely into the latter category. This new teaser actually has shit literally flying out of the screen to attack hapless cinemagoers. Sometimes I think 3D might actually be a good thing for cinema; today is not one of those days.

Saw 3D hits the States in the face on 29 October 2010; expect a similarly Halloween-ish date for other territories.