The Epic RPG "Final Fantasy XIII" Launch Today

The most highly anticipated video game of 2010, "Final Fantasy XIII" is officially out today for PS3 and Xbox 360, the one of the most anticipated releases! Watch the New trailer video below featuring the official tracks "My Heart" for the game, from British singer Leona Lewis. The game looks pretty breath-taking to be honest. Just look at the level of detail seen in the grass textures. Stunningly beautiful graphics and a pervasively meticulous level of polish throughout only add to the experience.
Final Fantasy XIII is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix and is the 13th installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released for the PlayStation 3 in Japan on December 17, 2009. Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection of Final Fantasy games and is the first game to utilize Square-Enix's Crystal Tools engine. The game features both futuristic and natural elements; it's set between a land of wilderness and the high-tech world above it. Following the story of Lightning, Square-Enix describes the theme of the game as "those who resist the world."
The game sold in excess of one million units on its first day of sale in Japan, and had sold 1,698,256 copies there at the end of 2009. As Final Fantasy XIII reviews rolled in over the last few weeks, critics kept employing a certain word to describe the game: "crossroads." Universal praise was given to the technical milestone for the series achieved by the game's graphics and presentation. Electronic Theatre remarked that "there are very few moments when the visual and aural superiority fails to astound," and Edge Magazine felt that Cocoon in particular was an "inspired setting... blessed with a vibrancy and vivid color that often leaves you open-mouthed." Art design also added to the positive reception of the graphics, being described as "magnificent." Further praise was given to the CGI cutscenes, and the almost seamless transition of visual quality between these and the realtime gameplay. Many also appreciated the game's soundtrack, with Masashi Hamauzu providing "a score with catchy hooks and blood-pumping battle melodies."
The game's new battle system also received near-universal praise. The increased pace of battles was appreciated, several reviews describing it as "thrilling;" Edge Magazine's description of the battle system summarized it as "uncommonly beautiful, with a background fiction as rich as its story is poor, and at its beating heart is a battle system that stands among the genre's finest." The roles provided by the Paradigm Shift feature also added depth to the battle system and contributed to the fast pace, and having the AI automate the other two party members' actions meant battles in the game "may be the most involving the series has ever seen." The story, characters and voice acting were mostly received well. Wired remarked that the story was "a little more human and less esoteric than in previous games." 1UP felt that the story was "hardly world-class writing," but that the writers clearly knew the medium well and had attempted to avoid clichés.

Jim Sheridan's "Brothers" Hits Theaters Today

Despite a career which has included a string of critical hits such as "My Left Foot" and "In the Name of the Father," the 60-year-old Irish director Jim Sheridan returns to cinemas this week with his latest film "Brothers," a depressing study in post-tramatic syndrome but a rewarding journey, is set to hit theaters today.
"Brothers" is an adapted from the award winning Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier's "Brødre" in 2004, and it's about human frailty, and tells a story of how the two brothers find themselves changing roles. When a straight-arrow Marine Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire, the "Spider-Man") returns to the war in Afghanistan, he leaves his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and his children behind. He also leaves his black-sheep younger brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is having issues with their father. But when Sam is thought to be dead, Tommy steps up and begins to help Grace with the house, hoping to deal with both of their loss. Happily, Sam is not dead and he returns battered and bruised, but alive. Yet his return is only after he has suffered some painful experiences. And once he is back, he struggling to adjust to civilian life and suffers from guilt, anger, sadness and paranoia, leaving his family broken and afraid. As a result, the siblings whose lives have gone in completely different directions. One is a hero who returns from the front erratic and violent, and the other is an ex-con who learns self-control when he's handed responsibility.
The increasingly impersonal Jim Sheridan is doing his personal best to further the Irish tradition of storytelling. On the big screen or in conversation, the diminutive Irish filmmaker spins tales of a mesmerizing nature, covering politics, history, religion and literature, and sometimes all at once. With strong supporting performances from Oscar nominees, Sheridan's movie delves deep into the mental scars of war in a way that is reminiscent of Michael Cimino's 1978 classic "The Deer Hunter." "It's the difficulty of the warrior coming back to a civilian situation, and how he has to adjust," Sheridan says. As a melodrama, "Brothers" is a powerful statement on loyalty, love, calamity of the human heart and the cost of war. The movie stays with you long after leaving the theater...maybe forever.

Film: "Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans"

German director Werner Herzog doesn't do normal. His lengthy and fearlessly brilliant career has involved everything. He captured a gallery of oddballs both real and fictional, turning his lens on everyone from a doomed "Grizzly Man" to "Aguirre, the Wrath of God." He's finally met his match in manic actor Nicolas Cage, and the product of their unholy union, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," a crime drama shocks and confuses in the Big Easy, from First Look Pictures opens theaters today. It should give fans of the cultish and weird a reason to cheer, and for those seeking mainstream fare should consider themselves forewarned.
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," A powerful spiral into oblivion, works best as a study of a man in the grip of madness, magic and iguanas. The movie is not a remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 tour of New York law-enforcement hell, nor is it a sequel. According to Mr. Herzog, who has taken "Bad Lieutenant" from New York to post-Katrina New Orleans, a perceptive move that allows him to explore his cardinal themes of man's inhumanity to man and the indifference of nature in a city stripped to its swampy essence. "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" is its own special fever-swamp of a movie, an anarchist film noir that seems, at times, almost as unhinged as its protagonist.
"A New Orleans mystery: A Cop So Bad, He's Good" in this Herzog's trippy new thriller, the Oscar-winning actor reunites with his "Ghost Rider" co-star Eva Mendes, and gives one of his best performances in years. Cage plays an on-the-edge and corrupted cop who's just promoted to lieutenant, and investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants. He plunges into drug addiction after a heroic on-the-job accident. He throws himself into this role with the energy of a man accepting a double dog dare, that lets him indulge in his most manic, unhinged mannerisms, taking viewers to the very precipice of nihilistic depravity while preserving just enough self-conscious humor to keep from tumbling in. He does some of his best work in over a decade here. Not all of it works, but it's a joy to see Cage take some risks again.

Roland Emmerich Doomed In '2012' Opens Today

There is a growing legend out there that the ancient Maya predicted the world would end on Dec. 21, 2012. It doesn't. But, as with other topics based on a whiff of truth and a hint of hysteria, Hollywood is all over it. The disaster-movie veteran Roland Emmerich has given movie watchers several apocalyptic sci-fi thriller films in the past in "Godzilla," "Independence Day," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "10,000 B.C.," and he offers another look at the end of the world in his latest exercise in global cataclysm that tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors "2012," opens theaters today.
People who view screenwriting as an art and don't particularly care about audience reaction to their films. But Mr. Emmerich , the hollywood's most successful one-trick pony, claims to favor "human stories" over spectacle, he has taken that very kind of formula writing and made a veritable empire out of it, returning every few years to destroy some corner of the earth and invent a handful of earnest heroes, wisecracking sidekicks and solemn old men to survive his newest take on the apocalypse. "2012" is crammed with state-of-the-art digital effects. A few teacups get chipped: California slides into the sea; Yellowstone Park blows straight up into the sky; disasters flattening Rio's Christ the Redeemer statue, St.Peter's Basilica and the White House; massive floods and fires; and a giraffe being rescued by helicopter. That's just the opening act.
In "2012," our premier Hollywood disastermeister Mr.Emmerich flips our entire planet on its head. Following an academic researcher who opens a portal into a parallel universe, making contact with his double in an effort to prevent the catastrophic prophecies of the ancient Mayan calendar from coming to pass. When a global cataclysm thrusts the world into chaos, divorced writer and father Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) uses his knowledge of the ancient prophecies to ensure that the human race is not completely wiped out. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, and Oliver Platt round out the cast of this thriller.
Mr. Emmerich claims that "2012" is his final disaster movie, unless "Independence Day 2" ever gets off the ground, and the movie is nothing if not an indulgent curtain call for the man who figured out how much we like watching cinematic portrayals of our own demise. It's all the reasons we've ever loved or hated his movies, but also a reminder of why it's high time to move on. Alternately eye-popping, brain-bruising, and certifiably insipid, "2012" will absolutely appeal to anyone who enjoys watching films ironically.

Satirical "Men Who Stare at Goats" Hits Theaters

The first-time director Grant Heslov has come up with something wackier and more whimsical, a quirky rapid-fire military comedy "The Men Who Stare at Goats" which has hit the nation's movie screens today. The movie offers a fitfully amusing adaptation and "inspired by" British journalist Jon Ronson's book, about the U.S. Army's exploration of New Age concepts and the potential military applications of the paranormal techniques, and purports to be closer to the truth than many people would suspect. A title card claims, "More of this is true that you would believe," indicating that Goats is just the tip of the absurdest iceberg.
You might not know that there's a silly side to the military-industrial complex, but the folks behind fhe film certainly do. In this quirky dark comedy inspired by a real life story, you will hardly believe is actually true, it set in Iraq, and follows a reporter, Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), who stumbles onto the story of a lifetime when he meets a special forces operator, Lyn Cassady (George Clooney). As they embark on a new mind-boggling mission, Lyn reveals his twenty-year involvement in a top-secret wing, psychic military unit and shares details of their activities, each more bizarre than the last.
The film has such a fantastically odd story that Heslov would have been well advised to stay out of the way and let the bizarre details stand on their own. He has tried to crowbar Ronson's anecdotes into a feeble story, and slips too easily into lackluster wrap-up mode down the stretch, but it still has enough serious satire to recommend it. Meanwhile, the screenwriter Peter Straughan hit on more juicy material than he knew what to do with when he adapted Ronson's controversial book and began researching the subject matter himself.
As the result, the film is merely a light-hearted approach, advocating peace and acid not war. It has a glorious good time satirizing the extravagant lengths to which the military and intelligence establishments will go if they think there's a payoff at the other end. However, the film somewhat disappoints because the narrative Straughan has come up with isn't that engaging? the best stuff is in the flashbacks where Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey do battle for the future of the New Earth Army, which contains the most actual material from the original book.

Mira Nair's "Amelia" Opens In Theaters Today

The two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank and Indian film director Mira Nair bring a cloyingly earnest biographical drama "Amelia" based on the exploits of Amelia Earhart that arrives in theaters nationwide Today.
An extraordinary life of adventure, celebrity and continuing mystery comes to light in "Amelia", a vast, thrilling account of legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, who has a special place in the hearts of all Americans. Perhaps it's because of her role as a trail-blazer for women. Maybe it's because of her mysterious disappearance, the subject of much speculation and theorizing. After becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia was thrust into a new role as America's sweetheart - the legendary "goddess of light," known for her bold, larger-than-life charisma. She was an inspiration to people everywhere, from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the men closest to her heart: her husband, promoter and publishing magnate George P. Putnam (played by Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere), and her long time friend and lover, pilot Gene Vidal (by Ewan McGregor). In the summer of 1937, Amelia set off on her most daunting mission yet: a solo flight around the world that she and George both anxiously foresaw as destined, whatever the outcome, to become one of the most talked-about journeys in history.
The screenplay by Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan is based on Susan Butler's book "East to the Dawn", Mary Lovell's book "The Sound of Wings" and Elgin Long's "Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved". Old-fashioned in the best sense of the word, "Amelia" soars. Director Mira Nair has crafted a big, beautiful, and sweeping motion-picture biography about a true American legend, with a solid performance from Swank, who is outstanding, transforming herself into the complex public and private Amelia Earhart with humanity and heart.
"Amelia lived her life the way she wanted to live it. She made no apologies for saying,'This is my life and this is how I see it and this is how I want it to be done,'" Swank said. "Her story was certainly a reminder for me to live life, and that you have to constantly look within and continue to live the life that you know you want to live, for yourself and not for other people."
However, the glossy, stodgy and unfailingly conventional, "Amelia" sets out to inspire an audience but never feels inspired itself. The film was lavishly produced, but the spirit is missing. What Amelia ends up being is a film that doesn't honor its subject: we don't know Earhart any better, nothing elemental about her is explored, and all the beautiful air cinematography in the world can't save that.

"An Education" Opens In Theaters Today

Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig always has an easy touch with relationships, never overplaying the hand she's been dealt. She has adapted British journalist Lynn Barber's autobiographical memoir with screenwriter Nick Hornby, both come together bring a beautifully observed film for "An Education", opens today at theaters.
"An Education" is a British coming-of-age drama and fulfills its purpose as a light-hearted and captivating film. Set amid the post-war austerity of England in 1962, and centers around a suburban soon-to-be-17-year-old schoolgirl Jenny (played by Carey Mulligan) who is working hard to get into Oxford, until she meets the suave, thirty-something David (Peter Sarsgaard) who seduces her into his hipster world and shows her an a lternate future, for better and for worse. The ending of the film is particularly poignant, and confirms the theme that, even if you make mistakes, they sometimes turn into memories you'll cherish forever.
The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, gaining critical acclaim and won the audience award for best film and screened in the Berlin, London, Telluride, Toronto and Sydney festivals. The Danish director Lone Scherfig excels in establishing a rhythm of natural progression throughout the entire film, though highly predictable and at some times painstakingly obvious, this coming-of-age story interlaces an exceptional amount of comedy with the perfect amount of serious, life-changing situations to create a legitimately delightful film. The film is also powered by the strength of relative newcomer Carey Mulligan's standout performance. Mulligan has been praised for her breakthrough performance and singled out by critics as a potential dark horse for Best Actress in the upcoming Academy Awards race. The overarching theme of "An Education" never falls short of hitting its target, as it serves to be a redundant reminder of where life might take you.

"Zombieland" Looks To Kill At The Box Office

It takes an exciting new talent to breathe life into the zombie genre and show audiences something new, but first-time feature director Ruben Fleischer proves he's more than up to the task. With his directorial debut, "Zombieland," Fleischer has not just made one of the funniest and goriest films all year but has also drawn terrific performances out of his quartet of leads. Led by Woody Harrelson as a cowboy zombie-killer, the cast includes Jesse Eisenberg ("Adventureland"), Emma Stone ("Superbad"), and Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine") as the sole survivors of a zombie apocalypse.
Fleischer began his career as an assistant to director Miguel Arteta on the films "Chuck & Buck" and "The Good Girl" before branching out to shoot music videos and commercials and landing a directing gig on "The Jimmy Kimmel Show." He came across Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's script for "Zombieland" when they were pitching it as a TV movie in hopes of launching a series. Deemed too expensive for the small screen, the film now hits theaters today in all its gory glory.
You’ve see zombies, but you’ve never seen them this funny. You’ve heard the buzz and by now you know that "Zombieland" is a must see, because it injects fresh life into the corpse of horror comedy. Clearly, the horror-comedy is not your average gore-nucopia, but "Zombieland" is within chomping range of brilliant, and that’s no mean feat, that's light on horror but heavy on comedy, and mostly about character-based laughs, and leaves tense, existential survival behind in favor of joyous, and the most flat-out fun horror/comedy since "Shaun of the Dead". The fun movie that will go down in camp-horror history, and also honestly it is a nice break from the recent overload of vampires. And as you might expect, "Zombieland" is easily one of the most enjoyable films and one of the biggest surprises of the year.

"Surrogates" With Bruce Willis Opens In Theaters

Bruce Willis is back to his action hero roots, and Disney is aiming to hunt down the top spot this weekend to challenge "Cloudy" with the opening of 54-year-old star Willis starring "Surrogates," the biggest budget film of the year for Disney Studios' adult-oriented Touchstone label, which previously released romantic comedies "The Proposal" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic." The $80-million sci-fi thriller blockbuster is adapted from the Top Shelf graphic novel of the same name by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele in 2005, a rough mystery about technological addiction.
Following a six-year absence, the director Jonathan Mostow is back in theaters with a much smaller property and a fraction of his "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" price tag, which made more than $430 million worldwide. Mr. Mostow is no stranger to filming cyborgs, his film is a clever blend of familiar elements and more inventive fare, including the unique premise and some quirky effects.
Welcome to the future! How do you save humanity when the only thing that's real is you? "Surrogates" is set in the not-so-distant future, where human beings stay at home and send robots out into the world as their surrogates in daily life. Desperate to avoid the perils of everyday living, humanity has turned virtual reality into actual reality. When the genius creator of the surrogates is murdered, FBI agent Greer (Bruce Willis) is forced to leave the safety of his own home for the first time in years and survive in the real world. Like most of the world's population, Greer has two halves: His better-looking surrogate is controlled by his stay-at-home, somewhat grizzled, real self. The Stepford-pretty robots have helped eliminate crime and racism, but things get complicated when surrogates begin dying and their hosts being dying too.
So "Surrogates" is meant as pure science fiction, right? Wrong. The filmmakers and futurists behind the movie say they're aiming for an only slightly enhanced version of present-day trends. The film has a solid and pretty original premise, a well-chosen cast and the special effects are top-notch and the visual look of the film is excellent.

Jane Campion's "Bright Star" Comes To Theaters

More than 15 years after directing "The Piano," the Oscar winning writer Jane Campion is back in top creative form with a chaste love story in "Bright Star," to be limited release today, only at San Francisco bay area theaters.
Initially, "Bright Star" appears to be adapted from the best book Jane Austen never wrote. But it’s an original work, based on the three-year real-life love affair between 19th-century English romantic poet John Keats(Britain's Ben Whishaw) who believes in "the holiness of the heart's affections" and the love of his life, Fanny Brawne(Australia's Abbie Cornish), the exuberant girl next door, whose deep, passionate affair never gets beyond hand-holding and stolen kisses, before the poet died from tuberculosis at age 25. Both make this chaste relationship burn like fire.
More admirable than emotionally affecting with its gorgeously framed shots and superb craftsmanship, "Bright Star" is a thing of beauty, beautiful in the rarest of ways. The heartwrenching emotion in this movie was unlike any other. Passions that are too formidable to control, and too dangerous to let loose -- these are the themes that drive Jane Campion's work. She went far beyond the usual "I am deeply in love; Now I am sad" and truly captured human idiosyncrasy as she delved into the illogical, irrational minds of two young and suddenly in love individuals. This film perfectly embodied how a simple, real, profound story should be told.
In the sensual and womanly-wise period drama "Bright Star" is the most generic historical romance ever put to film, or at least it feels like it. The movie is an ode to poetry and love, and indeed lyrical, in the best sense. The New Zealand-born filmmaker has performed her own feat of romantic imagination, and her beautiful high-strung romance "Bright Star" has a rhythm all its own, and unequivocally celebrates the joys of poetry. It may not be a joy forever, but it will do until the next joy comes along.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" Makes Its DVD Debut

With so many dark titles on their way, there must have been a full moon when this week's releases were scheduled. Marvel’s merry mutants are coming home and slashing its way into video stores today, with the release of the live-action film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and two more sets of the classic 1990s animated X-Men series. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" was the first big blockbuster of the summer, and directed by Gavin Hood, and stars Hugh Jackman as the title character, along with Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, will.i.am, Lynn Collins, Taylor Kitsch, and Ryan Reynolds. The Buena Vista animated version of Logan can be found in X-Men Vols. 3 and 4 continue to collect the popular Fox Kids series.
Fox came up with an ingenious way to make more money off its "X-Men" property — spin off not just another film, but another franchise. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the 4th installment of the X-Men film series am\nd the 8th-best-grossing film of the year so far, Hugh Jackman returns as the clawed mutant wolverine, who makes a shocking discovery about his family bloodline, and gains a brother in the process. Flash forward to find the mutant siblings battling side by side through two world wars and Vietnam.
DVD extras include two commentary tracks, a interview with Wolverine creators Stan Lee and Len Wein, a featurette on the making of the movie and deleted and alternate scenes. The Blu-ray has all those extras and more, including a look at the helicopter chase sequence, a trivia track and 10 character chronicles.

"Gamer" Opening Today In Theatres

Labor Day weekend marks the end of the summer movie season. It's historically a sleepy time at the box office, that trend isn't likely to change this year. Hollywood does not save its best for last because that goes against the philosophy of what the summer is for studios. It’s now a few weeks yet until Oscar contenders hit theaters. So it's already off to a lukewarm start, but for those heading out to the theater this weekend, the Lionsgate's "Gamer", a movie abandoned on Labor Day weekend, hopes to break the losing streak of movies inspired by the gaming world. It should be the top draw I picked for you. However, "Gamer" is being launched in a less than advantageous release schedule, will open on Friday without benefit of press screenings with Labor Day releases usually struggling to gather audiences.
In the near future, you don't live to play... you'll play to live. “Gamer” is a high-concept futuristic action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid where human prisoners are forced into deadly combat through mind control. From the co-writers/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who gave us the "Crank" movies, succeeded in creating a kinetic brand of all sensation, all the time post narrative filmmaking, and make hyperactive cinematic freakouts that are both fun to watch and, on their own terms at least, logically cohesive. Gerard Butler stars as Kable, a real-life video game character and an unwilling participant in an online game and the star of a hot new videogame called "Slayers," a controversial form of entertainment that allows millions to act out their innermost desires and fantasies. Under the control of a young gamer, Kable tries to survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and save mankind.
Gerard Butler returns to this high-adrenaline action flick, mans up in the scary cyber reality of Gamer, still looks as ripped as when he starred in "300". And once again, Butler is looking seriously pumped up. The Scottish-born rising star is on top of his game, who have also cheered him in Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla" and the 2001 TV series "Attila," his early breakthrough. But the 39-year-old actor has proven just as appealing to women. He has been labeled a full-fledged sex symbol after performances in the 2007 romance "P.S. I Love You" and this summer's romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth."
Non-stop action from the very start with awesome camera work and a unique story line. This movie takes video gaming to the extreme and makes you wonder if there are any boundaries to what man will do to amuse themselves! Also if you play video games you will enjoy the scenes in "Society" and the characters that are portrayed. This is without doubt a modern day action blockbuster with hints of the 80' and 90's classics. The Dread Central saying "Gamer is a top of the line action/terror trip with more exploding carcasses than the latest installment of Rambo." If you like action and something new go and see this you wont be disappointed! I don’t play video game. It’s not that I don’t enjoy video games, but they’ve just never really been something that was a big part of my life.

"State of Play" Hits DVD & Blu-ray Today

The film "State of Play" comes to us on DVD/Blu-Ray today. From director Kevin Macdonald of "The Last King of Scotland" and his committee of screen writers have, like newsroom rewrite aces, based on the critically acclaimed BBC mini series of the same name, "State of Play." The plot of the six hours serial has been condensed to fit two hours, and shifting locales from London to U.S. capital. The film was released in North America on April 17.
Academy Award-winner Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast, including Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams & Helen Mirren in the blistering political thriller about deception, manipulation and corruption. When a street smart D.C. reporter Cal McCaffrey (Crowe), an old-school-style journalist is assigned to investigate the murder of an assistant to an up-and-coming U.S. Congressman (Affleck), who's also his best friend, he uncovers a conspiracy that threatens to bring down the nation's power structures. In a town of spin-doctors and wealthy power brokers, he will discover one truth: when fortunes are at stake, no one's integrity, love or life is safe.
Political thrillers are most effective when they deal with an issue that resonates with their audiences. It can be difficult to produce them in a timely matter because news happens constantly, and seemingly weekly, the world is on to the next story of corruption or injustice.
With this tense thriller "State of Play," the universal themes of greed and amoral politicians, it brings together gripping performances, riveting suspense and is "sophisticated, intelligent and powerful". It feels a little familiar as far as paranoid political thrillers go, but it's so nicely executed—well written, compelling and rich—with a stellar set of actors that it's easy to get engrossed in the story, and the current American political climate fits nicely with the story. The drama features terrific performances from its stars as well. The special extras for DVD include deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes making-of featurette.

"The Final Destination" (3D) Opens To Theaters

What are hitting theaters this weekend to finish up the 2009 summer movie season? "The Final Destination" or called "Final Destination 4" is franchise’s fourth and reportedly final installment of the gloriously schlocky thriller/horror flick series, and the first of the series in fusion 3D, which was shot over 60 days in New Orleans last summer, and opens today, comes three years after “Final Destination 3” made $113.3m worldwide.
By making sure no one dies of natural causes, director David R. Ellis and screenwriter Eric Bress, who co-wrote "Final Destination 2," have clearly given plenty of ghoulish thought to the visceral thrill of the 3D format, which might give it an edge, and offers a new perspective on the horror franchise, and indeed on ideas of life, death and destiny. It's just as bloody and fun as the previous three films.
IF you have seen any of the previous three Final Destination movies, you probably already know how it all works, or at least you think you do. You won't need a sixth sense to know what is coming. As usual a group of teenagers dodge an early grave when one of them, Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) can see the future and uses the power to help his friends cheat death. They try to escape their fates, but death always catches up, and then pursues them to their ultimate destination. The difference here is that those of you near a digital cinema will be able to see people being sliced in half in 3D, a format that should intensify the visceral experience.
Eat your heart out, this 4th installment brings no fresh ideas to the mix is not a problem; the added dimension is a hugely entertaining carnival ride of elaborate, and more than enough to reinvigorate interest in this enduringly and deservedly popular New Line's series.

“Duplicity” (DVD) Hits Store Shelves Today

Following up his acclaimed legal thriller "Michael Clayton" and "Bourne" movies, writer/director Tony Gilroy takes a vacation with the deceptively lightweight "Duplicity," is supposedly one of the smartest screenwriters we've got. The film was released on March 20, and it's DVD/Blu-ray with featuring commentary will be available today.
The allure of this romance caper, Oscar winner Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as two sexy spies-turned-corporate operatives in the midst of a clandestine love affair. When they find themselves on either side of an all-out corporate war between rival manufacturers, they'll put everything on the line to remain one double-cross ahead in a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse.
Carol Hemphill & Kent Tentschert Merriam-Webster defines the word, "duplicity," as "contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action," and Gilroy must love these contradictions. The ways in which the paranoid pair interact are complicated, and any clear description would introduce spoilers. Suffice it to say that this witty thriller-cum-romance explores the seductive power of the almighty dollar. It’s that great Julia and Owen chemistry dancing through Gilroy’s clever dialogue that makes this a crowd-pleaser.
"Duplicity" is well-crafted, smart, and often funny, but it’s mostly more cerebral than visceral and features far too many plot twists. As silly as the convoluted plot turns out to be, the movie is about the journey, not the destination. All moves, countermoves and double crosses keep you guessing until the finale.

"Inception" | The Teaser Trailer Debuted Online

Yahoo! Movies has just officially premiered the teaser trailer online today for "The Dark Knight" and "Batman Begins" director Christopher Nolan's upcoming sci-fi thriller film, "Inception". Just a few days after an IMDB report which described it appeared online that it involves "A CEO-type involved in a blackmail scandal." and after playing before "Inglourious Basterds" in some theaters during the weekend, we now have the first look for ourselves!
It's just a teaser in every sense of the word running about one-minute long with only a few snippets of footage. You won't get much else from it, and certainly nothing that tells you anything about a plot. The tagline says "Your mind is the scene of the crime," and Nolan himself has called it "a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind." It all looks wild though, particularly the glimpses we get of a fight sequence in a hallway, a very Dark Knight, chilling and Matrix-style.
In fact, with Nolan on board as the driving force, an estimated budget of $200 million, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy and Michael Caine. While we still don't really have much of an idea of what the film is about, the teaser is certainly intriguing. The movie is due for release on July 16, 2010 by Warner Bros Pictures, and could be the dark horse of summer 2010, so keep your excitement to a minimum for now.

"Inglourious Basterds" Attack the Movie Theaters

Though it is only August, Brad Pitt leads the list of Oscar contenders thanks to his performance in his highly-anticipated new fantasy film, "Inglourious Basterds" hits theaters today. A new World War II film from director Quentin Tarantino.
The title of the film was inspired by Italian director Enzo Castellari's 1978 movie "The Inglorious Bastards," but it is not a remake of that film, with the eagerly anticipated "Inglourious Basterds," Tarantino manages to simultaneously surprise and revert to predictable form. The surprise lies in his choice of period and subject matter. Set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. Pitt plays Lieutenant Aldo Raine, the commanding officer of the "Basterds", to recruit a team of Jewish soldiers for their mission. No pleading or bargaining allowed—just a bullet to the head or the business end of baseball bat to their skulls.
For once, a movie that meets or exceeds the hype! A classic Tarantino genre-blending thrill ride, "Inglourious Basterds" succeeds on many level, such as violent, unrestrained, shocking, extremely bloody and thoroughly entertaining. His finest effort perfectly balances brilliantly written dialogue with completely insane violence. This film tells a tale of swift and merciless justice and the way more fun than the real World War II. The film reviews on Rotten Tomatoes rating has been climbing every day and is at its peak as the film is released today, as 87% of positive reviews. I would say it's the best movie of the year to this point! And also wish it success could help the Brothers Weinstein's financial failures.

"Avatar" Teaser Trailer Debuts & Hits The Web

After all the waiting, the first trailer in blue for James Cameron's hyped new movie "Avatar" is finally here, went online on Apple.com today. It has been a movie ten years in the making, or so we can assume since we haven’t heard much from director James Cameron since the hit "Titanic" in 1997. Now, his highly anticipated creation "Avatar" is about the hit the big screen on December 18.
Tomorrow is Fox’s “Avatar Day” promotion, so get your tickets (crashed on avatarthemovie.com) to preview 15-minute of the new movie in 3D for free at a Imax theater near you worldwide. I expect more coverage and footage to pop up online at some point. Until then, this teaser should tide you over. And already, there are whispers that it could change the course of film-making forever.
The upcoming blockbuster "Avatar" was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago. It has been in production for four years, and the filming of it reportedly involves "revolutionary technology". The 3D sci-fi adventure also reunites movie director James Cameron with actress Sigourney Weaver, as they worked together on Aliens. The film centers on an ex-Marine Jake Sully, who submerges himself into the culture of an alien race. With the help of his Avatar body, he's able to adapt to his new environment even though he’s still present in his human mind.
Meanwhile, the trailer is just two minutes long, but it offers just enough footage to wet your appetite, and blow your mind.

"The Time Traveler's Wife" Opens In Theaters

Fall in love again? The gifted Rachel McAdams melted our hearts in "The Notebook" and "Wedding Crashers" returns for this summer's biggest remantic movie, and tries to keep Eric Bana’s heart in "The Time Traveler’s Wife," which coming out today in local theaters near you.
"The Time Traveler’s Wife," a romantic drama with Sci-Fi twist, is directed by Robert Schwentke of "Flightplan" and adapted by Bruce Joel Rubin of "Ghost", based on the 2003 best-seller novel by Audrey Niffenegger, about a Chicago librarian Henry (Bana) who has a genetic disorder that causes him unable to control his abiliy to vault through time, and the impact that has on his marriage with a young heiress Claire (McAdams), a long-suffering woman who can't stay away from him. Basically this is a glad-to-be-sad romance of two people who can’t bring themselves to part but can never really be together.
It's never easy to compare movies from different times and genres. All time travel stories have one thing in common, they require a total suspension of disbelief. If you start thinking about the lapses in logic, everything falls apart. Time travel serves as a metaphor for love, absence, aging and death, but once you see it on screen, it becomes real. This adaptation of the 2003 bestseller is meant to be supremely romantic, but why does this love go so bad? Only time will tell. Timing is everything, especially when it comes to love. "The Time Traveler's Wife" takes this expression quite literally. The film is a tale of highly-praised reality-bending romance, but early reviews of the film show an uphill battle since it doesn't fulfill its destiny. One thing for sure is it seems no question that tears will flow and hankies will suffer terribly. This dramatic fantasy film has held up well, and is honest assessment of how difficult and magical a true and lasting love can be.

"I Love You, Man" Leads Today's DVD Releases

One of the funniest movies of the decade, and the hilarious and unforgettable bro-mantic comedy hit “I Love You, Man” is finally making an appearance on DVD starting today!
“I Love You, Man” is a comedy from director John Hamburg and starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel as two completely different guys who form an unlikely friendship in this start-to-finish laugh marathon about a lovable, yet awkward, groom to-be Peter Klaven(Rudd) goes on a series of man-dates to find a best man for his wedding. But when his insta-bond with his new man, Sydney Fife (Segal) puts a strain on his relationship with his fiancée, can the trio learn to live happily ever after? Are you man enough to say it?
Sometimes, a comedy doesn't have to be laugh-out-loud hysterical to be a good comedy. Not necessarily great for anything but the jokes, which in most cases are enough. "I Love You, Man" is a bromance in its truest form, filled with outrageous humor, and surprisingly enough. The film is an hugely enjoyable comical and heartwarming story in that it paints an entertaining and humorous portrait of friendship and capitalizes on the strengths of a talented cast. The movie works because everything hinges on the camaraderie and undeniable chemistry between Rudd and Segel, who give a startlingly funny and original performance. Paul Rudd is one of those guys who could stand there and read a phone book, and we would laugh. Without question, "I Love You, Man" is one of the funniest (and oddest) things in the comedy this year.