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First Teaser Trailer for Ensemble RomCom Valentine's Day

Ugh. When this was first announced, I was hoping that it might turn out to be another Love Actually (a brilliant romcom), but set around Valentine's Day instead. Unfortunately, this teaser for Valentine's Day makes it look like nothing more than a dull, overrated romantic comedy that I just know will do gangbusters at the box office. Oh and here's the cast: Bradley Cooper, Taylor Lautner, Jessica Alba, Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Emma Roberts, Topher Grace, Patrick Dempsey, Taylor Swift, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, Shirley MacLaine, Carter Jenkins, and George Lopez.

Matt Damon Joins Clint Eastwood's Supernatural Hereafter

Clint Eastwood's all set to follow up last year's Gran Torino, and this year's Invictus, with the supernatural thriller Hereafter, and his first foray into the genre world has found its lead, Matt Damon. According to Variety, Warner Bros has not yet even released the logline of this project, set to shoot in the fall. The most they'll say is that Hereafter is "a thriller in the vein of The Sixth Sense." What a twist! At least it's good news that Eastwood is sticking with Damon again. The script, written by Oscar-nominated scribe Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon), moved to WB from DreamWorks, but has retained producer Steven Spielberg among others.

Christopher Plummer & Others Join the Growing Cast of Priest

Although I'm not excited for former visual effects artist Scott Stewart's directorial debut, Legion, I am actually looking forward to his follow-up, Priest. Somehow Stewart lined-up two features back-to-back, both starring Paul Bettany, both using lots of visual effects. The former is an original story, however, the latter is based on a Japanese manga. We've been hearing casting announcements for a while, but one big name has popped up today that I just can't pass up. According to Stewart's own Twitter, the legendary Christopher Plummer is joining the cast along with Brad Dourif and hottie Madchen Amick.

Cinematic Discussion: When Does Sci-Fi Become Fantasy?

Note: For this discussion, the definitions below are localized to the medium of the motion picture and the genres of science fiction and fantasy films only. Though there are many examples in television, literature, and even video games, here is not the place for such examples to be entered as evidence.

We can probably all agree on the broad-stroke definitions and differences between Science Fiction and Fantasy. Where fantasy, at its most generalized, contains elements of magic, the supernatural, and a plot centralized and dependent on one, the other, or both, science fiction differentiates itself by utilizing

Interview: Karyn Kusama & Jason Reitman on Jennifer's Body

Two interviews with Jason Reitman in two days! Yes, indeed! But this time I decided to mix things up and bring in someone else. Jennifer's Body showed up here at the Toronto Film Festival a few days ago (read my review) and after seeing it, I caught up with director Karyn Kusama and producer Jason Reitman for a quick interview in their hotel. This is Kusama's third feature film following Girlfight and Aeon Flux. We talked about what it was shooting this (and her interest in the horror genre), whether it's a horror-comedy or comedy-horror, and her two beautiful lead actresses (Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried). Enjoy!

Worth Watching: First Trailer for Jay Baruchel's The Trotsky

This was an unexpected surprise today! Our friends at Quiet Earth have dug up the first trailer for Jacob Tierney's The Trotsky starring Jay Baruchel. This comedy, set in Montreal, follows a teen who believes he is a reincarnation of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. I actually caught this a few days ago up here at the Toronto Film Festival and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It feels a bit indie (as in really low budget), which actually hurts it I think, but it's still a good film, one worth picking up on DVD and watching if you like this trailer. It's quirky and Baruchel does a fantastic job. That's about all I need to say. Check out the trailer!

Behind-the-Scenes Featurette on Avatar's Game Development

As I've mentioned many times, James Cameron is one of my favorite filmmakers, and with Avatar due out in only 3 more months, we're sure to be hearing a lot from him. Empire has debuted a featurette for the video game that includes brief interviews with Cameron and producer Jon Landau. This video shows exactly why I'm so excited for the game, even though I'm not a big gamer anymore, because they were developed so closely together. "You only build one world, and create two ways of enjoying it - simultaneously - separately and in parallel." Anyway, if you're looking forward to Avatar, game or movie, you'll want to check this out!

Cyclops Says X-Men: First Class to Start Shooting in 2010?

Back in April, we received a bit of information about the spawning of a new X-Men franchise in the form of some young mutants forming the first team out of Charles Xavier's School for the Gifted. As of now, the project is being referred to as X-Men: First Class, but we haven't heard any real information about the project since Josh Schwartz (creator and exec producer of shows like "Chuck" and "The O.C.") was said to be penning the first draft of the screenplay. But some new info has come to light today via SuperHeroHype, and it looks like the production might be on track to start filming sooner than we might have originally thought.

First Badass Trailer for Pierre Morel's From Paris with Love!

This isn't the official trailer that Lionsgate wants you to see, but SlashFilm has found the first full-length trailer for From Paris with Love, which is Pierre Morel's follow-up to Taken. John Travolta stars as an American spy who hooks up with a young embassy employee in Paris. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays his new partner and Amber Rose Revah stars as the love interest. We actually debuted an early promo trailer for this late last year, but it only had raw footage. This looks a lot more polished and a lot more badass. I really love how this takes a huge turn at the end, can't wait to see what it's all about. Looks like it'll be another hit!

Green Hornet Villain Role Not Good Enough for The Cage

Earlier this week we told you that Christoph Waltz was stepping into the villain role vacated by Nicolas Cage in Michel Gondry's Green Hornet. It seems like this production has had nothing but problems from losing Stephen Chow in every capacity he was once attached, to the always dreadful release date delay. However, despite all the bad luck surrounding it, details were sparse as to why Cage exited leaving Gondry and star Seth Rogen high and dry. But Nicolas Cage had some words for the Canadian Press about his departure while he was up at the Toronto Film Festival promoting his newest film, Werner Herzog's Bad Lietenant.

Official Trailer for Kirk Jones' Dramedy Everybody's Fine

Miramax has debuted the trailer for Kirk Jones' Everybody's Fine online today. The film stars Robert De Niro as well as Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, and Lucian Maisel (as the youngest kid). Some people were already saying that De Niro has Oscar buzz for this, but after watching the trailer, I definitely don't think so. I don't know why but I'm just tired of these formulaic family dramedies, even if they're from a good filmmaker. This kind of reminds me of Four Christmases, which I did not like last year, but with a twist on the story (obviously). And I expect audiences will flock in droves to see this anyway.

Sony Picks Up Peter Stebbings' Superhero Comedy Defendor

Another buzzed about film from Toronto has sold this evening (via Variety). Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has picked up Peter Stebbings' comedy Defendor that stars Woody Harrelson and Kat Dennings. Apparently the film was sold on Monday night after its world premiere where companies like The Weinstein Co. and other "foreign bidders" got into a battle over the rights. Sony picked up rights for this for the US and most of Europe, Asia and Latin America. They may still release it through Sony Pictures Classics or Apparition instead, but for now it's great news to hear that this has sold. Read on for my thoughts.