When the World Goes to Z

We’re used to seeing zombies move real slow on screen – The Walking Dead, I’m looking at you.

And that’s fine and dandy and very much a threat when you have a pack of zombies coming at ya.

But when Brad Pitt’s World War Z (finally) comes out next June, the mofos are gonna move fast, and the world is gonna shoot to s--- quite quickly. Check out the long-anticipated movie’s trailer, yo:

World War Z was directed, painstakingly, by Marc Forster. It is based on Max Brooks’ cult 2006 novel. And in it, Pitt plays a UN researcher witnessing a fast-moving pandemic and fighting to keep his family and what little is left of civilization alive and safe.

Let’s hope this is a hit because the movie is meant to be the beginning of a trilogy.

And I hate it when expectations aren’t met and we're left wanting more in the bad way. I’m looking at ya, powers that be behind The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Franco Pulls a Sevigny

James Franco is boldly going where not straight guy really would – for his art.

He’s going downtown.

As in down down there. On film...on a dude.

How very Chloë Sevigny of him (GTS).

Like I said, though, he’s doing it for his art, which as we all know, he’s totally into.

Franco recently completed work on The Broken Tower, a biopic about Hart Crane, the gay poet widely known for his alcoholism and suicide at age 32. (he wrote and directed it – check out the trailer here). And to stay true to Crane’s sexuality, Franco included a scene in which he performs a job of the mouth variety – a scene he totally stands behind of because it “achieve[s] its effect.”

Judge by yourself: The Broken Tower is now available On Demand.

Photo: NextMovie.com.

Did Somebody Call for a Little Magic?

The first trailer for this summer’s much-anticipated Magic Mike, so without further ado:

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Yeah, lest anyone should think it, the powers that be (un)wisely decided to highlight the love story between the titular character (Channing Tatum, on whose pre-acting experiences the sure-to-be-a-hit dramedy is based), a successful stripper with dreams of becoming a furniture designer, and his reluctant object of affection (newcomer Cody Horn).

So don’t expect anymore than passing strippin’ glances of Alex Pettyfer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey. Or any whatsoever, from what I can tell, of that beautiful creature we know as Matthew Bomer.

Sooo Want One of These

Meet David, the artificial life form that the oh-so-real (and oh-so-wish-I-he-was-mine-to-have) Michael Fassbender plays in Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s sort of prequel to Alien also starring Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron:

I want one!

This video is the latest in a series of made-for-the-Web clips meant to promote the blockbuster’s arrival in theaters this summer. Last winter, the powers that be somehow treated us to a TED Talk from 2023, featuring Guy Pearce as the mysterious Peter Weyland.

Short Fass

My favorite actor right now, Michael Fassbender, is going to Tribeca.

The Shame star plays a thieve in Pitch Black Heist, a buzzy, already-award-winning 14-minute short film that will make its Manhattan debut at the Tribeca Film Festival (which runs April 18-29).

I so wish I was going up there to be there for it and him (and to try to grab the guy – wait...did I just type that out...loud?).

Click here for a look-see at the actor and his co-star, Liam Cunningham from HBO’s Game of Thrones, as they relax a bit and have themselves a candid moment mouthing the words of the 1960 Teresa Brewer ditty, “If There Are Stars in My Eyes.”

Photo: MichaelFassbender.org.

TVS (Tender Vampire Sex)

Entertainment Weekly is making Twihards quite happy with its latest issue previewing what’s to come in 2011, particularly because of this exclusive first photo of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.

Check out Bella and Edward (rumored real-life couple Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison) sharing a bed as man and wife on their wedding night.

Looks intense and well-lit and oh-so-vampirically romantic, huh. So what was the motivation behind the scene?

“You want to live up to people’s expectations,” said director Bill Condon. “People take [the movie and characters] personally. When you are interpreting something you have a certain vision of how it will be. Sometimes it is a liberal interpretation, but you hope you get to the essence of something.”

Well see what the whole package looks like when the movie opens on Nov. 18.

Photo: EW.com.

The Secret

It wouldn’t be the beginning of a new year if we didn’t have a feel-good indie to look forward to, right?

To fit the bill here comes Josh (TV’s How I Met Your Mother) Radnor’s Sundance-approved Happythankyoumoreplease.

The movie, which tells the story of a struggling writer (Radnor) and his circle of friends, all of whom seem to be on this gratitude-is-key-to-it-all bender, marks the actor’s screenwriting and directing debut and will begin hitting theaters on March 4.

I don’t know what it is, but I find the vibe of the whole thing tremendously appealing.

I think it’s the fact that the cast is mostly up-and-comers who aren’t yet plagued by the sort of trappings of fame that lands them on the pages of the weeklies, so they’re like, these blank slates waiting for us to color with appreciation.

I like that.

Check out the trailer and tell me I’m not onto something:

What Up, Spidey!

Here we go.

The first image of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man has hit the Internet, and boy does our friendly neighborhood webslinger look a tad...moody.

Well, it was to be expected. After all, Marc Webb’s reboot, due out in 2012, will be set in high school. Oy, the angst!

Garfield’s slender physique is definitely getting played up and not bulked up, like it was with Tobey Maguire, which kinda gives him and the character are more Regular Joe vibe, no?

Color me intrigued, alright, and well teased.

Photo: EW.com.

A Bit of Brontë in Our Lives

That Victorian staple Jane Eyre, a story I best remember as one of simmering passion, is coming to the big screen on March 11, and I for one cannot wait to see it.

That’s because it stars one of the most exciting young actresses out there, Mia Wasikowska, and that hot dish known as Michael Fassbender.

Check out the film’s trailer and tell me this adaptation doesn’t look like a must.

Photo: Collider.com.

Hacker Fashion

Behold, fans of the Millennium Trilogy – your first, super-stylish look at what Rooney Mara will look like as Lisbeth Salander in December’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is here courtesy of W.

The up-and-comer is on the cover of the fashion magazine’s Movie Issue out next month.

As the damaged hacker heroine, Mara rocks a jagged (Trend Alert?), black do, eyebrow and lip rings, and a chest tattoo declaring her character’s last name. Her hands are bloody. And she looks mighty cool.

Photo: People.com.

Us vs. Them

The battle is coming...the Battle: Los Angeles, that is.

This Aaron Eckhart-starring vehicle, an alien-invasion saga, looks like the s---, and I for one cannot wait until it opens on March 11.

Question is: Are we gonna make it?

Bitch from the Past

I love it: Kristen Bell is coming to a movie theater near me – and she’s bringing Betty White with her when she goes.

In Sept. 24’s You Again, Bell plays a woman whose brother intends to marry the bitch from high school (Odette Yustman) who made her teenage years a living hell.

The comedy co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis as Bell’s mom, Sigourney Weaver as Bell’s mom’s own rival, and Kristin Chenoweth, and White as – what else? – Bell’s force-of-nature grandma:

RBT NSFW

Warning: The Adventureland RBT (red-band trailer) is totally NSFW (not suitable for work), so get your LOLs (you know what that means) at your own discretion:



Is that last line not hilarious or what!

Adventureland, starring Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale), Kristen Stewart (Twilight), and Ryan Reynolds, opens on March 27.

Looking Forward to Summer

Earlier today, I said I couldn’t wait for spring.

I just watched the trailer for 500 Days of Summer, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a greeting-card writer and hopeless romantic who is caught off-guard when his girlfriend, Summer (Zooey Deschanel), suddenly dumps him, and then begins to look back on their 500 days together to try to figure out where their love affair went sour, and in so doing, rediscovers his true passions in life.

So I’m changing my tune…and I’m saying I cannot wait for Summer (which is due in theaters on July 24).

Photo: Fandango.com.

What Happens When Robots Get Pissed

Somebody call the Autobots: the Decepticons are coming back this summer, and they’re looking for payback.

Click here to check out the teaser trailer for June 24’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the sequel to the very loud 2007’s Michael Bay-directed Transformers, starring It Boy and Girl Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox.

It looks like this one’s going to be…louder.

Photo: MichaelBay.com.

Possession

Do y’all get the fascination with Megan Fox?

Sure, the actress is all kinds of sultry, but what has she done other than Transformers, really?

Other than being hailed as the second coming of Angelina Jolie, that is – which I kinda see, but then again no.

Well, I guess I’ll get some sort of answer in the Jennifer’s Body, due in theaters on Sept. 18. The darkly comic movie, written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody (Juno), calls for Fox (pictured at right in scene of the fall release) to play a high school mean girl possessed by an even meaner demon.

“In order to live in this new state of undead, she has to feed on human flesh,” Fox said. “So she takes revenge on men who she secretly hated her whole life anyway…. I’ve always hated boys, so I identified with that very easily.”

Jeez, I certainly hope that doesn’t include fiancé Brian Austin Green (f.k.a. Beverly Hills, 90210’s David Silver, n.k.a. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ hot uncle).

Photo: EW.com.

The Basterds Are Coming

Yep, from the looks of this trailer, “you haven’t seen war until you’ve seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino,” so check out the trailer of Aug. 21’s Inglourious Basterds, starring a “scalps”-hungry Brad Pitt, now.

The movie co-stars Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Eli Roth, B.J. Novak (TV’s The Office), Michael Fassbender (300), Mike Myers, and Cloris Leachman.

I can't wait for summer to arrive. Or for Pitt to shave that silly mustache.

Photo: François Duhamel.

HTMJL

Who’s that boy dressed as a girl at right?

My, it’s Jude Law.

Hot Tranny Mess Jude Law!

The actor will look fabu as a transgender supermodel in Sally Potter’s film Rage, opening later this year. Law plays a character named Minx opposite Judi Dench, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard, and John Leguizamo.

He makes a fetching tranny, does he not?

Photo: EW.com.

Earning His Hyphens

At last month’s Sundance Film Festival, actor John Krasinski (TV’s The Office) turned.

He turned director, that is.

As a student at Brown in 2000, Krasinski did a staged adaptation of late author David Foster Wallace’s short story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, a project that solidified his desire to act. He then spent the last eight years adapting the book into a movie, which premiered in competition the festival.

Starring Julianne Nicholson as a grad student studying the male psyche, and Christopher Meloni (TV’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, and SNL’s Will Forte, the project is described by EW.com as “a risky debut for any first-time filmmaker, but the always-charming Krasinski appears to be holding himself together quite admirably.”

That’s because dude’s a star.

Photo: OfficeTally.com.

When Keira Met Sienna

Once upon a time, Keira Knightley was supposed to co-star with Lindsay Lohan in The Edge of Love, but L2 felt she had better troubl…uhh…things to do, and dropped out, and in stepped Sienna Miller.

Knightley and Miller premiered the film – about two women and a rivalry that became a friendship – at the Edinburgh Film Festival last week, and according to GQ, they deliver “the best performances of their lives.”

Lohan, meanwhile, began to reclaim her career by starting production on a new project.

Check out the trailer for The Edge of Love, co-starring Matthew Rhys (TV’s Brothers & Sisters) and Cillian Murphy, here.

Photo: TheSun.co.uk.