The Spectacular Now lives up to its name as it sits as one of the best of the year on my list. Taking a poignant and intimate look at Sutter Kelly (Miles Teller) as he struggles to figure out what’s next after high school, James Ponsoldt has crafted a film that transcends the young adult themes. I had a chance to speak with James Ponsoldt and you can read that here and for a look at the full article, click here).

Here’s a snippet from that review:

“Dodging the stuffy trappings of many coming-of-age tales by reworking their stereotypes to its benefit, The Spectacular Now eclipses expectation. Instead of avoiding clichés entirely, Ponsoldt uses them to his advantage. And while the framework for the genre has clearly already been established, it rarely results in something this good and all around meaningful.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wceaLzbtuDY

The Spectacular Now is directed by James Ponsoldtand stars Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh andBob Odenkirk. It comes to theaters on August 2, 2013.

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Bringing back together the bodacious foursome of Brick, Champ, Brian and Ron, Anchorman: The Legend Continues finally unleashes a trailer that actually shows some plot points. Fast-forwarding a decade into the 1980’s, everyone’s favorite sex-panthery news team is back to re-up a decade mostly devoid of one-liners.

With all the original cast returning with Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate and David Koechner this second Anchorman will also add a whole slew of newbies including Kristen Wiig, Sacha Baron Cohen, Tina Fey, Greg Kinnear, Kayne West, James Marsden, Nicole Kidman, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Amy Poehler and, last but certainly not least, Jim Carrey. 

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elczv0ghqw0

Anchorman: The Legend Continues is directed by Adam McKay and stars Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner Kristen Wiig, Sacha Baron Cohen, Tina Fey, Greg Kinnear, Kayne West, James Marsden, Nicole Kidman, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Amy Poehler, Jim Carrey. It hits theaters on December 20, 2013.

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Gimmicky though it may seem, the Lego people have decided to move outside of the toys and video game platform and try their hand at a feature film. This first trailer offers a look at the legoverse which seems to have somehow ascertained the rights to a handful of franchises seeing how they throw DC comic book characters like Batman and Superman up against Michelangelo (painter), Michelangelo (ninja turtle), the NBA All Stars and…Abe Lincoln.

The official synopsis reads:

“The Lego Movie follows Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO mini-figure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously under-prepared.”

With the writing/director combo behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street in Phil Lord and Chris Miller, it seems that the project is definitely in competent hands but the initial animation we’re seeing here certainly leaves something to be desired. It looks almost like claymation but it’s still also very clear that the animation is digital and the balance that they’re striking at this point just makes the animation look cheap and video gamey rather than something suitable for the big screen but we’ll have to keep an eye on that and track how it progresses over the next nine months until its release.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPnY2NjSjrg

The Lego Movie is directed by Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Chris McKay and stars Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, Elizabeth Banks and Morgan Freeman. It comes to theaters on February 7, 2014.

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Look past the grimy quality of this trailer for Snowpiercer and you might see a standard sci-fi. But why then are the Weinsteins picking this up for distribution? Well let’s just say they say faith in the director. Adapted from a French graphic novel, Joon-ho Bong‘s Snowpiercer follows a group of survivors as they race towards a safe haven after the world has been devastated by global warming.

With a star-studded cast including Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris and Octavia Spencer, Snowpiercer is highly anticipated following Bong’s critical success with The Host. Check out the trailer below.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPBQ-dGbO8I

Snowpiercer is directed by Joon-ho Bong and stars Chris Evans, Kang-ho Song, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner, Alison Pill, John Hurt and Ed Harris. It’ll fly into theaters on August 1.

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As long as you expect more of the same with 300: Rise of an Empire, you’ll be sure to be in good hands as this sequel looks to deliver more slo-mo sword swinging, impractically beautiful (and doubtlessly nude) women amidst comic book-esque landscapes and impossibly muscular men doing implausible physical feats.

While the original crew of 300 are now all dead, 300: Rise of an Empire follows the Greek general Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) and his not quite as trained army as they take on the stretches of Xerxe’s Persian army which naval fleet is under the command of Artemesia (Eva Green). I’m not quite sure where Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) fits into these but apparently she’s a queen (who would have guessed?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrgSpvelFC4

300: Rise of an Empire is directed by Noam Murro and stars Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headley, Rodrigo Santoro and David Wenham. You can be sure it’ll open big when it comes to theaters on March 7, 2014.

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Following up on yesterday’s poster, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has unleashed a trailer before it launches in front of Man of Steel this weekend. The scope looks equally grand and the visuals will hopefully be eye-popping but not eye-straining like it was with the supercharged 48 FPS launch to the trilogy.

Whether Jackson and company will get a hint from the universal rejection of this fledgling technology is yet to be seen but considering the extra expenses put into the use of the technology, I would personally be more surprised if they did abandon the jarring technological “advancement”.

In this newest look at the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, we see Martin Freeman return as Bilbo, Ian McKellan back as Gandalf as well as some good ol’ Orlando Bloom elfing it up as Legolas alongside Lost‘s Evangeline Lilly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnaojlfdUbs

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is directed by Peter Jackson and stars Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving, Luke Evans, Cate Blanchette, Evangeline Lilly, Richard Artmitage, Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis and Stephen Fry. It hits theaters over this holiday season on December 13.

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The nick-pick king returns after his last soft-boiled effort, To Rome With Love, failed to stir up much excitement with critics and audiences. Woody Allen‘s Blue Jasmine however is already making waves in the film community and the result seems to be a resounding, ‘Yay.’ So long as Allen can channel that inimitable Allen-ness that made Midnight in Paris, alongside his countless older classics, such a winner, we’re all in store for another esoteric treat.

Unlike Allen’s recent entourage of globetrotting filmography, Blue Jasmine is not a love letter to a city as much as it is a dark character study. Starring Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin, the narrative follows a financial dealer (Baldwin) sent packing for prison after dealing outside the confines of the law and his wife (Blanchett) on the outside who is left to pick up the pieces.

Check the trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FER3C394aI8

Blue Jasmine is directed by Woody Allen and stars Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, Louis C.K., Sally Hawkins, Charlie Tahan, Alden Ehrenreich, Tammy Blanchard, Michael Stuhlbarg and Bobby Cannavale. It hits limited theaters on July 26.

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I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I like red band trailers and a film like Filth is good reason why. If you’re dealing with dark, mature material, it’s hard to really convey the essence of the piece without giving us a taste for the down and dirty aspects.

Jon S. Baird directs a script torn from the pages of Irvine Welsh‘s novel, who also wrote Trainspotting. Filth will enter the canon of the corrupt police-officer genre with James McAvoy at the helm of the madness.

If you haven’t already checked out the first – and equally red band – trailer, check it here. Otherwise, enjoy the filthiness of Filth. (I hope I don’t have to say that this isn’t safe for work.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rsXHrgoUOc

Filth is directed by Jon S. Baird and stars James McAvoy, Jaime Bell, Jim Broadbent, Imogen Poots, Eddie Marsan and Shirley Henderson. It hits theaters September 27.

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