Forgive the quips, but we’re tired and Comic-Con hasn’t even started yet. With San Diego — a whale’s vagina — set to become nerd heaven for next few days, there will posters, pics and more. So pour some Red Bull into your eyeballs, because the first batch starts here with Relativity dropping some visual bombs to kick things off.
We start with The Wachowskis’ pal James McTeigue‘s “The Raven,” in which Rob Gordon steps out from behind his record collection, puts on some old timey clothes and stops a murderer. A blend of (some) fact and (mostly) fiction, the film stars John Cusack as the famed writer Edgar Allan Poe, in a serial killer thriller which features the poet teaming up with a detective (Luke Evans) to track down a murderer who mimics his work in the last week of the writer’s life. In addition to ripping his books for ideas on how to kill people, the murderer will also kidnap Cusack’s fiancée, played by Alice Eve. All joking aside, this actually looks like it could be a pretty fun little genre piece, a darker period tale than say, “Sherlock Holmes,” and if McTeigue keeps up the visual flourish he’s shown in past efforts, this could be spring treat. The film opens on March 9, 2012. Official synopsis and more pics below.
In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).
When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.
Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.
I AM SPARTA! Oops, wrong movie. But you’ll be forgiven for mixing up Tarsem Singh‘s “Immortals” for “300.” Both feature lots of CGI and buff, sweaty dudes who wield swords and shout. Granted, Singh might be bringing a little more visual sizzle than Zack Snyder‘s speed ramping, but we’re not yet convinced the film won’t be anything more than a highly stylized swords and skirts flick. The story is pretty straightforward, though. Starring Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Mickey Rourke, Kellan Lutz, Luke Evans, John Hurt and Isabel Lucas, the film follows the story of warrior prince Theseus (Cavill) as he leads men and gods alike into battle against titans in order to save mankind. “Clash Of The 300 Spartacus Titans“? We’ll see on November 11th.
Visionary director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall) transports us in this epic tale of treachery, vengeance and destiny in Immortals, a stylish and visually spectacular 3D action adventure. As a power-hungry king razes ancient Greece in search of a legendary weapon, a heroic young villager rises up against him in a thrilling quest as timeless as it is powerful.
The brutal and bloodthirsty King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his murderous Heraklion army rampage across Greece in search of the long lost Bow of Epirus. With the invincible Bow, the king will be able to overthrow the Gods of Olympus and become the undisputed master of his world. With ruthless efficiency, Hyperion and his legions destroy everything in their wake, and it seems nothing will stop the evil king’s mission.
As village after village is obliterated, a stonemason named Theseus (Henry Cavill) vows to avenge his mother, who was killed in one of Hyperion’s brutal raids. When Theseus meets the Sybelline Oracle, Phaedra (Freida Pinto), her disturbing visions of the young man’s future convince her that he is the key to stopping the destruction. With her help, Theseus assembles a small band of followers and embraces his destiny in a final, desperate battle for the future of humanity.
Finally, here comes “Shark Night 3D,” a movie whose title should tell you all you need to know about this National Geographic documentary gone horribly, horribly wrong. Anyway, it stars Sara Paxton, Katharine McPhee, Joel David Moore and some other random folks, and the plot, such as it is, will involve the young folks trying to get back to the mainland but facing some flesh-eating sharks along the way. Their “What I Did On Summer Vacation” essay is gonna be a downer. It opens on September 2nd.
A sexy summer weekend turns into a blood-soaked nightmare for a group of college students trapped on an island surrounded by voracious underwater predators in Shark Night 3D, a terrifying thrill ride from director David Ellis (The Final Destination, Snakes On a Plane), featuring a red-hot young cast including Sara Paxton (Superhero Movie, Last House on the Left), Dustin Milligan (“90210,” Slither), Chris Carmack (“The O.C.”), Joel David Moore (Avatar), Chris Zylka (The Amazing Spider-Man) and Katharine McPhee (The House Bunny).
Arriving by boat at her family’s Louisiana lake island cabin, Sara (Sara Paxton) and her friends quickly strip down to their swimsuits for a weekend of fun in the sun. But when star football player Malik (Sinqua Walls) stumbles from the salt-water lake with his arm torn off, the party mood quickly evaporates. Assuming the injury was caused by a freak wake-boarding accident, the group realizes they have to get Malik to a hospital on the other side of the lake, and fast.
But as they set out in a tiny speedboat, the college friends discover the lake has been stocked with hundreds of massive, flesh-eating sharks! As they face one grisly death after another, Sara and the others struggle desperately to fend off the sharks, get help and stay alive long enough to reach the safety of dry land.
