We have a look at the first images from Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance! Appropriately enough, this is a sequel to 2007′s Ghost Rider. While the first film was directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the second film is being helmed by Neveldine/Taylor, the spastic brain-trust behind such adrenaline-fueled fare as Crank, Crank:High Voltage, Gamer and Jonah Hex. There are numerous credited writers but those responsible for the screenplay have primarily tv credits to their names. The story writer, David Goyer, however, has the stories forBatman, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises as well as Superman: Man of Steel to his.

Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance brings back star Nicolas Cage but leaves Eva Mendes behind in favor of Italian actress/singer/song writer Violante Placido. she was terrific in Anton Corbijn’s The American with George Clooney Now, ordinarily, this is not a movie that would be anywhere near my dance card. The reason, actually make that two reasons, that it is: Ciaran Hinds as The Devil and Idris Elba (who can be seen below.)

I adore Ciaran Hinds, although I sometimes question his choices. He does, however, seem to balance out the schlock with the small little independent stuff that no one hears about unless they monitor IFC or VOD. (I could be wrong but this looks a ‘paycheck’.) If you are unfamiliar with the name, I’m sure you’d recognize the face. I cannot recommend HBO’s “Rome”, in which he played Julius Caesar, highly enough. After that, then check out his resume on imdb. Ciaran will also appear in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy later this fall.

Idris Elba, for those of you unfamiliar, appeared earlier this summer as Heimdall in Thor. He’s about to break out in a major way. Frankly, I can’t believe it hasn’t happened already. He’s been on the verge for a long time. Remember Stringer Bell from “The Wire”? How about Mumbles from Rocknrolla? Roque in The Losers? If you have BBCAmerica on your cable line-up, you need to catch up with “Luther” season 1 before season 2 starts in January. “Dramaville” hosted by Idris starts August 17th. He was nominated for not one, but two Primetime Emmys this year. One for “Luther” and one for a supporting role in Showtime’s “The Big C”.  He’s currently filming Sir Ridley Scott’s Prometheus with Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron.

Bottom line there’s a lot of talent involved here. It would be a shame if it were squandered, so I’ll probably give this a look. Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance opens February 17 2012 in the US and 22 February in the UK.

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A few weeks ago we were treated to the first official shot of Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. This weekend, he’s all over the web as shooting has begun in earnest in Pittsburgh, PA.

We’ve got lots of pics of Bane as well as a shot of Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon and Marion Cotilliard as Miranda Tate. We also see Christian Bale, who looks to be rehearsing for a scene involving either a prison break or a jail-house riot. There were a lot extras walking around in orange jumpsuits with “Gotham H.O.C.” on the back. There’s also a shot of a pretty cool ATV apparently called a “tumbler” painted in desert camouflage. I have no idea what that’s about, since not only are they filming in an urban setting, but it’s supposed to be mid-winter. Piles of fake snow have been spotted along the streets and the actors were bundled up while filming. They quickly shed the coats once cameras stopped rolling. I don’t see how they do it in July heat without sweating their make-up off.

Tom Hardy Talks About Christopher Nolan & The Dark Knight Rises

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to know too much about this movie, at least in terms of plot. Director Christopher Nolan is notorious for playing things close to the vest and divulging secrets only when he wants to divulge them. I have no problem with that. These people aren’t perfecting cold fusion or formulating biological weapons or even members of Congress shaping public policy. They’re making a movie for our future entertainment. Know too much and on the one hand, expectations go through the roof in terms of the finished product (eg: Cowboys & Aliens) or you risk disappointing the rabid fan-base who may or may not agree with your choices.

I say, “relax”. The Dark Knight Rises already has a locked in release date of July 20, 2012. All things considered for a movie of this size and scope, that’s not very far away at all, especially when they’re still shooting the thing. I’m willing to let Nolan and company surprise me.

Many more pics can be found at Wick Photography.

Who doesn’t want a little more Clooney in their day? New images of George & company in his latest hyphenated effort as director and star ofThe Ides of March have dropped courtesy of Sony and Yahoo.

With this batch we get another glimpse of the director, this time watching the action with a couple key members of his cast, Ryan Gosling and Evan Rachel Wood. I particularly like the pic of candidate Mike Morris (Clooney) on the podium with the picture perfect family. I know that’s Jennifer Ehle playing who I can only assume is his wife, although I can find no cast listing for her or anyone else in that role.

Ides of March Trailer, Poster & Set Images!

Co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, The Ides of March is an adaptation of play Beau Willimon’s play, “Farragut North”, which was in turn loosely based on the 2004 Democratic primary campaign of Howard Dean. When it opened in 2008 in New York, Chris Noth (Sex and the City‘s ‘Big’) had the lead. The film’s synopsis: An idealistic staffer (Gosling) for a newbie presidential candidate (Clooney) gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.

The cast also includes Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei and Jeffrey Wright. The Ides of March is opening the Venice Film Festival on August 31 and will play the Toronto Film Festival in September before opening in the US on October 7 and 28 October in the UK.

Roman Polanski’s Carnage is already scheduled for the Venice International Film Festival and I was surprised by its omission from the Toronto announcements but thought perhaps details were still being worked out and it would be announced with the next wave. Well, now we know that indeed, details probably were being worked out but for a different festival. Carnage, starring the Oscar heavy cast of Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly, will make its North American debut in New York, as it has been chosen as the opening night selection of this year’s New York Film Festival.  The scheduling of Carnage follows on the heels of last year’s coup, The Social Network.

Carnage is set in New York (actually a single apart in New York) and is based on Yasmina Reza’s 2009 Tony winner for Best Play,”God of Carnage” (Le Dieu du Carnage).  It’s about  two sets of middle-class couples who meet for dinner after their children get into a fight at school. (One of them hits the other in the head.)  Given the cast and the plot one might think that this will be a straight drama but, not if you know that it also won the Olivier Award in 2009 for the London production for Best Comedy. Take a look at the new pics below. They definitely give hints that not only is all not what it appears with these people but perhaps even ‘not quite right’. My personal favorites are Foster spritzing tulips, presumably to give them scent because tulips have none and Waltz apparently blow-drying a cell phone.  I’m expecting something along the lines of a satirical look at upper middle class New Yorkers.

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A very cool trailer for a new action adventure/historical drama called Red Tails has just hit the web. How is it I have not heard about this until now? I love war movies, especially those that purport to be historically accurate. This one, a first feature from prodigious television director Anthony Hemingway (“Treme”, “The Wire”, “True Blood”, “CSI:NY”), is another take on the story of the ‘Tuskeegee Airmen’. The men of the 322nd Fighter Group were the first African Americans to complete training to become fighter pilots (training took place in Tuskeegee, Alabama, hence the nickname) during WWII. Racism denied them the chance to put their skills to the test until the need proved to be so desperate that they could no longer be overlooked.

Produced by George Lucas with a screenplay by Lucas and John Ridley (Three Kings, “The Wanda Sykes Show”), Red Tails has a terrific cast fronted by Terrence Howard (the 2nd time he’s played a fighter pilot, the first being Hart’s War), Bryan Cranston, Cuba Gooding, Jr. (who seems to be aging into better parts with which to show that his Oscar was not a fluke. He also appeared in HBO’s “The Tuskeegee Airmen”), David Oyelowo (The Help, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Gerald McRainey (who until I saw him, I thought his voice belonged to Dale Dye. Apparently the torch of ‘irascible military leader’ has been passed), Ne-Yo and Method Man.

This film has apparently been percolating for a long time for one reason or another. I admit there is a lot here we’ve seen before, but just the little bits of the fighter sequences we get in the trailer are really exciting.  The cinematographer John B. Aronson doesn’t have a lot to recommend him or that would lead anyone to believe he could give us something spectacular, but Lucas obviously saw something in him. He doesn’t put the Lucas Film Ltd imprimatur on just anything. I’m now looking forward to this. A US release date of January 20 is listed at the end of the trailer, although nothing is as yet listed on imdb. I’ll keep you posted.

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Red State is a  new film from director Kevin Smith and if you haven’t heard of it, then you’re obviously not on Twitter. Smith, best known for lighter fare like Clerks, Dogma, Mall Rats and Cop Out, has crafted a ‘horror’ movie about fundamentalism, guns and ironically enough, the dangers of the internet.

The synopsis: “Set in Middle America, a group of teens receive an online invitation for sex, though they soon encounter fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda.”

I say, ironically, because Smith has decided to forego the usual avenues employed to promote a movie and is doing it all himself, using the internet, chiefly through Twitter, for free. Shot on a shoestring budget of just $4 million, Smith brought Red State to Sundance this past January where it was very well received and has been travelling the country ever since, hosting sold-out screenings and Q & A sessions about the film, tickets averaging $65 a piece.

I have followed Kevin Smith since I joined Twitter in 2009, mostly because he’s hilarious and says whatever the hell he wants to. Agree or disagree, he’s always entertaining. Here’s what he tweeted recently with reference to promoting his film:

“P.S.- As a big ol’ “Fuck ‘em,” the trailer used to have the line “From the director of Cop Out.” I went with “From @ThatKevinSmith” instead.”

His latest endeavor is to cohost a week-long series of screenings August 19-25 in Los Angeles at the New Beverly Cinema (a local family owned and operated theater famous for its repertory offerings, many of which offer post screening discussions with members cast &/or crew) with Q & A panels following each showing, hosted by Smith and Quentin Tarantino. Even though the film is scheduled for a US release in October, Smith has said the idea behind the screenings is to provide the opening run in LA needed to qualify for Academy Award consideration.

He had this to say in an interview with Movieline:

“To be clear: this Academy-qualifying run is STRICTLY about the ACTORS,” Smith said in an e-mail to Movieline (emphasis his). “I’m not looking for consideration (or even kevsideration) for myself; I just want to see the true talents behind our flick get at least a shot at their propers.”

Here’s a peek at the red-band (NSFW) trailer:

Red State is scheduled for release 30 September in the UK and October 19 in the US.