We’ve got a few more pics from the London set of The Sweeney, a big screen version of a hit ‘70’s British cop drama now filming starring the best bad guy ever, Ray Winstone,  that we told you about back in November. It also stars Damian Lewis (“Homeland”, “Band of Brothers”), who is pictured below, Hayley Atwell (“Pillars of the Earth”, Captain America: The First Avenger) and Ben Drew (aka Plan B).  This time Winstone is using his powers for good and not evil, playing a “hardened detective” in the flying squad of London’s Metropolitan Police Force. (Winstone’s first role was as an unnamed youth in the original show.)

Director Nick Love (2007’s Outlaw with Sean Bean and Bob Hoskins) produced Bronson with Tom Hardy. He knows his way around a geezer. (British slang for a man, generally self-educated, confident, “laddish”. A bloke’s bloke.). Brit crime dramas are a 'thing'. Geezers make me swoon. The film’s title comes from Sweeney Todd which is Cockney Rhyming Slang for 'Flying Squad'. Bit of trivia: Alan Ford is in this. He starred in two of the very best crime dramas, The Long Good Friday (the absolute best IMHO) and he played “Brick Top” in Snatch. As far as I’m concerned, with Winstone and Ford, The Sweeney has geezer cred up the wazoo.

Damian Lewis and his costar Claire Danes have both been nominated for Golden Globes for their performances  in “Homeland”, which just aired its first season finale. If you weren’t watching it, you missed out on the best show on television. Catch up with it before season 2 starts in the Fall.

Embargo Films will release The Sweeney on 21st September in the UK, an exact US date is not known. (Booo) Enjoy the pics courtesy of our friends at HeyUGuys.

We have a new “final” poster for Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire, as well  as a new tv spot (via Comingsoon) both featuring Michael Fassbender. Yeah, I know, MMA fighter Gina Carano is the star of the show, but it’s Hump Day and Hump Day must have some Fassbender. (It’s a rule.)

In any case, the spot below gives far less away than any of the trailers or clips we’ve seen (probably due to time constraints) so I like it. I know we’ve been talking about Haywire here for months, but I’m sure that most of the movie going public still hasn’t heard about it. (It’s easy to lose sight of that fact when one writes or even reads about movies all the time.)  Carano plays freelance covert operative Mallory Kane who is hired out by her handler to various global entities to perform jobs which governments can't authorize and heads of state would rather not know about. After a mission to rescue a hostage in Barcelona, Mallory is quickly dispatched on another mission to Dublin. When the operation goes awry and Mallory finds she has been double crossed, she needs to use all of her skills, tricks and abilities to escape an international manhunt, make it back to the United States, protect her family, and exact revenge on those that have betrayed her.

Just in time to give an adrenaline jolt to the post-Holiday, mid-winter doldrums, Haywire, starring Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton opens in the UK on 18th January and in the US on January 20.

Someone's bitter. Britney Spears' ex-husband that she was married to for 55 hours back in 2004 (a marriage that was annulled three days later), Jason Alexander, has come out with comments that her engagement to Jason Trawick is phony. He tells US exclusively:

"I know everyone wants me to be happy about this, but I am not,"  "I think it's fake and I think people are afraid to say it."

"If you look at all the pictures between them there is no connection," he added. "They look like they are going through the motions.  It seems like a answer to the court thing."

"Sort of a nice way to sew it all up she marries her handler," Alexander sniped. "That way she always has someone controlling her. It's sort of sad."

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We have a new look at Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. A really new look! Not only do we have a few images, some of which come courtesy of Total Film (via ComicBookMovie), but we also have the first teaser trailer!  Yes folks, the long awaited sneak peek at the film that doesn’t hit theaters until December 2012 is now available for your viewing pleasure. This is gonna be epic!

Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit , the prequel to Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy brings together once again, a lot of the cast of those films. Of course the Bilbo is at the heart of this story. Just from the pics one can tell that Freeman is well cast.

This little bit of footage in this first trailer is the perfect tease. It will have to be viewed over and over again to glean all of the little tidbits of Jackson created Tolkein-goodness. I want to spend more time with the dwarves! Just that little snippet of the LOTR score at the end, took me right back. I have to go pop in a dvd!

Written by Guillermo del Toro, with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is filming back to back with it’s second part, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, which will release in December 2013.

Official Synopsis:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug (the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch). Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellan), Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage). Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum (Andy Serkis). Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey stars Freeman, McKellan, Armitage, Serkis, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Aidan Turner, Lee Pace, Ian Holm, Brian Blessed and James Nesbitt. More will follow (and soon I hope!)

The fashion products that the Kardashian Klan endorse and put their names behind are using child labor sweatshops The Star is reporting in a shocking story.  Charles Kernaghan, is the executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights and tells the tabloid:

“The Kardashians are in bed with some pretty bad people,”  “Not only are celebrities like the Kardashians taking advantage of these workers, they are holding hands with a government that spits on democracy and women’s rights.”

Not all products they endorse are made in these sweatshops but a huge investigation is taking place into the places that manufacture the Kris Jenner Kollection, ShoeDazzle, and some of the items that are sold at their K-Dash store. Apparently these products are manufactured in areas of China that have inhumane conditions and treatment of its workers.

The workers basically live in squalor where they earn $1 hour. Sometimes temperatures reach 100 F in the factories they work in. According Kernaghan the workers:

“Can’t talk during working hours,” “You can’t  listen to music; you can’t stand up and stretch. You can’t even put your head up and look around, or you will be screamed at. If you get permission to use the toilet, you get four minutes. If you’re highly specialized, you cannot even go to the bathroom.”

He slams the Kardashians and says it's time they took a stand:

“Kim has been very fortunate, but it’s time for her and her family to treat these workers with respect,” he tells Star.

“Kim, for example, could say, ‘It ain’t going to be all about me, me and me.’ She could do something and not leave behind a broken mess of women and children. If she took a stand and said, ‘I want to manufacture my products in Chicago or Los Angeles, where I can ensure people humane conditions,’ she would be taking the right stand.”

You should take a look at the website because it isn't just the Kardashian name behind brands that are made in these disgusting sweatshops, it's also the sports paraphernalia that teams such as the Dallas Cowboys manufacture their goods and big-name department stores.

The Kardashians are really coming under fire ever since Kim announced her divorce from Kris Humphries. And while the divorce is painful, this (the sweatshops) is downright tragic and as Kernaghan says, they have an obligation to ensure the products they stand behind are not manufactured in these conditions. 

That issue of The Star hits the newsstands tomorrow.

I love this! I don’t know if he’s Winterfell’s version of a department store Santa or an elf-herd resting his weary bones. Is that a candy cane in your hand Lord Stark or are you just happy to see me? (Actually, poor ole Ned Stark isn’t happy to see anyone any more) In any case, that’s Sean Bean as Ned Stark from HBO’s Game of Thrones in the iconic image of Ned and the Iron Throne…with a Santa hat and a giant candy cane instead of a sword. Notice the wreath stuck through a few sword points at the top.

This brilliant poster is a fan-made holiday homage to the series (Courtesy of Geek of the Day by way of HeyUGuys). Not only is Winter coming to Westeros, so is Christmas! (I hope Cersei and Jaime Lannister and their spawn Joffrey Baratheon all  get giant lumps of coal in their stockings!)

Game of Thrones returns to HBO for Season 2 in April! I can’t wait! In the meantime, The Ghost of Stark Christmases Past wishes you tidings of great joy! Pa-rum-pa-pa-pum!