Here are some great new images from The Amazing Spider-Man as well as The Avengers! The Spider Man reboot has been generating a lot of buzz, since it was announced really, but in the last few weeks certainly.  Empire, by way of ComicBookMovie has offered up some great images of Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker (and one as Spiderman menacing someone who looks like Denis Leary) and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy

Peter Parker is going back to high school when director Marc Webb’s (500 Days of Summer) The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012. The film focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises. 

The Amazing Spider-Man opens in theaters July 3 in the US and Canada and 4^th July in the UK

I have to say, I’m much more excited about The Avengers. The assembled company of this film is outrageous. In addition to Chris Evans as Captain America and Chris Hemsworth as Thor, both pictured here, we have Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk, Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The Avengers have only ever previously assembled in cartoon form and it’s taken until someone like Joss Whedon, with a true comic book geek’s sensibilities and an auteur’s talents to get it done on film. (Or for whatever passes for film these days. A microchip perhaps. We certainly can’t say ‘celluloid’ anymore.)

As for the pics posted here, Hemsworth told Empire that there is obvious tension between his Thor and Evans’ Captain America as you would when alphas used to being top dog are all massed together in one place. "There's a couple of shots in the trailer of Thor and Captain America duking it out and that gives you an idea of how well they get along at the beginning…" The instigator of course, is Loki. “I think it's heartbreaking because{Thor} feels very responsible for why Loki has spiraled off. He keeps trying to appeal to whatever good was once there."  Much more on The Avengers is revealed in the mag when it goes on sale next week.

The Avengers comes to theaters 27^th April in the UK and May 4 in the US and Canada.

Eva Green, who broke Daniel Craig’s heart as Vesper Lind in Casino Royale and toyed with Orlando Bloom’s in Kingdom of Heaven and is set to do the same thing to Ewan McGregor in Perfect Sense, is in negotiations to toy with Rodrigo Santoro in Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures’ 300 prequel, 300: The Battle of Artemisia.  Even though they still don’t have a male lead (Joel Edgerton had to bail due to scheduling), Green is reportedly in talks to play Artemisia herself.

The battle at the center of the pic is supposed to occur at the same time as the battle at Thermopylae in 300, so of course, film makers are hoping that both Gerard Butler and Lena Headey will reprise their roles as Spartan King Leonidas and his Queen Gorgo. (If he does, I’m guessing Butler’s abs really will be CGI this time because he’s repeatedly said he doesn’t want to put his body through that hell again.)

Green would play a ruthless, gold-covered goddess who persuades Xerxes (Santoro) to amass his army and then helps lead them into battle.

The only thing director Noam Murro has released is the under-rated Smart People. He's got another film, All Families are Psychotic, based on a novel by Douglas Coupland, in development. I have no idea why anyone believes he can pull off anything like 300. Mark Canton, Gianni Nunnari, Bernie Goldman, Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder (all involved in 300) are producing and hope to get started in early 2012.

In other news, Clive Owen is reportedly in negotiations to play the villain in Spike Lee’s remake of Park Chan-Wook’s 2003 thriller, Old Boy. (I try to stay away from rumors, but there must be something to this since it’s ALL over the web.) While it had been reported thatChristian Bale had been offered the role and then that Colin Firth had taken it, at this point it’s still up for grabs. Any of those actors would do well. They all can embody the charm and sophistication the character possesses and they can all turn it off and go dark when needed. Owen and Lee have already worked together, having made Inside Man in 2005.

In other Old Boy news, Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre, Alice in Wonderland, The Wettest County in the World) has been offered the female lead previously offered to Rooney Mara.

Josh Brolin has already been cast (in a role talked about for both Will Smith and Daniel Craig) as an everyday man who has only five days and limited resources to discover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 15 years without any explanation.  

While in general I'm opposed to remaking a film just to do it in English, I'm intrigued by this and look forward to what Spike Lee will do with it.

We'll keep you posted on both of these films. In the mean time here's a few treats:

I know Martin Scorsese’s Hugo has already opened (indeed, it’s just been nominated for three Golden Globes and eleven Critics' Choice Awards) and I don’t usually talk about movies once they hit the big screen. Since I don’t do actual reviews, I figure my job is done. I’ve either warned you off or encouraged you to go. Well, Hugo is different. While there are still quite a few films that I have yet to see before I can do my year-end list, to date, Hugo is my favorite film of the year. Everyone needs to see it. If Scorsese never made another movie, this would be a beautiful coda to his career. Okay, before I get to far into it, I just want to share this clip with you. It’s a small behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film from Pinewood Studios. I’m sure if they were to do it properly, a “making of” for this movie would be the length of a feature film.

Producer Graham King (Traffic, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Departed, Young Victoria, The Town, Rango, etc) calls Hugo the film of which he’s the most proud. That’s saying something. (He’s my new favorite producer. *shakes fist* Take that Ryan Kavanaugh!)

Hugo is out now. See it…and in 3D if possible.

In just under 100 days the world will be watching when The Hunger Games hits theaters on March 23, 2012! To celebrate, Lionsgate has released the brand new poster that was unveiled yesterday after the #HungerGames100 puzzle hunt.  

Based on the best-selling novel, the first of a trilogy, by Suzanne Collins, “The Hunger Games” has a massive global following. This is the official synopsis:

“Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games.  A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which Tributes? must fight with one another until one survivor remains.

Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy.  If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against  humanity and life against love.”

THE HUNGER GAMES is directed by Gary Ross, and produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci and Donald Sutherland (among many others).

“May the odds be ever in your favor”

Yesterday in Toronto at the Masonic Temple (MTV Studios), the annual CP24 Chum Christmas Wish celebration took place with some extra special guests that included NKOTB's Joey McIntyre and Jordan Knight who sang Peace on Earth.

Sex and The City's Mario Cantone joined Joey in a rendition of Baby It's Cold Outside and Canadian songstress Lights performed 'Toes'. 

Etobicoke School of the Arts also performed 2 songs and were amazing!

I was listening on the radio and not only was the music incredible they were having a fabulous time and it's all for a fabulous cause. Check out video of some of the performances on 104.5CHUMFM.

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Photos: Dominic Chan/WENN

As rich as Justin Bieber is he knows what it's like to come from humble beginnings and he also knows the true spirit of Christmas: giving to others. As part of a segment for the Ellen DeGeneres show, Justin performed a private Christmas concert at Whitney Elementary School in Las Vegas where he not only sang but brought presents for the kids at the school in a low-income neighbourhood and made a generous donation.

Even though this school is in an oppressed part of Vegas, it is known as the school that gives back thanks to Ellen DeGeneres' September show featuring the Principal of the school Sherrie Gahn. Sherrie says that 85 percent of the students at the school receive either a free or subsidized lunch. That's 510 out of the 600 students! When Sherrie took the job eight years ago she made a pact with the families that she would help them out after she saw students taking ketchup packets home so that they would have something to eat for dinner. Seriously that made me cry reading that.  She told them:

“I’ll pay your electrical bill, your utilities, I’ll give you food or clothes, whatever you need, as long as you give me your child and then help raise that child as a person of character,” she said.

She has purchased a bed for one student, eye glasses for another and Christmas presents for yet another family. This is done through the help of personal and corporate donations. The school's website also has a wish list posted. Her motivation:

My biggest motivator for the kids and the thought and the hope that they don’t have to live in this existence when they grow up — that they break the cycle,”

Justin Bieber knows what it's like to struggle. He and his family had to rely on food banks at times in their lives growing up. He relayed his story to the kids as well as singing songs from his 'Under The Mistletoe' album and of course his hit 'Baby'. He also brought presents and donated $100,000 as he had promised he would. His donation matches that of Target's and will help keep the families of the students off the street so the kids can continue their education.

Now that's a beautiful story, isn't it?

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