The movie related stocking stuffers (or Hanukkah presents) just keep-a-comin’!  Today we have some nice shiny images from The Dark Knight Rises. Granted, most of them are not new, we’ve seen them as scans from Empire or obscured with copy but Warner Brothers has decided to gift us all with the hi-res versions!

The more I look at Tom Hardy’s Bane, the more excited I get for this movie. I expect Christopher Nolan to put together a coda to his Dark Knight trilogy of epic proportions. To that end, the villain chosen to match or even best, Christian Bale’s Batman must be up to the task. Hardy is an actor, not an action figure, despite his propensity for bulking up for a role. The official synopsis describes Bane as a terrorist leader who arrives on Gotham City’s doorstep eight years after the events of The Dark Knight to hatch a nefarious plot of mass destruction and socio-political upheaval, pushing Gotham City and its police force to their limits, forcing its former hero Batman to resurface after taking the fall for Harvey Dent's crimes. When Batman tries to stop him, he finds that in Bane he has truly met a villain who is his equal, both physically and mentally.

A word about Bane’s voice: After having viewed the recently released trailer, a lot of people have been complaining about it. I, for one, don’t have a problem with it or the fact that director Nolan won’t be tweaking it. I didn’t find it that inordinately difficult to understand.  I got the gist of it. And I have to agree with Nolan, if it is a little garbled, it makes Bane that much more sinister. Imagine having to go through life with everyone struggling to understand wtf you’re saying all the time.

The Dark Knight Rises stars Bale, Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Modine, Juno Temple, Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy and opens in theaters July 20 in the US, Canada and the UK.

Screen Gems has gifted Underworld fans with a bounty of new material! They just released a clip called Underworld Legacy that is designed to catch up anyone unfamiliar with the series. Of course that’s in order to get them into the theater for Underworld Awakening starring Kate Beckinsale, the next installment in the Vampires vs Lycans saga that opens in IMAX, 3D, and normal on January 20.

Beckinsale also starred in the first two films as Selene, a vampire or ‘death dealer’ and all-around tough chick who looks bad-ass in leather and latex, but gave way to Rhona Mitra for the 3^rd  film, which was more of an origins prequel. In Underworld Awakening, Selene escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans, and a war to eradicate both species commences. The vampire warrioress leads the battle against humankind.

In addition to the catch-up clip, we have the first tv spots and a brand new trailer, which is now showing in theaters in front of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with more footage from the film, including a better look at the monstrous mega super Lycan and Eve, (India Eisley, The Secret Life of the American Teenager) the Lycan/Vampire Hybrid at the center of the film.

Underworld Awakening, directed by Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein (The director of the first two, Len Wiseman returns as a producer. He’s also one of four credited writers) also stars Michael Ealy, Stephen Rae, Charles Dance and Sandrine Holt.

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"Legacy" RecapTV Spots

Former Neighbours' star and Strictly Come Dancing castoff Holly Valance got the surprise of her life when billionaire boyfriend of two years Nick Candy proposed to her on the beach with rings of fire that read 'Will You Marry Me'. My husband has rings of fire too, but of a different nature nyuk nyuk.

When a billionaire proposes, there is only ONE answer kittens (unless of course he's the world's biggest douche):

“And I said YES!!! ? Happiest day of my life!!!!! Xxxx.

No word on when Holly and Nick will tie the knot but it will probably be over the top. Just a hunch.

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The Divide is a happy little film from Anchor Bay that I just know you’ll all want to hear about right before Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanza)!  Then again, the makers of The Darkest Hour are betting you’ll want to go see a movie with a similar theme on Christmas! Survivors of a nuclear attack are grouped together for days in the basement of their apartment building, where fear and dwindling supplies wear away at their dynamic.

The two tag lines – •  To survive the end of the world you must first survive each other. •  The lucky ones died in the blast – probably tell us more than that brief synopsis.

The Divide opens wide in theaters beginning January 13. It stars Milo Ventimiglia, Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Michael Eklund, Rosanna Arquette, Courtney B. Vance, Ivan Gonzalez and Ashton Holmes and is directed by Xavier Gens.  Hopefully we’ll get a trailer soon so you can make an informed choice. It’s been to a lot of festivals, so I could be wrong, but right now I’m thinking that this is one of those films for which the phrase “Beware the movies of January!” was first coined. Enjoy the pics!

We have a few new pics from the eagerly awaited, The Hunger Games, (It’s been a whole week since we had any news!), including a good look at Haymitch (Woody Harrelson in a role that fans apparently feel strongly about. Everyone-from Jon Hamm to Gerard Butler-was suggested) and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz). I'm still not on this particular party train yet. I haven't read the books so I'm still waiting to be convinced. Of course the film, directed by Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Sea Biscuit) from a script co-written by himself and novelist Suzanne Collins, has one helluva cast. By now everyone on the planet knows that Jennifer Lawrence is Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson is Peeta Mellark and  Liam Hemsworth is Gale Hawthorne. There may still be a few who don’t know that Elizabeth Banks is Effie Trinket (who now has a line of nail polish colors inspired by her ‘colorful character’. See the ad below), Stanley Tucci is Caesar Flickerman, Donald Sutherland is President Snow, Toby Jones is Claudius Templesmith, Alexander Ludwig is Cato, Wes Bentley is Seneca Crane and Leven Rambin (who just wrapped filming on Of Men and Mavericks with Gerard Butler) is Glimmer.

The official synopsis:

In a not-too-distant future, North America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss' young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

The Hunger Games  opens March 23, which is not that far off.  So enjoy the pics. We’ll probably have something new after the Holiday!

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I love me some ginger in the form of the big lug that is Conan O'Brien, but he has gone above and beyond his hotness when he participated in his office's Secret Santa celebration.

The selection process for who he would purchase a gift for was hysterical, but the gift he gave his staff? PRICELESS.

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