From the ridiculous to the sublime. Game of Thrones – season 1 comes out on dvd today as well Immortals, Footloose, The Skin I Live In and Adam Sandler’s steaming pile that has been called the worst movie of the decade (so far), Jack and Jill. I’ll let you decide which is which, but I’m starting with the obviously sublime.

By way of introduction to the the Game of Thrones boxed set, I have to show you this clip (thank you HeyUGuys) from The Simpsons. Matt Groening’s seminal series continues to have its finger on the pop culture pulse and it has used the show’s introduction to prove it for the last twenty two years. This one is a brilliant take on the brilliant opening credits for Game of Thrones, complete with theme music.

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It still burns my biscuits that that music was passed over for an Emmy nod. Who makes these decisions? Oh well, it is obvious by now that what moves and stirs me is not always the same as what moves and stirs people with the power to decide these things. (No, I am still not over How to Train Your Dragon.)

Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun. It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plots, lusts and intrigues; to the vast and savage eastern lands; and all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords, and honest men, all will play the Game of Thrones.

You really need to see this so that you’re ready for season two, which starts April 1!

The Game of Thrones dvd and blu-ray includes the following special features:

-Making of 
-15 Character profile clips 
-Creating the Dothraki language 
-Inside the Night's Watch 
-From Book to Screen 
-Creating the Show Open 
-7 Audio Commentaries Guide to Westeros

Tarsem Singh’s Immortals is a movie we talked about a lot before it was released. It didn’t open to exceptional reviews, but it made a pile of money anyway. I suspect it will make an even bigger pile in the home market, although considering that visuals are not only Singh’s strongest suit, but they are everything when it comes to this movie, unless you’ve got a pretty impressive home theater system, it might lose something in the translation.

Immortals tells the story of Theseus (Henry Cavill), a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity.

Special Features include:

-It's No Myth

-Deleted Scenes

-Theatrical Trailer
-Sneak Peek

The remake of Footloose seemed to come and go without much fanfare (or is it my selective memory?) The plot was basically the same as the 1984 version, but there was definitely less Bacon.

In any case, if you need a refresher, here’s the official synopsis (from the film’s website, something the producer’s of the original would probably have thought Orwellian):

Writer/Director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan) delivers a new take of the beloved 1984 classic Footloose. Ren MacCormack (played by newcomer Kenny Wormald) is transplanted from Boston to the smallsouthern town of Bomont where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior,  the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out and Bomont’s local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) responded by implementing ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter, Ariel (Julianne Hough) in the process.

We didn’t really discuss The Skin I Live In when it was out theatrically. Acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar reunites with one of his favorite actors (Antonio Banderas) for his first foray into horror. Although the film was a festival favorite last season, it was difficult to find in a theater. It really only got released to New York and LA and a handful of art houses in a very few major cities. Well, now that it’s on dvd and blu-ray, you can see it too.

Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is a driven plastic surgeon haunted by personal tragedies. After many years of trial and error, he finally perfects a new skin – a shield which could have prevented the death of his wife in an accident years earlier. His latest “guinea pig” is a mysterious captive whose true identity masks a shocking mystery. The Skin I Live In is a masterful tale of secrets, obsession and revenge from Oscar-winning (Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Talk to Her, 2002) writer/director Pedro Almodovar.

The Special Features are few:

-Q&A with Director Pedro Almodovar
-On the Red Carpet: New York Premiere

Do I actually have to talk about Jack and Jill? I’m pretty sure the dvd cover tells you all you need to know. Adam Sandler plays Jack as well as his own sister, Jill.

Jack Sadelstein (Adam Sandler) is a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife (Katie Holmes) and kids, who dreads one event each year: the Thanksgiving visit of his identical twin sister Jill (also Adam Sandler). Jill's neediness and passive-aggressiveness is maddening to Jack, turning his normally tranquil life upside down.

Why is Katie Holmes married to one of the ‘most powerful men in Hollywood’ if he can’t get her better parts than this?

Special Features include:

-Laughing is Contagious

-Here Comes Jill
-Look Who Stopped By
-Boys Will Be Girls
-Stomach Ache
-Don't Call It A Boat-Royal Caribbean

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I wonder how many web postings today have had some variation of that title…

After yesterday’s photocall, the cast of Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire took to the red carpet last night for the premiere of their film at the Berlinale. Woo Hoo! Good enough reason to bring you some Michael Fassbender in a suit, am I right?

Fassbender and Antonio Banderas were clowning around, all while looking extraordinarily handsome.  I can only imagine some of the dialogue: “Miguel, mi amigo! Didn’t I just see you two hours ago?” “Why yes Antonio, you did. And I must say we look even better now than we did then.” “Agreed!”

The genetically gifted duo posed alongside the film’s leading ladies, former MMA fighter Gina Carano in a shiny LBD and Natascha Berg in red.

We have lots of pics below, but we also have a bit of news.  MTV spoke to writer/producer Simon Kinberg at the premiere of his latest film, This Means War, and they talked about the highly anticipated X-Men: First Class sequel!

"I don’t know what the title is going to be but certainly I’m working on the sequel to 'X-Men: First Class' right now," Kinberg said. "I’m going to be writing and producing it, I’m starting now, with Matthew Vaughn directing."

Kinberg went on to say that while they're still in the early stages of story-planning, the second film will likely involve a lot more Magneto.

"That’s what was so cool about the first one and what we want to continue," Kinberg said of exploring the supervillain's tortured beginnings. "Magneto becomes the villain ultimately of the franchise but he’s a much more complicated character as a young man. He’s someone you sympathize with, you care about you root for even though might not necessarily agree with his methods, you understand his philosophy."

"…a lot more Magneto.” Skweeeeeee!  Yes please!

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"Hey Fastbanger! My eyes are up here!"

"Just keep smiling and don't make me kick your ass again."

"You could try. I quite enjoyed it the last time. Especially the bit with your thighs wrapped around my head…'Oh the shark bites…with his teeth dear'…"

Your daily Fassbender today includes pics from the Haywire photocall held today February 15 at the Grand Hyatt in Berlin as part of the 62nd Berlinale. Haywire is screening out of competition at the festival but Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, director Steven Soderbergh and of course, star Gina Carano all came out in support of their film.

I have to say, these are the best pics I've seen of Carano. She certainly looks good in "the dress" (a reference to a line in the movie), even if she can't act her way out of a paper bag. Enjoy the pics!

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Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Black Gold is a film I’ve been waiting for for a long time. As you probably know, I have a serious Mark Strong jones  and those of us that do are so used to only getting snippets of him in any given film. When he takes a starring role, we get understandably excited. It was way back in mid October that we finally got the first English language trailer (with the voice!) but then…pfffft…nothing. It was supposed to open in the US in December and obviously that didn’t happen. It is, however, set to open in the UK in February, so we now have a UK trailer to share.

 The film is set in what is now known as Saudi Arabia during the 1930's at the beginning of the oil boom. It centers on young Arab Prince Auda (Tahar Rahim, A Prophet) torn between his conservative father (Mark Strong) and his modern, liberal father-in-law (Antonio Banderas). Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) costars as Auda's wife, Princess Lallah. 

 Synopsis: Under the unforgiving desert sky, two warring leaders come face to face. The bodies of their warriors litter the battlefield. The victorious Nesib, Emir of Hobeika (Banderas), lays down his peace terms to his rival Amar, Sultan of Salmaah (Strong). The two men agree that neither may lay claim to the area of no man’s land between them called The Yellow Belt. In return and according to the tribal customs of the time, Nesib will “adopt”- or take hostage- Amar’s two boys Saleeh (Akin Gazi) and Auda (Rahim); a guarantee that neither man can invade the other. Years later, Saleeh and Auda have grown into young men. Saleeh, the warrior, itches to escape his gilded cage and return to his father’s land. Auda cares only for books and the pursuit of knowledge. One day, their adopted father Nesib is visited by an American oil man from Texas (Corey Johnson). He tells the Emir that his land is blessed with oil and promises him riches beyond his imagination.

With a screenplay by Menno Meyjes (The Color Purple, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, A Matador's Mistress), Black Gold is based on Hans Ruesch's "The Great Thirst" (alternate title "The Arab") and is Annaud's (The Name of the Rose, Seven Years in Tibet, Enemy at the Gates) first film since 2007's His Majesty Minor with Vincent Cassel. Black Gold opened the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar and opens in the UK on 24^th February. Hopefully a US date will soon follow!

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Despite a testosterone saturated cast including Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, Michael Angarano, Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton, Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire is really all about Gina Carano’s Mallory. Carano plays freelance black ops super solider 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. (I think I want to be her when I grow up.)

Helllloooo… She got paid for sitting on Michael Fassbender like that? I still think she killed him wayyyyy too fast. They’re both fully clothed fer… but I digress (and that’s not a spoiler, it’s in the trailers. Yell at them.)

Just in time to dope-slap January into getting its lethargic post-Holiday, mid-Winter blahhhed ass in gear, Haywire opens in the UK on 18th January and in the US on January 20.

Check out the new tv spot, clips and pics below.

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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.

Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire is another film I’m looking forward to in the new year. It’s not that I think that it promises anything new. On the contrary, it appears to tread some familiar territory but with slightly different shoes. Instead of the size 14 combat boots of a Stallone or a Statham (or even Matt Damon’s Bourne), we get the size seven stilettos of former MMA fighter, Gina Carano as the highly skilled assassin betrayed by her bosses.  Carano is Mallory Kane, a black ops specialist, dispatched by Ewan McGregor, as her handler, to apply lethal force wherever its needed in the world. After a mission goes wrong, she is set up and betrayed by agency she works for. On the run and hunted, Kane has to keep on the move and one step ahead as she attempts to unravel the conspiracy.

As I said, it’s in no way original. In fact in the recent past we’ve had variations on the theme with Hanna, Knight and Day, The American and Salt. Not all of them successful.  I’ve put forward by theory, more than once, that there’s nothing new under the sun and it’s all in the execution. Having said that said, the action in Haywire looks fierce, kinetic and as over-the-top entertaining as one could wish for in a film of this nature. Relative newcomer Carano is more than ably supported (in fact, I’ve heard that she’s the weakest link-too bad she’s the lead) by talented and charismatic actors like McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton and oh, yeah Channing Tatum-tot.

Check out the UK trailer below. Not much we haven’t seen before but edited more tightly. Haywire opens in the US, Canada and the UK on January 20.

Or maybe it was the best, depending on your perspective. I don't judge. Seriously, poor Michael Fassbender. It’s a good thing he had four (that's right four) other high profile roles this year, including one for which there’s loud whispering of an Oscar nomination (Shame), or else he might not live down having his ass kicked by a girl. In the second trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire, Fassbender doesn’t just get it kicked…he gets it completely, thoroughly, bone-crunchingly trounced. I suppose he can take additional comfort in the fact that the kicker is accomplished MMA fighter, Gina Carano.

It's been over a month since we talked about Haywire so I’m excited we’re getting something new. We’ve already had the trailer for Safe today, but if you’re jonesing for another good actioner, I think this is gonna fit the bill nicely. (Now that would be a double feature!)

Haywire – Trailer #2 [VO|HD] by cinemakervideo

Despite it’s overly testosterone saturated cast, including Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Angarano, Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton, Haywire is really all about Gina Carano’s Mallory. Carano plays a black ops super soldier seeking payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission. (My question is, did she get a charge out of sitting on Michael Fassbender?)

Haywire opens January 20. Below are some pics of Fassy at the Variety screening for Shame in LA on Wed. Nov. 9. "Oh the shark bites, with his teeth dear…"