We have some more shots of Daniel Craig on the streets of London as he continues to film Skyfall (Bond 23) for director Sam Mendes. There are even a couple of him brandishing that same sleek little gun that appeared in the “first” official image from the film. According to TheFilmStage, that image was from a location shoot in Shanghai. (I’m just glad we’re getting something other than a dour looking Daniel Craig riding around in a car, although I’m sure the notoriously guarded Sam Mendes would rather everyone just butt out and keep their prying eyes and lens off of his sets.)

Synopsis:

In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Skyfall stars, along with Craig, Dame Judi Dench returning as M, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Ola Rapace, Helen McCrory and Albert Finney. It’s slated to be released 26^th October in the UK and November 9 in the US. I can’t freakin’ wait! Enjoy the pics!

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photo credit: WENN.com

For the third time in a month, the interwebz are all abuzz about the release of the “first official image of James Bond” in Skyfall. Well, third time’s a charm since this one comes directly from the film’s official website.

This does, actually look more like an official promo shot than the last one. I didn’t think Sam Mendes (or Daniel Craig for that matter) wanted everyone focused on Bond’s ass, no matter how fine an ass it is. No, it’s much better that we remember how lethal Bond is and that he does, after all, have a license to kill. Hence the gun and an updated version of the iconic Bond pose.

The cast of Skyfall includes Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Bérénice Marlohe, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw with Albert Finney and Dame Judi Dench as M. The screenplay is by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan (Hugo, Coriolanus). Skyfall begins a rolling release in the UK on 26^th October and November 9 in the US and Canada.

Here’s a new look at writer/director/star Ben Affleck in Argo. Set in someone’s living room, the image doesn’t tell us much other than confirm the fact that it’s set in the 70s. (Digging the threads)

Affleck’s third directorial feature is a story set during the 1970's Iranian hostage crisis, of a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist who concocts a risky plan,  as the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador, by disguising them as a Canadian film crew.

Argo  stars, along with Affleck, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Kyle Chandler, Tate Donovan, Clea Duvall, Michael Parks, Chris Messina, Adrienne Barbeau (for that authentic 70's vibe) , Richard Kind, Titus Welliver and Zeljko Ivanek. Argo is currently slated for release September 14 in the US (I’m thinking it will probably make a pit stop in Toronto if ya know what I mean, but I could be wrong) and 5^th October in the UK.

The latest image released from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey features Bilbo (Martin Freeman) amid all of the dwarvses! (Yes, I know that’s not a word, that was my Gollum impression):

Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), Thror (Jeffrey Thomas) and Thrain (Mike Mizrahi), Brothers Bombur (wonderful Irish actor James Nesbitt) and Bofur (Stephen Hunter), their cousin Bifur (William Kircher), Nori (Jed Brophy), Ori (Adam Brown) and Dori (Mark Hadlow), Balin (Ken Stott), Dwalin (Graham McTavish), Dain, Fili (Dean O’Gorman), Gloin (Peter Hambleton), Kiri (Aiden Turner) and Oin (John Callan).

Actually, you can't see every one of them, but since I can't say with any certainty which particular dwarves those are, I've listed them all.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens December 14 all over the planet.

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This is a pretty big week for new dvd releases. We have a driver who just wants to drive, a man who needs more time, robot wars on the moon, a defrosted alien, dark secrets emerging while Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz fall in love on camera, a ne’er-do-well dad with a talented daughter, cops looking for a serial killer, three bozos bird watching and the CIA and the FBI working together to bring down a Soviet assassin.

Drive: Ryan Gosling stars as a Hollywood stunt driver for movies and mechanic by day who moonlights as a wheelman for criminals by night. Though a loner by nature, “Driver” can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband (Oscar Isaac). After a heist goes wrong, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). Soon he realizes the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash and is forced to shift gears and go on the offense.

Drive also stars Bryan Cranston and Christina Hendricks.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-I Drive

-Under The Hood

-Driver and Irene

-Cut To The Chase

-Drive Without A Driver: Interview With Nicolas Winding Refn

Includes UltraViolet

In Time stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried and takes place in a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year. Time has become currency; having the means to buy “time” is a shot at eternal youth and immortality. Will Salas (Timberlake) finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage (Seyfried) – a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.

In Time also stars Olivia Wilde, Cillian Murphy and Johnny Galecki

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack presents the film in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. This disc also has a number of bonus supplements, such as:
 

• The Minutes behind-the-scenes featurette
• Deleted/extended scenes
• Access to In Time: The Game app

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third film in the franchise, finds the Autobots (Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide and Sideswipe led by Optimus Prime) back in action taking on the evil Decepticons, who are eager to avenge their recent defeat. The Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a perilous space race between the United States and Russia, to reach a hidden Cybertronian spacecraft on the moon and learn its secrets, and once again Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) has to come to the aid of his robot friends. The new villain, Shockwave, who rules Cybertron, is on the scene while the Autobots and Decepticons continue to battle it out on Earth.

TDotM also stars Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Josh Duhamel, Patrick Dempsey, Tyrese Gibson and Frances McDormand (?!)

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Feature Film — Blu-Ray

-Special Features — Blu-Ray

Above and Beyond: Exploring Dark of the Moon 
- Rising from the Fallen: Development and Design 
- Ready for Prime Time: Filming Across America 
- Battle in the Heartland: Shooting in Chicago 
- Attack of the Birdmen: Aerial Stunts 
- Shadow of the Sentinel: Post-Production and Release 
- Uncharted Territory: NASA's Future Then and Now

Deconstructing Chicago: Multi-Angle Sequences 
- Previsualizations with optional commentary by director Michael Bay and previsualization supervisor Steve Yamamoto 
- Previsualizations/Final Shot Comparison with optional commentary by director Michael Bay and previsualization supervisor Steve Yamamoto 
- Visual Effects with optional commentary by visual effects supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler 
- Visual Effects/Final Shot Comparison with optional commentary by visual effects supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler

The Art of Cybertron 
- Autobots 
- Decepticons 
- Environments 
- Weapons and Gear 
- Ships

The Dark of the Moon Archive 
- 3D: A Transforming Visual Art 
- Moscow World Premiere 
- Birdmen Featurette 
- Cody's iPad 
- The Sound of Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The Matrix of Marketing 
- Trailers 
- Marketing Gallery

The Thing is a remake (even though they call it a prequel) of the 1982 John Carpenter classic, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen. From the producers of Dawn of the Dead comes the chilling prelude to John Carpenter's cult classic film.  When paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) travels to an isolated outpost in Antarctica for the expedition of a lifetime, she joins an international team that unearths a remarkable discovery.  Their elation quickly turns to fear as they realize that their experiment has freed a mysterious being from its frozen prison.  Paranoia spreads like an epidemic as a creature that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish in this spine-tingling thriller.

The Thing also stars Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ulrich Thomsen and Eric Christian Olsen

Blu-ray highlights (NO special features on the single disc dvd):

-Fire and Ice (5 min.; HD): focuses on the pyrotechnics

-The Thing Evolves (14 min.; HD making-of featurette

-Deleted and Extended Scenes (9 min.; HD

-Audio Commentary. Director Matthijs van Heijningen is joined by producer Eric Newman (and producer Mark Abraham, kind of

The second disc in the set is an anamorphic widescreen DVD. The Thing comes packaged in an embossed slipcase, and a code for an UltraViolet digital copy is tucked inside. 

Dream House stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz and despite the fact that director Jim Sheridan was not happy with the finished product (any more than the public was) it will forever be known as the film in which you can watch Craig and Weisz  fall in love.

Some say that all houses have memories. For one man, his home is the place he would kill to forget. A family unknowingly moves into a home where several grisly murders were committed…only to find themselves the killer's next target. Successful publisher Will Atenton (Craig) quit a job in New York City to relocate his wife, Libby (Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates the tragedy, his only lead comes from Ann Paterson (Naomi Watts), a neighbor who was close to the family that died. As Will and Ann piece together the disturbing puzzle, they discover that the story of the last man to leave Will's dream house will be just as horrifying to the one who came next.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Burning Down The House: is a four minute look at the special effects work

-Building The Dream House:  five minutes with the set designer on how he tried to make the house as much a character in the movie as the humans that populate it.

-Dream Cast: clips showing of the primary cast members

-A Look Inside: a two minute promo spot

-Theatrical Trailer 

All of the extras are in high definition, the disc is Blu-ray Live and D-Box motion control enabled. As this is a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, a DVD disc is also included with the same extras on it.

Janie Jones is a little indie we told you about that never really got much of a theatrical release. It stars Abigail Breslin as a young girl who has been abandoned by her former-groupie mother (Elizabeth Shue), after she informs a fading rock star (Alessandro Nivola) that the girl is his daughter.

Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola, Junebug, Face/Off) and his band are on the comeback trail when a former flame (Academy Award® nominee Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas) drops a bomb in his lap: their 13-year-old daughter, Janie Jones (Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine, Nim’s Island). Ethan refuses to believe Janie is his kid, but when her mom suddenly leaves for rehab, the child has no place to go but into the tour bus and on the road with the band. With no inclination toward fatherhood, Ethan continues his hard-living ways, leaving Janie to fend for herself in dive bars and sleazy motels along the way. As Ethan's self-destructive spiral threatens to destroy his band's future, Janie uses her own surprising musical talents to help guide him down the rocky road to redemption. Featuring original music by Gemma Hayes and Eef Barzelay – sung by Nivola and Breslin, who both give impeccably detailed performances. JANIE JONES is a rock-and-roll road movie that can’t be missed.

Worth a look on dvd or VOD for the cast alone, in my opinion.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Interview with JANIE JONES Team, presented by American Express

-Audio Commentary with Director and Producers

Texas Killing Fields is another indie that got lost in the fall shuffle. It played TIFF and then disappeared from the radar. I was looking forward to it, so I’m happy it made it to dvd. It stars Sam Worthington and perpetual “almost star” Jeffrey Dean Morgan, along with one of the eight Jessica Chastain performances of the year.

Inspired by true events, this tense and haunting thriller follows Detective Souder (Sam Worthington), a homicide detective in a small Texan town, and his partner, transplanted New York City cop Detective Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they track a sadistic serial killer dumping his victims' mutilated bodies in a nearby marsh locals call ''The Killing Fields.'' 

Though the swampland crime scenes are outside their jurisdiction, Detective Heigh is unable to turn his back on solving the gruesome murders. Despite his partner's warnings, he sets out to investigate the crimes. Before long, the killer changes the game and begins hunting the detectives, teasing them with possible clues at the crime scenes while always remaining one step ahead. When familiar local girl Anne (Chloë Grace Moretz) goes missing, the detectives find themselves racing against time to catch the killer and save the young girl's life. 

Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, Produced by Michael Mann and Michael Jaffe, Texas Killing Fields also stars Jessica Chastain (Coriolanus,The Help), Jason Clarke (Public Enemies, FOX's ''Chicago Code'') and Stephen Graham (Snatch, HBO's ''Boardwalk Empire''). Executive Produced by Bill Block, Paul Hanson and Ethan Smith, with music by Dickon Hinchliffe.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Theatrical Trailer

- commentary track from director Mann and writer Donald F. Ferraone. 

The Big Year stars Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson as three avid bird watchers who compete to spot the rarest birds in North America at a prestigious annual event.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Extended Feature Film

-"The Big Migration" featurette

-12 Deleted Scenes

-Gag Reel           

The Double stars Richard Gere and Topher Grace. It begins with the mysterious murder of a senator bearing the marks of a Soviet assassin, who was long thought to be dead. To hunt down the killer, a retired CIA operative, who spent his career going toe-to-toe with his Soviet nemesis, is teamed with a young FBI agent.

The Double also stars Martin Sheen, Odette Yustman, Stana Katic and Stephen Moyer.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Producer interviews

-Trailer

-Commentary with Michael Brandt (Director/Writer) and Derek Haas (Writer)

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The first ‘official’ image from Skyfall, otherwise known as James Bond 23, has emerged from the deep end of the pool. Last week the interwebz were all abuzz about what was supposed to be a first look at Daniel Craig as Bond but it was from Casino Royale. Despite the fact that it was disclaimed almost as soon as it was posted the first time, it took days for the thing to stop boomeranging around the net. This is a classic example of the paucity of fact-checking and the fact that there are literally generations of people who believe everything they read or see on the internet. Very scary indeed.

But enough digression (have you figured out yet that I do that a lot?)…Take a look at that pic! That back is enough to make my socks roll up and down. Imagining the rest of his form as it slowly climbs the ladder out of that chlorinated water that matches the color of Mr. Craig’s azure-eyes (ahem), is heat inducing surely. It's a probably gratuitous yet altogether welcome nod to the famous shot in Casino Royale. It even appears that the trunks are the same color.

Skyfall continues to film in London. We have some pics of the goings on featuring Dame Judi Dench and director Sam Mendes, below. In other news, it was recently announced that frequent Mendes collaborator Thomas Newman would be scoring the film. Enjoy! Skyfall opens 26^th October in the UK and November 9 in the US (of this year! YAY!)

Ned Stark, Boromir, Maj. Richard Sharpe, Zeus, Odysseus, Count Vronsky, Mellors…these are just some of the manly men that Sean Bean has played over the course of his twenty plus years in film and television. Despite, or maybe because of, his penchant for playing characters that get themselves topped by the final reel, we can usually count on him to be rugged and strong and decidedly macho.

Turns out Beans has a softer side. If you’d rather not know about it, look away now…

Still here? Okay, here goes…

Yes, that is Sean Bean in drag. Disturbing isn’t it? Well, fear not my little Beanie-babies, the four times married son of Yorkshire has not made a new lifestyle choice (not that there’s anything wrong with that), it’s all for the sake of his craft.  Bean will play, according to Twitch who supplied the pic,  “a cross dressing English teacher named either Simon or Tracie depending on the state of dress” for a BBC1 television drama, Accused, costarring Stephen Graham.  I can’t wait til it lands at BBCAmerica.

Just for kicks and giggles, I’ve included a pic of Daniel Craig in drag from an International Women’s Day PSA he did back in March 2011.

Who’s scarier (or prettier, whichever you’d prefer. I don’t judge) Beans or DC?

Poor Rooney Mara. She’s the star of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and yet all eyes were on her costar Daniel Craig and his bride, Rachel Weisz as they stepped out on a red carpet for the first time as a couple, let alone as husband and wife, last night January 4 in the Spanish capital of Madrid.

Mara looked fabulous, of course, continuing to showcase her edgy yet chic fashion sense, last night in Rodarte, sporting a stunning cream and black polka dot dress from the Mulleavy sisters Autumn / Winter 2011 collection. Earlier in the day she and Dan attended the obligatory photocall, in which he sported his trademark jeans with the rolled cuffs and Mara wore a Givenchy military inspired jacket.

No idea who Mrs. Craig was wearing on the red carpet, but I don’t think it would have mattered. Photographers and the web were all going ‘cuckoo for cocoa puffs’ over the fact that she was there and had her husband grinning. Director David Fincher, whom Craig has recently compared to Hitchcock is along for the world tour before getting back to work on the next film in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens in Madrid on January 20. Next stop on the tour, Berlin!

Enjoy the pics, including some of the happy couple at Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris on their way to Spain.