What better way to celebrate the Monday after Easter than with some of your favorite icons from childhood, like the Easter Bunny and his pals Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and The Sandman?  Well, actually I can think of quite a few ways better than this, but this is what we’ve got.

In any case, we have two posters as well as the first teaser trailer for a new animated movie from Dreamworks called Rise of the Guardians, featuring the voices of Chris Pine (Jack Frost), Alec Baldwin (North aka Santa Claus complete with “Naughty” and “Nice” tatts), Isla Fisher (Tooth) and Hugh Jackman (Bunnymund) in which our childhood heroes are actually heroes.

When an evil spirit known as Pitch (aka The Boogieman – Jude Law) lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

Based on a book by William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians is the feature debut for director Peter Ramsay with a script by David Lindsey-Abaire (Robots, Inkheart, Oz: The Great and Powerful). I keep getting the title confused with Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, but that’s probably just me. The trailer looks good. The film itself looks like sumptuous with color soaked computer generated animation giving it an old-school feel, helped quite a bit by a score by Oscar winner Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech).  More will surely follow. Rise of the Guardians opens November 21 in the US and 30^th November in the UK.

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Without a doubt, the biggest release of the week is Hugo. (It's actually kind of a lackluster week otherwise.) I’m not sure how much more I can say about this film that I haven’t already said. It was my pick for Best Picture of the Year and I will be running out to get my grubby little hands on a copy of the dvd today. (When I first told you about the home release, I questioned the wisdom of releasing it two short days after the Academy Awards. I'll be curious as to whether they were able to at least slap a sticker on the package touting the FIVE Oscars the film won.)

Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Asa Butterfield as Hugo along with Jude Law, Chloe Moretz, Sir Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg and Christopher Lee, Hugo is the story of a boy who lives in the walls of the Paris train station in 1931 and his friendship with a toy seller who turns out to be much more than he appears. It is a valentine to the movies and movie makers and the most perfect use of 3D you’ll probably ever see.  (Never fear, I’ve seen it in 2D as well and it is also enchanting without the enhancement.)

Johnny English Reborn stars Rowan Atkinson as the accidental secret agent who doesn't know fear, or danger, in this spy film spoof. In his latest mission, Johnny English must stop a group of international assassins before they eliminate a world leader and cause global chaos. With just one shot at redemption, he will use (or misuse) the latest high-tech gadgets and every trick in his playbook to protect us all. 

 When a team of ruthless assassins plot to kill the Chinese premier, the only person who can stop them from plunging the world into total chaos is bumbling secret agent Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson). Somewhere deep in Asia, the veteran MI-7 spy has been training for years in anticipation of his next mission. Meanwhile, the most prominent heads of state in the world begin gathering for a conference that could have a major impact on global politics. When MI-7 receives word that the Chinese premier has become the target of some high-powered killers, it falls on Johnny English to save the day. Armed with the latest high-tech weaponry and gadgets that would make even James Bond jealous, the once-disgraced agent uncovers evidence of a massive conspiracy involving some of the world's most powerful organizations, and vows to redeem his tarnished reputation by stopping the killers before they can strike.

With Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Rosamund Pike, Daniel Kaluuya, Richard Schiff and directed by Oliver Parker. (Mr. Thandie Newton for you trivia seekers)

Beneath the Darkness

A small-town mortician finds his darkest secret revealed in director Martin Guigui's edge-of-your-seat thriller. Everyone in Smithville, Texas, knows the name Ely Vaughn (Dennis Quaid). A former star quarterback on the high-school football team, amiable Ely went on to become the town mortician. Ely's always got a quick smile ready as he cheers on the hometown team, but two years after his wife's untimely death, he's grown increasingly reclusive. He lives in a sprawling mansion that also doubles as the local funeral home, and rumor has it that the house is haunted. For curious teens Travis (Tony Oller), Brian (Stephen Lunsford), Abby (Aimee Teegarden), and Danny (Devon Werkheiser), the temptation to find out for themselves if the stories are true prove too powerful to resist. Gazing into Ely's windows, the teens witness the silhouettes of the grieving widower and an unidentified woman dancing together, and decide to get a closer look. But it may be the last mistake they ever make, because beneath Ely's friendly facade dwells a murderous sociopath capable of unspeakable evil.

I Melt with You

Four friends come together for a reunion that leads them down a self-destructive path in this drama that plays like the much darker companion to The Hangover. Jonathan (Rob Lowe), Richard (Thomas Jane), Ron (Jeremy Piven), and Tim (Christian McKay) are four men in their mid-forties who have known each other since they went to college together. Each year, they reunite for a vacation, renting a beach house in California and engaging in as much drug- and alcohol-fueled carousing as they can tolerate. While they seem happy on the surface, in truth all four are deeply troubled; Jonathan is a doctor whose specialty is writing prescriptions for the right price, Richard is a teacher still mourning his unsuccessful career as a novelist, Ron is a commodities trader in trouble with the law, and Tim feels lost and purposeless in his life. Over the course of their holiday, the friends will be touched by an unexpected tragedy and shocked by revelations that change the way they view one another.

I Melt with You was directed by Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies, Henry Poole is Here) and also stars Carla Gugino, Melora Hardin and Sasha Grey.

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You probably don’t know this, but I’m a sucker for epic costume dramas, especially those spawned by classic literature, so I’m predisposed to be excited about this latest incarnation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. There have been several good versions. The last one I saw starred Helen McCrory as Anna, Stephen Dillane as her husband Karenin and Kevin McKidd as her lover, Count Vronsky.  (That one, from 2000, was peppered with great British character actors like Mark Strong as Oblonsky and Douglas Henshall as Levin. I can recommend it.).  I'm  delighted to give you a first look at Joe Wright’s new version in which he once more teams with his muse Keira Knightley. The script is by celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love).  Today, Focus Features (who also distributed the 2000 version, by the way) has released some new stills (via TheFilmStage) from the lavish production (as well as a few character scans from Empire), recreating 19th century Russia with all its opulence and its oppression.

Synopsis:

The third collaboration of Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley with director Joe Wright, following the award-winning box office successes Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, is the epic love story Anna Karenina, adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel by Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love). The story unfolds in its original late-19th-century Russia high-society setting and powerfully explores the capacity for love that surges through the human heart, from the passion between adulterers to the bond between a mother and her children. As Anna (Ms. Knightley) questions her happiness, change comes to her family, friends, and community.

The cast includes Aaron Johnson as Vronsky, Jude Law as Karenin (I'm guessing that's the hair he was hiding under the beanie during press for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows back in December), Matthew Macfadyen as Oblonsky, Domhnall Gleeson as Levin, Kelly Macdonald as Dolly and Ruth Wilson as Princess Betsy (Wilson took the role after Andrea Riseborough dropped out). Anna Karenina will arrive in the UK on 7^th September. No US date yet. We’ll keep you posted.

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Guy Ritchie shot Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in London in the Fall and early Winter of 2010. Now  a year later, he’s brought the finished product back for a lavish premiere in London’s Leicester Square on Thursday December 8. Joining Guy Ritchie (and his baby mama Jacqui Ainsley) on the red carpet were stars Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, the lovely Kelly Reilly and even Stephen Fry! It is evident from the pics, some of which look like candids from a frat party, that they were having a ball together. Clearly the chemistry RDJ and Jude Law exhibit on screen is genuine.

In other Guy Ritchie News, Deadline has reported that

“Warner Bros is making a deal with Guy Ritchie and his new partner Lionel Wigram to come aboard The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the film that Steven Soderbergh left just recently over budget and difficulty with casting after George Clooney dropped out. Based on the classic TV show, the film has a script by Scott Z. Burns.  Ritchie and Wigram are forming a shingle together after making the Sherlock Holmes films. The intention is for Ritchie to direct the film.

This would be the first project under the new shingle for the British director and producer…”

They have a deal that starts in January. Meanwhile, Warners has been trying to make a big-screen version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. for twenty years.

Scott Z. Burns is responsible for the scripts for The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant and Contagion. Lionel Wigram wrote the story upon which 2009’s Sherlock Holmes was based (although he’s been a producer for more than twenty years).

Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows opens December 16.

Warner Brothers has just unleashed a huge cache of clips for  Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows .  The three below give us new looks at Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty, Rachel  McAdams as Irene Adler and Noomi Rapace as Sim, but I’m most excited about the fact that we FINALLY get a glimpse of Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older “smarter” brother!  (They call each other  “Mycy” and “Sherly”)

"A Public Place":

"Slow Witted":

"Slow and Steady":

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, of course, stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson reprising their roles from Ritchie’s 2009 hit Sherlock Holmes. Also back for more fun, including the above named McAdams, are Kelly Reilly as Mary Morstan, Eddie Marsan as Inspector LeStrade and Geraldine James as Mrs. Hudson. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, focusing on Holmes and Watson's attempts to bring down their chief adversary, the cunning Professor Moriarty, opens December 16.  More clips can be found here.  Check out the pics of the press conference held last Friday in Beverly Hills.

When Warner Bros. goes so far as to tell us it’s the final poster, that can only mean one thing: We’re getting really close to the release date! Yay! Woot! *demented poodle dance*! It feels like it’s been forever since we first heard about Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows!

We’ve had posters being dropped on us from all parts of the globe; we’ve seen clip after clip, trailer after trailer and even a few featurettes. Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams have all been captured working on set as director Ritchie managed to turn back the clock on parts of London (although if there's a city where this is still possible without too much trouble it's London) to recreate the late Victorian/Edwardian era. We’ve been patient and we’re ready to see the movie!

Downey, Jr., Law and McAdams all reprise their roles from the first film, along with Kelly Reilly, Geraldine James and Eddie Marsan. Noomi Rapace plays a fortune teller called Sim and she joins the cast along with Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes and Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty.

The plot, of course, centers on Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson, who this time join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, the above named Professor Moriarty.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows opens everywhere on December 16. A little over two weeks. Can’t wait to see what other crumbs Warners will drop between now and then! Oh, there’s also wallpaper!

We have a few more banners of the international variety to share with you for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  At first I thought we were getting all of these great posters and banners in Russian because the movie must be opening there first. Nope, it doesn’t open in Russia until December 29.  Maybe they just have a thing for Robert Downey, Jr. or maybe Jude Law.  Sherlock Holmes? Who knows. 

To sum up,  we get this refresher from the film’s official webpage: Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, and Jude Law returns as his formidable colleague, Dr. Watson, in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room…until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective. When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder—a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by one Professor Moriarty.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows begins its rollout on December 16 in the US, Canada and the UK.

We have a bunch of new on-set pics (and a few stills and a couple of International posters) from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, a lot of them featuring director Guy Ritchie in action.

I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know at this point, but I am eagerly looking forward to this film, the follow-up to the 2009's, Sherlock Holmes. Robert Downey Jr, of course, reprises his role as the 'world's greatest detective'. In this one, Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. Watson have to rejoin forces (much to Watson’s apparent dismay) to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty, played by Jared Harris. 

Also back for more are Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade, Geraldine James as Mrs. Hudson, Kelly Reilly as Mary Morstan and Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler. Adding to the fun are Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes and Noomi Rapace as a gypsy called Sim. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows opens everywhere on December 16. (And don’t forget about that The Dark Knight Rises trailer that will be ahead of it. Get your popcorn early and settle in!)