Well…there’s a new international trailer for Peter Berg’s Battleship, but I have to say it’s no more illuminating that the others we’ve seen. I doubt anything I say will make a difference as to whether or not you’re interested in seeing it either. I’m all for escapist entertainment, especially during the summer months when it doesn’t take much to get me into an air-conditioned theater.  Given the budget and the talent involved here, it would be nice if they’d produced something a cut above the usual sound and fury of most summer action adventure tent-poles. For all of the money spent on this, it just looks like bits and pieces of stuff we’ve already seen, all strung together.

What is Liam Neeson doing in this, besides playing a stereotypical, “you’re-not-good-enough-to-marry-my-daughter”, hard-assed career military jar-head? And Taylor Kitsch gets the wild-card-maverick-hot-shot role that John Carter will either make palatable or this will be two major missteps in a row. Brooklyn Decker gets to be Liv Tyler (Seriously, does none of this put you in mind of Armageddon?) I’m sure I could match up the rest of the cast with either a “type” or an actual character from another movie – if I cared that much.

Well, take a look at the trailer and decide for yourself. Maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Maybe this will be a subtle and nuanced exploration of how our alien overlords came to be hibernating in the watery depths of the Earth’s oceans and when awakened, they want only to share their culture for the betterment of mankind. And Rihanna will be nominated for Best Supporting Actress in her first role.  Maybe.  In any case, I’m sure Kitsch, Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard and company will look good in their dress whites

Battleship opens 11^th April in the UK and May 18 in the US.

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Today, in your 'daily John Carter', we meet Tardos Mors, played by Ciaran Hinds and Kantos Kan, played by James Purefoy. Now, I don't know about you, but I've been very curious as to the characters these two actors in particular would be playing.  Of course the cast list told me the names, but I had to go to the John Carter Wiki to find out more.

Tardos Mors is a Red Martian (which take a humanoid form. Now I understand why Matai Shang [Mark Strong] referred to Dejah Thoris as the “red woman”) and the Jeddak (King, Emperor) of Helium, which is one of the main Red kingdoms of Barsoom (Mars). It is a civilization of sophistication, technology, and intellectual pursuits and is refered to as "the Jewel of Barsoom." . He is the grandfather of Princess Dejah Thoris. (Is it me or does his look remind you of Julius Caesar's in HBO's Rome?)

Kantos Kan is a Jedwar (warlord or "Lord-Officer") of the Heliumetic Navy. Beyond that I don't want to say because it's kind of spoiler-y. If you want to know more, follow the link above.

The other pics in today's offering also seem to suggest a burgeoning relationship between John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) and Dejah Thoris (which can't be a surprise. You don't cast pretty people if you don't intend to create some romantic or sexual tension.)

John Carter also stars Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas, Daryl Sabara as Edgar Rice Burroughs (also pictured), Dominic West as Sab Than and Polly Walker, Samantha Morton, Thomas Haden Church and Bryan Cranston as characters we haven't met yet. Stay tuned.  John Carter opens everywhere March 9.

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We have some really terrific new clips from Disney’s John Carter to share to continue  the Friday festivities. I have to say I’m impressed by the way Disney/Pixar is rolling this thing out. Every little bit we get makes me excited to see more.

“I’m on Mars”:

“Mar’s Best Friend”:

“Virginia”:

Is it me or is Kitsch channeling a little bit of John Wayne in his line delivery? It seems an appropriate place for an homage I guess. I like it.

Once again, the official synopsis:

“From Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes John Carter–a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). John Carter is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present.

The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.”

John Carter stars Kitsch, Collins, Dafoe, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Samantha Morton, Polly Walker, Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy  and Bryan Cranston. It’s poised to dominate this world beginning March 9 in 2D, 3D and IMAX.

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And for your daily John Carter, the special on today’s menu is the first clip from the film with a nice dollop of Mark Strong for your viewing and listening pleasure!

Thanks to Disney (via ComicBookMovie), we can show you an action packed thirty seconds of this epic film. In it John Carter makes a huge leap onto a boat while carrying Deja Thoris, or as Matai Shang calls her, “the red woman”.  I guess since he’s kind of a pale blue, she would look odd to him. There are also a bazillion Martians of some sort as well.

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I’m sure you were beginning to despair because we hadn’t given you anything new on John Carter for a few days. Well fear not gentle readers, for not only do we have something new today, but I think it’s kind of special. It’s a short “featurette” wherein some of the players like Taylor Kitsch (John Carter), Lynn Collins (Deja Thoris), Willem Dafoe (Tars Tarkas) and director Andrew Stanton off some insight into what we can expect from this movie and most of all emphasizing that for all of the technology and special effects, it’s about the characters.

Another aspect of this clip that I like is that it reminds the audience that even if they have the inclination to think that they’ve seen it all before, that they’ve ‘been there, done that’ in terms of those special effects, this movie, John Carter, is not at derivative. It’s all in the source material and one has only to look at Edgar Rice Burroughs’ work to find the origins of most of the science fiction of the latter half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries (specifically Star Wars). To me, that just reaffirms the importance of the character development to the story. (People don’t watch Star Wars over and over again because of the technology, they watch it because they care about Luke and Han and Leia.)

Enjoy the clip. John Carter opens all over Planet Earth on March 9

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"A hero from Earth. A battle for their world."

Happy Friday! For your daily John Carter, today’s feature is  this fantastic new TV spot for Andrew Stanton’s (Wall-E, Finding Nemo) action-adventure epic . The clip is called “Battle” and it continues in the same vein as the last two, ie: more action. In it, Deja Thoris (Lynn Collins) exhorts John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) to help her world in order to save his own. It also features a bit of Mark Strong’s (as Matai Shang) voice so I’m happy.

From Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes “John Carter”–a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). “John Carter” is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

Set for release March 9, John Carter also stars Samantha Morton, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, and  Thomas Hayden Church.

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