Well, after having watched the second trailer a few times, I’m not really any more enthused about Battleship (ostensibly based on the board game of the same name but the similarities end there) than I was after the first one. Universal has dropped a new ‘feature trailer’ for its Spring/Summer 2012 tent-pole release. It’s about twenty seconds longer than the initial trailer, but it still reeks of ‘Transformers-At-Sea’.  In fact, it’s difficult to believe that this is not Michael Bay, but a Peter Berg film. Producer/director Berg is capable of nuance and character development (Friday Night Lights) as well as intelligent action (The Kingdom). Michael Bay…not so much. He just likes to blow things up.  And this looks like a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Synopsis: A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of unknown origins in order to discover and thwart their destructive goals. 

Here’s a look at the new trailer.

Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, Liam Neeson as Admiral Shane, Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper’s older brother, Stone, Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, Alex’s fiancé, and you guessed it, the Admiral’s daughter (cue power ballad), Jesse Plemmons (I love how “Friday Night Lights” co-star Kitsch is now an adult but Plemmons is still playing a boy), Peter MacNichol as the Secretary of Defense and Rihanna in her big screen debut, as Petty Officer Raikes.

Battleship starts chumming the waters on 20^th April in the UK and May 18 in the US and Canada. We also have new posters and stills to share. Enjoy.

Disney has been waging a media blitz, a John Carter-palooza if you will, lately. Today we have three new banners as well as six new character images from the upcoming film, John Carter, directed by Andrew Stanton, making his live-action debut.  The film tells the story of a former Confederate soldier who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he finds himself in the middle of an epic war between the planet’s inhabitants. The latest trailer has gotten me excited for this again. (This thing has been in the works for so long there have been periods of news-drought that went on too long to sustain my excitement for a CGI heavy sci-fi flick.)

The new banners focus on star Taylor Kitsch and the creatures he encounters on his journey. The character images are even better. I’m warming to Kitsch as Carter, if ya know what I mean. The other pics give us a better look at Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) and Tars Tarkas (a motion-captured Willem Dafoe).

Once again, here’s the official synopsis for John Carter:

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, 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  and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris. 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.

The film also stars Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Samantha Morton, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, and Thomas Hayden Church. John Carter opens in 3D on March 9^th almost everywhere on Earth.

The first full length trailer for Andrew Stanton’s John Carter has dropped. The film stars Taylor Kitsch of “Friday Night Lights” and the upcoming Battleship, as the titular Carter, a former Confederate soldier who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars.

Synopsis: Transplanted to Mars, a Civil War vet discovers a lush planet inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter a princess who is in desperate need of a savior.

In the trailer we see the Tharks and get to hear Willem Dafoe’s voice as their leader, Tars Tarkas. Tarkas is a great warrior, but still “possesses a sense of compassion and empathy uncharacteristic of his race…Tars Tarkas is the very first Barsoomian encountered by John Carter when he appears on Mars.”   We also get our first look at Mark Strong as Matai Shang, aka “the Holy Hekkador Matai Shang”.  Hekkador means leader. Shang is the leader of the “Holy Therns”.  So we know we have two tribes and I’m assuming Carter will be caught in the middle.  Dominic West as Sab Than appears to be a prince of some sort and there seems to be a wedding ceremony about to happen between Than and Lynn Collins Deja Thoris. Whether this is welcome or not remains to be seen. I’m guessing not, given West’s propensity for playing villains.

I think this looks exceedingly cool. The creatures look like things we haven’t seen since the first Star Wars movie (by that I mean Episode IV) coupled with the technology at the fingertips of Pixar vet Andrew Stanton and I think we’re in for a wild ride.  John Carter opens March 9.

Insanity! More stuff coming out of Disney/Pixar’s vaults for Andrew Stanton’s first live action film, John Carter. I would love to know the formula for this stuff. Quiet for months then BAM, dump it all out. We just had some new images, then a few more all in the space of a couple of days. Apparently a new trailer will drop on Wednesday. I’m sure once this batch is complete it will another six to eight weeks of silence before they start gearing up for the March 9 release.

I do like this new poster and it’s tag line “Lost in our world. Found in another.” Knowing that the title character is a Confederate soldier before mysteriously ending up on Mars, the phrase “lost in our world” becomes tinged with melancholy.

The synopsis: From Academy Award-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.

Also starring Mark Strong, James Purefoy, Polly Walker, Ciaran Hinds, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Haden Church and Dominic West, John Carter opens in the US and Canada on March 9

As usual, when it rains it pours. After nothing from Andrew Stanton's John Carter for months, a few days ago we showed you the Great White Ape (which looks like no ape I’ve ever seen), and today we have more pics, including a first look at Woola, a Martian dog, also known as a calot. In the book, it becomes John Carter’s pet and is described as a “big, ugly beast with ten short legs and a frog-like head”. It once served as the guard-dog of Tharks at Korad,  (Whatever that means. Hopefully the film will tell us) and essentially protects Carter from the White Apes.

Based largely on Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic Barsoom (Barsoom = Mars) novels, the film follows a former Confederate officer (John Carter played by Taylor Kitsch) who is miraculously transported to Mars, where he is immediately thrust into a conflict between various nations.  Directed by Andrew Stanton, John Carter also stars Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton, Lynn Collins, Mark Strong, Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy, Dominic West, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, and Ciaran Hinds. (Apparently there’s a cameo by Jon Favreau, who, at one point, was slated to direct before it moved to Disney/Pixar.)

John Carter opens in 3D and IMAX on March 9th. Enjoy the pics!

I will forever refer to Disney's John Carter as John Carter of Mars, after the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel upon which it's based. We have a couple of new images, one which shows one of the giant White Apes that  Taylor Kitsch as the title character, encounters almost as soon as he gets to Mars. We also have a new pic of Kitsch.  John Carter also stars Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy, Dominic West (okay, that's enough. I can't take any more). Andrew Stanton, who won Academy Awards for Wall-E and Finding Nemo and whose other previous animated credits include Toy Story 1-3 and Monsters,Inc. makes his live-action directorial debut with this film. Stanton also co-wrote the screenplay, with novelist Michael Chabon, which makes me even more excited to see this.

Disney's official synopsis:

"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 {US Civil} 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 will be released in the UK, US & Canada on 9 March 2012.

You know, I think I conjured this up. I was thinking (and not in a good way) just the other day that we hadn’t heard anything about Battleship in a while. I was sort of hoping maybe I’d dreamt it up in the first place. Well, silly me. Universal Studios just released the first featurette for director Peter Berg's Battleship which is set for release next year. It’s called ‘Real Heroes’ and in it we get to hear from the US Marines and Naval personnel that worked on the film. Most of the extras that you’ll see in this movie are real Marines doing the jobs they do every day and, if nothing else, will lend a look and feel of authenticity to Berg’s ‘vision’. (I have my doubts as to whether a big screen version of a boardgame deserves the USMC and USN, but Berg deserves an 'A for effort'.)

The synopsis: A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of unknown origins in order to discover and thwart their destructive goals. We’ve already shown you a trailer and some images, now take a look at the featurette.

Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch​, Liam Neeson, ​Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Tadanobu Asano​, Jesse Plemons and Rihanna in her feature debut.

Battleship sails into the UK on 20 April and the US & Canada on May 18 (What’s up with that??)

While I will forever refer to Disney's John Carter as John Carter of Mars, after the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel upon which it's based, I have to say I'm excited to see Andrew Stanton's big screen version which, after winning an Academy Award for Wall-E, is his live-action debut. It's also the first live-action film for Pixar. It's been a while since we've had anything on this film. The image released today via their Facebook page shows a Helium Airship that matches the previously released concept art. Pretty cool. (Another cool thing, the Stanton cowrote the screenplay with novelist Michael Chabon.)

Starring Taylor Kitsch in the title role, (and I have no idea if he'll satisfy the ERB fans, but he's kinda hot) it's the story of a war-weary, former military captain, who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians, 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.

In addition to Kitsch, Dafoe and Collins, John Carter also stars Samantha Morton, Ciaran Hinds (woot!), Dominic West (woot!), James Purefoy (woot,woot!),  Mark Strong (triple woot!), Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston and Thomas Hayden Church. John Carter is scheduled for theatrical release on March 9th, 2012 just about everywhere. 

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