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When it was announced in January that Jason Momoa would star in Marcus Nispel’s remake of Conan as the legendary barbarian himself, it was also revealed that Mickey Rourke was being considered to play his father Corin, the village blacksmith. Then, a few weeks ago, it was announced that Rourke would be joining Tarsem’s War of the Gods . With Rourke taking on that role instead, that meant his spot in Conan was open, however, Vulture has now learned that it will be Ron Perlman (also seen as Hellboy) who will play Corin in place of Rourke. Another awesome addition to this cast, which seems to be coming together pretty well. Conan is set to start shooting in Bulgaria later this month. We don’t know much about the plot besides that it will (obviously) tell of Conan’s adventures across the continent of Hyboria. Wikipedia also says Conan was born on a battlefield, so with Perlman cast as his dad, we might get to learn about his birth and upbringing before getting into the meat of the story. In addition to Jason Momoa and Perlman, the Conan cast includes Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Bob Sapp and Leo Howard. I’m actually looking forward to this quite a bit, Nispel seems to have put together a solid cast, and I’m not as worried as I’ve been previously. Thoughts? Discover More: Casting News , Movie News

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? Future X- Cops Trailer If I had any money to give someone to make a movie, if I had any pull to give someone all the time in the world to put their creative vision on the screen, I would give all of it to writer/director Jing Wong . Without question this trailer has to be one of the most unintentionally bizarre examples of what is possible when you mix a hyper stylized vision of the future with an action movie that looks like it belongs on basic cable circa 1986 as a dubbed import that would have been played after Lazer Tag: The Cartoon Series but before Soul Train. This is my new favorite film. I mean, you cannot watch this and think this is anything but an episode of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers that got plumb out of control in the wardrobe department, where the director decided to steal wholesale from action movies from America, and where the writers campaigned, and won by attrition, to have a love story crammed within its action scenes. When you start a trailer that rips off Iron Man’s assembly montage, and does it without winking an eye and plays it completely straight, while also having a battle sequence where a guy has bulletproof, pterodactyl wings and another guy with metal alligators on the end of octopus tentacles a la Spider-Man 2 , you’ve got my attention. It’s phenomenal. It’s glorious. It’s a battle royale that I can’t help watching a few times over because it is just that good. You’ve got a guy doing battle with a Conair hair dryer, the costumes are outrageous, and a guy gets crushed with a mega forklift arm that seems to be straight out of Aliens. This trailer is above reproach because after all this insane stuff happens, the mood changes and we get a violin suite that sounds like it should belong in Gone With The Wind, our hero cuddles with a woman he deeply cares about. Smash cut to a flaming helicopter falling to the ground. Bad guys start terrorizing an amusement park, one guy hand cranks a Ferris wheel hard enough to jettison a car while another removes some track off a roller coaster in a special effect sequence you can’t help but wonder who authorized it, while some woman is driven through concrete walls by a flying motorcycle. Cut to violins and our hero making out with his girlfriend. This trailer is utterly insane and defies any rational explanation. The ending of this is no better, with our hero ( Andy Lau ) becoming a glossy white Iron Man, looking like it was designed with Mega Man in mind instead, and literally boring a hole through one of the bad guys. I couldn’t make this up on paper if I tried but so help me God I want to own this movie and savor it today. The Myth of the American Sleepover Trailer Look, three things: One, these kids are way too self-aware to be the kind of horned up, late teen crowd that I, and many of my cohorts, was back in the day. Some of the dialogue is way too snappy for some pimple faced geek who is looking to break himself off a piece like a Kit-Kat bar, splittin’ a log if you want to get vulgar about it I guess, to be spewing as some of these kids are in this trailer. Two, as anyone who is a regular reader of this column knows, I am an avid lover of most anything teen related. I was personally felled with great sadness when PBS’ American  High was over, but the subject matter of this trailer reminded me of that series in a way. Three, high fives to director David Robert Mitchell for getting a cast, mostly, of kids who at least look like they could be your average American teenagers on the screen; this helps to not only create a sense of voyeuristic realism but it enhances the drama unfolding on the screen. By his own admission, as it states on his website, Mitchell cuts movie trailers. This helps to explain how this thing starts out feeling like a film and not a trailer cut by a first-time director who only knows how to make movies. There’s a subtlety to it and it shows here as we ease into this film with girls being girls; it’s a little cutesy but it gets to the heart of what we’re watching. The music accompaniment is perfect, eschewing some emo blowhard band and putting in a nice pop track that doesn’t overpower what’s happening on the screen, and the subsequent scenes only help to flesh out those who we’re going to be following. Like I mentioned, we get a little too cerebral with the language in some areas but the cinematography just makes up for it. Dare I say it but this trailer has the strongest final half I’ve seen of many trailers this year. It’s a bunch of seemingly unrelated moments but those moments make you want to see this film that much more. It’s when you realize the trailer’s over that you’re left wanting. Kudos all around for making me feel something on the inside. No One Knows About Persian Cats Trailer You’ve got a lot of things people can project on this film happening all at once. Bahman Ghobadi has directed a movie that feels like a documentary shot within Iran. In that regard, you wonder whether this is a movie that was made in a clandestine manner as it is set in a country where political and social unrest lies just beneath the hard crust of their patriarchal exterior. Then you have the actors who brim with such joy and are passionate about their love of music you can feel your mind drift as you think why our 24 hour news cycle hasn’t told us about the normal lives of Iranians. The trailer is a wonderful mix of all these things, it keeps you engaged throughout, as we try and piece together what it is we’re supposed to be focused on. What I like about this preview, primarily, is that we’re given a solid push from the start. The interstitial lays it all out from the beginning about informing us about what it’s like in modern Iran for those who love talking about their government and who love to listen to rock n’ roll. It’s a dichotomy that drives the entire trailer. The Cannes recognition at the front helps to establish its pedigree and, like a popularity contest, says how special important people think this movie is. And it is, as the trailer’s musical beats feel peppy and hard to not root for as the action on the screen tells the tale of a band who wants to play music. It’s a mix of the traditional and the sacred as we see some of the more fundamental aspects of traditional Iranian music give way to these long hairs who find themselves playing in alcoves and cow farms. There does feel like there is a tension simmering below what’s happening on the screen and that’s when the fuzz pops up. The trailer spells it out, what happens to people like musicians who decide to play for passion and for creative expression. It’s all very hush hush and the risks that these kids take in order to express themselves through their art is captured wonderfully. The tail end of this trailer, filled with quotes from people who excite you with their praise of this picture, packs little moments that show you further the line between doing what you feel and doing what you’re told. Glorious. Shelter Trailer When Timur Bekmambetov was tapped to direct Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy in Wanted , I was intrigued more than anything else. It’s not that I thought that Timur was going to light the world on fire with his brilliance or ability to film a scene in a way that’s never been done before but I was nonetheless curious at how an artist goes from making films in his own style to making one in a studio system. Forget about geography, I would bet dollars to doughnuts there was an adjustment in making a movie that conforms to the way us here in America like our action films given to us. Truth be told, he nailed it well and he seems to be doing fine on his own. Now, with this film, Shelter, co-directed by Swedes Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein , you have a movie that stars Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers with these guys’ previous directorial credits being “ Snapphanar ” and “ De drabbade .” Again, it’s interesting to see how the language of an artist comes through when they do a project wholly separated from the system they’re used to. Here, I would say, there seems to be nothing lost in translation as I was pretty dialed in to what was happening in the beginning of this trailer. It absolutely has the vibe of a big picture thriller, no question; we’re all used to how sanitized these movies can be but there does, at the very least, have the sheen of something foreboding, exciting. Meyers plays someone with a multiple personality disorder which does open the door for overacting, I know, but it seems pretty well in check along the lines of Primal Fear . That was a movie that depended on the strength of its story and of the actors in it and this trailer at least teases that Meyers is channeling something great along with this movie being penned by Michael Cooney of Identity fame. Yes, it’s a little hokey with the flashbacks to when Meyers wasn’t mental, his illness being explained as a result of emotional abuse, but I will tell you what I really do love the cut scenes with images of deformed freaks, dudes wielding tire irons in the rain, snakes being drained of their poisonous juices, and a plot line that isn’t spoiled with anything revealing. It’s refreshing not to have something like this ruined with too much information and it’s equally pleasing to have a movie that looks like it could be enjoyed by the older set as it seems like it’s skewing that way. No matter, as the mix of weirdness and the fantastical makes this appear like a solid two or three star thriller. As well, this trailer knew, and embraced, what it is and it made for a viewing experience that didn’t feel false or a lie and for that I think it deserves a place on the radar. The Disappearance of Alice Creed Trailer Taken surprised a lot of people last year so with a little effort at least this movie has something to attach its hitch to. No matter that you have one of the most frightening actors working in the UK today, Eddie Marsan , starring as a wicked kidnapper but the trailer just gets right down to it without any set up. In fact, we start out with a video camera capturing the plea of a tormented victim founded in actress Gemma Arterton that we don’t need background, we don’t need an explanation. With that, we’re off and running wild to put together how we got to this point. I’m not sure of the particulars but the story elements that we’re given just make this look like a straight kidnap tale with a pack of guys who planned everything out. It’s all so well-presented that when the script is flipped and the kidnapped becomes the person in charge it all becomes so much more interesting. This trailer just explodes with its concept that it’s not she who is going to blow these guys away with a gun she wrests away from one of the kidnappers but that she’s going to allow the ransom to be paid so she can take a slice of it, much to Marsan’s ignorant disappointment. Seeing how Marsan is on the outside it just follows that the plan concocted will eventually be sniffed out and the trailer just does an excellent job in ratcheting up the excitement. It’s a game of who will figure out whom first but this trailer plays it simple with just giving us enough information without being too predictable. In case you missed them, here are the other trailers we covered at /Film this week: The Runaways Trailer – You read it here first, people, I am officially excited about a Dakota Fanning project. Make no mistake about it, the trailer just brims with charisma, has a peppy pace, and actually makes you want to rock out with your male rooster out. Animal Collective: Oddsac Trailer – Acid will do you no good here. Much like an episode of Tim and Eric, the visuals do all the storytelling you need in order to know what’s afoot. While I don’t own any Animal Collective (gasp!) this honestly looks like something I’d like to check out. Iron Man 2 Trailer #2 – I don’t know who got beaten with a sun dried piece of rubber hose for the travesty that was the first Iron Man 2 trailer but they got the message. This trailer just rips you out of your chair and demands every piece of attention. Great mix of music and spectacle. Tron Legacy Trailer – The best trailer to come out this year so far. No hyperbole. This is an amalgam of technology, music, visual pop rocks put into a can of Sprite and shaken vigorously. I love that we are given a lot to look at but yet we don’t know what’s happening. So mysterious and so delicious. Suck Trailer – I’m pretty surprised that I found this trailer pretty entertaining, if nothing else. A problem I have, though, is that the trailer gives away too much information and showcases all the various guest stars ( Iggy Pop , Malcolm McDowell , Alice Cooper ) like some latter-day Love Boat. This is teetering on the absurd but it has some charm. Robin Hood Final Trailer – It’s been a great week for trailers that have changed my tune. From Iron Man 2’s blistering and bombastic preview that now makes me jiggle in my Jockey’s to this trailer which now makes me feel excited to see a period piece that will feature flaming arrows. The difference between this one and the last is evident and it’s a much appreciated departure with its focus on the story, the characters. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Teaser Trailer – “I want you to pick me instead of him”, the ol’ switcheroo with Bryce Dallas Howard in true Bewitched fashion which just looks odd, the pandering shirtless shot of Taylor Lautner, the awful dialogue. I hated this teaser trailer and I am sure, in turn, it will make billions of dollars. My word is of no use regarding this tractor beam of suck. Shrek Forever After Trailer #2 – If I could insert a picture of a farmer beating a big, dead horse, violently, I would post it here as a visual representation of what this franchise means to me. This trailer says nothing to me as a viewer, inspires no sense of what made the first film so good, and just leaves me feeling disappointed at the idea I will try to do what I can to not take my kids to see it. Final Poster for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Movie Trailer #2 Exclusive Clip from the Red Riding Trilogy, Britain’s Ambitious Serial Killer Epic Red Band From Paris With Love Clip From Paris with Love Movie Trailer #2 The Warlords Movie Trailer: Jet Li’s Recent War Epic Finally Comes to the States

One of my favorite movies at Sundance in 2009 was Antoine Fuqua’s cop drama ” Brooklyn’s Finest ,” which finally hit theaters last week. One thing I’ve noticed about the movie since that Sundance cut is a small yet significant change made to the ending. When MTV’s Josh Horowitz spoke to Fuqua recently at the film’s press junket, I requested that he ask about the ending and why it was changed. “That ending was an experiment,” Fuqua said. “The Sundance cut was a chance for me to put the movie in front of a real audience. It wasn’t done at all, by far. Everything is temporary. What it did was it allowed me to watch it with an audience reaction and then go back and go to my original notes, and then follow… again why I wanted to tell the story which dictated that ending.” This is all pretty vague so far, and that’s because I’m trying to keep spoilers after the jump. So if you haven’t seen the movie, click onwards at your own risk. In the movie as it now exists, the cops played by Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke end up dead, killed in the line of duty. Richard Gere’s cop is seen in the new cut’s final frame; he’s walking away from a crime scene where he’s just killed two men and saved the women they kidnapped when everything stops in a freeze frame on a close-up of his face, then cut to black as the credits roll. That’s not how things went in the Sundance cut however. Gere keeps walking, leaves the scene, carries out his retirement. The last shot of the movie is an extreme long shot showing us Gere sitting in a boat on a peaceful lake. He takes out a gun, puts it in his mouth — bringing us back to his first scene in the movie — and the screen cuts to black as we hear a loud bang. Fuqua first addressed his original ending. “Before, I was doing it in a way because it was an independent movie, I had my freedom, I could do whatever I want, I read a New York Times article and I wanted to punch people in the gut with that, but then that would’ve been just me…” he pauses, “jerking off, so to speak. It wasn’t really about the story so much as it was about me wanting to make a statement about some of the things I read in the process of making this movie.” Hawke, who was also present for the interview, added, “All of these characters, they’re really in a state of spiritual crisis. We had come across this [fact] that more cops had violent deaths by suicide than in the line of fire. It kind of guided our thinking on the movie about the state of mind these guys were in. But you know, movies are always– it’s a work in progress. You have to have a lot of good ideas to make a movie.” Fuqua then circled things back around to the changed ending. “When I got to the ending with Richard and you see his face, and the blood and his eyes swollen, I said ‘That’s America.’ That’s kind of where we are right now. Dazed, confused, but then we’re still moving forward, there’s still some hope, we still have a chance. We’ve taken some hits, but we’re still standing. It kind of came out of everything that was happening.” What’s your take on the new ending vs. the old? Are you hoping to see the original ending restored or at least included on the home video version of the movie?

This is some great news! Variety is reporting that Barry Pepper is the latest to join the cast of the Coen Brothers’ remake of the western True Grit , which also stars Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld . Pepper will play the role of “Lucky” Ned Pepper, the notorious outlaw played by Robert Duvall in Henry Hathaway’s 1969 classic. The story follows a tough U.S. Marshal (Bridges) who helps a stubborn young woman (Steinfeld) track down her father’s murderer (Brolin). Scott Rudin and the Coens are producing, and Steven Spielberg is executive producing. Shooting is already under way in New Mexico. Barry Pepper has lead an interesting career and I enjoy seeing him in any movie. His high point was in the 90’s with three great back-to-back roles: Saving Private Ryan , Enemy of the State , and The Green Mile . But then he got caught up in the Battlefield Earth aftermath and started appearing in only the occasional war movie ( We Were Soldiers , Flags of Our Fathers ) and other low level films that didn’t really go anywhere. He also appeared in Seven Pounds but that didn’t do anything either. He’s got the face of a war movie character, but I love seeing him in all kinds of movies. And now he’s taking on a western and I’m looking forward to it! Discover More: Casting News , Movie News

And I thought this project was dead! Deadline is reporting that British director Rupert Wyatt is Fox’s top choice to direct the Planet of the Apes prequel. Wait – there’s a Planet of the Apes prequel? We’ve been reporting various rumors and rumblings about a new Apes movie for years, but it never got off the ground. Now this hits almost out of nowhere. Deadline’s report is also suspiciously brief, stating: “No start date, but Wyatt’s come aboard to develop to direct .” They also say the script they’re using was written by Rick Jaffa ( The Relic ) and Amanda Silver ( The Hand That Rocks the Cradle ). So who is this Rupert Wyatt guy anyway? Wyatt is a British filmmaker who got his start directing a few short films. He then directed his first feature called The Escapist in 2008, which was one of my favorite movies of that year. He hasn’t directed anything since then, but if you’ve seen The Escapist (and not many people have), you will agree with me about how much potential this guy has, especially if they give him a huge project like Planet of the Apes . Speaking of which, I have a feeling Fox wants to keep this grounded and low budget, so that it can’t potentially flop big like Tim Burton’s Planets of the Apes . But details are sparse at the moment and it’s too early to tell anyway. The last time we wrote about Planet of the Apes was back in December of 2008 and it was only to provide an update on an Apes prequel called Caesar written (and to be directed) by Scott Frank . However, it looks like that project was thrown out and Fox may be going a different route, but then again Deadline never mentions the name of the project that Wyatt is now developing (it could be Caesar ). I did a quick search and found an article from January this year on CHUD that confirms that Frank left the prequel, which explains why Wyatt is now on-board instead. We’ll let you know if we hear anything else about this, so stay tuned. Thoughts? Discover More: Movie News , Opinions , Rumors

Oh Josh Horowitz. The intrepid managing editor of MTV Movies is one of the best interviewers in the game… but he’s also the undisputed king of the awkward moment. Take this one, on the red carpet at Sunday’s 82nd Annual Academy Awards show. Josh asked ” Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ” star Jake Gyllenhaal about almost starring in “Avatar” instead of, you know, the movie he’s got coming out in a few months. I think Gyllenhaal handled himself very gracefully. “There were definitely discussions and it was what it was, but ultimately it’s a great honor that I was even thought of,” the actor replied, looking slightly confused. Josh then starts to ask another question about “Avatar”… before quickly switching gears with a “maybe I should ask about ‘Prince’ instead.” Gyllenhaal replied, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Josh asked, after seeing the trailers, if we can expect to see the actor running around the desert with no shirt on for two hours. “You have no idea what you’re going to see,” he replied. “It’s really good.” Of course, any time a movie based on a video game hits theaters, there’s always the worry that it’s going to follow in the footsteps of those that came before… and suck royally. Obviously the star isn’t going to badmouth the movie he’s in, but Gyllenhaal nonetheless sounds confident in the work he’s done. “I can say right now, this will reinvent the video game adaptation,” he said. “This will finally pull off and does finally pull off what everybody hopes that video game adaptations would.” Those are some might bold statements. As an unabashed lover of video games, I truly hope he’s proven right. We’ll find out when “The Sands of Time” hits theaters on May 28. What is your favorite video game adaptation? What is your least favorite?

Here’s my soon to be Twitter girlfriend Stacy Keibler , looking as hot as ever, at the premiere of the new movie She’s Out Of My League . We don’t see her at many premieres so I find it kind of odd that she would choose this movie to go see, like she’s trying to tell me something. Interesting and uncalled for all at once and I’m going to choose to ignore her subtleties. Wait, who’s that dude? He better be one of the producers just trying to get his face on the interweb or our Twittermance or Twitterfair or whatever you want to call it is over. I don’t mean that, I’m drunk, take me back.

Here’s my soon to be Twitter girlfriend Stacy Keibler , looking as hot as ever, at the premiere of the new movie She’s Out Of My League . We don’t see her at many premieres so I find it kind of odd that she would choose this movie to go see, like she’s trying to tell me something. Interesting and uncalled for all at once and I’m going to choose to ignore her subtleties. Wait, who’s that dude? He better be one of the producers just trying to get his face on the interweb or our Twittermance or Twitterfair or whatever you want to call it is over. I don’t mean that, I’m drunk, take me back.

Anchor Bay has released a movie trailer for Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo ’s upcoming thriller After.Life , which stars Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci and Justin Long . The story follows a young woman “caught between life and death… and a funeral director who appears to have the gift of transitioning the dead, but might just be intent on burying her alive.” Watch the trailer embedded after the jump, and please leave your thoughts in the comments below. Official Plot Synopsis: After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn’t believe she’s dead, despite the funeral director’s reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna’s grief—stricken boyfriend Paul (Justin Long) still can’t shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn’t what he appears to be. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over the other side. With an unrelenting edge of menace, After.life is a stylish psychological thriller which provocatively questions the line between life and death. Watch the trailer in High Definition on Apple . After.Life is set to hit theaters on April 9th 2010. Clash of the Titans Posters/Banners… Now in 3D! Casting Notes: Zooey Deschanel Plays Famed Groupie Pamela Des Barres; New Films for Christina Ricci and Danny Glover Clash of the Titans International Trailer: Behold the Fury of Zeus and Hades Six New Photos: The A-Team Movie French NSFW Trailer For Chloe With Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore Casting Notes: Christina Ricci in Bel Ami; Maggie Grace and Salma Hayek in Faster; Kat Dennings in Daydream Nation

The star of The Crazies discusses the success of the movie, a possible sequel and Breck Eisner’s re-imagining of Flash Gordon.