Martin Scorsese Heckled at Academy Screening for The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, which is a film that tells the story of a New York stockbroker who refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, is currently getting raves and praises from critics, but the recent Academy screening proves that it's not universally loved, as some senior members in attendance at the event actually heckled the director during the screening.

The main complaints of some of the Academy's older members has to do with the film's sex-and-drug-oriented content. Actress Hope Holiday has posted a less than pleasant account of the evening at her Facebook page:

First Trailer for Smurfs 2

Never did care much for the first Smurfs movie, and some of my friends actively disliked it. But it made $142 million in the box office, so we’re definitely in the minority. We understand there’s a demand for it, and its sequel. Besides, it has Neil Patrick Harris, who is always okay with us. Here’s the trailer to the Smurfs 2:

Joss Whedon Reveals that the Wasp Almost Appeared in The Avengers

In a recent screening of The Avengers at the Director's Guild of America Headquarters in LA, director Joss Whedon has admitted that Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp almost appeared in the Avengers:

"There was a little bit of time when we thought we might not actually get Scarlett [Johansson]," he said, adding that the solution was to including Wasp instead.

"There was a very Wasp-y draft that I wrote - but it was way too Wasp-y. Because I was like, ‘She adorable! I’m just going to write her!’"

Whedon also admitted that he wanted another villain to appear beside Loki, but the studio managed to shoot him down. Whedon declined to reveal which villain he had in mind, in order to prevent conflicts if the villain appears in another Marvel movie.

Jackie Chan to Join Cast of Expendables 3

This may come off as a surprise, not because Jackie Chan doesn't belong in the action icon-heavy cast of The Expendables, but because the actor has already stated in the past that he's already retiring from action and stunt-heavy work due to his age. But the action legend has recently confirmed his involvement with The Expendables 3.

Jackie Chan confirmed the news at a press conference for CZ12 (Chinese Zodiac) in Kuala Lumpur. Chan also clarified why he turned down the invitation to join Expendables 2, explaining that he was simply too busy with the filming of CZ12:

"But [Sly] did extend his invitation to the third movie, which I agreed on the condition that I will be appearing as more than just a minor role with a few scenes."

Possible Plot Details for Justice League Movie

Everything on the Internet should be taken with a grain of salt, but Latino Review's record has been pretty good when it comes to leaks and spoilers, so caveat emptor (or something like that, I know you're not exactly buying anything):

According to Latino Review, Will Beal will be dapting he script from three issues of the comic book, specifically issues183 - 185, which were released back in 1980. Comic book readers who still have a copy of said issues, or still remember them, will know that it's about Darkseid devising a fiendish plot to destroy earth, so that he can move Apokalips to its place.

Source: http://latino-review.com/2012/12/13/exclusive-comic-book-storyline-justice-league-movie/

Official Trailer for Pacific Rim

The first official trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's live action Kaiju vs Mecha vehicle has just been released. This is actually not the first trailer, but it's the first one that contains substantial footage, instead of ambiguous crap that wants to go viral or somesuch:

New Man of Steel Official Trailer

Hot on the heels of the official poster that shows Superman being led away in handcuffs, Warner Bros has released the 2nd official trailer for the upcoming Superman movie reboot, Man of Steel. This one is still trying to be all dramatic and ambiguous and stuff, much like the first one, but it shows off more stuff, including a glimpses of Big Blue in his costume:

Dragon Ball Z Live Action: Saiyan Saga

A lot of Dragonball fans believe that Hollywood's Dragonball: Evolution got so crappy because they changed so many aspects from the original that it's actually no longer Dragon Ball. I, on the other hand, believe that Dragonball: Evolution got so crappy because the people behind the project created a crappy film, Dragon Ball or no Dragon Ball (imagine if you changed the costumes and names from the film - it's no longer going to be a DB film, but it's still going to be sucky).

A bunch of fans from the UK recently set out to show what Evolution could have been if Hollywood actually made an attempt to adapt the source material instead of trying to change it haphazardly:

First Look at Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs

The first teaser image for the Steve Jobs biopic, jOBS, has been released online, showing lead actor Ashton Kutcher looking every bit like Steve Jobs in the late Apple founder's younger years.

The teaser image certainly proves that visually, Ashton is the perfect guy for the role. What's up for debate is whether Kutcher has enough acting chops to pull off a serious non-quirky role. You can bet that his performance will be closely scrutinized once the film comes out.

Not to be confused by the Aaron Sorkin-scripted Steve Jobs movie (which is still in the writing stage at this point), jOBS will be premiering at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival alongside a whole bunch of other anticipated debuts (including the directorial debut of Joseph Gordon Levitt, Don Jon's Addiction).

Watch Batman: City of Scars for Free

If you're looking for a free film to watch, without infringing on anyone's copyrights, then you may want to set aside a little bit of time to watch Aaron and Sean Schoenkefan's film Batman: City of Scars.

The fan film is not your run of the mill short, as it clocks in at 30 mins - long enough to be considered a TV pilot, and with production values that make it look good enough for network TV. It's still obviously made on the cheap, but it's one of the cases where the setting, the direction, and the camera work all help in hiding the blemishes inherent in low budget films.

The Wolverine to Start Filming in August

The much awaited (and much delayed) sequel to X-Men Origins seems to be showing small signs of life, as lead star Hugh Jackman has recently announced that filming for The Wolverine will start in August.

The announcement was actually just an informal tweet, as a reply to a fan who is asking for an update on the film, but it came from Jackman himself so unless Jackman is lying or pulling the fan’s leg, then the official status as per the lead star’s announcement is "starts shooting in August!!!" (actual statement. all three exclamation points were from Jackman.)

First Official Trailer for Skyfall

The first official trailer for Daniel Craig’s third James Bond film, Skyfall, has been made available online. It is worth noting that while Craig’s portrayal of James Bond is well regarded as the grittiest and roughest, Skyfall promises a Bond that is even more grizzled and intense than his two previous portrayals.

There’s also the swerve that Skyfall will also show Bond’s humorous side. We’re not really sure how that’s going to happen, but we can bet that agent 007 is not going to throw out sarcastic and pithy quips a la spiderman pretty soon.

Watch the trailer after the cut :

Jackie Chan to Retire...

…from stuntwork. PSYCHE!

While promoting his upcoming movie Chinese Zodiac at the recent Cannes Film Festival, Jackie Chan announced that the movie will be his last action picture, stating that he is not young anymore, and really, really tired. He also stated that he no longer agrees with the kind of violence depicted in movies, and admitted that while he likes fighting and action, he doesn’t like violence – which is a dilemma for him, and explains why the action scenes in his movies are usually comedic, and have no fatal consequences.

When fans misunderstood Chan’s comments as an announcement that he is no longer going to act in movies, the 58 year old action star announced through his facebook page that he is only retiring from deadly stuntwork, and will not be gone from Action films as a whole.

Source: Yahoo! Movies.

New Prometheus Poster

There’s a new official poster out for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, this time it’s a proper movie poster with actual people and stuff going on, instead of the pretentiously ambiguous posters that are very popular these days. The poster shows Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron, along with the other crews of Prometheus while their spacefriggin ship is exploding in the background.

Honestly, I’m glad they went with a poster this time, since I’m pretty much getting tired of all the viral things. It was intriguing at first, and was actually successful at piquing my curiosity, but after the next dozen or so viral attempts, along with the hundreds of rumors and speculation, I’m kind of tired of all the teases, and there’s nothing else I want from Prometheus except to watch the movie itself.

The Amazing Spider-Man Four Minute Super Preview

Sony has just released what they call a "Super Preview" for The Amazing Spider-Man. The four minute super preview trailer is called as such because it contains an extended action sequence alongside a host of materials cut from existing trailers, as well as a bunch of new snippets.

Watch the Super Preview, After the Cut:

Promo Posters for Sin City 2 and Machete Kills

The first promo posters for Robert Rodriguez' two upcoming sequels, Machete Kills and Sin City 2, have been released. The posters may be a little bit too simplistic - containing nothing but the text and some stylistic layouts - but they work well enough given the fact that there's probably very little to put in the posters for now, with but movies still not finished with production.

The Machete Kills poster gives a nod to its grindhouse origins, with a spackled, peeling image with blood spatters and grime. The whole poster certainly fits in with the tone and look of the film.The poster for Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For is a bit more stylish, owing to the source material's noire roots.

View the posters, after the cut:

New The Amazing Spider-Man Clip: feat. Dr. Curt Connors

The recent teaser images and trailers for Marc Webb's Spider-Man movie reboot failed to show any decent footage of the movie's main villain, The Lizard, and this new clip is no different. We still don't get any clips of The Lizard outside of a few silhouettes and a pre-transformation, but we get a little bit of insight into the story behind the man who will eventually mutate into the monster: Dr. Curt Connors, to be played by Rhys Ifans.

Watch the Clip, after the cut:

Scarlett Johansson Doesn't Want to Be a Sex Symbol

In a recent interview with TotalFilm, Scarlett Johansson let it slip that she doesn't want to be treated as a sex symbol, which is kind of weird because she's actually one of the few actresses in Hollywood that still get legitimate roles despite being beautiful enough to be hired purely on the basis of her looks. I mean, compare her movies and roles with those of Megan Fox's?

It's also revealed in the interview that the Avengers star is currently slated to play Psycho star Janet Leigh opposite Anthony Hopkins in the Alfred Hitchcock Biopic, which will open next year.

Via: TotalFilm.com

New Clip for Snow White and the Huntsman

A few days ago we got a teaser clip featuring Kristen Stewart as the titular princess stumbling across the dark forest, now we get another one featuring Chris Hemsworth as the titular Huntsman being coerced by Queen Ravenna (played by Charlize Theron) into entering the Dark Forest and hunting down Snow White.

Kick-Ass 2 Finally Gets Off The Ground This Year

...at least, that's what it looks like based on a recent Deadline.com report, in which it is revealed that Universal is currently in talks to start production of the film as soon as possible.

The original Kick-Ass movie was the big screen adaptation of Mark Millar's best selling comic book, which is a tongue in cheek deconstruction of cape and spandex superheroics, as Dave Lizeweski tries to don a superhero costume and patrol the streets at night, despite not having any actual powers or even martial arts knowledge to speak of.

There's no word on whether the Kick-Ass movie sequel will still be based on the comic book sequel (which completed its 7 issue run earlier this year), but previous stars Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse are already confirmed to return.