There is a lot of good stuff coming out on DVD this week as an array of summer flicks hit the shelves.

A new Harry Potter arrives on DVD for only the third-to-last time ever, Michael Mann‘s latest film starring Johnny Depp, Public Enemies comes out with a two-disc set and an early Oscar contender, Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia, adds to the excitement.

Plus, there’s a chance to catch up on “LOST” with the fifth season now available and a pair of indie darlings also hitting DVD.

Check it all out below…

FEATURE FILMS

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

If there is one cultural icon that absolutely owned this decade it was surely Harry Potter.

Billions at the box office, millions of books sold in just one night.  Nobody could come close to the sort of cultural dominance enjoyed by JK Rowling’s boy wizard creation.

And now the movies are almost at an end. This is the third-to-last installment (as the final book will be split in two) and the end is rapidly approaching for the young wizard’s decade of dominance. The question remains – can it be replicated? Twilight is certainly trying, but it has nowhere near the acclaim or widespread appeal of Potter. If anything, it’s a cheap imitation of the greatest source of entertainment this decade.

It seems unlikely that in this increasingly fractured pop culture world we all inhabit, that anything will ever be able to unite so many fans under one entertainment roof. So enjoy it, this Harry Potter could be the last true pop culture phenomenon that gets through to everybody.

You can celebrate Harry’s decade of dominance by purchasing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on DVD. Or you can get all six movies in one set.

Public Enemies

We officially need a term for massive trailer letdown.

The trailer for Public Enemies made it seem like breakthrough in the period gangster genre.  A slickly filmed epic that would finally update the tired genre with modern techniques that would make it feel alive again.

The reality?  Pretty much a run-of-the-mill period gangster piece that couldn’t decide between character study and pulse-pounding caper flick.  Sure, there was plenty of handheld cameras shooting the period costumed cast, but this was not the adrenaline rush promised by the trailer.

So what do we call the act of being victimized by an amazing trailer?  Getting Hancocked.  Remember Hancock?  Remember the trailer for Hancock?  Remember when it looked like an amazing anti-superhero comedy?  Then you went to the movie to see some preposterous tale of fallen angels who seemed to have nothing of a sense of humor.

That could be the biggest difference between trailer and actual result ever.  So trailer victimization must now be known as being Hancoked.

So when you buy the DVD for Public Enemies maybe watch the trailer after your first viewing.  It could lessen the blow of being Hancocked by this film, or at least show you how great the difference between the film and trailer are.

Julie & Julia

It isn’t very often that you get the chance to enjoy a surefire Oscar nominee in the comfort of your own home so early in December, but now Julie & Julia gives movie fans that chance as it comes to DVD.

Meryl Streep is as sure a thing as anybody at this year’s Oscars – giving her the rare chance to snag a nom for a film that doesn’t come out in the last few days of the year.

This rare occurrence is our gain.  Now you can start catching up on Oscar early without having to spend hours in the cinema, running down a checklist.

So if you want to get an early jump on your nominee watching, buy the DVD.

Also:

• The Cove – Learn More – Buy Now
• World’s Greatest Dad – Learn More – Buy Now

TV ON DVD

“LOST” – Season 5

Now is the perfect time to get into this show.  Why?  Because there is no more waiting.

Yes, for those who don’t know, “LOST” ends this year, with the new season starting in about two months.  That gives the uninitiated plenty of time to catch up on what they’ve missed and get ready for the end.

The best part?  You completely eliminate the terrible months-long wait between each season.  Now it’s possible to catch up with no wait between episodes, no more cliffhangers, no more nothing and get primed for the final season of maybe the most addictive TV drama of all time.

So if you want to catch up you can buy season five.  Buy the first five seasons, or, if you already love “LOST”, there is a Dharma Initiative Orientation Gift Set available.

Also:

• “The Dog Who Saved Christmas” – Buy Now
• “Doug”: Season 3 – Buy Now
• “The Fugitive”: Season 3, Vol. 2 – Buy Now
• “Get Smart”: Season 5 – Buy Now
• “The Jerry Lewis Show”: Best-Of Collection – Buy Now
• “Perry Mason”: Season 4, Vol. 2 – Buy Now
• “Rescue Me”: Season 5, Vol. 2 – Buy Now
• “Spongebob Squarepants”: Season 6, Vol. 1 – Buy Now

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In honor of Nora Ephron’s movie, Julie and Julia which came out on August 7th, I have decided to put together a recipe to make the perfect movie. For the film, Ephron uses two real life stories, Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia and My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme, as her main ingredients. To use the film as an example, I have put together the perfect recipe for a hit movie: Ephron is a good director, she has A-list actors starring in the film (Meryl Streep, Amy Adams),  she intertwines the lives of the two women for a good plot, the film has garnered good hype and publicity and the film had a big enough budget in order to make it worth watching. It may have the best food, but it does not necessarily have all the perfect ingredients for the perfect film.

Below, for all of our Screencrave readers, we have the recipe for a hit movie:

Recipe Ingredients:

1. A Good Director
2. A-List Stars
3. Good Plot
4. Serious Hype and Aggressive Advertising
5. Money/Big budget

Directions:

Step 1: A Good Plot

The most important part of this recipe is having a good story to work with. Without a good plot you have nothing, no matter who is in the movie and/or who is making it. A good plot involves a storyline that keeps the audience entertained -  it is not predictable, not cheesy, nor is it full of cliches. The power of the story is very important as is evident by movies that have won big awards (Crash) and brought in big bucks leading to sequels being made (Ocean’s 11). Some examples of hit movies with good plots includes:

• The Suspenseful Plot – The Sixth Sense: Gotta keep them waiting until the last second! The twist at the end, although cliched now, is a prime example of keeping people guessing until the very end.
• The Eye Opening Plot - Crash: This movie makes you look at things from the other person’s perspective. Everyone loves to feel like they’ve been re-awakened to what’s around them.
• The Clever Plot - Ocean’s Eleven: This movie was clever from start to finish. Just when you started thinking, “Oh, they are not going to be able to get out of that mess” they do and we love watching how they do it.
• The Well Adapted Plot - Fight Club: One of those movies that you have to watch more than once to understand the whole thing. We’ve seen more books get murdered on screen than anything else, but not Fight Club. It was honest to the book and yet stood on it’s own, just like a good adaptation should do.

Step 2: A Good Director

The next step for making a good movie is having a good director. Even if you have the best plot in the world, with no real direction or guidance, a film can tank at the box office. People who recognize big names in the directors chair, know they are going to see something worth their time and money. It takes time and skill to become a good director but with good efforts comes respect with the audience as well as the actors that work for you.

Although there are many great and accomplished directors out there, we have picked our top three directors which are guaranteed to be a success in their own way:

• Money and Awards: Steven Spielberg (E.T., Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, The Color Purple, Twister, Shrek) This man knows how to make money and win awards. Deadly combination.
• The Oscar Man: Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River) If he makes it, he will get nominated for an Oscar. End of argument.
• The Record Holder: Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) This film holds more records than any other film including the top grossing opening weekend of all time and one of his actors won an Oscar for his performance in it.

We know we’ve left MANY off this list including, Raimi, Tarantino, Scorsese, Cameron, Burton, and more, who are all amazing. Who would you have picked for your top 3?

Step 3: A-List Actors

Now that you have your good plot, and a well respected director working on a film, you need actors to actually make the movie. Having one A-list actor is fine, but having a whole group of them is even better. Julie Child may believe that the more butter you have the better, but for film, the more well-known actors you are able to sign on to a movie that bigger the chance of it being a hit. Just how important are actors to a film? An actor brings his/her talent to the film as well as their fanbase, and the more fans the better. Some examples of movies that were hits because of the A-list ensemble casts:

• The Action Packed Drama: The Departed with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Walhberg, Martin Sheen.
• The Animation For the Whole Family: Shrek franchise with voices from Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas
• The Comedy Thriller: Oceans Eleven with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Bernie Mac, and Andy Garcia

What do these films have in common? All the big names that star in them. Can you imagine a movie with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon AND Julia Roberts doing bad? Yeah, I didn’t think so. What’s your favorite A-list ensemble cast?

Step 4: Serious Hype and Aggressive Marketing

Now that you have your plot ready, a director to make the film and the actors to star in it you need to focus on getting people to notice the film. Again, these actors bring along with them, loyal fans that will watch anything that they are involved in, this includes horrible films such as Jersey Girl (which I am convinced people only saw because Ben Affleck and Kevin Smith). Nevertheless, movies need to be promoted properly in order to be a success. This step involves a lot of work because you have to figure out a way to make them want to go out and see your movie. With technology being as high tech as it is right now, word of mouth, especially through sites such as twitter and facebook, travels super fast and can make-or-break a film.

What’s one of the biggest clues to success, marketing something that people already know and love. Some examples of movies/series that have serious hype and aggressive advertising which has led to an insanely large fanbase are:

• The Selling of the Stars: Twilight: What started off as just a vampire-romance novel by Stephanie Meyer turned into a mega movie. It might have been what escalated this whole vampire phenomenon that we’ve had for awhile. They have marketed this film in every way possible, from lunch boxes and posters to selling off their actors while they work on set and having them kiss at award shows. They’re merciless.
• Internet Craze/Nerdy Fanbase: Lord of the Rings: The high-fantasy novel, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, led to three live action epic films. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is the highest grossing motion picture trilogy worldwide of all time, grossing $2.91 billion. Critics liked it as well as fans worldwide. It was all the visual effects, in the commercials and trailer as well as the movie itself that garnered all that hype to make people want to see the movie. The Lord of the Rings brand was already well known before the films so they played off of that. The existing fanbase was very active online which made for a good opportunity for viral marketing. Knowing they are dealing with web-savvy, hobbit obsessed fans, the people behind the films used the internet to connect with fans through the films website.
• Plain Obsession: Harry Potter: The only way to put it is to say people are obsessed with this story. From the seven series fantasy novels by J.K. Rowling to the movies that seem to come out every other year, people can’t get enough.  It is due to the aggressive advertising (as well as the visual effects and good plot) that the films are the highest grossing film series of all time, bringing in over $5 billion worldwide. The people behind Harry Potter have turned the novel/films into a brand and one of the world’s most recognized names. This is because you can’t get away from the advertisements. For example, just looking at their most recent film, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, we first had the posters (of which there were over 15 to choose from!), which came in waves, then we had over 7 versions of the trailers come out, as opposed to the usual two or three. Throughout there has been the official website where fans can get pictures, watch the trailers and participate in blogs and contests. The stars of the films even went to the MTV Movie Awards to promote the movie and show the audience a short clip.

Although all of our examples were films based on novels, that is not always needed for good hype or aggressive advertising.  Since we are living in an age where everything goes through the internet and fans like the hands on involvement of everything, marketing companies are taking advantage and using the participatory approach which is why official websites for movies are so important. What do you prefer, posters/trailers/TV commercials or the interactive aspect one gets from the websites?

Step 5: Money, Money, Money

The last step to our recipe for the perfect movie is a film’s budget. You can’t do anything without money. Money gets you the best director, the most high-profile actors, the most beautiful locations and the most amazing (and unrealistic most of the time) action scenes ever.  ig budget movies have more freedom to produce the best cinematic experience for viewers of a particular film. Some examples of big budget movies that were also big hits at the box office are:

I Am Legend : How much did Francis Lawrences’ film starring Will Smith cost? Let’s just say one flashback scene on the Brooklyn bridge put them back $5 million, the most expensive scene filmed in the city at the time. The scene involved thousands of extras, various army vehicles, coast guard boats, and an army helicopter.  The film’s budget was $150+ million but was well worth it…

Spider-Man 2 : Sam Raimi’s film was given a budget of $200 million to make the sequel to the hit Spider-Man. (We know Spider-Man 3 made more money, but we’re trying our best to pretend that didn’t happen.)  The second film was shot on over 100 sets and locations with as many as 16 cameras used on one scene.  Filming took place all around the U.S. from Chicago to Los Angeles to New York. With this big budget comes all the entrancing action sequences you can ask for and incredible visual sequences.

Any of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies: When the first of Gore Verbinski’s Pirates movies came out in 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the budget was $125 million. The movie was such a huge hit, with audiences and critics that the sequel’s budget was almost doubled. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest which came out in 2006 had a budget of $225 million and the third film in 2007, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End had a budget of $300. If they keep going on this pace they will need $500 million for the next installment but the money is worth the beautiful locations, special effects and crazy characters.

This recipe requires a lot of time and sweat but with the right amount of all the ingredients you will have a hit movie. Columbia and Sony Pictures followed this recipe for Julie and Julia, we’ll have to wait to see if the worked for them. Be sure to go watch the movie and pay attention to the “ingredients” in the film.

In case you missed it, here is the trailer for Julie and Julia:

What do you think of the recipe for a hit movie? What else would you include in this recipe?

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If there was ever a week where we had movies for all types of people, this would be it. From your action big shot movie (Stephen Sommers‘ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) to your romantic satire (Nicholas Jasenovec‘s Paper Heart) to the suspense thriller (David Twohy’s A Perfect Getaway), you will find something for every mood.  If you only saw one movie this weekend then it should be Nora Ephron‘s film Julie and Julia starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Ephron’s past hits alone, (Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally) should be reason enough but if you need another reason, you should look up Streep’s resume.

Here are the movies coming out on August 7th:

• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | Reviews | Interviews: Channing Tatum,  Stuart Beattie | Tickets and Showtimes
• Julie and Julia | Screencrave Review | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
• A Perfect Getaway | Screencrave Review | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
• Cold Souls | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
• Paper Heart | Reviews | Interview: Nicholas Jasenovec | Tickets and Showtimes
• Beeswax | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
• Bliss | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes

Watch the trailers:

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Julie and Julia

A Perfect Getaway

Cold Souls

Paper Heart

Beeswax

Bliss (movie with subtitles)

Which movie has caught your attention this week? What was it about this certain movie that makes you want to go see it?

Related Posts

• New DVD Releases: Harry Potter, Public Enemies, Julie and Julia (4)
• Julie and Julia: Recipe For A Hit Movie (0)
• G.I. Joe Sequel To Start Development (0)
• G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra: Movie Review (4)
• G.I. Joe, Does Anyone Think It Will be Good? (1)
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This weekend in theaters is Nora Ephron’s new film Julie and Julia, starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanely Tucci, and Chris Messina, in a film about two authors who were inspired by cooking. The film is full of light-hearted fun with an absolutely phenomenal cast that bring two true stories to life in a beautiful and unique way.

If I give one piece of advise it’s to not go into this film hungry, you won’t be able to make it through.

Check out the review below…

The Plot:

Writer-director Nora Ephron brings us a unique combination of two true stories, based on the bestselling memoirs of Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell (Amy Adams). The two characters, seperated by time are brought together through the love of cooking. Julie, in her time of need decides to use Julia’s cookbook and life story as her inspiration to start a blog that eventually would lead to her own success.

The Good:

• Meryl Streep: Was there ever any doubt? It’s about time she played someone 6’2”. Streep, like Child was woman is larger than life. She completely embodied the character and brought Child to life in a way that we have never seen before.
• Stanely Tucci: Many thought it was odd that Streep and Tucci were being re-paired after their success in The Devil Wears Prada. I even questioned it and I was a fool to. Their relationship is entirely different and the two are beautiful together. Equally strong and humorous, the duo are a joy to watch on screen together.
• The Cooking: Let’s face it, this could have turned into a cooking show, but with the help of a good story and great acting it was so much more than that and the cooking scene had much more to offer than good food.
• The Idea for the Story: The idea of two people being connected through the love of one thing is beautiful. At the beginning of the film, the parallels are fun and definitely speed up what could have been a slow set up.

The Bad:

• Two Movies That Never Connect: The only thing that binds these two films together were superficial similarities and nothing deeper than random occurrences. It’s interesting at the start, but after 60 minutes, there need to be be something both than coincidences. It felt like Adams and Streep were in their own separate movies.
• The Streeper Wins Again: Julie (Adams) was obsessed with Julia (Streep) and so is the audience, because that’s where the interesting storyline was. Julie’s story was (as her character acknowledges) completely self-involved and in the end felt unimportant and unlike Julia’s story, uninspiring.
• Lack of pay-off: Although they ended the film with a beautiful and interesting shot that attempted to link the two together, and give some sense of revelation, there was no greater meaning to the story than “butter tastes good.” The characters in the film may have found greater meaning, but we as an audience sure as hell never do.
• Amy Adams Weight: Streep gained a bit of weight for the role and it was needed. Julia Child was a 6’2” in your face force to behold. Adams character, although she has dialogue that says that she’s gains weight, spends the whole film eating butter and chocolate and always looks the same. I didn’t buy it.

Overall:

It’s a good movie, with a lot of great acting, but it’s not as great as it could be. Julia’s story had far more depth than Julie’s and therefore over-powered it.

The story felt like it needed to be taken one step further. It seems as if they acknowledged that Julie’s life was not that interesting, but then the question is, why do we care to watch it? I like the idea of two stories that are intertwined, but one story about Julia Child would have made for a more solid picture overall.

Rating: 6/10

Check out the film in theaters August 7th!

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We’ve found some early reviews of the film Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, and collected a some of the highlights that suggest that this is “perfect for a girl’s night out.” Not long ago ScreenCrave saw some clips of the film at ShoWest and stated, “it’s nice to see three great actors working together. The film looks like a lot of fun. Streep (of course) looks amazing in the film as does her supporting cast.”

Debbie Puente from the Examiner got to enjoy a preview of the film and her review hints that even though the story combines two lives that are about a half century apart, it’s a well thought out, easy to watch success.

Check out what she had to say about Julie & Julia:

• On Meryl Streep’s performance: “Meryl Streep gives a delightful performance playing Julia spot on — incredibly charming, loony (loony fun, not loony nuts), and as the force-of-nature Julia was.”
• On Amy Adams as Julie Powell: ” You’ll also be rooting for the adorable Julie Powell.”
• On the food featured in the film: “It’s a foodie movie with lots of mouth-watering food scenes (starring butter!)”
• On special effects: “There are some amazing special effects as the 5′ 6″ [Streep] appears as tall as the big-boned, 6′ 2″ Julia Child. I’d love to know how they did that.”

Limelife also poster an article about the film, here is what they had to say:

• On the actress’ gaining weight: “The actresses had to eat a lot of food while filming Julie and Julia. And gasp, they actually ate it! Meryl Streep says she gained 15 pounds while filming the movie. 15 pounds!! And Amy Adams says, “I ate a lot! Cooking is like love – it should be approached with abandon.” We agree and we’re glad the actresses actually indulged!”

So there you have it, Julie & Julia seems to be worth watching. If you want to read Puente’s entire review of the film follow the link: Julie & Julia film review by Debbie Puente.

Check out the trailer below…

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Recently at a press junket for Post-Grad, one of the highlights of the day was the fabulous Jane Lynch who happens to be one of my favorite comedians. She was kind enough to fill us in on some of her upcoming roles in Simon Pegg and Nick Frost‘s film Paul which is currently shooting and her role in Julie & Julia as none other than Meryl Streep‘s sister.

Check out what she had to say below…

I heard you were cast in Paul and was wondering if you could talk about your role in the film?

I have a small part in PAUL and thats with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and they’re sci-fi geeks who go on this kind of alien-trail that’s in Nevada and I play the owner of a restaurant called “The Ali-En”.  It’s full of paraphernalia and everything and they stop at this place and they almost get beat up by these rednecks and I come to their aid.

How are Simon and Nick to work with?

And they’re the nicest the guys. That’s what I found to is that ensemble people and comedy people are just nice people, you just can’t be a dick. You really can’t. You can’t do what we do and be a jerk. And I put in that category…

So did Simon and Nick ask you to improv at all?

No, not really. We were on the page. It was really written well. You don’t need to be mucking things up.

Do you have any new projects coming up that we don’t know about?

I have Julie & Julia is coming out which is…

Oh yeah! With Meryl Streep!

Right, I play her sister. Dorothy McWilliams’ cousins.

And have you worked with Meryl before?

Yes, I did Lemony Snickets. I did one day with Lemony Snickets and got to lock eyes with her. She’s great. She’s wonderful and she’s amazing in it. She fully inhabits that huge personality that was Julia Child, that crazy, eccentric, passionate woman that she was.

Sadly, she doesn’t really revel anything mind blowing about either film. I think we all know how sweet Simon and Nick are and what a great actress Meryl is. But it’s still fun to hear it again!

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Firstshowing.net has just put up the a new exclusive poster for the Meryl Streep and Amy Adams‘ cooking comedy, Julie and Julia. The film was written and directed by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally) and is a combination of two books, Julia Child’s “My Life in France” and Julie Powell’s “Julie & Julia” all mixed into one.

We posted a brief first look of the film after seeing about a 5 minute clip of the film at ShoWest. The film looks very charming, from the acting to the plot. Sadly, we still don’t have the trailer for you, but hopefully we’ll have one soon!

Below is the new simple and clean poster for the film. Check it out…

The film follows Powell, a government employee who decides to cook her way through legendary cook Julia Child’s classic cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in one year’s time out of her small Queens kitchen. Powell blogs her daily experiences, gaining a loyal following along the way.

The film will be in theaters this August 7th.

What do you think? Do the eggs entice you? Which one so you think is Streep? I think it’s the brown one.

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Out of all the presentations I think this one probably has been the most impressive. They just screened some never before seen clips and trailers for District 9 (trailer coming in a couple of weeks!), The Ugly Truth, Angels and Demons, Julie and Julia, Year One, and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Every single one looks amazing for what it is.

Check out news on the clips below…

I have to say out of all of the movies that they screened, Angels and Demons impressed me the most, which I was hoping wouldn’t be the case. The Da Vinci Code was so horrible, that I was trying to avoid any of the hype for this film. I wish I could say, “don’t buy into it!” But they got me. Everything that I’ve seen so far, from posters to footage looks really good. Maybe they’ve redeemed themselves with this film. There is a lot more action, a lot more religion, and by the looks of it, and even more powerful bad guy. Hopefully, they’re not just setting us up for disappointment!

The Ugly Truth, looks like like the Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman film from 2001, Someone Like You. That being said, it’s looks like funny chick flick, with a ridiculous deal between two co-workers, a lot of silly penis jokes, and of course, vibrating panties during a business meeting that for some reason she just COULDN’T take off in the bathroom. They set out to make an simple, romantic comedy and it looks like they will deliver just that. It’s a simple film that won’t break new ground, but most likely will break the box office because it’s so “easy to watch.”

They premiered the trailer plus some more clips for Julie and Julia starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Stanley Tucci. The film is based off two true stories and mixed together. It is definitely the most “act-y” films out the bunch. It reminded me of old Hollywood, where they take the same A-list movies stars and then recycle them in slightly different combinations. We have Streep and Adams who just starred across one another in Doubt and Tucci and Streep, who shared the scene in The Devil Wears Prada, not long ago. Perhaps Streep is picking favorites? Whatever the reason, it’s nice to see three great actors working together. The film looks like a lot of fun. Streep plays the famous chef, Julia Child who is a slightly chubby, self-confident, and snooty French woman. She (of course) looks amazing in the film as does her supporting cast.

There wasn’t too much new footage for Year One, but what there was looks amazing. We did get to see Bill Hader appear for the first time (although you could hardly recognize his face). Overall, looks hilarious!

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 was the biggest disappoint out of the bunch. The film looks very Tony Scot and what I mean by that is that there is a lot of fast movement, overused jolty camera work, and commercial looking action. It looks like it’s trying to do something they think is new, but it was done 10 years ago.

District 9 came in a very close second to the Angels and Demons footage. Rory Bruer, the President of Sony announced that the trailer for the film will be released within the next couple of weeks, so make sure to keep an eye out! The clips from the film looked amazing. It begins with some “actual footage” which sucks you in and then things get creepy, really fast. They allow for it to be an alien film and yet they make it “real,” much like they did with zombies in 28 Days Later. There were a few things that seemed like fairly obvious plot devices, but hopefully that was the trailers fault, not the films. Overall it had a very 28 Days Later meets Aliens vibe to it, which is setting the bar pretty damn high. The film comes out August 9th, I’m sure there is more to come on this soon I’m sure!

Check out their website for the film, D-9.com, it’s really cool!

Keep an eye out on Twitter (twitter.com/screencrave) for more immediate updates from ShoWest!

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