The new trailer for The Avengers is certainly for those who feared it may not have enough action.

We haven’t had a full trailer since the first one released last October.  We did get some new footage in the Super Bowl spot, but this new trailer is full of all the action you would expect from a movie that is supposed to bring together Earth’s greatest heroes.

All I can say is that I already wanted to see this movie, but this new trailer has cranked my excitement up that much further.  It hits theaters on May 4, 2012.

Once again Dancing With the Stars has gone with a rather eclectic mix for its newest season.

Some of these folks are indeed well known (DeGraw, Gilbert, Knight and so on) and some others are the usual, “Who?” such as Levy, but here you go, your spring 2012 cast for Dancing with the Stars.  And, for once, they just went ahead and told us the pro partners on the same day.  At least this year there aren’t as many, “Oh yeah, you’re going in the first two episodes,” although I don’t expect Gladys to last all that long.

• Gavin DeGraw - Country singer
• Donald Driver – This season’s mandatory sports star, receiver for the Green Bay Packers
• Roshon Fegan – Disney Channel star
• Melissa Gilbert – Of Little House on the Prairie fame
• Katherine Jenkins – Singer
• Gladys Knight – Do I even really need to tell you?  Yes, the singer
• William Levy – Cuban actor and model
• Maria Menounos – Host of Extra
• Martina Navratilova – Tennis legend
• Sherri Shepherd – Host of The View
• Jack Wagner – Former soap actor turned singer
• Jaleel White – Yes … Urkel

It seems the Navy SEALs take everything by storm, including the box office.

Act of Valor, a modern warfare shoot them-up starring real Navy SEAL team members, debuted in the top spot this weekend with a healthy $24.7 million. I am sure you will be surprised to learn the movie skewed heavily to a male audience with a full 70% of theater goers seeing the film being of the gender.

Coming in second was Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds with $16 million, the second worst opening for a Perry film. As most of his films tend to be comedies, it could be his usual audience just wasn’t in the mood for a drama.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend was Journey 2: The Mysterious Island climbed a spot to land in third with $13.47 million, a minor slide from last week of 32.1%. It’s domestic gross now sits at a healthy $76.1 million and $235.9 total worldwide.

Safe House slid 52.1% from its top spot last weekend to land in fourth with $11.4 million.

Coming in fifth was The Vow with a 56.6% drop to claim another $10 million, bringing its domestic gross to $103 million off of a $30 million budget. There’s some happy executives over at Sony and Screen Gems right now.

As you well know, I like to keep an eye on box office disasters, and it looks like the latest contender will be Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which slid a massive 60.2% this week to land in sixth place with $8.8 million.  It’s domestic total now stands at $37.8 million off of a $57 million budget, which was a massive cut back from the first film’s budget.  Well, it’s no Conan the Barbarian at least.

Even though the box office was up 20% from the same weekend last year, things are looking pretty lackluster as of late.  Next weekend will see the release of the animated The Lorax and Project X.

Considering how many bad movies there are a year, it’s amazing that the Razzies can narrow the filed of nominations down to so few.

In the past the Razzies have hosted their awards ceremony the night before the Oscars, but this year it has been switched up to announcing the nominations on the day that Hollywood gathers to honor their own.  This year has another first: all five nominated Worst Pictures are also nominated for Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Ensemble.  Another fun fact this year, Adam Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison, dominated the nominations as it released Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, Jack & Jill and Just Go With It.  He must be so proud.

The Razzies are always a bit more fun that the Oscars, so enjoy making your choices for the 2012 awards.

Worst Picture:

• Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
• Jack & Jill
• New Year’s Eve
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Worst Actor:

• Russell Brand, Arthur
• Nicolas Cage, Drive Angry 3-D, Season Of The Witch, and Trespass
• Taylor Lautner, Abduction and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I
• Adam Sandler, Jack & Jill and Just Go With It
• Nick Swardson, Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star

Worst Actress:

• Martin Lawrence (As ‘Momma’), Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
• Sarah Palin (As ‘Herself’), Sarah Palin: The Undefeated
• Sarah Jessica Parker, I Don’t Know How She Does It and New Year’s Eve
• Adam Sandler (As ‘Jill’), Jack & Jill
• Kristen Stewart, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I

Worst Supporting Actress:

• Katie Holmes, Jack & Jill
• Brandon T. Jackson (As “Charmaine”), Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
• Nicole Kidman, Just Go With It
• David Spade (As “Monica”), Jack & Jill
• The Underwear Model (Aka Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Worst Supporting Actor:

• Patrick Dempsey, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
• James Franco, Your Highness
• Ken Jeong, Big Momma’s #3, Hangover Part 2, Transformers #3 and Zookeeper
• Al Pacino (As ‘Al Pacino’), Jack & Jill
• Nick Swardson, Jack & Jill and Just Go With It

Worst Screen Ensemble:

• The Entire Cast of Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star
• The Entire Cast of Jack & Jill
• The Entire Cast of New Year’s Eve
• The Entire Cast of Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
• The Entire Cast of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I

Worst Director:

• Michael Bay, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
• Tom Brady, Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star
• Bill Condon, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I
• Dennis Dugan, Jack & Jill and Just Go With It
• Garry Marshall, New Year’s Eve

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel

• Arthur
• Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star (Rip-Off of Boogie Nights and A Star Is Born)
• The Hangover Part 2 (Both a sequel and a remake!)
• Jack & Jill (Remake/Rip-Off of Ed Woods’ Glen or Glenda)
• Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I

Worst Screen Couple:

• Nicolas Cage & Anyone Sharing the Screen with Him in Any of His Three 2011 Movie
• Shia Lebeouf & The Underwear Model (Aka Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Transformers #3
• Adam Sandler & EITHER Jennifer Aniston OR Brooklyn Decker, Just Go With It
• Adam Sandler & EITHER Katies Holmes, Al Pacino OR Adam Sandler, Jack & Jill
• Kristen Stewart & EITHER Taylor Lautner OR Robert Pattinson, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I

Worst Screenplay:

• Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star, Written by Adam Sandler, Allen Covert and Nick Swardson
• Jack & Jill, Screenplay by Steve Koren & Adam Sandler, Story by Ben Zook
• New Year’s Eve, Written by Katherine Fugate
• Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, Written by Ehren Kruger
• Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I, Screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, from the novel by Stephenie Meyer

As we approach the first anniversary of the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami of March 11, a documentary is due to be released that will show you what the aftermath was like, and how the people of Japan pulled together to rebuild their lives.

In the time that has passed since the March 11 tragedy, I have followed all of the news that has come from the story, and the hashtag #fukushima has been a staple of my TweetDeck ever since.  Things are still not good there as the nuclear plant continues to expel radiation, and the pollution spreads to other parts of the world. The media, for the most part, has forgotten the story and moved on to covering whirlwind marriages that last 72 days, while the people in this disaster still struggle to get their lives back on track.

Stu Levy, an American living in Japan, opted to document the aftermath for six weeks as he volunteered to help with cleanup in the Tohoku region.  His film, Pray for Japan, will be released on March 14 with proceeds going to charities that support the recovery efforts.  You can learn more about the film and where it will be shown on the site, PrayforJapan-film.org. You can read the synopsis and watch the trailer below.

On March 11, 2011, Japan’s Tohoku coastal region was destroyed by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami that followed.  PRAY FOR JAPAN takes place in the devastated region of Ishinomaki, Miyagi – the largest coastal city in Tohoku with a population of over 160,000 people. Filmmaker Stu Levy – an American living in Japan – filmed the tsunami aftermath during his trips to Tohoku as a volunteer and over a period of 6 weeks, captured over 50 hours of footage.

PRAY FOR JAPAN focuses on four key perspectives of the tragedy – School, Shelter, Family, and Volunteers. With each perspective we meet victims who faced significant obstacles and fought to overcome them. Through these four vantage points, the audience is able to understand the vast ramifications of this large-scale natural disaster – and the battle these real-life heroes fought on behalf of their loved ones and their hometown.

Losing loved ones cuts emotional scars which run deep.

We can help heal these wounds by paying tribute to the amazing resilience and quiet spirit of the many victims and volunteers of Tohoku. By letting them know we admire and respect them, we encourage them to continue the good fight – at a time when even the strongest warriors would grow weary. We also gain insight into how our own inner strength can help us if we ever find ourselves in a life-threatening situation.

We can all learn from these incredible heroes!

Over the next few weeks, I plan to have several more posts about the state of the disaster as it stands today.

Things are about to get a whole lot worse for the survivors on The Walking Dead.

… well, unless AMC decides to change thins with The Governor and make him into a cuddly character, which I wouldn’t put past them.

I have a hate/hate relationship with the television version of The Walking Dead, but I keep coming back to the show because I get wind they’re going to do something cool from the comic book in an episode (“the barn”), and they always seem to find a way to mess it up.  And now comes word that they have cast ‘The Governor’ for season 3.

For those of you unfamiliar with the comic, The Governor is a man who rules over a community of survivors in a town named Woodbury, and to say he leaves a lasting mark on the survivors we know would be an understatement.  I had originally planned to not give away whether or not the character was a villain, but he is so evil – at least in the book – that he is nearly the definition of the term.  So, yes, English actor David Morrissey has been cast in the role, and he is scheduled to be a series regular in season 3.

This announcement also brings along a slew of other questions such as if we shall see the character of Michonne who plays a vital role in the Governor storyline.  And will we see the prison?  There’s a lot that comes along with moving into this portion of the saga, and I think the fact we have so few episodes left this season, and Morrissey will be a regular in season 3, there isn’t a whole lot of time to get it all done.

We’ll see where this goes, and I wish Morrissey all the luck in this role, because believe me, if it’s written as it was in the comic, it is not going to be an easy portrayal for anyone to pull off.

[via The Hollywood Reporter, thanks to Steven of WinExtra for the tip]

As a life-long geek it amazes me that it appears the geeks have truly inherited the Earth at long last.

If you had told me years ago that we would have comic book movies being all the major tentpole summer releases, and one of the highest rated comedies on TV (The Big Bang Theory) would be about geeks, I would have laughed at you.  Next you’re going to tell me one of the biggest names in documentary filmmaking (Morgan Spurlock) would be making a film about Comic-Con, the geek version of Nirvana!

… wow … I think we HAVE inherited the Earth!  Yay us!

Once again, the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences – the folks behind the Oscars – have shown just how stodgy and stuffy they can be.

It was announced today that AMPAS has pulled the tickets ear marked for Sacha Baron Cohen.  This is in spite of him being an Academy member and co-starring in Hugo, a film with 11 nominations.  Apparently word had gotten to the organization that he planned to walk the red carpet dressed as his character from the upcoming new comedy, The Dictator.  He then planned to change into a tuxedo for the actual ceremony so as not to cause a ruckus.

AMPAS was having no part of this and pulled his tickets this morning according to Deadline.

Apparently the ultimatum has been set down that Cohen most give assurances that he will not arrive in costume nor promote his movie on the red carpet.  Without those assurances he will not be allowed to attend the ceremony this Sunday.

Once again AMPAS is merely showing the world how out of touch they are with the industry they supposedly celebrate.  They are based on a business built on creativity, and yet I don’t think anyone can remember the last time they themselves they were creative.  If you ever watch anything like the Golden Globes or the BAFTAs from the U.K., you see people having fun, enjoying themselves and cracking jokes off the cuff.  When you watch the Oscars you get poorly written “comedy” that sounds like it would be at home in a dinner theater of the 1950s.

Actors and actresses have always discussed their upcoming projects while on the red carpet prior to the ceremony, and while I can almost – and I stress ‘almost’ – understand the issue of him showing up in costume, a blanket ban on him doing any promotion is just silly.

Of course, there is all of the promotion Cohen’s film is now getting from this controversy, so more power to him.  Why go through the hassle of getting into costume when AMPAS can just be silly and do the work for you?

[via Deadline]

UPDATE: Admiral General Aladeen has responded to the controversy.

UPDATE 2: The Academy has given in.

The 2012 Academy Awards are almost upon us, and it’s time to learn how to treat the award should you win one.

Kevin Cline and Mike Myers (as Sir Cecil Worthington) team up to show you the proper way to hold your Oscar and how to handle it. It’s a silly video, but it’s nice to see Myers do some character work again, and it’s just nice to see Kline do any sort of work … yeah, I said it.

Last week’s number two film took the top spot this week while a sequel crashed on arrival.

Safe House came in second place last week, but took the number one spot this week with an estimated $24 million, dropping 40.3% from its first outing. It’s currently trailing other Denzel Washington outings, but not by much.

Last week’s number one slid back to number two as The Vow fell 42.7% to bring in $23.6 million.  Apparently word of mouth is good on these top two films and keeping them afloat despite other new releases this week.

Coming in third was Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which came in at under half of the original’s opening weekend at the box office.  The first film brought in $45.38 million in its first three days while the second outing for the demon biker brought in only $22 million.  At least the second film only had a budget of $57 million as opposed to the original’s $110 million.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island slid to fourth place, but actually held on fairly nicely, only falling 26.5% to bring in just over $20 million this weekend. It may not be tearing up the box office, but that’s a pretty minor fall for any film’s second weekend.

This Means War opened in fifth with a pretty $17.5 million.  Apparently no one was that taken with the idea of two spies fighting it over the same woman.

Of note was the 3D re-release Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace falling a whopping 65% this week to land in sixth place with $7.8 million.  Perhaps folks aren’t that interested in seeing these films in 3D after all?

Next week’s releases include Act of Valor, Gone, Good Deeds and Wanderlust.

A Bangor, PA school teacher has waived her right to a preliminary hearing and is heading to trial where she is accused of having sexual relations with multiple underage students at Bangor Area High School.

Rachel Farrell – who taught under her maiden name of Rachel Werner – resigned this past December from the Bangor Area High School in Pennsylvania after an investigation began surrounding allegations that she had a prolonged relationship with one student, and encounters with at least three more.  Upon being confronted with the allegations, she confessed to district administrators and a resource officer two relations with two 17-year-old students, and later confirmed these confessions with a police detective.

Farrell is said to have had a prolonged relationship with one student from August 2010 to January 2011, following her having gotten married just prior to this in June 2010.  Upon questioning the student, now 18 and graduated, he confirmed that he and Farrell had come friends in class and then communicated via Facebook and text messages. He went on to state that the two met multiple times to engage in sexual intercourse, including at least two visits at a Ramada Inn in Tannersville that did have records of Farrell renting a room there on two occasions in 2010.

Currently the 18-year-old has agreed to testify against Farrell, but none of the other students involved have yet agreed to do so.

Currently the charges stand at three counts of corruption of minors stemming from an encounter in a Walmart parking lot in Lower Nazareth Township and the two visits that were confirmed to the Ramada Inn.

As opposed to other cases were I always have to say “alleged,” since Farrell has confessed to at least some of the accounts, I have to wonder what drives a newly married woman to sleep with not one, but multiple students?  Even if you remove the fact she had just gotten married, sleeping with one student is bad enough, but to do it repeatedly?

The human brain is something that always mystifies me, and when it acts in a way such as this, my disbelief  grows even deeper.

The international trailer for Prometheus has made me really wonder why international trailers differ at times from the domestic ones. Wouldn’t it save some money to use the same one?

In late December we got a look at the first trailer for Prometheus, the new film from Ridley Scott that in some way connects to the Alien series.  It was a great trailer and really set the tone for the film, getting many who were nervous about the film excited for it.  This week the international version came out, and it raised some questions for me about the process of movie trailers being made.  Here’s the newest video.

I would say about 99% of this trailer is exactly the same as the version shown here in the United States with a bit of an extension on two scenes and the static part at the end being more pronounced.  While I know trailers are sometimes cut differently to suit the tastes of the area they are being shown in, why in the world does this sort of thing happen?  Why not just cut one version of the trailer and use it everywhere instead of going through the cost of recutting one version that adds literally milliseconds of footage?

There’s been a lot of this going on the past few weeks as all of the summer movies start their promotional campaigns.  I’ve lost count of how many different versions of the  G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailers there are, each with just the tinniest change in footage shown.  Make one trailer, send it everywhere and be done with it.  Why make some poor person labor in an editing bay to essentially recreate the wheel that someone else already built?  As studios complain about rising costs and how they are making less money (ha!  right), you would think they would want to cut every expense they could, and this seems to me to be just a frivolous waste of money.

Oh well, I guess it does accomplish two things: It got me to watch the trailer again and to talk about it on my blog.

… Okay, perhaps I’ve been duped.