The Weintein Co has released the first trailer for Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of The Reader. The romantic drama is set in a post-World War II Germany, and tells the story of “a man whose life has been shaped by an illicit affair with a passionate, elusive older woman during his youth.” The film stars Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes.

Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader has been translated into 39 languages, has garnered numerous awards, and is the first German novel to reach number one on The New York Times Bestseller List. The post production quibbles have been well documented, and Harvey Weinstein hopes to have the film in theaters on December 10th. Watch the trailer in High Definition on Apple.com, or embedded below.

Click Here to Watch the Video

Official Plot Synopsis: The Reader opens in post-WWII Germany when teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair.

Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens. Hanna is enthralled as Michael reads to her from “The Odyssey,” “Huck Finn,” and “The Lady with the Little Dog.” Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears one day and Michael is left confused and heartbroken.

Eight years later, while Michael is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he is stunned to find Hanna back in his life – this time as a defendant in the courtroom. As Hanna’s past is revealed, Michael uncovers a deep secret that will impact both of their lives. “The Reader” is a haunting story about truth and reconciliation, about how one generation comes to terms with the crimes of another.

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We learn today that Gary Oldman has joined Denzel Washington in The Book OF Eli. We get the following scoop from the Tom Jones hideout caves of Yahoo:

Gary Oldman is in negotiations to star opposite Denzel Washington in “The Book of Eli,” an action thriller that returns the British actor to his more villainous side.
It centers on a lone hero named Eli (Washington) who must fight his way across the wasteland of a near-future America to protect a sacred book that might hold the key to saving the future of humanity.

Oldman will play Carnegie, the despot of a small makeshift town deficient of standard necessities, services, and most noticeably, laws. Carnegie is determined to take possession of the book Eli is guarding.

I appreciate a post apocalyptic film more than most and this one is sure to get top billing with Denzel and Oldman on board. With luck this will loose a slew of copy cat films of lesser quality. When bad post apocalyptic films go direct to DVD - magic happens.

This film is said to have a release date of January 2010 so we have a bit to wait, but I look forward to learning of its developments. I wonder if we will all get to read the Book Of Eli through the eyes of Denzel. What message could it contain, what wisdom lurks between the lines?

Entertainment Weekly has an interesting story anylizing why Terrence Howard might have not been cast in Iron Man 2. While insiders cite Howard’s “difficult behavior” on the set of Iron Man, it might also have a bit to do with money.

Apparently, Howard was the first actor signed on for Iron Man, which somehow made him the highest paid actor on the project, above Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow and even… Robert Downey Jr. Pretty crazy, eh? But it was too late to renegotiate after the project fully came together, and EW sources claim that “Favreau and his producers were ultimately unhappy with Howard’s performance, and spent a lot of time cutting and reshooting his scenes.”

Now onto Iron Man 2… Favs and screenwriter Justin Theroux decided to minimize Jim Rhodes’ role in the sequel. This resulted in Marvel going out to Howard’s agents with a “drasticly reduced offer” estimated to be a 50 to 80 percent cut, but more in line with the supporting cast member’s salary of the first film. One can only guess what happened next, but I’m assuming that Marvel got a cold response and moved quickly on Don Cheadle, and in affect beefed up the Rhodes role in the sequel.

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Check out this Adult-sized AT-ST walker Halloween costume. [gizmodo]

FirstShowing has the poster for the Will Smith drama Seven Pounds.

Pascal Laugier (Martyrs) is in final negotiations to write and direct Dimension’s re-imagining of Hellraiser. [THR]

Stan Lee reads The Raven. [QuickStop]

Details magazine and Larry Meistrich are teaming to will produce a film from the best idea submitted by a reader. [Variety]

The direct-to-DVD sequel to Smokin’ Aces has been given an official greenlight. [Joe]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has wrapped. [bay]

A batch of WALL-E and EVE costumes. [superpunch]

Daniel Craig is on the cover of this weeks Entertainment Weekly. [Just Jared]

Whiteout has been moved to September 11th 2009. [bloody]

Hulu celebrates its one year anniversary. Its funny how much a year can change in public views. [techcrunch]

Dylan McDermott, Zoe Saldana, Lake Bell, Nick Stahl, Paz Vega and Shannen Doherty have been cast in Burning Palms. [thr]

Fox has canceled King of the Hill. [AICN]

Advance ticket sales of the John Woo epic Red Cliff Part I have set a record for an Asian film in Japan. [Variety]

This has got to be the coolest Iron Man pumpkin EVER. [GWS]

PixarBlog has a photo of a new “newt crossing” sign outside of Pixar’s Emmeryville campus.

2009 will be the last year for David Tennant starring in Doctor Who. [collider]

The Barack Obama informercial that aired on Wednesday (available on YouTube) was shot by Davis Guggenheim, the Academy Award winning director behind An Inconvenient Truth. [AP]

Reelz Channel has been tracking Kevin Smith’s career trajectory. Red is the Rotten Tomaotes score, green is the box office gross, and blue is the respectability quotient.

Meanwhile, BoingBoing has a photo of another DIY EVE costume from WALL-E.

Gary Oldman is in negotiations to star opposite Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli. [THR]

The WALL-E Oscar camaign took over the cover of trade newspaper Variety. [PixarBlog]

American Dad has been renewed for a fifth season. [CS]

Rob Zombie’s “War Zone,” the lead single from the soundtrack for Punisher: War Zone, is now on iTunes.

Empire has exclusive new photos from Push.

ComingSoon has the poster for Cadillac Records.

John McCain will make an appearance on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live. [huff post]

In one of the strangest meshings of director and project this week, Daddy Day Care/Next Friday director Steve Carr will helm a fictional remake of Sherman’s March, Ross McElwee’s 1986 documentary that won one of Sundance Film Festival’s earliest grand jury prizes. [THR]

IMAX is planning to start streaming live events onto the giant screen in the next couple years. Imagine watching The Superbowl in an IMAX theatre. [Collider]

MTV has some video from the set of Friday the 13th.

/Film reader Chase S created these custom Joker Vans.

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Thanks for checking out our Zack And Miri Make A Porno review.

Kevin Smith is one of the most interesting figures in the movie business and he presents an odd problem for me. On the one hand, I’m not a HUGE fan of his as a filmmaker. Many of his movies are just “ok” to me, and a couple I find just horrible. Then again I love “Chasing Amy” and I have “Clerks 2″ on my top 10 all time best comedies list. On the other hand, I think he is single handedly the coolest guy in the business. I may not be a “huge” fan of him as a filmmaker, but I am a huge fan of his as a personality. His “Evening with Kevin Smith” videos are some of the most entertaining hours I’ve spent in front of my TV the last couple of years. Seriously, check them out if you haven’t seen them yet.

Coming off Clerks 2, I was very excited to see Smith’s next offering, and with a title like Zack and Miri Make A Porno my anticipation went through the roof. However, I was a little taken aback when I heard Seth Rogen was given the lead role, since I much prefer Rogen in supporting roles (where I think he really excels) and have never found him really capable of carrying a movie. So when doing a Zack and Miri Make A Porno review I try to get all those pre-existing notions out of my head. So what did I think of Zack and Miri Make A Porno? Hell… I REALLY liked it.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Zack and Miri Make A Porno looks something like this: “Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.” Personal side note: “Of coarse they do”.

THE GOOD

Dear heavens this is a funny film. No, not Kevin Smith’s best or funniest work, but quite funny nonetheless. The strength of the comedy lies (as it usually does in SMith films) in the quick, sharp and well timed dialog. Yes, much of the humor in Zack and Miri Make A Porno is “low brow” comedy, but that doesn’t stop it from being quite effective in getting a response from the audience. Not as smart as the comedy in Clerks 2, but the laughs were there, and that’s the most important thing for a comedy film to nail. I wasn’t rolling in the aisles or anything like that, but I spent a good percentage of the time giggling or smiling throughout.

I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record player, but Elizabeth Banks should be a MAJOR star by now. The woman is an extremely talented actress. She goes from a movie like “W” playing Mrs. Bush to a movie like Zack and Miri… and she was WONDERFUL in it. As a matter of fact, it was almost jarring seeing someone who can really act in a Kevin Smith movie. As much as I LOVE Clerks 2, let’s be honest, the Clerks crew are not exactly world class thespians.

It was nice having old View Askiew favorites Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson in the film. Anderson is my favorite character in both Clerks films and this was the first time I’ve ever seen him on screen not as Randal. Mewes was Mewes, but still extremely funny in the limited stuff he was called on to do. It was a little disturbing that he was naked more than clothed in the film… but it all went towards the comedy

The once scene that Brandon Routh (Superman) and Justin Long (I’m a Mac) participate in was one of the absolute highlights of the movie for me and just about everyone in the theater was howling at their stuff. I get tired of gay jokes, and when doing gay jokes you have to be very careful (because we live in such a PC world) not to offend anyone… and they really did that well.

THE BAD

I’m really sorry to say this, but once again Seth Rogen, who I really enjoy on screen in almost all other circumstances, just can’t carry a movie as its lead. It’s almost like the very thing that makes him such a fantastic supporting comedy character (40 Year Old Virgin, Super Bad) is what makes him ineffective as a lead. His style is best served in hard hitting quick shots where they maintain their full effectiveness rather than on the screen too often where his style of delivery becomes predictable and less effective. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT saying Rogen was bad in this film… just that another performer may have made the role more effective.

The relationship and romance between Zack and Miri was never something I believed on screen. It felt so contrived and forced that early in the film I just had to turn off my brain to the whole scenario and just accept what Smith was serving with it. Once you do that, it flows fine, but only after that. You just never feel any tension between the two. No connection. No romance. Nothing. Oh Banks ACTED like a woman who had deep undiscovered feelings for this man (Rogen), but there was just no chemistry between the two.

Story. There is none. The title and the synopsis tell you everything you need to know.

OVERALL

Zack and Miri Make A Porno ends up being a thin film with enough laughs to make up for its shortcomings… which is pretty much what you probably expected going in to see it. Good laughs, a solid performance by Banks and some familiar faces made watching this flick fun, despite the weaknesses. Overall I give Zack and Miri Make A Porno a 7.5 out of 10.

Another day another remake. we have news today that Samuel L Jackson has been cast as Sho’Nuff in the upcoming remake of The Last Dragon. We get the following scoop from the ritual caves of Yahoo:

Having most recently played a dirty cop in “Lakeview Terrace,” Jackson is set to star as a bad guy again in a remake of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy’s 1985 cult classic “The Last Dragon.”

Jackson will play Sho’Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, a role played in the original by the late Julius Carry, whose spiel included asking ego-driven questions like “Am I the baddest mofo lowdown around this town?” Each time his gang of thugs answered, “Sho’Nuff!”

I haven’t seen the original film, but it sounds like I need to. This Sho’Nuff character sounds outstanding and I need to see him for myself in all his streetwise glory. I am generally not a fan of remakes, but until I see the original I can’t really have opinion of this one. I am glad that this news has pointed me to the original however.

International Friends - what do you think of this news? Have any of you seen The LAst Dragon - If so what do you like about the film and what are your thoughts on the remake?

Last week’s correct answer was Marilyn Monroe!

And now the game continues with the sixteenth installment of NAME THAT TORSO!

The answer will be revealed next Week. The winner will have bragging rights and garner international respect!

****RULE #1 **** If you find the picture online, please don’t post the link and ruin the game for others

****RULE #2 **** NAME THAT TORSO!

I wanted to offer up a taste of the macabre but all the YouTube videos of Thriller had their embedding disabled in anticipation of mass online sharing on this most auspicious of days where our parents offered up some contradiction and took us out to take candy from strangers.

So instead you get to learn how to do the Thriller dance from a really cheesey dance instructor from the 80s. It was truly the scariest thing I could find online.

Zombie Claw! OOOoooo!

Hulk has destroyed the competition this week and has obtained the gold for rentals and sales. We get the following scoop from the Gamma Caves of Yahoo

“The Incredible Hulk” has painted the home video charts green, debuting at No. 1 on all three tallies.

Four weeks after its release, “Iron Man” maintained an iron-fisted hold on the charts. The summer blockbuster — like “Hulk,” based on a Marvel Comics character — finished the week as the No. 4 seller and renter, while on Blu-ray it held fast at No. 3. It remains the top-selling DVD of the year.

The Hulk rules rentals, DVD and Blu-ray sales. After the success of Iron Man’s release I don’t think this will be much of a surprise to anyone. Comic book movies are pretty popular “must own” films.

Now we wait for the Dark Knight and see what kind of damage it will do.

The inevitable sequel to the Sex in the City movie is not the only thing that is on SJP’s plate. She is headed to tackle a romantic comedy with Hugh Grant.

Coming Soon says:

Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant are in negotiations to star in an untitled Marc Lawrence-directed romantic comedy for Columbia Pictures, says Variety.

They would star as an estranged high-powered New York couple who witness a murder and are placed in a witness-protection program in a small Wyoming town.

I liked this movie better when it was called For Richer or Poorer with Tim Allen and Kirstey Alley. They were bigshots in NY who have to hide out in an Amish villiage while their lawyer tries to solve their tax troubles.

So its not quite exact, but some things I am sure will happen. Hilarity will ensue as the fish-out-of-water NY Powercouple will tell you how much their clothes/shoes/suit costs while being forced into menial labour or smalltown social situations. They will flee NY as a couple on the verge of divorce and through their experience in the simpler life they will rediscover their spark.

Re-using a formula is hardly an offense worthy of burying this. I like Hugh Grant in romantic comedies (he is terribly flawed and easy to relate to) and I don’t hate SPJ, though I find her attractive depending on the outfit/shot she doesn’t always offer up the eyecandy.

So with any luck they will deliver a heartwarming comedy with a few good laughs and a happy ending.