Drama, drama, drama. And no, I’m not referring to the genre. We’ve got folks at odds all throughout the industry. India’s Central Board of Film Certification isn’t happy with the level of nudity in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but David Fincher isn’t willing to make the required cuts, so it looks like Dragon Tattoo will be a no go for India. Similarly, Hungary gave a rather naughty Shame poster the thumbs down. On the other hand, we’ve also got quite a bit of film appreciation floating around out there, namely the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards. Hugo topped the pack with 11 honors while The Artist followed…

Here come the superheroes! We’ve got The Avengers plot details as well an update on Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. On top of that, there are a slew of new stills floating around out there including a few from The Dark Knight Rises and a shot of a duo that might as well be superheroes, Sylvester Stallone and Yu Nan in The Expendables 2. Over in awards season territory, Jennifer Lawrence nabbed the opportunity to unveil the Academy Award nominees alongside Tom Sherak while the critics already revealed their favorite films of the year, which consisted of The Artist, The Help and more. Looking further into the future, James Cameron’s next…

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Columbia Pictures Grade: B- Director: .David Fincher Screenwriter: Steve Zaillian, from Stieg Larsson’s novel Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer, Joely Richardson, Embeth Davidtz Screened at: AMC Empire, NYC, 12/19/11 Opens: December 21, 2011 You can bet that producer Scott Rudin spent no more than two minutes thinking about the director he should hire for the American version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” The story is right up David Fincher’s alley. Fincher, whose “Seven” deals with two detective tracking down a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his method of operation, and whose…

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Directed By: David Fincher Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick Van Wageningen There’s been quite a bit of hype over this remake, hasn’t there? Well, apparently I’m one of few who’s never read Stieg Larsson’s books or seen the Swedish films and that proved to have a bit of an effect on my reception of David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Perhaps if I were familiar with the source material, I’d have had an easier time following all the details, but, then again, this should be a review of David Fincher’s film and…

Upon sitting down for a screening of Rod Lurie’s Straw Dogs, the audience got a nice surprise, eight minutes of David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I’d like to bet the material will hit the web soon enough, but, in the meantime, here’s a general sense of what to look forward to to the best of my recollection. The piece opens with a wintery setting. Christopher Plummer’s Henrik Vanger is holed up in a cabin on the phone with Steven Berkoff’s Dirch Frode. Vanger says, “I can’t take it anymore,” and we move to a city setting where Dragan Armansky (Goran Visnjic) is chatting it up, if I…

Back when he was busy being a figment of Russell Crowe’s imagination in “A Beautiful Mind,” no one likely would have much expected Paul Bettany to be an ass-kicking action hero. Of course, folks would have said the same thing about Liam Neeson too, and look how that turned out. While wrestlers-turned-actors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and other muscle-bound he-men in the vein of Jason Momoa still fit the mold for a certain breed of action flick, there are other movies that don’t require the correlative “Men’s Fitness” magazine cover, per se, and in the slick streamlined “Priest” — a sort of vampiric re-telling of the classic Western “The…

Title: Beginners Directed By: Mike Mills Starring: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Cosmo There’s great danger in opting to stray from the conventional linear storytelling method. Not only do you run the risk of lacking a constant pace and confusing your viewers, but simply forcing them to think too much. Oddly enough, that isn’t the case in the least with Beginners. Yes, the piece gets the wheels in your head turning, but it uses its main character as a vehicle so, curiously, it’s the character that winds up doing the thinking for you, making the film a beautifully consuming experience. Ewan McGregor is Oliver, a 30-something guy…

Title: Priest Director: Scott Stewart (‘Legion’) Starring: Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q (TV’s ‘Nikita’) A big budget, post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller with vampires is the perfect set-up for an entertaining, intriguing plot. Add in Cam Gigandet, who rose to fame after playing evil vampire James in the movie adaptation of ‘Twilight,’ and director Scott Stewart, who helmed last year’s similarly-themed film ‘Legion,’ and the new Screen Gems film ‘Priest’ seemed destined to become successful at the box office. But unfortunately, the story-line of the action-horror film fell under the pressure, and its only redeeming quality that positively captures the audiences’ attention is its visual effects. ‘Priest’ takes place in an…

Madchen Amick, Christopher Plummer, and Brad Dourif have all been announced as part of the cast of director Scott Stewart’s “Priest”, the live-action adaptation of the hit Korean manga starring Paul Bettany. Stewart has not revealed what their roles in the film would be. Set for release August 13th, 2010, “Priest” is set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by centuries of war between humanity and vampires. A warrior priest (Bettany) abandons his duties as to team up with a few brave souls to track down a roaming band of murderous vampires who have killed his remaining family and kidnapped his niece. Cam Gigandet (“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), Maggie Q, Karl…

Focus Features just released this new movie trailer “Little Brother” for the upcoming animated film “9″ from producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov by director Shane Acker and starring Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, John C. Reilly and Crispin Glover. Synopsis: A new era in animated storytelling begins on 9.9.09. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton (The Corpse Bride, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Nightwatch) join forces to produce wunderkind director Shane Acker’s distinctively original and thrilling tale. 9 stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer and Crispin Glover and features the music of Danny Elfman. When 9 (The Lord…