Movies

YouTube has a new promotion for its new streaming service where you can watch recent movies for 99 cents -- among them GREEN LANTERN. If you've been waiting for a budget-conscious way to watch Hal Jordan save the universe from an angry cloud, this is your chance. You can also watch Harry Potter, Conan and that movie where Ton Hanks lives out his biker fantasy by riding a scooter with Julia Roberts on the back.

While Twilight-mania lapped it at the box office over the holiday weekend, The Muppets relaunched their film career. "The Muppets" (As opposed to "The Muppet Movie") is a little bit of a departure from previous Muppets flicks in a number of ways. First off, the classic Muppets were not the main characters of the story. It was a very self-referential film, filled with in-jokes for adults who grew up with the franchise. It had more political overtones than one would expect from the Muppets. It also was a lot of fun.

The Avengers plus Loki and Nick Fury. These look pretty nice. Even with the typography elements taking center stage in the design, ScarJo continues to exhibits awesome mastery of the butt-and-face first pose, while Mark Ruffalo as the Halk does not look like Zoolander, which is a big improvement. Sad that none of the guys are turned so we can see their butt. Especially Thor and Captain America.

Universal Studios head Ron Meyer is the longest serving studio head around; he's 67 and he's seen it all. So when he was hanging loose at the Savannah Film Festival, he was really hanging loose, admitting that the reason a lot of Uni's films failed at the box office was because...they stank.

Summit Entertainment has just announced that RED 2, the sequel to RED, will be released on August 2nd of 2013. The first film, very loosely based on the Warren Ellis/Cully Hamner mini-series, came out last year, and scored a surprise hit with its tale of over-the-hill spies (Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, et al) getting back together for one more gig.

Another day, another option, but this one is a bit different -- this time the comics creator himself has been tapped to write the script. Ed Brubaker is writing a script for a COWARD movie based on the first arc of his CRIMINAL series, says Variety. David Slade (TWILIGHT, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT) is attached to direct for Jamie Patricof's Hunting Lane Films.

Next Media Animation has gone gonzo with a new version of the AVENGERS movie that features several guest stars. What does this mean? Unsure.

After many starts and stop -- an Albert Hughes directed version had the plug pulled after pre-production had already started earlier this year -- Warner Bros has greenlit a live action AKIRA remake again. This time Jaume Collet-Serra (ORPHAN) is set to direct. The movie apparently got new life after the budget was cut to a practically spartan $90 million.

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN, the 3D mocap extravaganza directed by Steven Spielberg opens THIS FRIDAY in Europe, where—due to the widespread love for the characters—it's got a chance to do boffo box office, even if the movie is problematic, ala TRANSFORMERS. The reviews are rolling in.

Woot. Great reveal at the end. That said there's nothing incredibly spectacular in this trailer aside from the fact it's the friggin' Avengers. Like, if it was called...Thunderbirds, you'd think it was pretty typical. However, in Joss we trust.

Whoa whoa whoa. Superman may have lost his red panties, but as shown by Henry Cavill on the streets of Chicago, he's gained...a giant package.

We don't need us to tell you that it's tough times in the heartland of America these days. Slowing manufacturing, a recession that never really ended in some places, and a recovery that has failed to ignite. Luckily, one thing has come to the Steel belt to liven things up -- superhero movies. With Batman filming in Pittsburgh, Superman in Chicago, and now The Avengers in Cleveland (standing in for NYC? Ooooooookay) it's been boom times for photographers. Here's the latest Avengers leaked photos, showing Cap and Thor battling mocapped Hydra or someone goons.