Filed under: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Universal, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips

Yesterday we told you that there’d be a brand-spankin’-new Hellboy 2: The Golden Army trailer. So here it is:

Now, that looks like fun to me: Big-time action spectacle mixed with a weird sense of humor and creepy freak monsters as only Guillermo del Toro can create. (Well, and Mike Mignola, obviously.) Thoughts on the trailer?

HB2 is scheduled for July 11. Special thanks to IGN.com!

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Filed under: Action, Drama, Romance, Fandom, 20th Century Fox, Movie Marketing, Images, War, Nicole Kidman

On the same day filming on Baz Luhrmann’s Australia wrapped, the production released the first three official stills from the movie. Of course, clever photographers haven’t been sitting around on their hands waiting for anything official — they’ve been shooting candid photos all along, of everything from action shots of Nicole Kidman on horses and riding dinghies at sea to detailed photos of the set. But there’s something to be said for photos that the director actually wants you to see. After looking at these three pictures, I can’t say I’m discerning anything special though, except maybe for the one of Kidman seemingly about to twirl around while standing on a gazebo of some kind. It looks very ‘Gone With the Wind’ if you ask me. The other two are just a double headshot of the two leads and one gentleman who I’m going to guess is playing a native.

Meanwhile, perhaps sensing that The Golden Compass wasn’t going to be all it was cracked up to be, Kidman was recently circumspect when talking to journalists about why she chooses her film roles. “I just choose off the cuff a lot of times, but primarily this was because Philip Pullman wrote me an amazing letter telling me that when he was writing the novels, he had me in mind,” she said. “So that’s hard to turn down. He’s such a good novelist.” Oh, so it’s all his fault, huh? Let’s hope she has a better answer for the studio bosses, next time they ask why they should continue forking over $15 mil per film.

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Filed under: Action, Drama, Sony, RumorMonger, Tom Cruise

Considering how hard it is to get people to go see a Tom Cruise movie these days, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was also hard to get a director who’ll work with the guy. Of course, Cruise’s waning bankability isn’t the reason that his spy movie, the weakly titled Edwin A. Salt, has already lost Terry George and Michael Mann as potential directors. I’m not sure why they aren’t doing the film (Mann apparently picked Public Enemies instead), but it can’t be fears of a potentially low gross. No matter; they are out and Peter Berg (The Kingdom) is in, according to Entertainment Weekly’s Hollywood Insider Blog. Well, he’s not quite in yet; Columbia Pictures is only reportedly wooing the guy, though in the end it’s supposedly up to Cruise’s approval whether or not he gets the gig. Interestingly enough, Berg can almost be viewed as a Mann protégé, since he produced The Kingdom and Berg’s follow-up, next summer’s Will Smith vehicle, Hancock (the trailer of which hit the net this week). However, it doesn’t appear that Mann will have any involvement with Edwin A. Salt.

I won’t admit to being the biggest fan of Berg’s work (who could, really?), but I will admit that The Kingdom was one of my top ten movies of 2007. Though it’s mainly on my list because all critics have to have that one obligatory mainstream Hollywood pick, I do think it was directed quite well, with a tone that perfectly suited what it was really about (American dreams of an ’80s action-movie-type response to 9/11). Also, his Friday Night Lights (the film; I haven’t seen the TV pilot he did) was better than most high school football movies. So, I’m excited to see what he can do with Cruise, a script from Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium) and the beginning-to-get-tired world of spies.

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Filed under: Action, Deals, Games and Game Movies

I’ll never forget the first time I sat down and wrapped my fingers around a Playstation controller. My friend had slid Tekken into the system, and a mere ten minutes later, I had large blisters on my thumbs, but my Anna had wiggled victoriously over every fighter she faced. (A little less, um, butt-grabbing and chest wiggling than more recent incarnations.) So hearing about an adaptation… Well, like anything, it could be good, and it could be very, very bad. In November, Jessica shared the first teaser poster, and news that Dwight Little was directing, from a script by Michael Colleary and Alan B. McElroy. Yes, the same Little who directed Steven Seagal’s Marked for Death. Excited yet?

Now Variety has released that same information, but they’ve also shared some details about the game. Little said: “The film plays out as a science fiction story set in the near future, about a rebel who rises up against the Tekken Corp. to seize freedom for his people. It’s a gladiator story, but the videogame has a complicated enough storyline that it provides the template for a martial arts spectacular.” I’m not so sure how spectacular it sounds to focus on one heroic dude, especially when there are a bunch of great characters, but we’ll have to wait and see. After so many years of mulling over this idea, production will begin in February in Louisiana, just after Tekken 6 hits the streets in January.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Hate it or love it, there’s no denying the iPhone is hot amongst the A-list — even if they can’t seem to hold it the right way — and it doesn’t get more A-list than former President Bill Clinton, who told TUAW reader B. Ioffe that he was an iPhone user while signing his device at a recent rally. Bill said he got his from El Steve himself, which is interesting — wonder if he asked board member Al Gore first?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Devices supporting Vista’s SideShow functionality aren’t exactly flowing like water yet (seriously, when’s the last time you saw someone sporting a W5Fe?), though that’s not necessarily for a lack of interest. The functionality’s plenty cool, it’s just not really an overnight job getting enough manufacturers on board to support the concept and transform the consumer electronics landscape into a Vista-interfacing armada of small screens. If you had to boil it all down to exactly two things Microsoft could do to take SideShow from an ultra-niche market to ubiquity, though, let’s be honest: they’d have to be to add Windows Mobile and iPhone support. Indeed, official WinMo support is a standing rumor, but in the meantime you can grab Ikanos Consulting’s Go Gadgets beta, which supports installation and control of SideShow gadgets over pretty much any form of mobile connectivity you can throw at it. Turns out these guys have been hard at work making a general HTML renderer for gadgets, too, and have specialized it to look snappy on mobile Safari — hence the iPhone and iPod touch support. This one isn’t quite ready for public consumption yet, but if WinMo’s how you roll, you can sign up for the beta now.

Read - SideShow on the iPhone
Read - Go Gadgets for Windows Mobile

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Laptops

We suppose it was always inevitable, but things are about to get quite interesting at the intersection of cellphone and laptop processors. According to Intel, Apple has apparently committed to using the company’s 45nm Silverthorne chip in multiple products slated for 2008. The chip offers the processing power of second-generation Pentium M processors, with the power consumption of a cellphone chip. Of course, it’s not just the processor. Apple is expected to emerge as a major supporter of Intel’s whole “Menlow” Mobile Internet Device platform, which packages processor, graphics and connectivity into a small enough bundle to give iPhone-powering Samsung a run for its money in ultra mobile products — and Intel has made it clear that it has its sights set on that very member of Apple’s lineup wit. The best news for dreamers that’ve been holding out for a true Newton successor all this time is that the chips provide plenty of juice for a UMPC-type device should Apple choose to go down that path.

[Thanks, Mark]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

We already knew that UK motorists caught driving while texting (or vice-versa) could face a penalty of two whole years in the slammer, but now it seems that merely talking while controlling a motor vehicle could land you in the exact same predicament. Reportedly, British drivers caught chatting on a handset or sending an SMS while on the road “could be jailed” under new guidelines that are expected to be published. In the most extreme cases, they could be tagged with “dangerous driving, which carries a two-year maximum sentence and an unlimited fine.” Currently, these folks simply get slapped with an “automatic fine and three points on their license under the lesser charge of careless driving.” But honestly, it’s not like prison would be so bad for cellphone addicts — after all, we hear some cells over there actually provide service.

[Image courtesy of MotorTrend]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Nokia has patented a device designed specifically for gaming, with is a requirement for any serious portable console. Interestingly, the device “unfolds” to look like a PlayStation controller when in “game mode”. Otherwise, it folds back to have the footprint of a normal phone.

From the description, this device also has a cellphone function and a digital camera. Like most mini-computers, it will also be able to play movies and music files.

“…is a computer gaming console, input elements 121, 122 being provided for user input by the left hand of a user and input elements 123, 124 being provided for input by the right hand of user. The games are displayed on the display 110, but in other embodiments, the games can additionally or alternatively be provided for display on another electronic device associated with the device. In the present case, the device 100 also allows the user to make radiotelephone calls (e.g. using cellular telephone functionality), take pictures (camera on reverse of device 100 is not shown), and play recorded/streamed audio (e.g. music/speech etc).” (Patent description)

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Logitech has decided to sell its digital writing business to Destiny Wireless, a UK firm that is in the same business. There will be a transition period during which Logitech will manufacture electronic pens on Destiny Wireless behalf, until the latter can take over the manufacturing.

Logitech said that it will continue to support its customers – while the product is under warranty. This working makes me wonder what kind of software support customers should expect in the future… [press release]

Digital pens never really took off, but strangely, they have been back in the spotlight recently, with Nokia’s SU-27W and the Fly Fusion.

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