New Trailer for Disney's 'Cinderella' Casts a Spell

 Unlike Disney's Sleeping Beauty reimagining Maleficent, their live-action version of Cinderella seems to be taking a more traditional approach. Granted, it's tradition dressed up in lavish visual effects but for the most part the story is the one we're familiar with, and there's nothing wrong with that.

A new trailer for the magical fairy tale has been released, and it's easily the most lavish film Kenneth Branagh has ever directed. Lily James takes on the titular role with Cate Blanchett vamping it up as her evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and Helena Bonham Carter as her Fairy Godmother. While mostly following the same beats as the earlier trailer, this international cut does offer some glimpses of new footage, putting more emphasis on Blanchett who looks like the real scene-stealer. Couldn't Disney find a way to crossover Jolie's Maleficent with Blanchett's Tremaine? Somehow? Make it happen, Mouse House.

Also starring Richard Madden, Holliday Grainger, Sophie McShera, Hayley Atwell, and Stellan Skarsgard, Cinderella casts its spell on March 13th.

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First Trailer for Disney's Live-Action 'Cinderella' starring Lily James and Cate Blanchett

If the $1B earned by Alice in Wonderland taught Disney anything, it's that there is a a whole new market to be tapped into by remaking fairy tale classics. And so we've seen them jump into the genre with both feet, bringing us Maleficent earlier this year, adapting The Jungle Book and the upcoming Beauty and the Beast. That's really just the tip of the iceberg, though, continuing next year with Cinderella, and the dazzling first trailer for it has arrived.

Directed by and co-starring Kenneth Branagh (Thor) with up 'n comer Lily James in the title role, the film seems to be a straight retelling of the familiar story, not a total reimagining like Maleficent was.  Cate Blanchett stars as the wicked stepmother Lady Tremaine, Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) is Prince Charming, Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother, plus supporting roles for Branagh's Marvel pals Stellan Skarsgard and Hayley Atwell.

Cinderella opens next year on March 13th.

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First Look at Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter in 'Suffragette'

As the issue of voting rights is suddenly and worryingly back in discussion, the timing of a film like Suffragette couldn't be better.  Starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff (The Magdalene Sisters), Brendan Gleeson, Meryl Streep, and Ben Whishaw, it chronicles the beginnings of the suffrage movement in the U.K. and the women, led by Emmeline Pankhurst (Streep) who were behind it.

The full synopsis and the first image have been released, giving us a look at Mulligan, Carter, and Duff rallying the troops. The duo of writer Abi Morgan (Shame) and director Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane) are behind this one, which seems on paper to be a perfect late-season awards contender. But at this point there is no release date and it could slip into 2015. Check out the plot below...

SUFFRAGETTE is a thrilling drama that tracks the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State. These women were not primarily from the genteel educated classes, they were working women who had seen peaceful protest achieve nothing. Radicalized and turning to violence as the only route to change, they were willing to lose everything in their fight for equality - their jobs, their homes, their children and their lives. MAUD was one such foot soldier. The story of her fight for dignity is as gripping and visceral as any thriller, it is also heart-breaking and inspirational.

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Helena Bonham Carter Returns as the Red Queen in 'Through the Looking Glass'

It looks like Disney is putting the old band back together for the Alice in Wonderland sequel, Through the Looking Glass. Mia Wasikowska is returning as Alice, Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter will be there, and now so is Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen.

Tim Burton, on the other hand, is out as director with James Bobin at the helm. Linda Woolverton, who wrote the first $1B-grossing film, is writing the screenplay which is being kept under wraps for now. It doesn't appear to be based on any one of Lewis Carroll's novels, just as Burton's film was something of an original.  Sacha Baron Cohen is said to be in talks for a villain role, perhaps by the side of the Red Queen herself.

Through the Looking Glass hits theaters May 27th 2016. [Variety]

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Review: 'The Lone Ranger', Starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer

Disney doesn't put the Pirates of the Caribbean think tank on just any ol' thing. When the combination of Johnny Depp, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Gore Verbinski get together it’s with the intention of crafting another $1B franchise, and that's exactly what the hopes for The Lone Ranger are. And hey, maybe Disney will get what they want, because there's very little difference to be found between either. Depp does good quirk, Verbinski does big action, the jokes are plentiful but not necessarily funny, the running time is 40 minutes too long, and despite being an origin story on the iconic Western hero you'll still be asking "Who was that masked man?" when all is said and done.

The chief problem makes itself known immediately, as the film opens in 1933 San Francisco, a precocious young boy dressed as the titular ranger makes his way through a traveling circus, coming upon an old Native American exhibit. The Indian mannequin turns out to be very much alive, an aged Tonto (Depp) as it turns out, and who takes the opportunity to recount his very first meetings with The Lone Ranger and their earliest adventures. Bouncing back and forth to this older Tonto does to the film's pacing what a broken hoof would do to the Ranger's horse, Silver. Already saddling us with a bloated 2 1/2 runtime, the non-linear approach makes it feel like 3 1/2, without adding anything of worth.

Not that it would have mattered much because the meat of the story...well, there isn't much meat to it and what little is there is painfully dull. Justin Haythe is credited with the script but it's really 'Pirates' scribes Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott whose fingerprints are all over it, and storytelling really isn't their bag. Depp was able to cover up the emptiness of their writing when Jack Sparrow was still a totally unique character, but his Tonto is so familiar that it's not going to hide anything. In his leading man bid, Armie Hammer is naive lawman John Reid, who returns to his southwest hometown where his brother Dan (a ruggedly charismatic James Badge Dale) is the baddest Texas Ranger in town. After he's killed by the heart-munching Butch Cavendish (a filthy and gross William Fichtner), John teams up with the eccentric and clearly insane Tonto to get justice. But what does justice mean for someone like John? His brother had a "shoot first" approach to the legal process, and Tonto certainly has his own ideas, but John's journey will have him changing his thoughts on due process in a major way.

You can feel the strains of franchise building in the relationship between The Lone Ranger and Tonto. It's the latter who we learn the most about, delving into his past in a way that has never been done before. It's mildly interesting to discover why he wears a dead bird on his head, which he constantly is feeding for some goofy reason, and why he's such a proponent for vigilante justice. But the further they go back, the more Tonto looks like a psycho rather than a guy with an off brand sense of humor. The distinction matters, and there are far too many moments where Tonto is more disturbing than funny. He still gets better treatment than the Ranger, who we learn almost nothing about other than that he once had a thing for his dead brother's widow (Ruth Wilson), and she still has one for him.  Wait, isn't this movie called The Lone Ranger? Shouldn't it maybe be about him? Just a little? Mostly we get the Ranger and Tonto jumping from one sticky situation to another, with lots of stuff happening but little of it engaging. There's some good comedic mileage out of Tonto's utter lack of respect for the Ranger, who he feels should have died and his brother Dan resurrected.

Hammer plays the straight man beautifully opposite Depp, most of the film walking a line between professorial pantywaist and the dashing hero we know he'll turn out to be. Depp's deadpan interpretation of Tonto sounds like it was ripped from old episodes of Daniel Boone, and those who openly complained about his being cast in the role (Depp claims Native American heritage that hasn't been proven) will probably find reason to take issue. Fortunately there are better portrayals that emerge later in the film, at least for a few minutes before white man greed interferes with their simple way of life. Women are basically a non-factor in this masculine Old West world, with Wilson having little to do but be a potential target for the Ranger's enemies. Most egregiously, Helena Bonham Carter is completely wasted as a brothel owner who gives new meaning to the phrase "killer legs".

Tonally a nightmare, broad comedy clashes with a subplot involving the white man's slaughter of the Native American population. There's a great deal of violence, more gruesome than one would expect from a Disney film, and sometimes it's played up for laughs when other times we're expected to find it sobering. A lot of this can be forgiven because everything looks so damn good, easily the best work Verbinski has done, and it's clear he took his experience directing the brilliant animated western Rango and put it to good use. Everything looks authentic and gorgeous, from the saddlebags to the tumbleweeds, captured beautifully with an incredible level of attention. Verbinski pushed the budget well past its limit, and it shows in two amazing bookend train sequences. The opening scene promises adventure on a massive scale that we never truly get. The final one, a dizzying dual-track battle set to The Lone Ranger's iconic William Tell Overture, ends the film on an exquisitely energetic note.

What it boils down to is that this is meant to be the first chapter in a bigger story, and unfortunately it was written like one. Overlong and needlessly convoluted, The Lone Ranger lacks the adventure needed to make the 1930s radio and TV hero a modern day action star.

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Helena Bonham Carter Is The Fairy Godmother in 'Cinderella'

When it comes to playing quirky, eccentric character, Helena Bonham Carter is one of the best around. But she's also remarkably diverse, able to play a regal queen in The King's Speech and a shabby bottom-feeder in Les Miserables. It sounds like she'll have a chance to show her range yet again as part of Disney's live-action Cinderella.

Carter will wave her magic wand as the Fairy Godmother to the fairy tale princess, portrayed by Lily James. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the film also stars Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother, Richard Madden as Prince Charming, with the cruel stepsisters played by Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera. It sounds as if the Fairy Godmother will have a little more to do in this version, also spending time as an old beggar watching over Cinderella in secret.

I can imagine some fierce scenes between Carter and Blanchett. Hopefully they get the chance to show off a little bit. Filming on Cinderella begins later this year.[THR]

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An American legend rises in the latest trailer for 'The Lone Ranger'

There's a little over a month until Disney's The Lone Ranger gallops into town, and does it feel like the film is already old news? Disney has an unknown quantity on their hands, one that could just as easily bomb as be a Pirates of the Caribbean level hit.  Johnny Depp is back in another quirky role playing the Native American sidekick Tonto, joined by his 'Pirates' director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. So it has that working in its favor. On the other hand, Armie Hammer isn't a proven star as the titular hero, and The Lone Ranger property is one most people aren't really familiar with, plus is set in a genre with a shaky box office history.

What should be the final trailer has been released, and it's more of the energetic action and snappy humor that should be familiar to 'Pirates' fans, only with a lot more horses and tumbleweeds. Also starring Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale, and Ruth Wilson, The Lone Ranger opens on July 3rd.


The Lone Ranger - Trailer / Bande-Annonce #6 [VO|HD1080p] by Lyricis

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New international trailer for 'The Lone Ranger'

Disney ran into a number of budgetary headaches when it comes to The Lone Ranger, which isn't really a surprise since Gore Verbinski is notorious for his overspending. The script was rewritten and certain large action sequences dropped in order to pare down costs, but as we've seen in two trailers already there are more than enough crazy sequences to keep the film exciting. A new international trailer has been released which puts all of the big weapons, stunts, and buddy humor on full display.

Starring Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the titular gunslinger, the film still looks like Pirates of the Caribbean in the Old West. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just the familiar sort of energetic, family-ready action we've become accustomed to from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Co-starring Barry Pepper, Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale, William Fichtner, and Helena Bonham Carter (complete with leg cannons!), The Lone Ranger gallops into theaters on July 3rd.

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1st full trailer for 'The Lone Ranger' with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer

The teaser trailer that debuted for The Lone Ranger a couple of months ago was probably different than what many were expecting. Considering it reunites all of the principle players from the Pirates of the Caribbean team, including the writers, director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and star Johnny Depp, it suggested a much harder edge and darker tone, which at least for me was worth getting excited about. Now the first full trailer has been released, and much of what was promising about it remains intact, albeit with a touch more humor.

Clearly designed to be more reminisicent of the 'Pirates' movies, this one takes every opportunity to remind you of the nearly $4B franchise. There's a bit more slapstick to the comedy, and it looks like Armie Hammer will get to carry his share of it as the titular gunslinger. He's actually more of the focus here than Depp, but we get to see plenty of him as the Native American sidekick, Tonto. It's another showy, Jack Sparrow-esque role for Depp, and I'm betting Disney will swing the attention back to him as the release date draws nearer.

All in all the film looks great, the much talked about train sequence looks like the sort of big set piece Verbinski is good at, and after a troubled production Disney probably has a huge hit on their hands. Co-starring Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson, Barry Pepper, and William Fichtner, The Lone Ranger rides into town on July 3rd.

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The first trailer for 'The Lone Ranger' is here!

With a calamitous shoot finally completed, Disney has spent this week building up the hype for next summer's The Lone Ranger with two sets of images released and yesterday's poster reveal. The film reunites the entirety of the Pirates of the Caribbean team, with Johnny Depp slipping into the showy role of Tonto, Gore Verbinski directing, Jerry Bruckheimer producing, and a script by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot. Can they recapture the same magic as before and launch another $1B franchise?

The first trailer for The Lone Ranger has been released, although for those who attended Comic-Con they will recognize it as the same footage from the Disney panel. It's actually a pretty impressive clip, and Verbinski, who is a devoted fan of the Western genre, has given the film a much harder edge than I think many will be expecting. That said, when Depp goes into his "There will come a time, Kemosabe" routine, it sounds a little bit silly, and the door seems wide open for the same sort of bouncy and easily digestible action that the 'Pirates' flicks were famous for. There's a lot less of Depp, and plenty of Hammer as the titular masked hero, which should appease those who felt the latter would be shuffled into the background.

There's still the potential for this to be the disaster all of the production troubles hint at it being, but this trailer is pretty good. Expect a higher quality version to be released later today. The Lone Ranger opens on July 3rd 2013.....[CBM]

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Tom Wilkinson rejoins The Lone Ranger

One of the side effects of the delays that struck The Lone Ranger as Disney squashed the bloated production before putting it back on the schedule, is that a number of the in demand supporting cast had to find other stuff to do.  One of those was Tom Wilkinson, who had agreed to be part of the film back in June, but left when it looked like it would never get off the ground. Well now that all sides are happy and the ball is rolling again, Deadline reports that Wilkinson is back, and he may not be alone.


The film reunites the Pirates of the Caribbean team of star Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and director Gore Verbinski in a reimagining of the famous gunslinger's adventures. Armie Hammer will play the masked hero, while Depp is his Native American sidekick, Tonto. Wilkinson will play Latham Cole, an evil railroad tycoon.

There are still other cast members who have yet to be brought back but are expected to return. Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale, and Dwight Yoakem are part of that list. Helena Bonham Carter is probably the most important one, and it remains unclear if she'll come back or not. In recent weeks she's been circling a role in Warner Brothers' live-action Akira, just the other day stating that she hadn't made up her mind on what she'll do next.

The Lone Ranger is set to open on May 31st 2013.

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Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter offered roles in Akira

While talks with Garrett Hedlund(Tron: Legacy) to star in Warner Brothers' live-action Akira are still underway, that hasn't stopped them from going full force on two other crucial roles. Twitch reports that Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter have been made offers to join the film as The Colonel and Lady Miyako respectively. Obviously this being at the offer stage means the studio is serious about adding them, perhaps because Hedlund isn't exactly a proven commodity as a big name star. Sure, Tron: Legacy turned out to be a minor hit, but he wasn't exactly the reason why.

The Colonel is probably the main antagonist of the story, outside of Tetsuo. He's the head of the secret government program designed to gauge the psychic ability of their test subjects. Back when the film was first announced, Morgan Freeman had been rumored for the role.

Lady Miyako was once a test subject herself, but joins the resistance movement against the government, becoming one of Kaneda's most loyal allies.

Jaume Collet-Serra(Orphan) is directing, based on a script recently revised by Steve Kloves(Harry Potter). As of now the plan is to kick off production on the first of two films early next year.

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Alice in Wonderland teaser trailer in glorious HD!

Yeah, it was leaked out a few days ago, but all those sites got it yanked. That's why we waited. Plus we didn't want that cheap print copy that everybody was gawkin' at lookin' like it was made out of vaseline.

John and I talked about the trailer a little bit while taping the show last night, and I stand by my point that the film looks spectacular in virtually every way imaginable....except for Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter. As always when it comes to Burton and Depp, they go too far with his character. The same way Burton didn't reign Depp in during Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the film suffered because of it. The Mad Hatter here looks like a friggin' zombie circus clown. Everybody else is so pitch perfect, from the part-CGI Elena Bonham Carter as the Queen to the terrifying smirk of the Cheshire Cat. Still, I can't wait for this. It looks like a ton of fun, just see for yourself.



Alice in Wonderland is set to release on March 5, 2010.

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