videobox_lede

The new trailer for “Ender’s Game” received a prominent rollout online Tuesday afternoon, with director Gavin Hood (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”), producer Robert Orci and star Asa Butterfield participating in a Google+ hangout that coincided with the premiere of the promotional spot for the sci-fi adventure adapted from the novel by Orson Scott Card. Set in a near future in which an alien race known as the Formics have attacked Earth, the movie stars Butterfield as Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, a bright boy who’s recruited to help humanity face future threats. Guided in his growth by Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford), Ender advances from Battle School to Command School and soon finds himself under the tutelage of the legendary Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley, the Oscar-winning actor who’s getting a lot of screen time in fantastic films these days). “They know our strategies. […]

The latest trailer for “The Lone Ranger” is out, and it’s heavy on frontier action, with scenes of speeding locomotives, arid Western vistas, shootouts and one giant explosion, not to mention lots of chummy camaraderie between Armie Hammer’s title character and Johnny Depp’s Tonto. A cheeky Helena Bonham Carter also turns in an appearance. The new clip helps relate the story of how the masked man came to acquire his white hat, his best friend and his thirst for justice and suggests the same kind of comedy-inflected action-adventure that has helped make the Depp-led “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise so valuable for Disney. Set for release July 3, “The Lone Ranger” sees Depp team up again with his frequent collaborator, director Gore Verbinski. The pair worked on three of Disney’s ultra-successful “Pirates” films in addition to the acclaimed animated release […]

Tom Cruise was on hand Monday night in New York for an early screening of his new Universal film “Oblivion,” hosted by Hero Complex, and afterward, in a special interactive Q&A simulcast to nine IMAX theaters across the country, the star talked at length about his interest in making the film, citing in particular filmmaker Joseph Kosinksi, calling the writer-director seated beside him “a world creator” and a “true visionary.” Based on a 2010 graphic novel Kosinski penned with comic book writer Arvid Nelson, “Oblivion,” which opens Friday, takes place on a future Earth left decimated by an alien invasion. Former Marine Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of a few people left on the planet to mop up after the war. The movie, written by Karl Gajdusek and Michael deBruyn, also stars Morgan Freeman as a 102-year-old insurgency leader, Melissa […]

Daniel Clowes draws lonely weirdos, sulking man-beasts, leering hipsters and human canisters for a savage ennui. They live in numbed-out neighborhoods beneath skylines of spinster gray and seasick blue. And, yes, for 25 years now, all of it has been a wonderful sight to behold. Clowes is the guest on the latest episode of “Hero Complex: The Show,” which you can find here below or over at Chris Hardwick’s mighty Nerdist Channel on YouTube. This interview was conducted at Meltdown Comics and it veers across the considerable career of Clowes — not unlike the recently released monograph “The Art of Daniel Clowes” (Abrams ComicArts, $40) or the tie-in exhibit, “Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes,” now underway at the Oakland Museum of California. Clowes is best known for “Ghost World” and “Art School Confidential,” both of which were adapted to film by director Terry Zwigoff. For 2001′s “Ghost […]

Peter Weller is most famous for playing the stoic heroes in outlandish sci-fi but the man definitely has a crazy button — and Denzel Washington hit that button with his Oscar-winning performance in “Training Day.” If you want to see for yourself, go to the 11:35 minute mark of this video as Weller rants about actors who grab the wheel of a scene and promptly wreck it. There’s nothing meek about Weller, who looks like the leader of a Mayan motorcycle gang and has harsh words for the upcoming “RoboCop” remake (that’s at the 8:20 mark) but an inspiring passion for art, the lessons of antiquity and the possibilities of Method acting. This is the 25th anniversary of “RoboCop,” Weller’s signature role, but he also made his mark in “Naked Lunch” and the cult hit “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across […]

HERO COMPLEX: THE SHOW Malcolm McDowell was on a roll, riffing (and ripping) on “The Avengers,” “Star Trek,” Stanley Kubrick, Peter Sellers and Hollywood. Then he caught himself. “This is going to be on the bloody Internet isn’t it? I keep forgetting about this [expletive] Internet.” Well, the Internet isn’t going to forget this interview anytime soon. The third episode of “Hero Complex: The Show” is a special “on-stage” edition with the firebrand actor from “A Clockwork Orange,” “Time After Time,” “Star Trek: Generations,” “If…”  and  “Caligula.” McDowell, soon to be filming “Monster Butler” in Scotland, served up plenty of dish too, weighing in on “The Avengers” (“mindless crap”), Patrick Stewart in “Trek” films (might as well “watch paint dry”) and his perspective on killing Capt. James T. Kirk (“I did them a favor”). He also spoke at length about the legacy […]

  Here’s some nifty video from Ridley Scott’s appearance at the recent Hero Complex Film Festival in which he talks about the success of Sigourney Weaver amid the austere suspense of “Alien,” and the surprising circumstances of his first meeting with Harrison Ford to discuss a film called “Blade Runner.” The festival was a tremendous success and we’re going to do it again next year. I have a few filmmakers in mind already, but I would love to hear who you’d like to see up there on the stage and what classic films fit the bill. – Geoff Boucher RECENT AND RELATED Ridley Scott wants to make two ‘Alien’ prequels Ridley Scott: ‘Blade Runner’ echoes in ‘a very special way’ Christopher Nolan has a dim view of 3-D  Hero Complex Film Festival covered far and wide ‘Alien’ writer Dan O’Bannon remembered Greatest sci-fi heroine? Ripley, […]