All the lucky folks at SXSW in Austin this week are getting treated to first looks at some pretty cool movies (including Kick-Ass, which apparently was pretty packed). One movie that isn’t screening at SXSW but made an appearance anyway is Nimrod Antal’s Predators. Since producer Robert Rodriguez lives in Austin, it only made sense for him to premiere the very first footage from the film at the festival. Fortunately, for those of us who aren’t at SXSW, they have also put some of the footage online for all to see.

It’s not really a trailer per se, it’s more of a two-minute featurette that includes Rodriguez talking about the movie interspersed with some brief clips from the movie. There’s not really that much to say about it, but it’s definitely cool to see Laurence Fishburne and Adrien Brody on screen. It seems like it should live up to the Predator name… at least more than the AvP series did. Check out the sneak peek after the jump, and for more info stay tuned to the official website. Predators hits theatres on July 9th.

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New York Press writer Armond White has made a name for himself over the years as a film critic whose opinion consistently runs against the grain. He was one of the few critics to give negative reviews to such movies as Up, Precious, and District 9, meanwhile he heaped praise on Norbit, Dance Flick and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This week he has been at the center of some controversy once again, as he was apparently uninvited from a press screening of Noah Baumbach’s new film Greenberg, under orders from Baumbach, producer Scott Rudin, and their publicist. White was incensed and called for other critics to boycott the film, referring to the act as “infringing upon my First Amendment rights as a journalist”. But was White banned because of his propensity for negative reviews, or is there more to the story?

It turns out that White had some harsh words for Baumbach’s previous films The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding calling them “two of the decade’s most repellent movies”, and in an earlier review even went so far as to imply that Baumbach’s mother should have had an abortion. (Classy.) White apparently has a long-standing feud with Baumbach’s mother, former Village Voice writer Georgia Brown, who he once accused of being racist. Baumbach’s publicist decided that White shouldn’t be among the first group of critics to see the film, but that they would invite him to another screening later in the week. So is anyone in the wrong here?

On the one hand, critics need to be given access to movies so that they can do their jobs. On the other hand, critics are also expected to remain professional and somewhat objective, and not carry a grudge against a filmmaker. Studios are perfectly within their rights to hold back certain movies from critics when they know that they will probably be eviscerated anyway. Is this really any different? Does it hurt critics or moviegoers if reviewers are not given full access to every movie? Were the producers of Greenberg right to ban White based on his history? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.

With Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland quietly managing the sixth highest opening weekend ever (and the highest opening ever for a non-sequel), you better believe that studios are standing up and taking notice. Everyone in Hollywood is now scrambling to find a fantasy fairy tale of their own to re-imagine in digital 3-D, and it looks like The Wizard of Oz is the next classic that just might end up getting a facelift. The L.A. Times reports that there are competing Wizard of Oz remakes currently in development at two different studios — one of which involves Spawn creator Todd McFarlane.

McFarlane’s Oz has been percolating over at Warner Brothers for a while now, a darker version of the tale that draws inspiration from his Twisted Land of Oz toy line. Dakota Fanning was rumoured as Dorothy at one point, although that was never really confirmed. The project has a script written by Josh Olson (A History of Violence) and is being produced by Basil Iwanyk (Clash of the Titans), and could soon become a high priority at the WB.

On the other hand, New Line is also working on a slightly more traditional take on The Wizard of Oz, written by Darren Lemke (Shrek Forever After, Jack the Giant Killer) and produced by the same people who did Twilight. It’s probably only a matter of time before one of these starts moving forward, but is this really a good idea considering that the 1939 version is considered by many to be a masterpiece? Which version of The Wizard of Oz would you prefer to see?

Previously on LOST is a weekly column recapping and analyzing each episode from the final season of Lost. (Warning: May contain spoilers!)

True to its title, “Dr. Linus” offered up a heavy dose of Ben. Michael Emerson has brought a lot to the show since his introduction in season two. He may have been introduced as air-ballooner Henry Gale, but the character has grown into one of the most notorious villains in television history. This episode focused on showing the character in a different light.

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James Cameron’s Avatar may be the highest-grossing movie of all-time, but apparently that’s still not enough for 20th Century Fox. They want more! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox is considering a second theatrical run for Avatar sometime this summer. They believe that the movie could have made even more money if it had not been knocked out of so many digital 3-D and IMAX theatres when Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland opened last weekend. They may have a point… Avatar still has not fallen out of the top 5 on the weekend box office charts, and also experienced a sudden increase in 3-D ticket sales just prior to the release of Alice. Clearly people are still very interested in taking trips to Pandora.

In order to sweeten the deal, Cameron is also planning to add some additional footage to the film. Apparently there are about 40 minutes worth of deleted scenes that could potentially be restored for the new cut; the only problem is that analog IMAX theatres cannot show movies longer than 170 minutes. Since the original cut of Avatar was already 162 minutes long, we probably won’t get more than 10 minutes of new scenes. Personally I’m hoping for that deleted Na’vi sex scene, but it sounds like we’re probably just going to get some native festival instead. Either way, the DVD and Blu-ray release of Avatar may get pushed back because of this, which would probably be helpful for manufacturers who are in the process of prepping the first wave of 3-D TVs. What do you think… would you pay to see an extended version of Avatar in theatres, or are you all Na’vi’d out?

We’ve seen a handful of movies in recent years that combine short films from well-known directors, usually themed around a particular city (ie. Paris Je T’aime, Tokyo!, New York, I Love You), but for some reason the concept has rarely been applied to comedy on the big screen. It would seem like a great fit, especially considering the continued interest in sketch comedy shows and the proliferation of comedy shorts on the internet thanks to sites like Funny or Die. This week, however, Deadline New York brings us word on a massive untitled comedy in development that will feature segments directed by approximately 17 different filmmakers and involving an all-star cast.

The project has been in the works for a few years now, getting shuffled between multiple studios, but it has now landed at Relativity, who hope to have shooting wrapped in May. So far, directors include Pete Farrelly, Brett Ratner, Elizabeth Banks, Bob Odenkirk, and Griffin Dunne, with such cast members as Banks, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Gerard Butler, Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Patrick Warburton. The segments are typically shot on the fly; Farrelly’s segment The Catch was filmed with Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet in New York during Jackman’s day off from a Broadway play. The film is expected to stick to an R-rating. Although it’s likely to be hit and miss, I do think this is a great idea, and it will hopefully recreate the schizophrenic appeal of such films as Kentucky Fried Movie and UHF. I’m looking forward to hearing more about this intriguing project in the near future.

Well if anything has a shot at beating Alice in Wonderland at the box office this weekend, it’s probably the Jay Baruchel comedy She’s Out of My League, or possibly the Robert Pattinson / Emilie de Ravin romantic drama Remember Me, although that would clearly be a tall order for either one. Paul Greengrass’ latest film Green Zone starring Matt Damon is also a contender, but seems to be suffering from poor reviews and general lack of interest. Other new movies in theatres this weekend include the Forest Whitaker comedy Our Family Wedding, and in limited release we have Bong Joon-Ho’s Mother and a documentary about screenwriting called Tales from the Script. Will you be checking out anything this weekend?

• She’s Out of My League
• Green Zone
• Remember Me
• Our Family Wedding (semi-wide)
• Mother (limited)
• The Exploding Girl (limited)
• Children of Invention (limited)
• Tales from the Script (limited)

A new full trailer for director Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood has appeared online, starring the gifted (but brash) Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. The film takes the form of Gladiator set in a 13th century universe, with even the same actor playing the protagonist. However, although the two films are strikingly similar, there’s a Braveheart-esque feel to this that I particularly find exciting. The trailer itself is marvelous. Co-starring Matthew Macfadyen, William Hurt, Oscar Isaac Mark Strong, Lea Seydoux, Scott Grimes, Alan Doyle, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, and Max von Sydow, this action-adventure is slated for release on May 14th.

“Robin Hood chronicles the life of an expert archer, previously interested only in self-preservation, from his service in King Richard’s army against the French. Upon Richard’s death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from the corruption of a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation, where he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marion, a woman skeptical of the identity and motivations of this crusader from the forest. Hoping to earn the hand of Maid Marion and salvage the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. Together, they begin preying on the indulgent upper class to correct injustices under the sheriff.

With their country weakened from decades of war, embattled from the ineffective rule of the new king and vulnerable to insurgencies from within and threats from afar, Robin and his men heed a call to ever greater adventure. This unlikeliest of heroes and his allies set off to protect their country from slipping into bloody civil war and return glory to England once more.”

See the marvelous trailer after the jump.

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With The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture last weekend and Green Zone hitting theatres this weekend, I’ve been thinking about modern war movies and how there haven’t been a ton of noteworthy ones released in recent years. Keep in mind, I’m talking about movies that focus on post-Vietnam conflicts here, not modern movies about old wars. I guess part of the reason is that modern warfare is a touchy subject, but also, a lot of modern war movies often blur into political thriller territory. At any rate, I thought I’d put the question out there and see what you guys can come up with. Cast your vote in this week’s poll, and then feel free to list any other decent modern war movies you can think of in the comments below.