Well folks here it is, the most anticipated reveal of the entire Comic Con weekend… the very first teaser trailer for Saw VI! No seriously, I hear people are actually excited about this. Personally I don’t get it. I mean, they do realize this is part 6, right? Hasn’t the Saw series become a parody of itself by now?

I guess there are now different people taking on the identity of Jigsaw to keep the “game” alive. Or maybe that started a couple movies ago… who knows. They have also debuted a clip from the movie featuring some weird contraption that is like a cross between Russian Roulette and Musical Chairs. Doesn’t this feel like a scene out of Scary Movie 6 rather than Saw VI? I don’t know, maybe it’s just because it’s out of context… but probably not. Saw VI is directed by Kevin Greutert, the editor of all five previous Saw flicks; it hits theatres on October 23rd, 2009. Check out the teaser trailer after the jump.

Update: The clip has been pulled. Apparently the MPAA didn’t agree with it being open to people of all age groups.

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This weekend, Jaume Collet-Serra’s horror film Orphan hits theatres, and while it may seem like a story we’ve seen far too many times before, that is precisely what has a number of special interest groups up in arms. Various adoption and foster care groups in the United States are calling for a boycott of the film, which they feel depicts adopted children in an unflattering light. They are concerned that the portrayal of an “evil” orphan on screen will only reinforce negative stereotypes about the risks and anxieties that parents feel when going through the process of adoption. Does this sound ridiculous or what?

I’m always amazed by how many special interest groups there are in the world, and how almost every movie that is released nowadays manages to upset at least one of them. Clearly this is a fictional story and I seriously doubt that anyone would make a connection between this movie and the decision to adopt a child in real life. Still, I guess I can see how some people might be alarmed by the line in the trailer that says, “It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own.” I wouldn’t be surprised if this line ends up being cut from the movie. A spokesman for Warners also said they are thinking about adding a pro-adoption message at the end of the DVD release of the film. What do you think, is there any validity to these concerns, or is this just another special interest group clamoring for publicity? In case you haven’t seen it, I’ve embedded the trailer after the jump.

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Warner Brothers have been pretty tight-lipped about the upcoming Wachowski Brothers/James McTeigue action flick Ninja Assassin so far, but this week at the San Diego Comic Con they’ve finally tipped their hand by unveiling the very first trailer over at MTV. This is the same team who brought us V For Vendetta, and this time they’re telling the story of a shadowy killer who seeks revenge on the Clan that trained him.

The movie features Korean pop star Rain in the lead role, and he looks like anything but a pop star here as he is covered in blood wielding all kinds of shiny weaponry and pushing his body to the limit. I trust the Wachowskis to offer some decent eye candy and impressive action set pieces, but my main concern is the use of flashy CG effects. If a movie like this is selling itself on how hardcore it is, it will unfortunately have to compete with stuff like Ong Bak 2 and Chocolate. Hopefully they can find a good balance between the high-tech tricks and back to basics martial arts stuff. Check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think. Ninja Assassin hits theatres on November 25th.

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Last week’s Film Junk poll stretched beyond movies and into their marketing, and we asked you to choose the movie that had the best viral campaign to date. Coming out on top was Cloverfield, followed closely by The Blair Witch Project — two movies where the marketing played an obvious and essential role in their success. The Dark Knight and District 9 also received quite a few votes, while the rest of the choices were clumped together near the bottom of the pile. I’m a bit surprised Watchmen didn’t get more recognition, but perhaps all the comic book fans voted for The Dark Knight. Do you agree with these results?

1. Cloverfield — 27.7%
2. The Blair Witch Project — 25.8%
3. The Dark Knight — 15.4%
4. District 9 — 14.8%
5. Borat — 4.9%
6. Snakes on a Plane — 4.6%
7. Funny People — 2.5%
8. Watchmen — 1.5%
8. Tropic Thunder — 1.5%
10. Transformers — 1.2%

A couple of months ago there were reports that Paul W.S. Anderson’s live action Castlevania movie was essentially dead in the water, which had most fans breathing a sigh of relief. At the time, Stomp The Yard director Sylvain White was lined up to direct, but he eventually left the project to shoot The Losers instead. Well, don’t get too comfortable folks, because it looks like Paul W.S. Anderson hasn’t given up on Simon Belmont just yet.

Bloody Disgusting has the exclusive scoop from Comic Con this week that Saw director James Wan has officially signed on to write and direct the Castlevania movie. This kind of makes sense in a way since the last person to do a rewrite on the script was Ian Jeffers, who also wrote the Wan-directed revenge flick Death Sentence. Wan had this to say:

“The thing I love about what Konami did with Castlevania, was taking the iconic Dracula mythology and Eastern-European setting, and retelling it with a Japanese pop-cultural sensibility… That’s the East-meets-West tone I want to visually expand on for the film. I’m thrilled by the opportunity to make a highly stylized, fantasy, action film that focuses on the gothic storyline and the cool, anime-like characters.”

While I wasn’t a big fan of the first Saw film, it sounds like he at least has an interesting vision for Castlevania. Just from that quote it shows that he’s thinking about a way to capture the style and atmosphere of the games, which is good news. Mostly I’m just glad that it’s in the hands of an actual horror director this time. Does this announcement change your mind about the Castlevania movie?

Head over to Bloody Disgusting to check out a teaser poster for the film as well.

Well it wasn’t supposed to debut until sometime tomorrow, but apparently Disney just couldn’t wait to unveil the first trailer for Tim Burton’s 3-D take on Alice in Wonderland. The trailer has arrived online a day early, and it looks pretty sweet! It’s the kind of thing that’s probably going to be a lot more impressive when you see it on the big screen in 3-D (there’s plenty of stuff flying at the screen), but I still like the look of the characters and the overall feel of the movie.

It’s certainly a lot more CG-heavy than most of Tim Burton’s previous work, as pretty much everything looks to be green-screened save for the actors. Burton was known for mostly using practical effects in the past, but he did experiment with a lot of digital environments recently in Sweeney Todd. Although this is really just a teaser trailer, it still shows off quite a few characters. It doesn’t appear to be as dark as I originally thought it might be, but it still looks like a lot of fun. What do you think? Alice in Wonderland hits theatres on March 5th, 2010. Check out the trailer after the jump.

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Once the Comic Con in San Diego gets rolling this weekend, I’m guessing there will be at least a few big announcements to be made, but even before the Con actually starts we’ve already got a pretty huge one to report: Sam Raimi has signed on to direct a World of Warcraft movie. It will be a live-action film, co-financed by Legendary Pictures and Warner Brothers, and overseen by The Dark Knight producer Charles Roven. Game developer Blizzard is also expected to have a fair amount of creative input.

There hadn’t really been much movement on the WoW movie since its initial announcement back in 2006. At one point Spielberg was rumoured to be in talks for the film, but that turned out to be completely bogus. The interesting thing with Sam Raimi is that not only does he have a huge following thanks to the Spider-Man and Evil Dead films, but he also has a background in fantasy having produced both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. He was also supposedly close to directing The Hobbit at one point. Either way it should be pretty interesting to see what he can do with a decent budget behind him. No word yet on who is writing the script though. What do you think about this announcement? Could World of Warcraft actually turn out to be a decent video game movie?

0:00 – Intro / Jay’s Documentary / In-House Stuff
9:05 – Headlines: First TIFF Titles Announced, Nicolas Cage and Cameron Diaz in The Green Hornet, Machete Casting Rumours, First Photo of ScarJo as Black Widow, Natalie Portman Joins Thor, Bruno Banned in the Ukraine, Emmy Nominations, Fox Recasting Futurama?
26:30 – Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
40:15 – Review: The Hurt Locker
50:07 – Trailer Trash: Whip It, I Love You Phillip Morris
58:58 – Other Stuff We Watched: I Love You Beth Cooper, American Gladiators, G.I. Joe, The Good Shepherd, Captain EO, Watchmen Blu-ray
1:48:25 – Junk Mail: Disturbing Movies, Following, Dream Reviews, Star Trek Series, Movies That Make You Hungry
2:11:15 – This Week’s DVD Releases
2:12:28 – Outro

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Director Kevin Smith’s extracurricular activities continue to be just as interesting (if not more interesting) than his feature films, and in addition to his upcoming Batman and Green Hornet comics, this September he will also be releasing his third book (not counting published screenplays). While some struggling writers may scoff at the fact that Smith has managed to land a book deal and make the New York Times Bestsellers list with minimum effort, I have to admit that I found his collection of blog entries, My Boring-Ass Life, to be oddly compelling. This time around, however, he’s not cheaping out by simply regurgitating more blog entries… nope, this time he’s regurgitating episodes of his podcast instead!

Shootin’ the Shit With Kevin Smith: The Best of the SModcast will reprint in script format some of the funniest and most memorable conversations between Smith and his pal Scott Mosier as previously heard on their podcast over the past couple of years. I like the idea, mainly because I’ve only been listening to the SModcast sporadically, and with the episodes now up to #89, a “greatest hits” seems quite relevant. There might be a little bit lost in the translation to text, but what would be even cooler is if they follow in the footsteps of Chris Anderson and release a free audiobook version that simply puts all the relevant clips together into one convenient MP3. Shootin’ the Shit With Kevin Smith hits stores on September 22nd, and you can currently check out a this little preview courtesy of Titan Books.

Not a ton of exciting movie posters released over the past week or so, but the first Prince of Persia posters are definitely worth a look, as is the cool motion poster for Saw VI. I like the Prince of Persia posters from a design standpoint but somehow they don’t quite suit the material.

Also this week, a strange poster for Tyler Perry’s latest film I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which pays tribute to Sam Peckinpah’s iconic poster for Straw Dogs, a Jim Carrey-esque UK quad for The Invention of Lying, and a completely blank poster for Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. Now that’s how you sell a movie!

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