I covered the first trailer for Confucius starring Chow Yun Fat back in early September, and now we have yet another glimpse at the historical epic. This HD trailer gives us a much better look at the scope of the film, as well as the many large-scale battles. Confucius was directed by Mei Hu, with a budget around $20 million.

This Chinese historical epic follows the recent trend of massive battle scenes rather than intently choreographed wuxia martial arts scenes. Personally, I’d like to see the return of CTHD style combat scenes, there has been an overpopulation of Jet Li-starring large scale battles lately and they have begun to mesh together.

We get a sampling of the film’s semi-supernatural scenes and lots of interesting visuals in this film, and it’s something I’m looking forward to seeing on the big screen.

Devindra Hardawar writes:

“Don’t expect any surprises from this film. Being a government project about one of the most revered philosophical figures in China, I don’t expect that Mei Hu will be able to take many risks with the material. (For another example of Chinese governmental influence on film, consider the ending of Hero). It’ll still probably be worth watching for the Chow factor alone.”

Confucius will be released in Chinese theaters on January 28, 2010. Check the HD trailer after the jump!

[Via /Film]

Warner Brothers leaked the International trailer for their upcoming sci-fi thriller “Inception”. This movie was covered by me a few months ago when the original teaser trailer was released which can be seen here:

From Director Christopher Nolan (Memento/Insomnia/The Dark Knight) comes a new teaser trailer for his Summer 2010 film named Inception. Although only a minute long and it doesn’t give a whole lot of storyline, we do learn that Leonardo DiCaprio stars, and there seems to be some badass gravity defying action scenes. Inception will also feature a score from Hans Zimmer (Gladiator/Black Hawk Down/The Last Samurai/Pirates of the Caribbean 3); from the short sample in the trailer it seems pretty intense. Inception is still filming in Paris and is expected to have a July 16th, 2010 release. Outlook for DiCaprio next year looks good.

Catch the NEW LEAKED French International Trailer for Inception followed by translation!

Translation:

Which is the most resilient parasite?
An idea.
A single idea coming from the human brain can build cities.
An idea can transform the world, and rewrite the rules.
That’s why I need to get a hold of it.
Never look in your memory, create completely new places.
They’re hiding something and we need to find out what it is.

[Title Card] “Your Mind”

We need to get out of here. It’s over.

[Title Card] “Is the scene of the crime”

That’s not how it was supposed to happen.

Wake me up. (At least that’s what it sounds like the woman is screaming at the end).

The trailer for Edward Norton’s Leaves of Grass pot comedy slipped past me a while ago. A few months back I did a write-up on Leaves of Grass, after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, which can be seen here. The film, which includes Norton playing dual-roles as identical brothers, seemed promising from the beginning and the trailer solidifies that belief. Check out the write up for more information on the film and the trailer after the jump!

“Unbeknown to me, until today, Edward Norton is playing dual-roles in an upcoming film called “Leaves of Grass”. Norton is playing both an Ivy-League classical philosophy professor and his own identical twin brother who is a small-time pot dealer with some big dreams. Scheduled for a Christmas 2009 release; this comedic thriller revolves around a scheme developed by the pot-selling Norton to take down a local drug lord, played by Richard Dreyfuss. The drug-dealing Norton cons his brother into coming back from east coast academia for the first time in over 20 years in order to use him as an alibi so he can commit a crime in a different state. As the film goes on several twists and turns are developed. Also starring Susan Sarandon, this movie will most likely draw some bigger box office numbers, due to the all-star cast and smart dialogue, during the winter season. Although a trailer has not yet been released, I will be uploading it as soon as possible. Check out the first image showcasing Norton playing both roles and the awesome movie poster.”

This fresh new trailer for Kevin Smith’s new comedy “Cop Out” was released only yesterday. Being distributed by Warner Brothers, which surprised me for not being another Miramax release, this comedy is only directed by Smith. “Cop Out”, formerly known as “A Couple of Dicks”, was written by first time feature writers Robb and Mark Cullen… known only for their work on TV shows Heist and Las Vegas.

Cop Out stars Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan as two NYPD cops who partake in a humorous chain of events while on the job. I can’t say that I agree with casting Tracy Morgan in this role, out of the countless other comedic black cops that could have played the role I would have much rather seen Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, or Chris Tucker in the part… Morgan’s slapstick humor and funny voices will guarantee this film receives a PG-13 rating, which doesn’t really adhere to Smith’s brand of humor. Actually from the trailer alone I can’t tell that Smith had anything to do with this film; I hope it isn’t another Smith flop, for his sake. Decide for yourself when you see the trailer after the jump! Catch Cop Out in theaters February 26, 2010.

The long awaited Iron Man 2 trailer has finally been released by Marvel, and it is stunning. Robert Downey Jr. makes an awesome comeback as billionaire playboy Tony Stark, a character you can’t help but love. The Iron Man saga is quickly turning into one of my favorite “comic based” movie series, it’s a little more risque than other comic interpretations from the past. The new trailer introduces the new villain “Whiplash,” played by Mickey Rourke, and “Black Widow,” played by Scarlett Johansson.

As long as this sequel can live up to the original Iron Man I will be very impressed. Downey Jr. brings an aspect to the character of Tony Stark better than any other actors could. If you’re like me and just can’t wait for this to be released check out Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a Downey Jr. comedy/mystery that was grossly underrated in 2005. To be honest, if this trailer was composed of the last 3 seconds alone… that would be enough to make me want to see this movie. Trailer (HD) after the jump.

Although the PS3 comes with 720p and 1080p support, some of the high definition downloadable content comes with a .mkv extension that isn’t accepted by the PS3. Rather than wasting time converting these files to lesser quality .divx or .avi formats, you can instead use this quick program to convert the files into a .m2ts format, lose no quality, and have your HD movies playing on your PS3 in under 2 minutes. This is all done quickly and easily with software called tsMuxeR. I’ll provide a detailed walkthrough regarding how to use the software.

• Download tsMuxeR from SmartLabs here.
• Extract the folder to wherever you’d like and run tsMuxeRGUI.exe.
• Make sure you are on the “Input” tab. Select “add” and find your media file you wish to convert.
• In the “Tracks” window there should be 1-2 tracks shown, make sure they are both left checked.
• Under the Output option (still on the Input tab), make sure that “M2TS muxing” is selected, M2TS is the format that the Playstation 3 can view.
• When all of this is complete your tsMuxeRGUI should look something like this:

• Click “Start Muxing” and your project will begin. This process will take anywhere from 1 second->90 seconds depending on the length of your file and the speed of your processor.
• tsMuxeR will play a nice little jingle to let you know when your project has finished.
• Load the new .m2ts file into your PS3 and watch it! Feel free to delete the old .mkv version of the file to save space.

Yesterday the trailer for a new action film called The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, and Mila Kunis was released. Although it is just another post-apocalyptic style action film (Pitch Black, The Postman, Resident Evil 2-3, I Am Legend) it seems to have a decent cast that will end up making or breaking this film. No one can deny that Denzel Washington is a strong actor and his work in previous action films like Crimson Tide and Training Day are some of the best I have ever seen. However, he is a little older now and I couldn’t help but thinking his role is typecasted for Vin Diesel. But hey, if I don’t have to see Vin Diesel in another movie that’s fine by me, I just hope they give Denzel’s character some depth so he gets a chance to shine. While the trailer doesn’t give a lot of insight to the plot of the movie, the general idea is that Washington’s character protects a book and Oldman’s character wants the book. Washington doesn’t seem to have a problem killing everyone that gets in his way, which is awesome too. Watch for this in theaters January 15, 2010.

I found this trailer for an upcoming comedy called “The Trotsky” that just debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. Trotsky stars Jay Baruchel, lead role of the Apatow-series Undeclared and supporting actor in movies such as Million Dollar Baby, Knocked Up, Fanboys, and Tropic Thunder. Baruchel plays a 17-year-old high school student with a strange obsession for assassinated Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. He actually believes he’s a reincarnated form of the previously deceased Trotsky and intends to mimic his life, and recreate monumental moments that Trotsky is known for while at his new high school. Directed by Jacon Tierney, creator of “Bon Cop Bad Cop”, this film recieved great attention and praise at TIFF but has yet to be picked up for distribution. Personally, I think the premise of the story is hilarious and all of Baruchel’s work from Apatow films and shows was fantastic. I hope this gets picked up soon, I’d love to see it in theaters before years end. Check the trailer and image after the jump!

Today I saw the first trailer for the film “Afterschool” by director Antonio Campos. After having been part of the official selection at Cannes, Berlin, SXSW, and New York film festivals it was finally picked up by IFCFilms for a October 1, 2009 release. However, it will become available OnDemand on September 30, 2009; a very strange move for a film that’s been critically acclaimed for all of 2009. This trailer that shows the gritty-dark side of youth in the media age, is making me really look forward to this intense thriller/drama.

Here is an excerpt from the official summary:

“A truly impressive new voice in American indie film, Antonio Campos arrives with “Afterschool”, a riveting look at the dark side of youth in the media age…Robert is a young American student at an elite East Coast preparatory school. When he accidentally captures on camera the horrific death of two girls, he’s tasked with memorializing their lives in a film meant to help speed up the school’s healing process. For some, this exercise only deepens the trauma.”

I was suprised that my PS3 didn’t have .srt file support for .avi/.m2ts/.wmv files directly out of the box. In the past, with my previous media centers, I have always had similar issues where I had to “hardcode” subs over the film, a process that took 25-30 minutes. I was initially devastated that this would be the same situation once again until I came across a program called AVIAddSubX. What AVIAddSubX does is converts your .avi file to a .divx file, a format that works by default with the PS3. It adds an actual subtitle track to the .avi file in less than 2 minutes. Here is a short step-by-step walkthrough regarding how to do this yourself.

• Download a program called AVIAddXSubs v9.3 from AfterDawn.
• Extract the AVIAddXSub folder to wherever you choose and run AVIAddXSubs.exe.
• Click the second tab in the AVIAddXSubs v9.3 window titled “Configuration 1″.
• Change the “Language Code” option to whatever language the subtitles you are adding are.
• Select whatever font you prefer (I stuck with default Verdana)
• Select an appropriate font size and color for your TV (I used 18 font size and a light yellow for the color).
• Select NTSC under “Subtitle Bitmap”.
• When you are done with the “Configuration 1″ tab it should look similar to this. You’ll only have to do steps 2 and 4-8 once
  
  

  
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• Next you’ll want to go back to the “Create XSUB or Idx/Sub” tab.
• This next step is very important, you need to make sure that your subtitle file and .avi file have the same name (except for extensions) and are located in the same folder. Just like this:

  




• In the “Create XSUB or Idx/Sub” tab click the “…” button next to the blank space for the “File Name(s) (.avi or .srt or .idx). Or Folder(s)” section.
• Select your .avi file you wish to add subtitles to.
• Select your output folder.
• Click start, wait anywhere from 30sec->120seconds depending on the length and size of the file, the text window will display a confirmation when the subtitles are done being added.
• Load the file through your PS3 media center and hit triangle when it begins to play, scroll over to subtitle options and activate the new subtitles you just added!

If you have any problems finding subtitles for your video files check out sites like SubScene or SubtitleSeeker.

Check out these awesome Playstation 3 accessories from Amazon.com to increase your media viewing experience: