WALL*E vs. Wanted

Vs.  So Disney/Pixar's WALL*E beat out Angelina Jolie's "Wanted" over the weekend.  Not that I'm surprised or anything, because let's face it, Pixar can do no wrong.  Now I did see both movies this weekend, but I'll admit I saw WALL*E first on Friday.  It was everything a good Pixar movie should be, with the added element of a scathing but cleverly presented social criticism about our laziness with regards to environmental conservation.  I'm pretty sure it was a slap in the face, but since it was done with a cute little robot, it appears that no one seemed to mind.  I also really enjoyed that they used the actual movie clip from the classic "Hello Dolly."  Inspiring choice.  Now as much as WALL*E is different than "Wanted", I liked them both for their respective genres.  I must admit that I mostly wanted to see "Wanted" for James McAvoy.  I mean, come on.  The guy is hot, and he has been for a while.  I was really anxious to see how he would perform as an "unlikely action star" along the same lines as Matt Damon in the Bourne series.  Watching this movie, you could definitely tell it was, stylistically, based off of a graphic novel series (Mark Miller and J.G. Jones) though it seems the storyline is only loosely based on the series.  I really enjoyed watching this movie.  I like the effects shots and the action sequences were amazing.  I'm fairly sure the stunt of James McAvoy being scooped up by a moving car is going to be one of my all-time favorite stunts (occurs about min 2:45 in this clip).  Both movies rock, just pick the one you're in the mood for.

Quantum of Solace Teaser

Holy cow!   There is finally a teaser trailer for the new Bond film and it's freakin awesome.  Like we didn't need another reason to be excited about the second installment of this revitalized franchise.  You should watch now regardless of what you think of Bond.  The next thing to look forward to is a proper trailer that does more than "tease" us for an annoyingly short minute and a half.  

New Pictures from HBP

There are new movie stills from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  While some of these images have been floating around the internet in less than high quality, filmonic.com has some nice versions they just poster here.  Three of the pictures are of the trio, while the fourth picture is of two characters from the Slytherin House.  

Kung Fu Panda

"Find your courage, find your skill, and never lose your appetite"

This is hands down the movie to see this weekend.  Assuming you've already seen Indy IV and are tired of hearing about Sex and the City, Kung Fu Panda is a breath of fresh air, Chinese-take-out style.  This charming Dreamworks picture features an all-star cast of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen and Lucy Liu among others.  I think Jack Black will do a phenomenal job and who can resist him when he shows up to the Cannes festival with about 50 giant pandas.  I'm also looking forward to the performances of actual martial artists, even though it's only their voices.  It adds some sort of strange validity to the story somehow.  To see an actual trailer, go here; for an awesome clip about dumplings, go here.