The initial reviews have been all over the place, both at Criticker and at the aggregation site Metacritic. I find that heartening… big budget horror flicks are always going to have a large built-in number of detractors regardless of quality, and I refuse to believe that this film is anything but great. The trailer is sweet!

Does it have stand a chance at becoming the best werewolf flick of all time? What even is the best werewolf flick of all time? Settle it, in this poll! And leave a comment to scold us over any egregious omissions.

- Best Decade in Cinema

Enjoy. My favorite bit, is the talk-show audience’s reaction after Bruno reveals the traditional African name for his adopted baby. I’m still laughing about the trailer, 30 minutes after having seen it.

Can’t wait.

1. The trailer (discovered and praised some days ago at the Criticker Forums)

2. Spike Jonze directing. A guarantor of quality. We’re sooooo happy he landed this project.

3. That soundtrack! Anything which uses Arcade Fire’s soaring, majestic music to such great effect is bound to be awesome. And a score by Karen O? Intrigued!

4. The book. I can remember it nearly by heart. I just know this movie is going to be awesome.

5. The monsters — you actually want to hug on them. They look amazing.

6. That Trailer! It counts for two.

7. Max and his wolf outfit look exactly as they should. And with Catherine Keener and Forest Whitaker‘s voice in the cast, we’re pretty certain it’s all going to be top-notch.

8. The cinematography; lush, gorgeous landscapes and natural lighting help provide a tone which feels completely true to the book.

9. Minimal CGI — I think they’re shooting it all (or nearly all of it) live-action. Thank Christ, finally someone gets it.

Are we missing anything? I can’t believe we have to wait until October!

Are you ready to be terrified out of your EVER LOVING MIND?! We’re talking: shaken to the core. Blood mixed in vomit. Pissed stained jeans. Whimpering for mommy. But mommy isn’t going to help you, boy. Mommy IS DEAD!

If you want to be scared like that, there are a lot of great sanity-threateningly-frightening movies you can watch tonight. But the new remake of Friday the 13th isn’t one of them. I mean, check out the trailer:

That’s not to say it won’t be entertaining! Honestly, it kind of looks fun… who wouldn’t want to see this group of douche bags get butchered? Particularly this guy.

But scary? Come one … Coraline looks more frightening than this. Seriously!

Are all remakes of classic horror movies doomed to fail?

Yup, Wolverine’s tough-guy line at the end of this trailer is far more entertaining than The Spirit’s “I’m gonna kill you all kinds of dead”. With a great cast that, in addition to Hugh Jackman, features Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth, this film is promising to be something great. It will be directed by Gavin Hood, who made his name with 2005′s unforgettable South African drama Tsotsi.

It looks like there are going to be other X-Men Origins films, though that might depend on how well Wolverine does in cinemas. Magento will likely get the treatment next, but who else would you like to see in their own film?

Errrr…. SWEET!!

And even sweeter is that John Connor is going to be portrayed by Christian Bale.

Bale as Connor — Full image at TerminatorChronicles.com

If you’re as excited about this project as I just became, make sure to check out an early trailer at the official Terminator Salvation site.

The Spirit, the new comic-based film from legendary Frank Miller, just celebrated its premiere in Spain. Based on Will Eisner’s seminal comic strip from 1940, The Spirit is a former cop who’s come “back from the dead”, and now deals out justice vigilante style.

The film looks like it’s going to be in the style of Miller’s other projects, 300 and Sin City. It stars Gabriel Macht, who I’ve never heard of, but who has a pretty sweet name and enough notoriety to inspire a fan worship page. In the spirit of the comic (pun: intended), the film also features a bevy of buxom beauties. Guys, take your pick between Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson and Paz Vega.

Check out the trailer:

… and now, let’s agree that it features some of the worst dialogue you’ve ever heard. Making Samuel L. Jackson come off unthreatening is quite a feat, but … “I’m the Octopus. I’ve got eight of everything” has got to be the least menacing baddie one-liner in the history of comic flicks. Do you have eight… weaknesses?! Eight livers? Eight shattering regrets about the course of your career?

Of course, when The Spirit follows that up with his promise to “kill you all kinds of dead”, I figured perhaps he and The Octopus deserve each other. Maybe the Spirit could just kill him eight kinds of dead.

Man, I really want to believe that this film is going to be great, but my confidence is shaken…

Of course you do, you naughty monkey! Check out the trailer for the new film Choke, due in cinemas XXX. But please, not if you’re a child or a prude.

Choke, which opens on September 26th, stars the always entertaining Sam Rockwell and is based on a story by Chuck Palahniuk — the writer of Fight Club. It’s gotten great advance reviews, and won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance. Plus: it has a sweet soundtrack. We can’t wait!

What? Oh… Tarantino did play a part in creating this. He stars as Ringo. Crafty stunt casting, Miike. If you weren’t an established auteur, such a move might be annoying… but we’ll give you a pass this time.

This film has been out for awhile, but is finally making its debut in American theaters on August 29th. It’s gotten mostly positive, but mixed reviews from Criticker’s user base.

A dark spy-comedy from Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen. An ousted CIA official’s memoir accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise gym employees intent on exploiting their find.

Color me skeptical. The Coens’ films often leave me cold, especially when they dip into comedy. It’s almost as though they’re too smart to really pull it off… But, this trailer is pretty good. We’ll see.

The film is due out in September, so we haven’t yet added it to Criticker.

Official Film Website