In February, Brittany Murphy signed on to star in the noir thriller Across the Hall, and now you can check out a trailer for the film above. It's supposed to be a thriller about a man, his fiancee, and his best friend, and it is, but there are also a whole lot of mixed messages thrown in for good measure.

While the plot seems like your typical love triangle -- girl cheats with lover's best friend, lover chooses to kill best friend and live happily ever after -- there's a whole slew of horror techniques that are either misleading or hinting at some big, supernatural twist. The hotel and the room across the hall are described as if they're filled with ghosts or other ghoulish things, instead of just a jealous fiance. Quick cuts merge with eerie voice-overs, but while some sort of big fright seems right around the corner, it never comes.

It's all a big mystery, but at least it looks interesting. The film is slated to hit theaters February 6, 2009.

[via Ace Showbiz]

I suspect that this trailer for Fast and Furious -- that's The Fast and the Furious, Part IV: Articles Result in Wind Resistance, or 2 Fast 2 Furious x 2 -- just made a wide number of gearheads moist over the triumphant return of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker as they drive fast and glare hard in a combined effort to save their careers.

Diesel and Walker find themselves reunited with Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster of the hollow but entertaining original, and the whole photogenic ensemble find themselves directed by Justin Lin, a.k.a. the guy they brought in to direct the hollow but tiresome three-quel that none of these actors were themselves a part of (okay, so Diesel made the briefest cameo, yippee for that). The stunts, though, appear to be more along the practical lines of the first two films, so perhaps a happy medium can be struck between their relative entertainment value and the numbing antics of Tokyo Drift.

Fast and Furious leaves skid marks in theaters next June.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive clip from the upcoming film Choke, based on one of my personal favorite Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club) books. Choke stars Sam Rockwell as Victor Mancini, a snarky sex addict who cons well-to-do folks out of their money by fake-choking in restaurants while subsequently feeding off the sympathy of others. He then uses this money to help pay his mother's (Anjelica Huston) mental hospital bills. In the clip above -- which is one of a few flashbacks in the film -- young Victor and his mother visit the zoo ... at night ... and they're not exactly there to buy cotton candy. You can learn more about Choke over at its official website. I saw the film back at Sundance and liked it quite a bit -- especially Rockwell's off-the-charts performance as Mancini. Definitely see this one when you get the chance; it arrives in theaters on September 26. Additionally, watch the trailer and another clip over on Moviefone. Enjoy.

Embedded above is the trailer for New York, I Love You, an anthology of shorts from the producers of the similar Paris, Je T'aime, and going off this taste alone, I'd be willing to say that this might turn out to be just as winsome as that film was.

Several directors -- among them: Mira Nair, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and, um, Brett Ratner -- and even more actors -- including Bradley Cooper, Chris Cooper, Julie Christie, John Hurt, Ethan Hawke, Orlando Bloom, Shia LaBeouf, Kevin Bacon, Maggie Q, and again, Portman -- come together with tales of love and life in the various neighborhoods of NYC.

The film is scheduled to make its world premiere at the fast approaching Toronto International Film Festival next month, and if IMDb is to be believed, it'll open in the States next February and eventually be followed by the likes of Shanghai...

Just in case you have a heart of stone and weren't taken in by the awesome Ping Pong Playa poster that Erik posted earlier this month (which is to the right), two new clips have hit the web. To refresh your memories -- this is the story of a basketball-loving Asian American who has done everything he can to remove himself from his family's ping pong ways -- until an accident and some jerky ping pongers make him reevaluate things.

First up, over at Coming Soon, C-Dub (Jimmy Tsai) gets introduced to his mom's ping pong class after she gets in a car accident and can't teach. C-Dub is completely not into the thought of spending his time with these tykes, and is none too impressed when he is mistaken for his ping pong champion brother.

Meanwhile, over at MovieWeb, we get to see C-Dub get called out on his questionable behavior. See, to make this whole ping pong class more interesting, he's added betting to the mix, and the one tykes older, cute sister isn't impressed. Unfortunately, poor Free Willy gets blamed.

Ping Pong Playa hits theaters on September 5. In the meantime, check out last year's TIFF interview where Jimmy talks about his ping pong experience, and the review here.

Okay, so the Monsters vs. Aliens and My Life in Ruins trailers may have been leaked and subsequently pulled earlier this week, as was the case with certain awards contender Frost/Nixon, but now we can offer up the trailer straight-up, fully legit, by way of Yahoo! Movies.

The incongruous song selections aside (honestly, though: going from "Baba O'Riley" for the sake of nostalgia to Clint Mansell's wondrous score from The Fountain for the sake of drama in a matter of minutes just distracts me), I have little reason to think that this won't deliver on its considerable stage pedigree.

Frank Langella won a Tony Award for his portrayal of disgraced prez Richard Nixon, and as British talk show host David Frost, Michael Sheen looks to tap into that same sense of dignity under pressure that served him so well as Tony Blair in The Queen. It doesn't hurt that both political dramas share the same writer, and it also doesn't hurt that this looks to be the punchiest thing that Ron Howard has directed in quite some time.

Landing smack-dab in the middle of the Oscar drama blitz, Frost/Nixon should open in select cities on December 5th and will expand through Christmas.

We've all sat down to watch a movie that I like to call the cinematic equivalent of 'civic duty'. Sure, it's not going to be a fun night at the movies, but its all for a good cause, so you shell out your hard-earned dollars. That is exactly the kind of film that I think The Boy in the Striped Pajamas will be -- well intentioned, but depressing as hell. The trailer for the Holocaust drama appeared on the net a few days ago, and I have to send this warning before you press play: you might want to keep a tissue nearby. Pajamas was directed by Mark Herman (who also wrote the screenplay) and the film shares a producer with the Harry Potter franchise (David Heyman).

Pajamas is the story of a young boy whose father is a high ranking guard in the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. Through the course of the story, the cost of war and inhumanity is all shown through the friendship between the young German boy, and the boy in the 'striped pajamas' on the other side of the fence. Pajamas stars David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, and Vera Farmiga. The film is based on the novel by John Boyne, who, believe it or not, intended this story to be a 'children's book'. But if I had come across this story as a child, I might have needed some long-term grief counseling.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is expected to arrive in theaters in November; which leaves you with plenty of time to practice sobbing quietly in the movie theater.

"Rules Remain The Same, Except Some Changes."

I recall first seeing that tagline attached to a billboard touting The Transporter 3 at Cannes last May (whether or not I actually saw the picture at JoBlo.com then, all that matters is they still have it now) and dismissed it as a clumsy phrase with something perhaps lost in the translation from the European investors into big, fat, shiny English.

And yet IGN has the first domestic teaser up for the film, and that tagline appears nearly verbatim. I probably shouldn't care, and you probably don't, but it's just a further indication that even the filmmakers -- well, their marketing team -- have barely half a heart in this puppy.

Yesterday, movie theaters everywhere were greeted with the ultimate sight in rockin' sexiness -- Rainn Wilson. Yes folks, The Rocker opened yesterday, and now you can see Robert "Fish" Fishman get kicked out of hard-core band Vesuvius, lose all hope, and then find a new future with his nephew's high school rock band twenty years later.

But before the days of rockers, or fastidiousness on The Office, or even pent-up sexual attraction on Six Feet Under, Rainn Wilson was a space man. Above you can see him as Lahnk, in a deleted scene from Galaxy Quest. As a member of the reactor staff, he has a question for the fish-out-of-water Fred (Tony Shalhoub), and wants a little advisement. Oh yeah, and the guy who introduces him -- Enrico Colantoni.

Whoever would've thought that the Spock-esque dude would hop onto Almost Famous, star in a hit television show, and then get a romance with Kelly Bundy?!

These days, it's all the new-age rage to be positive -- if we do so, the world will be our oyster! It can often seem a bit annoying, and blameful, but if these lessons were wrapped in the Happy-Go-Lucky package, I don't think they'd be as easy to dismiss. You can see a little of what I'm talking about in the trailer above.

Sally Hawkins stars as Poppy -- a school teacher who is insanely positive -- so much so that you rarely see her as anything but. She does her work, and keeps busy with friends and a variety of physical activities -- from trampolines to flamenco dancing. She doesn't let the little stuff get her down, but she doesn't condemn others for not following her positive path. Well, aside from teasing her antithesis -- her driving instructor named Scott (Eddie Marsan).

This tres cute film has been running around the festival circuit, and is headed straight for TIFF next month. Check it out, if you get a chance. Warning: you'll probably feel really silly for all those times you ranted over the little things.

[via The Bad and Ugly]

It's hard to believe that it's been a whopping 15 years since Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was released. The Buttercup-stealing Humperdink, or Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellington, Catherine O'Hara as Sally, plus a little bit of PeeWee and the wacky Greg Proops -- the days before Johnny and Helena were in everything Burtonesque.

In commemoration of the anniversary, the Collector's Edition DVD hits shelves next week, but to whet our hungry appetites, ShockTillYouDrop has got three clips from the new disc. Check out how they made the Haunted Mansion as a holiday tour led by Jack, the process of shooting the film, and finally, Tim Burton's original poem of The Nightmare Before Christmas, all funky and animated.

It's looking to be one heck of a great re-release. From seeing how Jack's version of the Haunted Mansion played out, to how the film was made, to Burton's old short film Vincent, it's all there. Will it be in your basket come Tuesday?

We get a lot of videos and stuff sent to us here at Cinematical headquarters, but the one above is certainly one of my favorites so far. Not because it's totally unique or different, but because it's extremely well edited, features a whole bunch of great movies and really spends time to focus on why we love these films and what, exactly, attracts us to them. The video was edited by Cinematical ready Sean Grady, and dammit if the Oscars shouldn't ask this dude to throw together their next montage. As far as titles go, he calls it Matinee Uber-Edit ... and it's truly worth the seven-or-so minutes in length, if only for the righteous Uncle Buck scene thrown in the middle. Sean uses some of our favorite classic movie scores to highlight this visual journey -- check it out above. Trust me, if you're a fanboy-ish movie nerd, you're going to love this thing.

And thanks, Sean, for sending it our way. Keep up the good work dude!

Maybe it's because this was my first summer writing for Cinematical, but it's felt like an exceptionally intense movie season: the event movies just kept coming, and many of them wound up having real traction. There was a lot to watch and a lot to talk about. It's barely ended, and in just a couple of weeks, Telluride and Toronto officially kick off the fall -- and "Oscar season". I'll sleep when I'm dead, I guess.

One of awards season's most formidable contenders -- already slated for the familiar December platform release -- is Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon, based on the acclaimed West End and Broadway play about journalist David Frost's famous televised interviews of post-resignation Richard Nixon; the ones where Nixon delivered the infamous line about how "if the President does it, it's not illegal." There's a well-crafted trailer for it over here, (trailer link removed at request of studio) and yep: we're in Oscar mode.

I saw the play with Frank Langella as Nixon and Michael Sheen as Frost, both of whom reprise their roles in the film. The show was great but very much a stage show, deriving a lot of its power from the foreboding set and the hugeness of Langella's Nixon impression which, from the looks of the trailer, remains very much intact. It worked great in the theater, but I'm worried it might overwhelm the film. I liked Anthony Hopkins' take on Nixon in the Oliver Stone film, where he basically said to hell with the impersonation and did his own thing.

What if someone took the video game Pac-Man and turned it into an independent live-action, horror-thriller? Well, check out the video above, because that's exactly what these fine folks did on what looks to be a budget of about twenty bucks. This time, however, we're seeing things from the ghosts POV and Pac-Man is the hunter, instead of the hunted. The Pac-Man graphics are on the cheap, and they even cut in scenes from the video game to use as a substitute for at least one kill, but as a whole -- with a solid, heart-pounding score and clever acting -- this thing is definitely worth a watch. Loved the ending!

Whaddya think? CGI feature-length Pac-Man movie in 2011, starring ... who?