Starz Releases Trailer For ‘Camelot’; Sneak Preview In February

Even though the premiere of Camelot is fast approaching, there’s been very little to see of Starz’ latest original series. That changed yesterday as the trailer for the show hit the Internet, offering a glimpse at the look and feel of the newest version of King Arthur’s legend.

Taking place immediately after the death of King Uther, Camelot will focus on the struggle between Uther’s low-born son Arthur and Morgan Le Fey, who claims the throne as Arthur’s half-sister. We see a very young Arthur taking hold of the ruins of Camelot castle, establishing his leadership and the Knights of the Round Table in the iconic keep. Familiar pillars of Arthurian legend Merlin, Guinevere and Sir Lancelot make appearances in the trailer.

The series is being produced by veterans of Showtime period show The Tudors. Executive producer Morgan O’Sullivan has previous experience with the source material in the 2004 film King Arthur, and writer Michael Hirst has experience with more historically sound English royalty in two separate Elizabeth movies. The cast skews very young, with Jamie Campbell Bower (of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises) taking the role of Arthur. Eva Green, who made her mark as a Bond girl in Casino Royale, plays the evil Morgan Le Fey. British actress Tamsin Egerton takes the role of Guinevere while Shakespeare in Love‘s leading man Joseph Fiennes plays a middle-aged and beardless Merlin.

See for yourself here:

On a programming note, Starz is planning a preview of Camelot directly after the finale Spartacus: Gods of the Arena on February 25th. The series will premiere in its regular slot on April 1st. This may be a move to get people excited for the series before HBO starts its marketing blitz for Game of Thrones.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes preview of the show with cast and crew commentary:

So how does the trailer look? While the acting appears solid and the sets and costumes are appropriately medieval, I can’t shake the feeling that the producers are going for an edgy, teen-focused drama. The rock-and-roll soundtrack certainly didn’t help. The direction isn’t one that’s entirely suited to Arthur’s quest, nor is it one we haven’t seen before: BBC and SyFy’s Merlin already shows us teenaged versions of the once and future king and his cohorts.

While the Starz project certainly has higher production values and a more mature feel, I was hoping to see an older Arthur taking charge. But I’ll reserve judgement -- many a movie and TV show has been cast in the wrong light by a misleading trailer. All that said, Joseph Fiennes’ non-traditional and menacing portrayal of Merlin shows promise.

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Starz will show a sneak preview of Camelot on February 25th directly following Spartacus: Gods of the Arena at 10:56 PM. The series debuts on April 1st.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Disney Reveals Blu-ray 3D Releases For 2011

Have you dreamed of one day watching Belle and the Beast waltz beneath a massive chandelier or a herd of wildebeests nearly stomp young Simba to death in glorious 3D on the big screen? Well, that fantasy will come half true – both Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King will be released in Blu-ray 3D in 2011.

Walt Disney Pictures announced their slate of Blu-ray 3D releases for this year, which includes those two 2D-animated hits, alongside more recent, digitally-created features like Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons.

Last summer Disney released the teaser trailer for its planned theatrical re-release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D and announced their intention to do the same with The Lion King. Word got out a while ago that the studio had scrapped said plans after the early results of the post-conversion process on the hand-drawn films proved to be less than satisfactory. Apparently, the Mouse House’s stereoscopic technicians have been much more successful in converting the movies to the third dimension for Blu-ray.

No less than fifteen titles under the Disney banner will be, to paraphrase the studio, “meticulously dimensionalized” for Blu-ray 3D this year, including last year’s Tangled and TRON: Legacy, and previous 3D titles like Bolt and G-Force.

'TRON: Legacy' will (naturally) be released in Blu-ray 3D.

Computer-animated fare can be readily converted into the 3D format as it requires a relatively simpler rendering of each individual film frame – compared to the process for converting live-action footage that was not shot using 3D camera rigs. 2D or traditional animation is a trickier proposition when it comes to being converted into 3D, as the visuals are less suited for the format and tend to turn out more blurred and disproportionate as a result.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is also arriving on Blu-ray 3D this year and the cult stop-motion picture had a successful run in theaters as a 3D feature that was re-released every October for a couple years in a row. Nightmare benefits from the immersive atmosphere of 3D as it was shot in such a fashion that the camera often seems to be exploring the Tim Burton-designed worlds of Halloween Town and the Christmas land.

Both Beauty and the Beast and Lion King have their share of moments that could look all the more impressive when fully realized in three dimensions – specifically, the previously referenced “Beauty and the Beast” musical sequence and the wildebeest stampede scene. We’ll have to wait and see whether the films as a whole benefit from being viewed in 3D on home television screens.

Depending on the success of these classic animated features on Blu-ray 3D, Disney may well go ahead and release many more entries from its beloved cartoon vault. It’s entirely possible that flicks like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid or even much older titles like Snow White and Fantasia could be made available for viewing in the format as well.

But is that something you’re really interested in seeing? Sound off in the comments section below.

Source: Disney

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AMC Releases ‘The Killing’ Teaser Trailer & Featurette

After a hat trick with hit original series Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, AMC doesn’t intend to slow down any time soon. In addition to Hell on Wheels, production on the first season of The Killing is wrapping up for a March 2011 debut. The cable network has released a short promo and a featurette to whet the appetites of murder mystery fans.

Billed as a character-focused alternative to more standard police procedurals, The Killing follows an investigation into the murder of a Seattle girl. Each of the thirteen episodes covers exactly one day, and the narrative jumps between the lead investigator, the girl’s grieving parents and the mayor of the city.

Based on Danish miniseries Forbrydelsen, the show will explore the motivations and emotions of its characters as they follow the clues to find the murderer. According to executive producer Venna Sud:

“What we’re trying to do with this show is take the genre and turn it on its head… This is all about the secrets we have… it’s about how worlds collide, how there’s very little separation in a city, how everything sort of comes together around this murder investigation.”

Sud’s previous working includes writing and producing two seasons of CBS’ Cold Case. Other crew members include executive producer Mikkel Bondesen (Burn Notice, The Good Guys) and associate producer Shana Fischer (Dirty Sexy Money). Mireille Enos will lead the series as Detective Sarah Linden, the lead detective of the murder case. Fans of HBO’s Big Love will recognize her as Jodeen Marquart, one of the leading wives. Bill Campbell of The 4400, Enough and The Rocketeer plays the mayor, who has a special interest in both the case and the detective. Michelle Forbes (True Blood, Battlestar Galactica) and Brent Sexton (Deadwood) round out the cast as the victim’s grieving parents.

Watch the promo and featurette below:

If the sneak peek and the cast and crew interviews are anything to go on, The Killing will focus heavily on grief and betrayal. The acting and production design looks subtle and muted -- even the Northwestern setting lends itself to a contemplative and bleak atmosphere. Between that and the character-focused nature of the series, AMC is taking a big gamble. Mainstream audiences seem to be much more interested in glitzy whodunits like Numb3rs and the various CSI incarnations. However, cable networks have had much more success with more ambitious versions of the police procedural, like The Closer, Southland and Justified. AMC hasn’t tackled anything quite like this yet, but if their recent work is any indication, the new show will be one to keep an eye on.

The Killing starts its freshman season in March on AMC.

Source: Zap2it

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HBO Releases New ‘Game of Thrones’ Trailer

HBO released the latest teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated Game of Thrones miniseries last night. The show won’t premier until 2011, but you can now see sixty seconds of sword-swinging, head-chopping, medieval action.

As Screen Rant said in our preview last week, Game of Thrones is HBO’s latest foray into high-profile, big-budget TV series after receiving some serious competition from Showtime and AMC. Aside from the long-running True Blood and newcomer Boardwalk Empire, the once and future king of cable TV isn’t taking the task of creating high-profile original programming lightly at the moment.

Based on the incredibly popular Song of Ice and Fire novel series by George R. R. Martin, (A Game of Thrones is the title of the first book in the series), the story takes place in the fictional medieval kingdom of Westeros. The Stark family (no relation, Marvel fans) is thrust into the subtly vicious world of nobility after Eddard (Sean Bean, The Lord of the Rings) becomes the “Hand of the King,” a monarch’s second in command.

The book series focuses on seven Houses across various kingdoms. The novels are so sprawling and diverse that TV writers will have to pick and choose their stories if TV audiences are to keep up. For reference, the four books published so far total over 3,000 pages, and there are another three novels Martin has yet to write. Considering how much the movie adaptations of the  Harry Potter novels (around 4,000 pages) have had to leave out, Game of Thrones could go on for ten seasons without grasping the width and breadth of its source material.

Check out the new Game of Thrones trailer below:

It’s clear from the trailer that producers aren’t holding anything back: the set design, costumes, and cinematography are all at or near the quality expected of a summer tentpole movie. Casting seems hit or miss: while Sean Bean has cut his teeth on fantasy and period pieces, other cast members will need to dazzle in the first few episodes to win over skeptical fans of the novels.

The character of King Baratheon is played by Mark Addy, whose previous highlights include comic relief in A Knight’s Tale, Robin Hood and The Full Monty. His previous lowlights include The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. Iain Glenn (Resident Evil: Extinction) and Harry Lloyd (BBC’s Robin Hood TV series) are veterans of UK television and movies. Readers will recognize Lena Headey from leading roles in 300 and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Peter Dinklage from half the little person movie roles of the last five years – though his part in the UK version of Death at a Funeral was particularly good.

Game of Thrones premiers in 2011 on HBO. Check Screen Rant for more news and sneak peeks as the series comes closer to its debut.

Source: HBO

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