Fairy tales aren't just for scaring the hell out of children.  In this post-postmodern age, fairy tales are exactly the type of familiar, malleable properties that audiences expect to see turned on their heads to illuminate new elements of the old stories.  While there are current and upcoming movies and television series based on the familiar stories, there's just one animated series, Grimm Fairy Tales, and the project has found its vocal leading lady in Lena Headey.

Gods and Goddesses alike gathered at the world famous Playboy Mansion on Tuesday evening, March 6th to celebrate the Blu-ray and DVD release of Immortals, which went on sale earlier that day. In attendance from the movie was Immortals producer Craig J. Flores, as well as actor Corey Sevire who played Apollo in the film. Also making an appearance at the mansion Tuesday night was actors Bruce Boxleitner (Tron: Legacy), Johnny Whitworth (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), Stephen Bishop (Safe House), Chris Bauer (HBO’s True Blood), Theo Rossi and Dayton Callie (Sons of Anarchy), and Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire), as well as comedians Orlando Jones (Mad TV) and Tommy Davidson (In Living Color). Unfortunately our host, the great Hugh Hefner, did not make an appearance at the party or on the red carpet that evening.

IAR attended the red carpet gala and I had a chance to speak with Flores about producing the film. I began by asking him about his experience collaborating with visionary director Tarsem Singh. “I think Tarsem established within our first meeting that he had the movie inside his head and that he wanted to make it look Caravaggio paintings. He had it all down in his head and that is what you look for in a director to really just execute that vision seamlessly and he did.”

A few weeks ago I was asked if I would be interested in interviewing actor Richard Schiff, and I of course jumped at the chance. Who wouldn’t want to talk to one of the finest character actors working in the business today? In his impressive, almost thirty-year long career, he has appeared in such popular and critically acclaimed films as Malcolm X, Seven, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, I Am Sam, Ray, and Solitary Man. But the actor will always be best known to TV fans for his Emmy Award winning performance as Toby Ziegler on The West Wing, unarguably one of the greatest television shows ever created. So knowing that I was going to be speaking to the actor soon, I was pleasantly surprised when it was announced on Tuesday that Mr. Schiff would be playing the pivotal role of Dr. Hamilton in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot Man of Steel.

Since the assassination of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEAL Team 6 in May, there has naturally been a resurgence of interest in the badass exploits of America's special operators.  Luckily, the new action film Act of Valor was made with unprecedented access to the fighting force itself, and even stars a group of active duty SEALs as a team on a global mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent.  Directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh from a script by 300 screenwriter Kurt Johnstad, the already completed production has just been acquired by Relativity Media, and Act of Valor will provide all the realistic, SEAL-based action that the public demands in 2012.

A week from now, Michael Fassbender will basically be a full-on movie star.  He's starring as the youthful Erik Lensherr, aka Magneto, in Matthew Vaughn's X-prequel X-Men: First Class.  While he headlines along with the excellent James McAvoy, playing a pre-paralysis Charles Xavier, Fassbender's riveting performance is the engine powering the entire movie.  His Magneto is at once an uncompromising, wrathful loner concerned with little but revenge and simultaneously a charismatic leader of mutants to be reckoned with.  It's enough to make you forget venerable Shakespearean Ian McKellen, and it's guaranteed to garner Fassbender a lot of deserved attention.

The Might and Fright Short Film Festival is a unique forum for emerging talent to showcase their original short films in the comic book and horror genres.  Naturally, the festival is held in conjunction with the Long Beach Comic and Horror Con, on October 29th and 30th.  Genre fans and filmmakers will be positively psyched to hear that the festival has announced this year's panel of judges for Might and Fright.  The judges feature faces familiar to genre fans, including Jonah Hex comics and Immortals graphic novel writer Jimmy Palmiotti, Metalocalypse and Venture Bros director Jon Schnepp, as well as 300, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and Game Of Thrones actress Lena Headey.  Read on for the rest, as well as more info on Might and Fright.

Last weekend, the lavish action-fantasy Sucker Punch was bested at the box office by a kid-friendly sequel about a wimpy kid.  Some folks probably got a kick out of pointing and laughing, but even if everyone is already declaring Sucker Punch a commercial failure, it's a noble failure from director and co-writer Zack Snyder.  While he has arguably not yet directed a film with emotional substance to match his stunning technical virtuosity, Snyder has proven to be a distinctive visual stylist and, more importantly, a cat who is willing to take risks that are not simply substantial, they're downright roguish. 

Relativity Media's alien invasion epic Skyline, is available via your satellite or cable provider's Video On Demand service.  Not only that, but you can also purchase or rent an HD digital copy of the innovative visual effects spectacle through iTunes, Xbox, PlayStation, and VUDU.

The Brothers Strause latest film, Skyline (Relativity Media), which stars Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel, Scottie Thompson, and David Zayas is available for purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD today. Greg and Colin Strause, who founded the VFX company, Hydraulx, have created visual effects for award-winning films such as Avatar, 300, The Social Network, and Titanic, so you can imagine, the amazing visual assault their alien invasion action-thriller -- Skyline --delivers!

If you don't believe me, watch the trailer below.

After just three live action feature films, director Zack Snyder has developed a signature visual style, and with his fourth movie, Sucker Punch, it looks like he's taken that style to new extremes.  The story – which has certain thematic similarities to Pan's Labyrinth – contrasts stunning, action-packed fantasy sequences with the oppressive daily reality faced by an institutionalized young woman known only as Baby Doll.  You can see Emily Browning in action as Baby Doll in four new clips from Sucker Punch, which jumpkicks its way into theaters this Friday.