As promised on Monday, the first trailer for Oliver Stone's Savages has arrived online, following up the nicely executed poster that debuted at the beginning of this week.  Narrated by Blake Lively, the trailer lays out the basic story, which starts with a pair of Orange County entrepreneurs whose with a thriving marijuana concern that ends up bringing them to the attention of the Mexican Baja Cartel.

Just last week the first image from Savages arrived online, showing Benicio Del Toro rather menacingly blowing smoke into Blake Lively's face.  It was probably an appropriate introduction to the new film from Oliver Stone, one which follows a battle of wills and probably over the top violence between a trio of California pot-dealers and a vicious drug cartel.  Now there's a visual representation of the movie, and it looks like Universal is pretty confident in Savages, as the studio has moved the release date into prime summer territory.

Most any avid user of one of America's favorite illicit substances knows that it is a good and charitable thing to be euphemistically smoked out, but the first image from Savages makes the term look altogether threatening.  The film is co-written and directed by Oliver Stone, a filmmaker comfortable with violence, but even if you didn't know that, you'd know something unsavory is going on between Blake Lively and Benicio Del Toro, with the latter blowing smoke into the former's face in an entirely uncharitable manner.

Synopsis:  The DARKEST HOUR is the story of five young people who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack. The 3D thriller highlights the classic beauty of Moscow alongside mind-blowing special effects.

Cast:  Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachel Taylor, Max Minghella, Joel Kinnaman

Director: Chris Gorak

Genre:  Action & Adventure | Thriller

Release Date: December 25th, 2011

20th Century Fox's Singapore division has released a new international trailer that's being dubbed a "mood piece" and a new behind-the-scenes featurette for The Darkest Hour.  The film is based on a premise with which literally anyone can identify.  Just imagine: you're a good-looking young person out partying at the hottest club with your equally good-looking friends on a trip to Moscow Russia, when suddenly, interdimensional aliens composed of energy materialize as if from nowhere and start vaporizing everybody, precipitated your fight for survival in apocalyptic circumstances.  The mood piece will definitely communicate the emotional resonance, while the featurette familiarizes audiences with the cast of characters, played by Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachael Taylor, and Max Minghella.

A new domestic poster for The Darkest Hour has arrived, and it eschews subtlety, instead acting a blunt force instrument.  That's actually just right for the film, though, which is an alien invasion thriller following a group of young Americans trying to survive in Russia when Earth is descended upon by malicious extraterrestrials who – instead of being the now-standard slimy xenomorphs – are electrical beings with no qualms about zapping humans.  This The Darkest Hour poster includes signs of said electrical beings, Moscow, and mass devastation, along with the big, bold tagline, "Survive The Holidays."  That would be because the film somewhat oddly releases on Christmas day in 3D and 2D.  Now that you have all that context, enjoy the poster and imagine all the alien mayhem the movie will provide.

In this often Puritanical culture of ours, jam packed as it is with hypocritical attitudes on sexuality, the whiff of pornography on any film can drive away audiences in droves, as people often assume that any adult-film connotations must mark the film itself as obscene trash.  This is odd, as we love movies about all manner of criminality, up to and including serial killing, yet we're able to make the distinction between the subject and the art, no matter how heinous the crimes involved.

In the new comedy Meet Monica Velour, now available on Blu-ray and DVD, Kim Catrall plays Linda Romanoli, a retired porn actress who had her heyday in the 1980's and is now a single mother working hard to make ends meet.  When she's tracked down by an awkward teenager, played by Dustin Ingram, who idolizes her based on her days as Monica Velour, the two form an unlikely connection that yields surprising results for both.  Inspired by Meet Monica Velour, our latest Rogue 10 list presents ten films that may involve the porn industry, but that are really about far more than that.

When aliens arrive on Earth as of late, they tend always to be thoroughly hostile.  The slimy extraterrestrials of Battle Los Angeles and Cowboys & Aliens had nefarious intent, and the techno-bot alien Decepticons of Transformers: Dark of the Moon were looking to take over our beloved Terran soil.  The nicest cinematic alien as of late was the monster of Super 8, and even that guy ate a bunch of people.  So when the first trailer for The Darkest Hour reveals aliens rampaging through Russia, we know that they're not hunting for hugs.  These invaders are largely invisible energy beings as opposed to the usual goopy kind, and they do battle with some American youngsters visiting Moscow, lead by Emile Hirsch and Olivia Thirlby.  Check out the trailer and resilience of Americans in the former Soviet Union.

Emile Hirsch is the latest actor to join the already-stacked cast of Savages, the adaptation of Don Winslow's novel from director Oliver Stone.  Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Uma Thurman, and Benicio del Toro are all starring in the film, as well, leading one to wonder if they've seen any of the films Stone has directed since 1995.