For his third feature as a director, Ben Affleck is getting away from Boston, the vividly-realized setting of his Gone Baby Gone and The Town.  Based on the first trailer for Argo, though, leaving Beantown isn't hurting Affleck one bit.  Warner Bros released the theatrical trailer and a teaser poster today, and while the latter is pretty standard, the former is outstanding, promising an intelligent, grown-up thriller with a sly, adroit sense of humor.

Clear eyes, full hearts, headshots.  Kyle Chandler, who played the virtuous Coach Taylor on NBC's Friday Night Lights for five seasons, is the latest addition to the cast of the Untitled Osama bin Laden assassination picture from director Kathryn Bigelow.  The film, formerly known as Kill Bin Laden, follows SEAL Team 6 in an early attempt to assassinate the terrorist shortly after the September 11th attacks of 2001 up through the eventual killing in Pakistan last May.

Today Warner Bros. debuted the second official still from Argo, the upcoming directorial feature from Ben Affleck.  Like the first image released back in December, this one features Affleck, who also stars, rocking a thoroughly 1970's haircut, and this time he's doing so in a smoky room where his character is presumably giving a detailed rundown of the complex operation at hand.

If I had told you, in the summer of 2004, that within eight years, Ben Affleck would be a successful director with two formidable feature films under his belt, you'd probably punch me right in the solar plexus then laugh your ass off.  But here we are, and based on his directorial track record, Affleck's third effort as director seems likely to be a highlight of 2012.  As part of a preview for the year ahead, Warner Bros has released the first official image from Argo, which Affleck both directs and stars in as part of a pretty ridiculous ensemble.  We've previously seen some unofficial photos from the Los Angeles set, but read on for your first bona-fide look Argo, with Affleck very seriously perusing some documents.

Journeyman actor Ron Eldard has had a long and distinguished career in both films and on television, you may not recognize him by name but trust me; you would definitely know his body of work. The actor first gained attention for his role as Paramedic Ray “Shep” Shepard on the extremely popular NBC series ER, and then went on to be featured in a slew of successful films including Deep Impact, Black Hawk Down, and House of Sand and Fog. But the actor is perhaps best known for his starring role in the short-lived Steven Bochco series Blind Justice, as well as playing opposite Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Billy Crudup, and Kevin Bacon in Barry Levinson’s Sleepers, which also co-starred acting legends Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman. After a recent short stint on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the actor returned to the big screen this summer in the hugely successful J.J. Abrams directed film Super 8, which was produced by Steven Spielberg and is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.

The film takes place in the summer of 1979, in a small fictional Ohio town called Lilian. Eldard plays Louis Dainard, a single father with a drinking problem, who works in the town’s local factory. One day Louis is too drunk to go to work and the woman that takes over his shift, the wife of Deputy Jackson (Kyle Chandler), is killed as a result. Blaming himself for the accident, Louis visits Jackson at his wife’s wake to give his condolences but is instead taken into custody by the Deputy. Four months later, the deputy’s son, Joe (Joel Courtney), is helping his friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) make a low-budget zombie movie on Super 8 film and convinces Dainard’s daughter Alice (Elle Fanning), who Joe has a crush on, to act in the film. However, both Dainard and Deputy Jackson forbid their respective children from interacting together, causing a very “Romeo and Juliet” type theme. The two kids defy their single parents and eventually start to fall for each other. Things get even more complicated when the kids are shooting one night near the train tracks and witness a truck purposely derail an oncoming locomotive in order to free something that the government is transporting inside. This begins a chain of events that will force the kids to work together in order to solve the mystery of what was on the train, and save the town from a misguided military, and a frightened extra-terrestrial creature that only wants to go home.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to actor Ron Eldard about his role in Super 8, as well as his distinguished acting career. Eldard spoke candidly with me about the film, how and why he got the part, working with J.J. Abrams; his collaboration with Steven Spielberg, making an Amblin film, his emotional scene with Kyle Chandler, the film’s excellent cast of young actors, creating the alien/monster, and which one of his past projects he is most proud of.

Whole generations of kids now have grown up being inspired by the films of Steven Spielberg, with their peerless technical execution, potent emotionalism ,and faultless ability to inspire genuine awe.  Very few kids, however, grow up into adults who get to work with Spielberg himself.  Even fewer get to work with the Bearded One on a project that deliberately evokes his early work and its deeply personal resonance.  J.J. Abrams did just that with Super 8, the science fiction adventure produced by Spielberg under the old Amblin Entertainment banner.  The film, which pays homage to the tone and style of vintage Spielbergian Americana, arrived on Blu-ray and DVD last week.  IAR Managing Editor Jami Philbrick was on hand for the red carpet event at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where he and other members of the press talked Super 8 with J.J. Abrams himself.

Throughout the super-secret mystery box marketing of JJ Abrams' Super 8, starting with a teaser trailer attached to Iron Man 2 well over a year prior to the film's release, the influence of early Steven Speilberg was abundantly in evidence.  The movie itself, written and directed by Abrams and produced by Spielberg, felt in some ways like a band covering a musician that influenced them.  Given the deliberate similarities between Super 8 and its Amblin Entertainment predecessors, I was half-hoping that Paramount would deliberately take a little longer to bring the film to Blu-ray and DVD, recalling the days when the gap between theatrical and home video releases was far more substantial.  Not so, as it was just announced that Super 8 is set to arrive on Blu-ray and DVD this November 22nd.

After production began a week ago in Los Angeles, we have our first look at unofficial images from the set of Argo, the third directorial endeavor from professionally charming dude Ben Affleck.  Last Thursday, Warner Bros and GK Films officially announced that production had commenced on the darkly comedic drama, which tells the true story of a surreal CIA plan to pose as Hollywood movie-makers in order to save six Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979 to 1981.  These first set photos reflect Argo's period setting, with star/director Affleck sporting a very 70's style from his hair to his jeans.  Alan Arkin is also present and accounted for, though his appearance doesn't so immediately establish the setting.

Warner Bros and GK Films have officially announced that production on Argo, the new film from director Ben Affleck, has begun in Los Angeles.  The film, a drama with dark comedy sprinkled throughout, tells the true story of an usual CIA effort to free six Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis that began in 1979.  As is his style, Affleck will direct and star, along with an impeccable ensemble cast that includes Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, Kyle Chandler, Kerry Bishe, Clea DuVall, John Goodman, and Michael Parks.

On Monday, we learned that British actress Lucy Punch will play Detective Deena Pilgrim in the FX pilot Powers, which will adapt the comic book series written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming.  Since Pilgrim is one of two leads – partners in a homicide division tasked with investigating deaths involving "powers" or relatively common people with superpowers – the natural question became just who would play her male counterpart, Detective Christian Walker.  That question has been answered: Deadline reports that Jason Patric is taking up his first regular series role as Walker.