Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes is apparently determined to recruit as many Oscar-caliber actors to populate his first attempt at a franchise action movie, the twenty-third installment in the venerable franchise starring super-spy and faultless love-maker James Bond, which we've been informally referring to as Bond 23, but might actually be titled Skyfall.  Daniel Craig is returning for his third round as Bond, with Oscar-winner Javier Bardem as the bad guy, two-time nominee Ralph Fiennes in a mysterious role, and one-time winner Judi Dench once again playing M.  Now, it looks as though five-time Academy Award nominee and all-around badass Albert Finney has joined the production.

The release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 on Blu-ray and DVD is just around the corner on November 11th.  With its release, fans will finally be able to own all eight films adapting the novel series by JK Rowling, and in time for the holiday season, no less.  When Warner Bros first announced the Blu-ray release date over a month ago, the press release included the news that, as of December 29, 2011, the studio would cease shipping not only Deathly Hallows, but all eight films, from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on back.  Though the news has been floating around for over a month, Warner Bros has reiterated that its serious: the Harry Potter franchise will disappear from Blu-ray and DVD for an unspecified amount of time at the end of this year.

Bond 23, the next installment in the never-ending James Bond franchise, has been highly secretive, which means that even widely reported, seemingly legit stories generally go completely unconfirmed, despite being generally accepted as fact.  For example, Oscar-winning Spanish dreamboat Javier Bardem has long been associated with the villainous role in the next Bond adventure directed by fellow Oscar-winner Sam Mendes, yet without any official word, one could never be completely certain.  Now, the actor himself has offered a real confirmation that he'll square off against Daniel Craig in Bond 23, which may or may not be titled Skyfall.

The next adventure of superspy and unrepentant sex machine James Bond is set to finally enter production in the next month after seemingly endless delays caused by the financial eversion at MGM.  Since Daniel Craig's third (and likely final) round of 007 action is the 23rd installment of the enduring franchise, it's simply been referred to by the obvious placeholder of Bond 23 for the last few years, but today we may very well have the film's official title.  Keep in mind this is just a rumor, and every Bond sequel gets a plethora of rumored titles that are complete and utter fabrications, but there is some reason to believe that Bond 23 will, in fact, be titled Skyfall.

After a lengthy delay caused by the drawn-out financial morass at MGM, the next globe-trotting adventure for Ian Fleming's mutable, everlasting secret agent is gearing up to actually begin production shortly.  The twenty-third installment in the James Bond franchise, currently known only by its appropriate code name of Bond 23, will start shooting this November with Daniel Craig once again killing many an unnamed enemy as Bond, James Bond.  For months now, if not years, two of the big questions have been just which international locations will get the Bond treatment, and which actresses will appear as leading ladies, getting a whole different sort of Bond treatment.  Now, there's official word that Bond 23's opening scenes will be shot in Istanbul, Turkey, and there's also unofficial rumor that a lovely French actress may be the next Bond Girl.

Every year, the nerdlinger-centric San Diego-based event that gets far and away the most attention is, without a doubt, Comic-Con International, that annual orgiastic explosion of genre fans and promotion for comic books, videogames, television series, and movies. 

But what of the San Diego Film Festival, an event that offers a five-day marathon of unique films, workshops, short films, Q & A's, and assorted bits of cinephile goodness?  This year, the San Diego Film Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary from September 28th-October 2nd, kicking off with an opening night premiere for 50/50, the new comedic drama from The Wackness director starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anna Kendrick.

This summer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 capped off the decade-long, eight-film franchise in appropriately epic fashion, essentially demolishing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry while becoming the biggest film of the series.  The series which, not adjusted for inflation, is now the biggest franchise of all time.  Prior to the last film's release, the tagline was simply, "It All Ends," but of course we seasoned consumers knew that wasn't exactly true, since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 still has it's Blu-ray and DVD release on the way.  Today, Warner Bros officially announced that the film arrives in stores on November 11th, along with Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection.

Long before he threateningly cast spells at child wizards as Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise, Ralph Fiennes was an accomplished Shakespearean actor.  It's natural, then, that his first attempt at directing a feature film would be an adaptation of a play by old William Shakespeare.  Based on the trailer for Coriolanus, though, he also made his first movie as a director an epic war film, visually channeling the likes of Black Hawk Down, The Hurt Locker, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.  Seriously, watch that international trailer, which hit last week.  Today, the Weinstein Company released the first poster for Coriolanus, with Fiennes as the title facing off against his nemesis, played by Gerard Butler.  And they're both blood-red Kalashnikovs silhouetted onto their faces to make clear in no uncertain terms that this is a war movie.

The plays of William Shakespeare have been transplanted to so many settings both contemporary and historical that there's very little novelty to be found in cleverly repackaging the Bard's words in a shiny new package, but every once in awhile, a new take on one of Shakespeare's works makes a big impression. 

Coriolanus, the upcoming film which places Shakespeare's Roman tragedy in a contemporary, war-torn context, earned all manner of effusive praise when it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, and based on the new UK trailer, it's not difficult to see why.  Two-time Oscar nominee and world-class thespian Ralph Fiennes is not only starring as the title character, he's making his directorial debut.  Watch the Coriolanus trailer and share in the enthusiasm for what looks to be an incredible Shakespearean action film.

After spending a lot of time going nowhere due to the financial troubles at MGM, the next cinematic adventure of Ian Fleming's famous superspy is finally proceeding apace, with director Sam Mendes knee-deep in casting.  Daniel Craig is back for his third turn as James Bond in the as-yet untitled Bond 23, with Javier Bardem as the latest Bond baddie and Ralph Fiennes as a mysterious character about whom we know pretty much nothing.  Judi Dench returns as M, and we recently learned that Naomie Harris is in talks to play Miss Moneypenny, as well.  Now, it seems Rhys Ifans will also partake in the next round of espionage and action in an unspecified role.