20th Century Fox has revealed a new trailer for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  As you'd expect, this particular trailer's "grown-ups only" designation is not a product of bad language or nudity, but rather, lots of blood being spilled.  Or, more accurately, lots of blood flying at the screen in arterial sprays of various speeds thanks to the speed-ramp action style of director Timur Bekmambetov.

Warner Bros has released the first theatrical trailer for Gangster Squad, and if the ensemble wasn't on your "Movies I'm Damn Well Seeing As Soon As I Can" list, then it will be shortly.

The story kicks of 1949, as Brooklyn-born gangster Mickey Cohen brings an East Coast-style organization to crime in the sunny City of Angels and corrodes the police through corruption and intimidation.  Sergeant John O'Mara and Detective Jerry Wooters are tasked with forming a covert group of incorruptible cops to dismantle Cohen's empire by any means necessary.

This morning we saw a featurette for Dark Shadows, Tim Burton's new film penned by mashup novelist-turned-screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith.  Now, let's make it a twofer with a brand new featurette for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, based on Grahame-Smith's second novel.  The two-minute promotional piece includes lots of new footage of star Benjamin Walker spinning his ax like a bat out of hell, interspersed with a bull session between Grahame-Smith, producer Burton, and director Timur Bekmambetov.

Synopsis: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter explores the secret life of our greatest President, and the untold story that shaped our nation. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) bring a fresh and visceral voice to the blood-thirsty lore of the vampire, imagining Lincoln as history’s greatest hunter of the undead.

As you can read in IAR's coverage from the ground at WonderCon in Anaheim, the panel for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter included no shortage of goodies, such as an extended clip and a new theatrical trailer.  Luckily for those of us who couldn't make it to Anaheim, the second theatrical trailer for the history/action/horror mashup is available to view online right now.  It demonstrates once again that, despite the ludicrous premise, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter takes itself very seriously.

Yesterday, 20th Century Fox revealed the very first teaser trailer for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  Despite the inherent goofiness of the premise that our 16th President was, in fact, a secret hunter of fashionable bloodsuckers, the trailer played it surprisingly straight, and today there's a new, slightly longer international that plays it even straighter.  Fox also marked the real kickoff of its marketing effort on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter with several new stills showing Benjamin Walker in action as a superpowered, kung-fu adept Great Emancipator.

The first teaser trailer for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has made its official debut online, and its both exactly what you'd expect and nothing like you'd expect.  How do I mean?  Well, it's got Benjamin Walker as Lincoln doing elaborate martial arts with his trusty axe, throwing down against vampires, and generally looking like a badass action hero, complete with ample slo-mo. 

What it doesn't have is even a hint of the self-aware irony that the title Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter obviously implies.  Nope, this is played completely straight, like a Civil War-era Blade or something.

I recently had the immense pleasure of speaking with one of my all time favorite actors, Titus Welliver, about his prolific and impressive television work. But as accomplished as his TV resume is, the actor has just as distinguished of a film and stage career. Welliver first gained attention in the groundbreaking off-Broadway play “Riff Raff,” which was written, directed and co-starred actor Laurence Fishburne. He would eventually reprise the critically acclaimed role that he originated on stage as the sympathetic drug addict and part-time thief Billy “The Torch’ Murphy in the film adaptation of the play entitled Once in the Life, which also starred Fishburne and marked his feature film directorial debut. In fact, while the actor and I were chatting about the making of Once in the Life and his work in "Riff Raff," which also happens to be my all time favorite stage play, the actor happened to mention that he and Fishburne are discussing doing a revival of the show. “I have to say Laurence and I have been sort of toying with the idea of doing the play again even though it's been about twelve years since we made the film,” Welliver admitted.

While the actor is probably best known for his extensive television work that includes playing Silas Adams on HBO’s Western-based series Deadwood, the pivotal role of Kyle Hollis on the brilliant but short-lived NBC series Life, season three villain Jimmy O’Phelan on FX’s motorcycle gang series Sons of Anarchy, a recurring role on the current Fox series Touch with Kiefer Sutherland, and of course, as the Man in Black (A.K.A. the Smoke Monster) on ABC’s cultural phenomenon Lost. But he’s also appeared in many popular feature films including The Doors, Mobsters, Twisted, Assault on Precinct 13, and most recently Man on a Ledge, which opened on January 27^th and is in theaters now. But his most famous film roles have come from his collaborations with fellow actor and now critically acclaimed writer/director Ben Affleck. Welliver first appeared in Affleck’s Boston-based directorial debut Gone Baby Gone as Lionel McCready, and also appeared as FBI agent Dino Ciampa in The Town (also set in the Boston area) opposite Jon Hamm (TV’s Mad Men). Now, Welliver will achieve the hat trick by also appearing in Affleck’s upcoming third directorial effort Argo, which will be the first of his films, as a director, not set in Massachusetts.

Opening in theaters on January 27th is a new thriller from director Asger Leth (Ghosts of Cite Soleil) called Man on a Ledge. The film features an excellent cast of young and veteran actors including Sam Worthington (Texas Killing Fields), Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games), Jaime Bell (The Eagle), Anthony Mackie (Real Steel), Edward Burns (Newlyweds), Genesis Rodriguez (TV's Entourage), Titus Welliver (TV's Lost), Kyra Sedgwick (TV's The Closer), and Ed Harris (The Rock). 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had an opportunity to sit down and speak with actor Edward Burns about his role in Man on a Ledge. Burns discussed the new film, why he took the role, what he looks for in Hollywood scripts, playing a New York cop, collaborating with Elizabeth Banks, working opposite Titus Welliver, and what it feels like to actually walk out on the ledge of a building. 

Synopsis: From the ledge of the 25th floor of a NYC skyscraper, where one wrong step means death, a cornered Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) must orchestrate a dangerous plan to prove his innocence for a crime he didn't commit.