First Trailer for THE EQUALIZER

Folks, Denzel Washington will turn sixty years old this December, but lucky for us he shows no signs of slowing down as he continues not only to act in films and lead them, but to lend his name to high-octane, adrenaline pumping pictures that one would think more in line with what Jason Statham and Mark Wahlberg are looking to add to their resumes. To follow-up his fun-time team-up with the aforementioned Wahlberg in last years 2 Guns Washington has enlisted in a re-make of the hit 1980's show The Equalizer under the helm of his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua. As a child of the 90's who was born in the late 80's I have no real connection to the source material or know what the premise of it was besides a guy kicking ass and taking on missions, but if there were those worried the film adaptation might change things up there seems no reason to worry as the first trailer for Fuqua's film shows off little more than Denzel kicking butt and taking names. The thing of note here is the style in which all of this is done as Fuqua clearly has a consistent tone nailed down while seemingly borrowing from Guy Ritchie and his Sherlock Holmes films as Washington's Robert McCall visualizes his altercations before engaging in them while Fuqua's camera takes us inside his mind and shows us step by step what McCall plans to do to the bad guys in slow motion then allows the scene to play out in real time in which McCall utilizes his environment to brutal results. It is a technique we've seen before, but will likely work well because so much of it depends on the mind it takes place within and Denzel Washington, being one of the last real movie stars working today, is no doubt a charismatic and interesting place to be. Needless to say, I'm eager to see what this seemingly straight-up B-movie actioner has to offer. The Equalizer also stars Chloe Grace Moretz, Melissa Leo, Martin Csokas, Haley Bennett, David Harbour, Bill Pullman and opens September 26.

First Trailers for Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH

There has been much talk concerning director Darren Aronofsky's desire to adapt the tale of Noah and his ark for the big screen ever since that desire was made public. Aronofsky is a director who likes to push the limit and is always willing to look for an interesting perspective on subjects and a style to go along with that perspective that will influence how he captures the story on film. I have always been a big supporter of his 2006 passion project, The Fountain, and have enjoyed his work since as well as prior. With the ability to secure a massive budget and backing of a studio like Paramount Aronofsky is now operating on his biggest scale yet and if there is a story that might justify this excursion into big budget studio films for a more arthouse director, it would be a Bible story in which everyone will have plenty to say. Paramount is no doubt hoping this mentality means it will put up Passion of the Christ-like numbers though we've already heard reports that the director and Paramount are at odds over the final cut of the film after a few test screenings didn't come away with the most shining of results. All I care about though is that the final cut we see on-screen is the one Aronofsky originally had in mind when he began this project. The director knows what he is doing and the trailer implies he has a very specific way of channeling the aspects of God and how he communicated with Noah in a way that make this event feel all the more plausible. The visuals here are absolutely stunning and there is a grand scale to the film that a story like this justifies but going even further, Aronofsky has gathered a cast that will more than do their part to elevate the human aspects of this story we've all heard many times before and in doing so will no doubt deliver a complete film that packs plenty of its own surprises. Russel Crowe plays the titular Noah and is joined by the likes of Emma Watson, Jennifer Connelly, Logan Lerman, Ray Winstone, Douglas Booth, Kevin Durand, Martin Csokas, Mark Margolis, and Anthony Hopkins. Noah opens on March 28, 2014.