In the last week, a barrage of images have hit the web from the various comic-book adaptations on the way. Starting with the Green Lantern reveal, which we already featured, we’ve seen new images from Thor as well as Captain America: The First Avenger. Check them all out below (click for high-res) the jump and share your thoughts.

First up we have the first picture of Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern in case you missed it the first time:

And here are a few more scans from that same issue of Entertainment Weekly:

Next up is a first look at the gods of Thor, including the first image of Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Tom Hiddleston as Loki:

Here is a picture of just Odin and Thor:

Now we have a bigger image from Thor, this time in the throne room of Asgard:

Las night, we got two concept posters for Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor, respectively:

And, finally, today another Thor image debuted, this time of the god’s alter-ego, Donald Blake, pulling the hammer Mjolner out of solid rock:

So what do you think? I am still really excited for Thor, but the images of the gods are a little worrying. I am not going to pass judgement before I see a trailer, but they look very silly right now. I’m really liking the Captain America images, though. I love how the film is set during World War II. Seeing Cap fight the Nazis is going to be awesome. As for Green Lantern, I am looking forward to seeing a traditional superhero origin story. What I mean by that is it’s looking like DC is going back to the basics – they’re not trying anything special with GL as far as I can tell. Hopefully, it’ll just be a fun superhero flick.

There’s sure to be a ton of superhero film news headed your way in the next week thanks to that little geek gathering over in San Diego, so prepare yourself.

PHILIP BARRETT: Let me get one thing out of the way; this is going to sound like I hate Edge of Darkness. I don’t, and truth be told it’s not a terrible film by any stretch. The true enemy of this movie is Warner Bros. marketing department which wants this movie to be Taken 2. The film itself acts like it wants to be, too, and without the success of Taken we wouldn’t have realized it, but it’s not an action film. Will that disappoint the audience going into it remains to be seen, but that’s the main reason this picture left me cold.

Plus1: Edge of Darkness reminded me of last year’s Clive Owen flick – The International, in that they both started slow and built toward a WOW factor with a “I can’t believe they did that” ending. Both movies used real-world drama as the backdrop to help shape the world the stories took place in. If anything, the Warner Brothers (and their sister Dot) are marketing the movie as a detective/action flick where in fact it is an intelligent suspense thriller.

PHILIP: Which it is, and for the first forty or so minutes that was fine. The movie never takes off like it promises and is really selling one particular scene completely wrong. The ending Alex mentions to me felt like it belonged in an different movie altogether. Without giving too much away, it’s the point where the film finally decides it wants to be what the ads promise. It’s out of place, complete with cheesy music to compliment it.

It is a suspense thriller, unquestionably, and maybe if I’d gone in there expecting that I’d have been more pleased with it. I like Martin Campbell, and the man is an artist in how he lends his films an exotic look while still being able to tell a story. He’s not really to blame, as the other culprit is the script by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell (adapted from the TV series by the same name, which was also helmed by Campbell.) It becomes too convoluted for its own good, when it would have worked better had things been kept simpler.

Plus1: : To me, the ending that was used fit and I’m not sure if that was the same ending from the BBC mini-series. However, I’ve watched enough BBC programming to recognize that the ending used was a BBC series-style ending. If anything, I felt that there should have been one more scene after that last scene with a news story detailing the fallout from the events that unfolded and giving some closure to the political thriller that we had just witnessed. I think American audiences are going to feel the same way… a bit let down on the overall closure of the story and not the main character of Tom Craven (played by Mel Gibson).

As for the style and direction of the movie, I thought Martin Campbell did a good job in Americanizing the story while still keeping the BBC feel to the overall product. If I had to complain about the script it would be that they tried to cram too much into a two-hour film. There were a few scenes that seemed out of context early on but made sense later in the movie. The same with Craven’s remorse and sadness over the death of his child…his inner monologue wasn’t able to really be expressed in the short time frame given.

PHILIP: They did, and it over-complicated things that didn’t need to be over-complicated. It’s ok if it’s not Taken 2, but the direction the screenplay went made it seem like it was the “most serious film in the history of everness” when we didn’t need so many twists and turns along the way.

I will say though, Mel Gibson was perfectly cast as Tom Craven. It’s hard to tell whether they cast Gibson just because or if they molded Craven like him, but only crazy Mel (the best kind of Mel, by the way) could be able to pull this one off. He’s enjoyable even when the film drags or also gets too goofy. His demeanor is priceless, surpassed only by his just as goofy Boston accent.

Plus1: Casting a movie like this is just as important as the story itself. Get the wrong actors and no matter how good or great the story is, the acting will take away from the words. Casting Mel Gibson was a stroke of genius. He brought an aged toughness to Tom Craven that gave realism to the character. I’m not sure what was worse…Mel’s mush-mouth Boston accent or the hard to understand Boston/British accent Ray Winstone used as Jedburgh. With that being said, Jedburgh was a character straight out of any BBC drama or American political thriller – the fixer brought in to clean up the mistakes of others. I liked how Craven and Jedburgh shared an unspoken admiration for each other, knowing what each did and looking the other way.

I don’t know if Campbell tried to make this the “most serious film in the history of everness” but he did manage to make a thriller that had me captivated the entire time. Not once was I taken out of the story because of some sappy piece of music or ill-timed musical crescendo, an unneeded action piece or larger then-life-explosion, or worse…the cute kid that ruins all movies.  Everything he did made Edge of Darkness come across as a “this could happen in real life” movie just as he did with 2006′s Casino Royale and from what I could tell from online research, kept true to the original source material.

PHILIP: Winstone was pretty much perfectly cast as Jedburgh, and he’s having a pretty fun time, even if his character is one of the over-complicated matters at hand. Winstone doesn’t try to play one or other, and only a veteran could handle it as well as he does here. The rest of the cast fills in decently, with Bojana Novakovic doing a solid job as Gibson’s daughter. There’s really no problem with the rest of the cast, even rent-a-bad-guy Danny Huston does good, although it appears he’s trying to set a record for how many unintentionally homosexual villains he can play (between this and X-Men Origins.)

Plus1: I liked Edge of Darkness and thought it was a very intelligent movie that didn’t talk down to me. It had a wonderfully executed story that built from a slow beginning to an amazing ending and not once during the movie did the subject take itself too seriously. My only concern is that the moving going public is going to go in, like Philip did, and expect more then what they are given. This isn’t Lethal Weapon and that isn’t an older Martin Riggs. You’re not getting a fast-paced action flick with car chases, gun fights, and loud explosions. You’re getting a stylized political thriller that will make you think and I think that is what many people don’t want when going to the movies. They want to check their brain at the door and relax in a fantasy world for a few hours to escape reality. And as much as I liked Edge of Darkness I don’t see this being on heavy rotation in my DVD collection in a few months.

PHILIP: Pretty much that. It’s not a discredit to the movie that I misplaced my expectations in wanting an action/revenge tale and instead received a mystery. I liked the film enough that I will give it another try on Blu-Ray with this in mind. That said, I think I did enjoy the goofy parts more than the more serious stuff with said expectations. This isn’t a terribly made picture nor is it even a bad picture. It just left me cold because I wanted something else, and what was given wasn’t working for me. It’s a fairly decent little thriller in its own right, and maybe audiences will get more out of it than I did. I’d be more inclined to recommend “checking the brain in” if the movie didn’t fire off such mumbo-jumbo of who’s turning on who. In the end, Edge of Darkness is just a middle-of-the-road thriller that has a nice return for Mel Gibson.

Philip’s Rating –

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

It may be that 2010 is the year Mel Gibson returns to the limelight — 8 years after his last on-screen role and following tabloid mania that has shifted his image in drastically negative ways. He’s got two big projects on the way. The first is Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, and the second is Edge of Darkness from director Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale).

A remake of Campbell’s own 1985 U.K. miniseries, the film features Gibson, Ray Winstone and Danny Huston in a script by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell. Check out the trailer below for a great glimpse of what we’re in store for. Edge of Darkness is slated for release on January 29, 2010.

Ryan Reynolds is in talks to join the cast of Jon Cassar’s (24) Motorcade for Dreamworks Pictures, in which Reynolds would play a the “disgraced Secret Service agent who happens to be in the wrong place at the right time when the U.S. president is kidnapped in New York.”

That sounds like it could be pretty sweet. Reynolds is great in an action role.

The film will be produced by Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. At one point, Tom Cruise was attached to star, back when Underworld‘s Len Wiseman was attached to direct.

Reynolds hasn’t officially signed on yet — next, he’ll be making Green Lantern with Casino Royale director Martin Campbell.

More news on Motorcade as the film develops. Keep your eyes peeled!

These here interwebs were spiraling into a whirlwind of confusion yesterday at the sudden fear of Justin Timberlake taking up the mantle of Hal Jordan in Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern movie. Well those like yours truly who were opposed to the idea can rest a little easier as Variety reports Ryan Reynolds will be donning the green mask and ring.

Even though Nathan Fillion would have been perfect, Reynolds certainly has the chops to pull off the Hal they’re going for and proved himself as the best thing in both The Proposal and some silly Wolverine adaptation earlier this year. It came down to him, Bradley Cooper, and apparently Jared Leto. Leto would have been odd, and Cooper’s got his franchise now.

This project’s already doing a lot of things right in getting a good director and now a strong lead. Let’s hope the script holds up and they deliver another tremendous DC movie. As a devout Green Lantern fan, I’m nothing but excited at the casting news and can’t wait for this thing to hit.

Green Lantern is scheduled for June 17th, 2011 and production to begin in Janurary.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Aint it Cool is the king of kings for movie websites. Usually they’re the ones who report stuff and they’re very well known even to the average joe on the streets. For right now, I have to file them in the “hate” category, not because any of them there did anything to make me mad. No, I feel they do a wonderful job over there and wish we had a fraction of their viewers. I’m currently mad at them for reporting something I do not want to see happen.

A scoop over there is reporting Justin Timberlake, a man I hate with every fiber of my well-being, is screen testing to play Hal Jordan. I’ll admit, this has more to do with my hate for the man than it does my love for Hal Jordan (which is quite a lot) but I don’t want him anywhere near a property I love. Actually, if he was going to be Rayner I would like it or if he would be Guy Gardener I’d love it. But Hal?! Not just a no, but a HELL NO! The guy’s a douche and if anyone should be Hal, it’s Nathan Fillion.

But seriously, no JT as Hal. Period. Do the right thing, Martin Campbell.

This fanboy rant was brought to you by Atomic Popcorn.

Chris Pine

It seems that not even a day went by and we have some casting rumors/news about who will be Hal Jordan in Martin Campbell’s “Green Lantern” for WB.

Rumors are flying all over the internet that one very young and new Captain James T Kirk will be wearing the power ring of OA and playing Hal Jordan. Could Chris Pine be playing Hal Jordan in September when shooting begins?

Pine’s publicist Melissa Kates is on vacation and thus was not available for comment says internet site IESB.

Latino Review says their sources have confirmed that the ‘official offer’ is out to Pine.

Aint It Cool’s Harry Knowles says that Pine is who Producers are targeting for the role.

Personally I think Pine is too young. Hal is a veteran pilot with years of experience before becoming a test pilot for Ferris Air. I know the studios want “young” so they can do a three picture deal but you have to have believability in the character and his age. I still say that Nathon Fillion is the perfect choice to play Hal Jordan.

Either way we’ll know by September who wears the ring. A December 2010 release is scheduled.

Green Lantern in Septermber

Good morning! This is a great day as some new Green Lantern notes have hit the net. I am a big Green Lantern fan and to hear that DC is going to make a faithful movie based on Hal Jordan is good news. And to hear that they are going to start in September is even better news.

Word is that Warner Bros is scheduled to begin shooting Green Lantern in Australia in mid-September.

Producer Donald De Line had this to day, “The status is, funnily enough, we are leaving for Australia Wednesday night with Martin Campbell, our director, to go scout in Sydney and Melbourne, and we plan on starting to shoot mid-September in Australia.” De Line also admits that “we don’t have a soul cast” and reiterates that this story is “the Hal Jordan version of The Green Lantern”.

I can’t wait to hear the Green Lantern Oath on the big screen.