The Mayans, the wise race of ancients who created hot cocoa, set December 21st, 2012 as the end date of their Calendar, which the intelligent and logical amongst us know signifies the day the world will end, presumably at 12:21:12am, Mountain Time. From now until zero date, we will explore the 50 films you need to watch before the entire world perishes. We don’t have much time, so be content, be prepared, be entertained. The Film: WALL-E (2008) The Plot: In the distant future, humanity has abandoned Earth (presumably after it got all jacked up in the Mayan Apocalypse), leaving behind a small waste collecting robot, WALL-E, who has faithfully executed his programming by cleaning up all the trash we’ve left behind and crafting it into cute little bundles. His predictable life is turned upside down with the arrival of EVE, a reconnaissance robot he falls in robot love with that leads him on a journey across the stars that will alter the course of humanity.

What is Movie News After Dark? … um, it’s about movies. And it takes place after the sun goes down. We begin this evening with another new image from The Dark Knight Rises, one of several that worked their way onto the web today thanks to Entertainment Weekly. Unlike all the previously interesting shots from the film, this one does not involve Bane. It’s Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) standing in front of the bat-suit. I love that bat-suit.

I didn’t think it was possible for me to be any more excited about P.T. Anderson’s upcoming religious drama that was at one point called The Master. First off, Anderson is one of my very favorite directors, so anything he does is going to excite me. Secondly, Philip Seymour Hoffman is starring as the L. Ron Hubbard stand-in who serves as the main character, and he’s about the best actor on the planet. And third, much like Anderson’s last film, There Will Be Blood, this one is going to feature a score by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood. Last time around that equaled aural awesomeness. But now there’s a new rumor swirling around the project that is almost too cool to believe, and coming from these sources, I’d say it’s pretty dang reliable. Cinema Blend was peeping in on a Twitter conversation between two directors from the Pixar stable, Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton, about movies being shot in 65mm, and they uncovered the tidbit that Anderson is going to be the next director to utilize the format. Somewhere in the thread of the conversation Bird said to Stanton, “ … Nolan shot a lot of Dark Knight Rises in IMAX. I think PT Anderson’s next is 65 too.” To which Stanton replied, “The Master is indeed in 65. They nearly lost a camera shooting in the Bay.”

Disney’s latest would-be-blockbuster, John Carter, has had a hell of a time making it to the screen – with live-action feature film development interest first kicking off back in the 1950s (from Ray Harryhausen, no less), though the rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ novels weren’t bought until the 1980s, when Disney picked them up. From there, the project seemed ready to go (with cast and crew falling into place), until its own would-be director John McTiernan himself noted that technology was not yet advanced enough to create the write cinematic vision. Then Paramount got the rights for Robert Rodriguez to direct, then it was Kerry Conran, then it was Jon Favreau, and then Paramount didn’t renew the rights, and then Disney got them back, and then I fell asleep. The film is finally hitting screens next year, thanks to Disney and Wall-E director Andrew Stanton (making his live action debut), with John Carter himself being played by rising star Taylor Kitsch. And while this is all well and good, John Carter has one huge obstacle to overcome – it is a huge, multimillion dollar production that comes from a beloved and deep source material that has an obviously epic scale, and awareness by the general public for the property is negligible. And I can’t quite believe that the film’s first full-length trailer will do much to alleviate that. Check it out, along with more of my concerns, after the break.

It’s wholly unfair that we compare a forthcoming John Carter movie to Return of the Jedi (considering how much older the Carter books are), but there’s definitely something going on in this new picture that should take fans back to the Rancor pit. The image comes from the latest edition of Entertainment Weekly (which explains the crease). After all these years, it’s great to see the film finally ready to get launched into theaters. Take into consideration that Carter might have been the first character done animation style for Disney, and it offers some context into how long Edgar Rice Burroughs‘s character has been waiting on deck. Ironically, it’s Andrew Stanton, a director known for animation, that’s chosen this to be his first live-action project. It sees theaters March 2012.

The first teaser for John Carter isn’t the astonishing first peek it should be. Instead, it’s oddly underwhelming. Where’s the sense of a grand-scale adventure film? First of all, John Carter seems to be hanging out in any Earth bound desert, not Mars. There’s nothing in this trailer that’ll tell a filmgoer who is unfamiliar with the books that they’re on frickin’ Mars. Besides the quick glimpse of a green martian, very little is here that gives off the vibe that they’re on an alien inhabited planet.

The universe of “John Carter,” created by Edgar Rice Burroughs is expansive and detailed. It’s gorgeously detailed, and the character will be celebrating his 100th birthday with a movie (finally). Yesterday, a teaser poster highlighting someone’s favorite new font was released – doing nothing to share the rich world of the film with fans or potential fans. That’s a shame, but Disney has released two pieces of concept art via a fantastic interview with director Andrew Stanton over at the LA Times. In case you were wondering what the Monty Python/Carter connection was. What do you think of this concept art?

It’s an impossible task, but it’s high time that Bill Watterson got the right talent together and delivered a Calvin and Hobbes movie to the masses.

If there is one thing that Thomas Hayden Church is known for, it’s the playfulness of his many roles. He’s been acting for 21 years, and in those 21 years, Church has established himself as one of Hollywood’s great underused talents. But that’s not for a lack of trying on Hollywood’s part…

Willem Dafoe will need to paint himself green and add two more arms for his upcoming role in John Carter of Mars. Or maybe the make-up department can handle that for him.

It was less than 48 hours ago that we reported that Disney had found a location for John Carter of Mars. Now they’ve found not one, not two, but possibly three names to add to the top of the cast list.

Wall-E director Andrew Stanton and the folks at Disney don’t know who their John Carter of Mars is going to be yet, but they do know where he will be filmed.

This may or may not be new to all of you, but as of this morning when reader Christopher M. sent it over it was new to me — so it wins the Officially Cool stamp of approval.

Time to geek out about John Carter of Mars moving forward in a big way. Plus, Andrew Stanton promises it won’t be a film for the kiddies.

Forget the Best and the Worst of 2008. These are the actors, directors and producers that made the biggest impact on the world of film and how they might impact us in 2009.

This week’s Blu-ray Report takes us all over the world, from the deepest parts of the universe to the jungles of Vietnam. It is fantasy and fun, silliness and absurdity — it is Pixar’s WALL-E and the ridiculous ride that is Tropic Thunder.

One of the great things about Pixar DVDs is that they always include an additional short film that is somehow related to main film. And with the WALL-E DVD, we get a very funny little short about a repair bot named BURN-E. Check it out inside.

While it is easy to get caught up in the beautiful visuals of a movie like Wall-E, it is also important to recognize the importance of the sound design — it is what truly gives the character life. And for that, director Andrew Stanton turned to the best possible man for the job… Ben Burtt.

Pixar’s latest gem WALL-E doesn’t hit DVD shelves until November 18th, but it showed up at my house yesterday. And though I was excited about the movie, the packaging really caught my eye.

Before you nail me to the cross, it should be said that I liked the movie. Keyword: liked. While many will have the joy of discovering what they will think is one of the great animated features of all time, WALL-E just didn’t feel special to me by the time the credits rolled.