What is Casting Couch? It’s the movie news column that’s easing into Christmas with a cup of coffee and some casting reports. Let’s take this one step at a time. Marvel Studios is on such a roll now that any movie they make that ties directly into their upcoming Avengers 2 is going to be a big deal—even if it’s based off of a comic book that nobody’s ever heard of like Guardians of the Galaxy. So, the competition among young actors to get cast as the Guardians’ leader, Star-Lord, is pretty fierce. According to Variety, that competition has been narrowed down to two guys. The trade reports that Jim Sturgess is the sole survivor of the original crop of five actors the studio screen tested for the role, and Zachary Levi impressed so much playing the smaller role of Fandral in Thor 2, that Marvel is looking to give him a larger role in their universe by maybe making him the half-human, half-alien leader of this ragtag crew. Who would you find more believable commanding a gun-toting space-raccoon?

In this week’s edition of our new favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon, otherwise known as Scenes We Love, we celebrate the fact that ActionFest is happening this weekend. And while coverage of that event will be streaming in from our BBQ-fed dynamic duo of Brian Salisbury and Luke Mullen over the next few days, we thought it appropriate to get your week kicked into gear with a bit of action that, if you haven’t seen the movie it’s from, will leave you in a bit of bone-crunching awe. Long before director Gareth Evans was asked to bring his breakout hit The Raid: Redemption to this year’s ActionFest, his debut action feature Merantau was there winning the festival’s inaugural award for Best Film. Starring Iko Uwais, Merantau delivered unto the world the splendor of Silat Harimau and told the simple story of a country boy who comes to the big city and takes down a major sex trafficking ring run. And the film’s final scene — a thirty-odd minute fight scene that will take the air right out of your lungs — is still one of the most impressively choreographed sequences we’ve seen in a long, long time. So impressive that it’s our action-oriented beloved scene this week. Well, the first two and a half minutes of it, at least. Consider that: this mayhem continues well beyond what you see here.

Expectations are a funny thing. For a critic, they are the worst thing to have. Going into a film with any kind of expectations, good or bad, can color one’s ultimate perception of a film and sway a review one way or another. Our goal should be simple: review the film as is, with no outside influence from hype or marketing. When it comes to Gareth Evans’ sophomore feature The Raid: Redemption, I’ve been a very bad critic. Not only did the trailer — with all of its glorious violence — get to me, but the words of others have been rattling around in my head since the film exploded onto the scene at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. It was dead-set in my wheelhouse, a hyper-violent movie from a director whose last film is a personal favorite. It was difficult to be anything but excited. Almost impossible to have anything but lofty expectations. But that’s the funny thing about expectations. Sometimes you have big ones, and a film comes along and exceeds them. Then you know that you’ve got something special on your hands. And The Raid is something special, indeed.

Most title changes brought upon by studio marketing decisions don’t make much sense. At least not to those of us who buy the tickets and write articles about it. Changing the title of Gareth Evans’ highly anticipated actioner The Raid to The Raid: Redemption falls right in line with that theory — there’s really no reason for the change. Some, including BAD’s Devin Faraci, theorize that it’s a bit of pandering to the art house crowd, as this new trailer also calls upon the namesake of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Hopefully that will dupe some snoots into seeing this one, but the rest of us should remain unconcerned. The movie — complete with a new soundtrack from Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda — is still the high-flying, ridiculously cool wonder that it’s been from the beginning. As proven by this new trailer.

Lets not beat around the proverbial bush here. I’m excited about Gareth Evans‘ latest film, The Raid, for a number of reasons. One is that Evans delivered one of my favorite films — not action films, or foreign films — favorite films of the last 5 years with Merantau. Then came the first trailer for The Raid, which sent me through the roof with excitement. Then came word from the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness screenings that The Raid was, in fact, everything it was promised to be. Now I just can’t stand it. If I knew there was someone within driving distance of me who had a copy of this movie, I would most likely drive to them and take it by force if absolutely necessary. Not the kind of force displayed in this trailer, mind you, as all of this is so brutal that it’s very illegal, but force nonetheless. So watch this trailer, damn you. It’s the most badass thing you’ll have a chance to see until Sony Pictures Classics releases The Raid (complete with a new soundtrack from Linkin Park) in Spring 2012. Also, if you’re holding on to a screener, you’d better watch your back.

Merantau was an astonishing achievement in martial arts storytelling. It displayed incredible hand-to-hand combat work while managing to have a compelling story with solid acting. Go figure. Essentially, it made a lot of other action filmmakers look like amateurs, and it looks like Gareth Evans and Iko Uwais are returning with a stripped down flick to repeat the feat. The Raid is currently enjoying praise coming out of TIFF with hyperbole and review titles featuring exclamation points aplenty. Does it earn the hype? The trailer offers one clue, and you can check it out for yourself (if you’re old enough):

That’s it folks, Tony Jaa has called it quits (for the time being at least). Who could possibly fill the shoes of one of the most gravity defying kickers of ass today? Here are eight worthy prospects…

On Friday, May 28, actor and renowned martial artist Tony Jaa rode an elephant to a Buddhist temple in Surin, Thailand. He then shaved his head, took vows, and was officially ordained as a Buddhist monk. Anyone who has seen his most recent film Ong Bak 2 will not be surprised by this news. The guy has a thing for elephants.

This martial arts flick coming out of Indonesia is, wait for it, far better than Ong Bak. Let that sink in, and then let me explain why inside.

The folks over at Twitch have pointed the world in the direction of a new trailer for an Indonesian martial arts film called Merantau. And it’s pretty awesome.