Steven Spielberg is no stranger to child/teen-centric cinema, and his latest film adapts a popular stage play about a boy, his horse, and the special friendship between them. Doesn’t quite sound like a family film, but I’m curious to see how the famed director utilizes the “Spielberg face” in the scene where the naked teen stabs the horse’s eyeball. Wait. I think I have the wrong boy-and-his-horse movie based on a stage play… War Horse is about a boy (Jeremy Irvine) who finds and befriends a horse in the English countryside. The animal is drafted during WWI and attempts to make a run for the Canadian border, but when the boy teaches it basic geography the horse begrudgingly boards a ship heading to the battlefields of France. The teen enters the fray in search of his trusty steed and probably becomes a man in the process. One of my favorite films as a kid was Carroll Ballard’s The Black Stallion. It’s about a boy who finds himself shipwrecked on a desert island, alone except for a beautiful and wild black horse that had yet to be broken in by a rider. The film perfectly captured the boy’s yearning for adventure, his overwhelming loneliness, and the importance of friendship that knows no color boundaries. (That may not have been part of the film’s intent.) I’m hoping War Horse manages to find some of that same magic, but the trailer below appears more epic than personal. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Long-desired and well-rumored, the release of the Jurassic Park trilogy on Blu-ray has been high on the list of cinephiles since the war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray ended some years ago. Of all the great spectacles of the modern effects era, none have been quite as grand as when Steven Spielberg brought dinosaurs back to life. It could be one of the most anticipated Blu-ray sets we’ll ever see. It’s that fact that makes today’s announcement even more exciting: Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released the list of special features that will be included in the October 25, 2011 release. And at first glance, it looks like it’s going to be a larger-than-life experience. See for yourself after the jump.

Sure, the rides were a little bumpy, and there weren’t always dinosaurs visible in the dinosaur park, but Jurassic Park was always fun for the whole family. If you’re like me, Jurassic Park was the film that changed the game for you. A large scale spectacle done right with just the right amount of heart (No Tim!!!) and the right amount of completely forgivable cheesiness. The sequels headed down the Slide of Diminished Returns (a ride at the park they shut down due to lawsuits), but maybe starting fresh is exactly what the franchise could use. That might be what it’s getting, because The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Steven Spielberg has been having meetings with writer Mark Protosevich to toss around ideas on how to make Jurassic Park 4 a reality.

This past weekend, the first of many pieces of sci-fi media with one entity at their center was released. That one entity has a name. It’s Steven Spielberg. Yet while Super 8 was fun, the first television-based Spielberg project of the next six months can be summed up in one word: amazing. That project is the TNT drama Falling Skies. Encompassing everything that makes up the things we expect from the Spielberg brand, like a focus on characters as opposed to events, grand scale world building, and a pinch of awesome action, Falling Skies delivers on the hopes that its advertising has created. The show, which premieres this Sunday on TNT, is a refreshing spectacle to see arrive on the small screen.

“I don’t believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus pocus. I’m going after a find of incredible historical significance and you’re talking about the Boogieman! Besides, you know what a cautious fellow I am.” Anybody who has watched any amount of the History Channel knows that Hitler was obsessed with the occult. What this movie presupposes is that he probably lost the war because he diverted too many of his resources towards the doomed goal of acquiring the Ark of the Covenant, which in case you didn’t know, is the chest that contains the original stone tablets on which the ten commandments were written. According to religious hocus-pocus, any army that marches while carrying the Ark would be unstoppable on the battlefield, as they would have the endorsement of the good Lord Himself. So what does the U.S. government do when faced with the task of racing the Third Reich to unstoppable power and endless influence? They hire an archeology professor from Marshall College, one of the most rough and tumble adventurers in the world, to go out and find it first. They get Indiana Jones. The only problem with the plan is that the key to finding the Ark is in the possession of one of his ex-girlfriends, and she’s kind of a crazy drunk.

There’s no real reason to even write an intro here. Chances are if you saw Super 8 already it made you strangely hungry for Reese’s Pieces. This story about an alien whose face was designed to look like Albert Einstein and Carl Sandburg gave birth to a pug (not a joke) is beyond iconic. It’s even literally iconic in the fact that its main image has become the symbol of Amblin entertainment. We may not have a trailer for Night Skies, but we’ve got one for E.T. If Poltergeist represented the dark side of suburban life, this represented the (incredibly frightening) lighter side.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr relives his childhood by running around with a Super 8 film camera, trying to capture a train derailment on film. He deftly uses the cover of shooting a home movie with a bunch of local tweens who ride around on their bikes all day like some extras in a Spielberg film. However, when the cops come after him for suspicious behavior, he ducks into the local cinema to catch the live-action big screen adaptation of the Judy Moody books. This might not be helping his case.

It’s Spielberg week around here, so hop on your bike and join us on an adventure that involves dirty criminals, dirty pirates, and mortgage-saving gold. The Goonies, directed by Richard Donner, is the kind of fantasy that a lot of children had growing up. They knew something was happening, changing in their neighborhood. They knew that their parents were in some sort of trouble that was too grown up to really grasp, and they wanted to do something to fix everything. Fortunately, a pirate left a ton of treasure to help them out. Now to avoid all the booty traps to get to it. There is a ton of trivia surrounding this movie, but maybe my favorite is that Data has “007″ inscribed on his belt, because, as we all know, Data was always a bigger bad ass than Bond. The other contender is the fact that the children weren’t allowed to see the pirate ship until they filmed the scene of them discovering it. That’s a play right out of the Willy Wonka playbook, and apparently the Goonies take had to be redone because some of the kids cursed.

For anyone who’s ever stared into the television and said, “They’re here,” – this one’s for you. This trailer for the Tobe Hooper-directed Steven Spielberg-directed Tobe Hooper-directed horror flick knows what scares you. As most realize, Spielberg produced this film back-to-back with E.T. and the feel of both films is remarkably similar even with different boogeymen. However, in this one, Spielberg instilled his own childhood fear of clowns and of a spooky tree outside his bedroom window into the move. It’s a cultural icon (that was almost scripted by Stephen King), and, on a personal note, isn’t it great to see Zelda Rubenstein on screen again if only for a brief moment?

Between Martin Scorsese with Boardwalk Empire, Michael Mann with his upcoming series Luck, Tony and Ridley Scott with The Good Wife, David Fincher with his upcoming House of Cards, Steven Spielberg with too many upcoming projects to name, and an ungodly amount of smaller names that have directed various pilots, many filmmakers have been trying their hand at a smaller screen. While that’s great, it isn’t enough. So it’s time to discuss what other filmmakers would be suited well for the idiot box. Here are seven filmmakers that should try their hand at television.

Apparently one of the tricks inside J.J. Abrams‘s mystery box (patent pending) was lying about the release date of his new movie. Paramount has been advertising Super 8 as hitting theaters on June 10th, but they’ve reached up into their sleeves to pull out an earlier release. Twenty-four whole hours earlier. You’ll have to head to the Super 8 Sneak Preview page to see if your city is on the list, and if not, then you’ll have to wait for that Midnight screening you were already planning anyway. Twitter is also involved somehow, but seems awfully bypass-able. From a marketing standpoint this makes perfect sense. Get the die-hards into theaters a day early and start the word of mouth buzz a full day early. People on the fence about seeing it so early might just be pushed into catching it earlier and spreading the word. That is, if it resonates with fans that strongly. But, from a fan’s perspective, it’s nothing but fantastic news for a highly anticipated flick that will be coming early.

There’s nothing quite like returning to the old neighborhood to find that your childhood playground hasn’t been torn down. You run your hand along rope ladders deemed “unsafe” by modern standards, feel the crunch of pebbles beneath your feet that did more to cut than soften a fall, sit in the swing and think for a moment about jumping out at the highest point. Super 8 is the cinematic equivalent of unearthing a time capsule and finding everything inside is still impossibly shiny and new. It’s impossible to remove the film from its own nostalgia, except for its intended audience of children discovering this type of filmmaking for the first time (and maybe even seeing their first Amblin logo). That’s a pretty powerful thing. With everyone clamoring to tap a market of adults eager for their own past while simultaneously getting kids into seats, J.J. Abrams‘s latest is one of the few that actually succeeds.

What is Movie News After Dark? Whatever it was last night has been shed, and tonight it is back to its old self: a movie news round-up that appears nightly, pulls no punches and always delivers the goods. For those who were disappointed in last night’s non-entry — especially that guy who called me “LAZY” — please accept my apology in the form of tonight’s exquisite assortment of entertaining goodies. Tonight’s lead image comes from Pixar’s new short, Luna. It’s the coming-of-age story of a young boy who is taught the strange details of his family’s business. As with everything Pixar-related, it looks beautiful. And we can only imagine that it will have some sort of heart-warming human elements. Nothing plucks heart strings like a little lineage and a father with a massive mustache.

Remember how much everybody loved Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and how fandom has been clamoring for further father/son bonding adventures between Indy and Sia Labeouf’s Mutt ever since it left theaters? Me either, so why are all the cast members of that film going around talking to MTV cameras about another sequel? Probably because George Lucas and company know that no matter how bad it looks, we’ll all go and see it anyways. We can’t help ourselves; it’s a sickness. And because of that, Ford seems to be busy preparing his creaking old body for a fifth go around in the iconic Indy togs. According to Shia LaBeouf, “I talked to Harrison Ford. He said he’s staying in the gym, he said he’s heard no word, but he does know that George Lucas is out there looking for a MacGuffin. He said he’s staying in the gym, so it means the movie is not so far off.” If the amount of time it took Lucas to find a MacGuffin for Crystal Skull is any indication, then Ford may be in that gym for quite some time.

Those who scoped out yesterday’s trailer will notice a distinctly Spielbergian feel to this week’s vintage trailers, so hopefully that Amblin logo will be swirling around your head all week. It isn’t present in this teaser, but there’s something about a pair of high top sneakers kicking the tires on a soon-to-be iconic vehicle that makes me giddy. Back to the Future is a rare type of universal movie that’s equal parts entertainment and enlightenment. Plus, it treats time travel extremely well, which is a bonus. We see a lot of teaser trailers these days, but it’s fascinating to look back on this short spot meant only to titillate and recapture some of the thrill that people on the edge of seeing this movie in 1985 would have felt. The only difference is that they have no idea what they’re in for. This trailer is a machine that converts nostalgia into anticipation.

We named the dog Indiana. The highest grossing film of 1981 has since become a modern legend after launching a series of films that are beloved by millions. The hat, the whip, the swagger, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford introduced the world to a man who was smart enough for the classroom and rough enough to fistfight pirates. This trailer is an epic look at that man’s adventure, trying to recover a radio for speaking to God.

Movies have a strange relationship with history, that’s for certain. On the one hand, they have the ability to bring to life, in spectacular detail, the intricate recreation of historical events. On the other hand, films can have a misleading and even potentially dangerous relationship with history, and can change the past for the benefit of storytelling or for political ends. And there’s always the option of using films to challenge traditional notions of history. Finally, many movies play with history through the benefit of cinema’s artifice. Arguably, it’s this last function that you see history function most often in relationship to mainstream Hollywood cinema. In playing with history, Hollywood rarely possesses a calculated political motive or a desire to recreate period detail. In seeking solely to entertain, Hollywood portrays the historical, but rarely history itself. Tom Shone of Slate has written an insightful piece about a unique presence of that historical mode all over the movies seeking to be this summer’s blockbusters. Citing X-Men: First Class, Super 8, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Cowboys & Aliens as examples, Shone argues that this is an unusual movie summer in terms of the prominence of movies set in the past. However, while such a dense cropping of past-set films is unusual for this season, these movies don’t seem to be all that concerned with “the past” at all – at least, not in the way that we think.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news round-up that, for the time being, is keeping things brief. Memorial Day weekend is one that Hollywood generally takes off, so news is light. That said, there was plenty of discussion and artful expression happening all weekend that didn’t require us to sift through the virtual pages of The Hollywood Reporter. Read: there’s some cool stuff in tonight’s edition. The Times has a report that, for some of you, can’t come soon enough. 3D is fizzling and Hollywood is scared. The report focuses on the lopsided box office of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which took in far more dollars in 2D despite a major push in the other direction from Disney. Even Kung Fu Panda 2, an animated 3D family adventure, opened soft in the additional dimension. Perhaps this will prompt some changes to be made. It probably won’t, but a guy can dream.

Few modern war movies exemplify the courage of a fighting force quite like Saving Private Ryan. Steven Spielberg deftly drew out performances from a varied cast of veterans and newcomers, and he even had a few tricks up his sleeve. For one, all of the actors went through military training except for Matt Damon so the cast would be bitter toward him. A more technical trick was attached drills to the sides of the cameras in order to make them shake the way he wanted them to. It wasn’t until they started shooting that Spielberg was informed that there were lenses that would create the effect (and that he didn’t invent some crazy new technology).

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news round-up column that didn’t mean to take the night off last night, but was forced into it by some “internet connectivity issues.” Which means, plainly, that its internet provider sucks sometimes. And things happen. Like trains — sometimes they get blown up in small town in Ohio, unleashing unknown terrors upon small-town, late-70s folk. Shit happens, y’know? My confession of the evening is that I was able to see Super 8 this morning. Reviews are under embargo for now, so I can’t share too much, but know this: whatever level of excitement you hold for it, you’re probably on the right track. Moving on, but not too far, Empire has a great interview with producer Steven Spielberg and Spielberg Jr., director J.J. Abrams. You can check it out after the jump. It’s not spoilery, as Abrams is a good keeper of secrets. But if you want to go in completely untainted, skip ahead and there’s plenty of other news to read.