Shutter Island
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Ben Kingsley, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams
Rated R
Release date: February 19, 2010

What makes a movie great? Is it meeting the expectation of greatness? Can a movie be viewed solely on its own merit anymore without comparing it to something else you saw that you liked better or worse, or is that what watching and understanding movies is all about? I thought about that a lot after seeing Shutter Island.

It is in our nature to view a movie not only on its own merit but comparatively against like sources. Martin Scorsese has made a lot of brilliant movies but is it fair to always compare each new one to the classics he has already made? His latest film will make you rethink that process. It is the type of film that will make you forget his stable of gangster movies that most people would try to define him by. If you have ever wondered what a Scorsese horror film would look like, Shutter Island is the answer.

The movie opens as two U.S. Marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), arrive on Shutter Island. They have been invited to Ashecliffe Hospital to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), a patient at the facility. Their arrival doesn’t seem to be met with much enthusiasm. The staff is less than cooperative, the hospital’s chief psychiatrist Dr. John Crawley (Sir Ben Kingsley) offers feigned assistance and right away the case seems steeped in impossibility. She was locked in her room, no one saw her leave, and there are no signs of exit. Not to mention they are on an island in the middle of a hurricane.

Update: It seems like all Prince of Persia trailers were released at the same time, including International trailers. As it turns out, one of these International trailers was a little better than the trailer we got, so you can now see that below as well!

It’s been a long time coming, but the first official movie trailer for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer‘s video game adaptation Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has been unveiled by MySpace.

The trailer certainly makes its intents known immediately, and it’s pretty clear that movie-goers are either going to love it or hate it passionately. What really stands out is the visuals, which are without doubt very beautifully done. The big concern lies within the cast, which started the very moment that Jake Gyllenhaal was cast as a Persian prince. This now has secondary concerns attached to it because Jake is also going to be attempting an accent, as you’ll be able to tell, and also because it appears that he and his co-star Gemma Arterton don’t look like they have very convincing chemistry together. With a supporting cast that includes Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina, there is hope that these things can be overlooked, but Prince of Persia has a little mountain to climb if it wants to start winning our hearts and wallets.

Click on over to see the trailer for yourself and share with us your thoughts on the potential of this movie — a movie whose producers hope it will become a new mega-franchise similar to another franchise that they have: Pirates of the Caribbean.

Jordan Mechner and John August posted a cool little video on their blogs recently. The video is a collection of clips from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time that were specially edited together back in 2003. The purpose of this was to convey his vision of what a movie version of the game should be like, and was used in his pitch to Jerry Bruckheimer and The Walt Disney Company. Most just paint a picture with their words when making a pitch, but Mechner figured what better way to paint a picture than to use key elements from the actual game, and he was right — Bruckheimer bought the pitch and six years later, the movie is set for official release on May 28, 2010.

Mechner is the creator of the Prince of Persia video game series and August is best known for his work as writer on Tim Burton movies like Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Corpse Bride. The duo wrote the script for The Sands of Time movie together.

Click over to watch the video.

Just Jared has the very first pics of Jake Gyllenhaal in full-costume for his upcoming franchise bid with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

Not a whole lot to see here, but if you’re a fan of the games then you’ll notice that the costume looks pretty good, if you ask me. He still doesn’t look very Persian, but better than I expected for sure!

The pics, which were snapped on the set of the film in Morocco, are obviously not official in nature, but are the only ones out there at this time. In some of them, you can see Gyllenhaal walking hand-in-hand with his girlfriend, actress Reese Witherspoon.