Although no one at Celebuzz has yet seen Jack the Giant Slayer, we have to admit that we’re not altogether excited for it: despite the appealing presence of director Bryan Singer, not to mention its two handsome leads Nicholas Hoult and Ewan McGregor, this update of the popular fairy tale seems too heavy on computer-generated trickery to captivate more than technophiles or, we suppose, folks with a fetish for really, tall, weird-looking people who live atop beanstalks.

Meanwhile, the critical community thus far seems fairy divided about the film, some lauding its inventive visuals while others condemn its tonal inconsistencies. Celebuzz has assembled a cross section of reviews from the critical community’s best and brightest, whose pluses and minuses thus far have added up to a 64 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Check out some choice quotes from reviews posted earlier this week:

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

“The director, Bryan Singer, works more anonymously here than he did in the X-Men films. Jack the Giant Slayer feels like it could have been made by anyone… I kept wondering why the agelessly appealing McGregor was standing off to the sidelines. He has the snap, the valor, the film needs at its center.”

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

“Despite the light touch of Nicholas Hoult in the leading role, the movie isn’t much fun. By the time the giants have descended the beanstalk and laid siege to the king’s castle, and the boiling oil comes out with the flaming arrows and the flying flaming trees, it’s like: Enough already.”

Katey Rich, Cinemablend.com

“Director Bryan Singer can’t quite wrap his arms around this wily revisionist fairy tale. Only when those titular giants emerge, miraculous creations of motion-capture and imagination, do Jack the movie and Jack the person seem to find their purpose, spinning a children’s film with surprising violence and even more goofy humor, a fairly standard-issue fantasy with just enough sparks of wit that show someone cared enough to make it better.”

Devin Faraci, Badass Digest

“Jack The Giant Slayer isn’t just tedious and stupid – which would be par for the course for this type of movie – it’s also a tonal nightmare, a constant collision between stupid kiddie elements like farting giants and grim n’ gritty teen elements like giants that bite people’s heads off at every given opportunity. It’s too brutal for the kids, it’s too silly for the teens. It’s a movie made exactly for no one, except maybe for 35 year old guys with neckbeards who are desperately clinging to their childhoods.”

Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

“Jack the Giant Slayer isn’t bad in and of itself; it’s well made, attractively cast and has some lively as well as ghoulish moments. But a castle fit for a king to anyone who can find an original or singular element to this handsome reupholstering of the English folk tale, a version notable for its fine visual effects and vastly multiplied population of giants.”

How excited are you about seeing Jack the Giant Slayer? And how has your interest changed after reading quotes from these reviews? Let us know what you think of the movie in the comments below!

Cate Blanchett is in talks to join Disney’s live-action Cinderella movie. The Oscar-winning actress is circling the role of the Evil Stepmother in the film, to be directed by Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go). The titular role has yet to be cast. [TheWrap]

Director Bryan Singer tweeted that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will reprise their roles as Professor Xavier and Magneto, respectively, in X-Men: Days of Future Past. While no one knows exactly how these characters will be utilized in the sequel to the X-Men prequel, it’s safe to assume that they will share screen time with their First Class counterparts, played by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. [Twitter]

First, it was reported that Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg were signed to write and produce Episodes VIII and IX in the new Star Wars trilogy. Now, it looks like the scribes will pen Star Wars spin-offs instead. According to THR, who originally reported the writers’ involvement in the new trilogy, “[the] scripts could turn into official ‘Episodes’ in the main Skywalker storyline, or they could form the basis for spinoffs focusing on side characters.” This story seems to confirm that the new trilogy will center on the Skywalkers. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Speaking of Star Wars, Safety Not Guaranteed director Colin Trevorrow was rumored to be in contention for directing one of the new films. Now, the director and his Safety writer Derek Connolly have signed on to rewrite the remake of Disney’s Flight of the Navigator. The 1986 original centers on a boy goes missing who returns to his family 8 years later. The catch? He hasn’t aged a day. Trevorrow may also direct the remake. [Variety]

Joe Carnahan is trading in the wolves from The Grey for vampires. The writer-director is in talks to helm and rewrite the script for Undying Love, based on the popular graphic novel. Warner Bros. will release the film, which revolves around a former soldier who falls in love with a girl who happens to be a vampire. In order to be with her, the soldier must battle the man who sired her: A Hong Kong crime lord protected by hired killers. So it’s a comedy, clearly. [Deadline]

Lots of news to discuss here, movie fans. That’s your cue to drop some comments below. Also, watch the trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey below.

13Disney dropped the proverbial mic Tuesday, dominating the entertainment news cycle with their purchase of Lucasfilm and plans to release a new Star Wars trilogy.

But that wasn’t the only news to come out of Hollywood yesterday.

Here are a few stories you might have missed, plus a quick recap of Disney’s plans to conquer the world with The Force…

1. New Star Wars Movie Set for 2015. Holy Sh!@

George Lucas handed Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise over to Disney on Tuesday, along with treatments for Episodes VII, VIII and IX. Nerds everywhere rejoiced with resounding puffs on their inhalers.

Click here for more details on the future of Star Wars.

2. X-Men: Days of Future Past Finds a Director

Matthew Vaughn is out, Bryan Singer is in.

The director of the first two films in the original X-Men trilogy will step in for Vaughn to helm X-Men: Days of Future Past, Deadline reported on Tuesday.

Vaughn will serve as a producer on the X-Men: First Class sequel, which is on track to hit theatres July 18, 2014.

3. Producer Talks Status of ‘Bond 24’

James Bond producer Gregg Wilson sat down with Swedish film site Moviezine Tuesday to discuss the franchise’s future after Skyfall.

Contrary to internet rumors, Wilson confirmed that Benedict Cumberbatch has not signed on to play the villain in Bond 24. “I can confirm that none other than Daniel Craig has got a role in Bond 24,” Wilson told the site.

The producer also teased that the story for Bond 24, to be written by Skyfall co-author John Logan, will continue to “put Bond in situations that feel interesting” and help engage star Daniel Craig as an actor.

4. The Man With the Iron Fists 2 Could Happen

RZA’s directorial debut, The Man With the Iron Fists, arrives in theatres this weekend, but talk about a sequel has already begun.

Producer and co-writer Eli Roth (Hostel) told WeGotThisCovered.com of his early plans for a sequel.

“RZA and I talked about continuing the story while we were shooting [the first film]. We really wanted to write the foundation of something that could continue if we decided to. It was such a great fun, creative collaboration and obviously it depends on how the public likes it, but it is something we’d love to continue.”

5. Kurt Russell Set to Star in Horror Western Bone Tomahawk

Jack Burton himself, Kurt Russell, will headline an ensemble cast for first-time director S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk, Variety.com reported Tuesday.

The story centers on Russell’s character, a sheriff, as he leads a small team to rescue people from “a group of cannibalistic troglodytes.”

Actors Richard Jenkins (The Cabin in the Woods), Peter Sarsgaard (Green Lantern) and Dexter’s Jennifer Carpenter also star.

No word yet on the film’s release date, but we’ll keep you posted.

Excited for the new Star Wars movie? Eager to see Kurt Russell back on the big screen? Chime in below! And speaking of Skyfall, watch the trailer for James Bond’s newest mission below!

Hugh Jackman’s The Wolverine reveals when it takes place, and X-Men: Days of Future Past loses its director.

X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn has vacated the director’s chair on the film’s sequel, Days of Future Past. And it looks like Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men movies more than a decade ago, may replace him.

While no reason was given for Vaughn’s departure, Deadline reports that he will still serve as producer on the First Class sequel. (Vaughn also helped write the story treatment with First Class and X3 screenwriter Simon Kinberg.)

Singer tops 20^th Century Fox’s list of replacement directors, as the former X-Men director is currently producing the sequel. (Singer also produced First Class.)

This is not the first time Vaughn exited an X-Men movie mid-stream. He famously departed production on 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. Brett Ratner stepped in to helm that sequel.

If Fox wants to keep their July 18, 2014 release date, they will have to find a new director soon. Singer’s affiliation with the production and the overall X-Men film series makes him the most obvious choice. We’ll update you as the story develops…

Empire Magazine debuted a new image from the highly-anticipated The Wolverine, revealing that the popular X-Men character will indeed wield his bone claws.

For the uninitiated: Wolverine is a mutant distinguished by an incredible healing factor and his aforementioned claws. Those claws – along with the rest of his skeleton – were coated in indestructible adamantium in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel that director James Mangold’s film reportedly does not acknowledge. Surprisingly, The Wolverine will however acknowledge the original X-Men trilogy, serving as a distant sequel to those films.

“Where [The Wolverine] sits in the universe of the films is after them all,” Mangold revealed in an interview with Empire. “Jean Grey is gone, most of the X-Men are disbanded or gone, so there’s a tremendous sense of isolation for him.”

Spy photos from the set, involving Wolverine’s travels in Japan and glimpses of a WWII Japanese POW camp, lead to speculation that the movie would indeed be a prequel of sorts. The reveal of the bone claws implies that either flashbacks will be used at some point in the story, or that Wolverine has been stripped of his adamantium.

In any case, Mangold believes it’s essential for his film to exist outside the current continuity:

“That’s something that for me was very important, that I land in a very specific place in his timeline,” says Mangold. “I wanted to be able to tell the story without the burden of handing it off to a film that already exists and having to conform to it.”

“The ideas of immortality reign very heavily in this story and the burden of immortality weighs heavily on Logan. For me that’s such an interesting part of Logan’s character that is nearly impossible to explore if you have a kind of league or team movie.”

Does this new info make you want to see The Wolverine when it hits theatres July 26, 2013? Weigh in below, and check out a featurette about X-Men: First Class.