Action »
Keanu Reeves to Return for 'Speed 3'?
Filed under: Action, Casting, RumorMonger, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Remakes and Sequels
I really loved the first Speed movie. You had Keanu before he became Keanu, and Bullock before she became Sandra Bullock -- it was simply a nice, refreshing on-screen duo featuring two actors we didn't quite know yet and a villain played by one we already loved. Speed 2: Electric Cruise Ship Boogaloo? Not so much. And even though the sequel wasn't nearly as successful as the first (partly because the story was absurd, and partly because Keanu was replaced by Jason Patric), folks still talked about a third installment in the series -- so much so that The Guardian even announced last year that Dennis Hopper had a role in it. Weird, I know, considering the ending of the first flick, but who knows what these Hollywood types have up their sleeves.
Which brings us to today and yet another Speed 3 rumor. This time, AICN has received a message from one of their sources that says a scriptment for the sequel is floating around and it reintroduces the Jack Traven character, played by Keanu Reeves. And yes, the studio would like to talk Reeves back into starring. No word on whether Bullock would play leading lady (what else does she have to do?), but something tells me folks would rather Keanu if they had a choice between the two, hence Speed 2: Keanu-less Water Park Nightmare.
What say you? Speed 3 with Keanu? You down for it? And did the film Crank already give us the best possible Speed 3 premise?
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 12/02
Filed under: Action, Animation, Classics, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New on DVD, Family Films, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie
White Dog
Samuel Fuller's follow-up to The Big Red One was shelved by Paramount Pictures before its scheduled release in 1982 because of fears that its premise -- a white dog has been trained to attack black people -- would stir up more controversy than box office. Fuller was understandably outraged; in his autobiography, A Third Face, he wrote: "The studio has used me as a scapegoat for their lack of determination and courage." The film, co-written by Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential), with a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, later received acclaim when it was released in Europe but never received a home video release in the US and has rarely been seen here. Kristy McNichol plays an actress who adopts the dog; Paul Winfield is as an anthropologist who tries to reverse the training. The Criterion Collection DVD includes a featurette with Hanson, producer Jon Davison, and Fuller's widow, plus a print interview with the dog trainer and essays by J. Hoberman and Armond White. I'm buying, but even if you're not a huge fan of Samuel Fuller, you'd want to check it out. Rent it.
Step Brothers
Combining Will Farrell, John C. Reilly, Richard Jenkins, and Mary Steenburgen under one roof, Step Brothers mines familiar territory with sharp timing and plenty of belly laughs. Mine is, admittedly, a distinctly minority opinion. Available on DVD (single-disc rated, single-disc unrated, two-disc unrated) and Blu-ray, with an audio commentary by Farrell, Reilly, director Adam McKay, and a score by Jon Brion. Other features include deleted scenes and alternate takes, a gag reel, 'making of,' and a couple of gag featurettes. Rent it.
Much more on Wanted, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian after the jump, plus Indies on DVD, Blu-ray Picks, and Collector's Corner.
'Sherlock Holmes' Villain(s) Revealed!
Filed under: Action, Drama, RumorMonger, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking
.jpg)
When Cinematical visited the set of Sherlock Holmes last month, we certainly wanted to learn a lot more about this much-anticipated film (which we did), but we also wanted to find out once and for all whether the classic Holmes villain Moriarty would make an appearance. Up until this point, Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) was the only villain on record, and so far folks behind the scenes have managed to successfully dodge the big Moriarty question. That is, until now. Note: Watch for spoilers below ...
While we received a number of shady answers (followed by evil smirks) from the cast and crew regarding Moriarty during our set visit, IGN managed to get someone to talk: Mr. Mark Strong. At the British Independent Film Awards over the weekend, Strong said this about Moriarty's involvement: "Moriarty's in it ... but you don't really see him. I think he's there because if the franchise carries on, there's a possibility that he will appear in a larger guise. But for the purposes of this one and the detective narrative, I'm the guy that Sherlock's after, Lord Blackwood. And he's a cultist/Satanist lord who is the ultimate cad." So he's there, but you don't see him? Hmmm. I guess we'll take that as solid confirmation ... until we find out who's playing him (ahem, Russell Crowe?).
More 'Wolverine' Photos -- This Time With Sabretooth!
Filed under: Action, 20th Century Fox, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Images, War
I know you're probably groaning at seeing yet another X-Men Origins: Wolverine post, but I can't help it! There's new pictures! And the photos are always so cool -- and yes, I am easily pleased when it comes to the admantium one ... and yes, at this point the movie could be Wolverine reading a phone book for 2 hours and I would probably count my money well spent.
Anyway, 20th Century Fox has released five new images from Wolverine -- if you saw the bootleg ComicCon trailer, you'll recognize the image above. I like that Wolverine and Sabretooth appear to be bickering moments before being "executed." Hate runs deep. My favorite of the bunch, though, is the Weapon X photo ... not because it shows off a lot of Hugh Jackman, but because I'm hoping its an indication we see the whole nasty bonding procedure. If it's another blink-and-you-miss it sequence, well, they just missed the point of doing a Wolverine origin story!
Check out all the photos in the gallery below, accompanied by the two that hit the web last week -- and don't be surprised if there's more before the trailer hits on December 12th because, come on ... where the heck is Deadpool?! Where's Beak? We want to see them, too! Even I need a break from Jackman sometimes.
[via Superhero Hype]
Anyway, 20th Century Fox has released five new images from Wolverine -- if you saw the bootleg ComicCon trailer, you'll recognize the image above. I like that Wolverine and Sabretooth appear to be bickering moments before being "executed." Hate runs deep. My favorite of the bunch, though, is the Weapon X photo ... not because it shows off a lot of Hugh Jackman, but because I'm hoping its an indication we see the whole nasty bonding procedure. If it's another blink-and-you-miss it sequence, well, they just missed the point of doing a Wolverine origin story!
Check out all the photos in the gallery below, accompanied by the two that hit the web last week -- and don't be surprised if there's more before the trailer hits on December 12th because, come on ... where the heck is Deadpool?! Where's Beak? We want to see them, too! Even I need a break from Jackman sometimes.
[via Superhero Hype]
Did You Know 'The Transporter' Was Gay? Well, He Isn't Anymore
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Fans of the Transporter films aren't usually looking for a lot of subtlety and nuance, not unless those are codewords for "butt-kicking" and "car crashes." But Louis Leterrier, the whimsical Frenchman who directed the second film and co-directed the first one, said in 2005 that he had a subtext in mind for Jason Statham's title character: He was gay.Chris Lee writes at the Los Angeles Times' fanboy blog that three years ago, when Transporter 2 came out, well, so did Frank Martin. According to Lee, Leterrier pointed to the scene where Frank turns down a romantic advance from Amber Valletta by saying, "It's because of who I am." Leterrier said, "That's him coming out!"
"If you watch the movie and you know he's gay, it becomes so much more fun," Lee quotes Leterrier as saying in 2005. "It's so great -- the first gay action movie hero! ... Action fans in general are pretty homophobic. You see these tough guys who say, 'The Transporter, that's such a great movie!' If they only knew they're really cheering for a new kind of action hero."
Statham didn't pay much attention to his director's comments, telling Lee in 2005, "It's just Lou-Lou trying to be funny. Although he did say, 'In Part 2, you will become the gay icon.'" That part might have come true, as Statham's many shirtless scenes made him popular in certain quarters, even if the character himself wasn't overtly gay.
A 'Rome' Movie? Hail, Caesar!
Filed under: Action, Drama, Deals, RumorMonger, Scripts, Newsstand, Religious, War
Maybe all roads do lead to Rome. According to The Hollywood Reporter and creator Bruno Heller, there's actually talk of continuing the brilliant HBO series on the big screen to wrap up all the historical loose ends caused by the series' abrupt cancellation. (Something which HBO now thinks was a big mistake. Between that and passing over Preacher, they're rather low in my esteem right now.)Heller admits the talk is, at the moment, just talk. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off." Heller wouldn't discuss movie plot plans, but the next step for Rome was Augustus Caesar having to deal with a certain carpenter from Judea -- with a twist typical of the series.
Fans of the show will probably weep a little at Heller's unrealized plans -- Lucius Vorenus' off-camera fate wasn't as definite as we might have thought, and we would have gotten a whole season of Egyptian debauchery. "I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end," Heller said. "The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around."
A Rome movie is probably nothing but a dream -- anything more than a whisper, and it will vanish, it is so fragile. But cancellation is no longer a death knell, and while they can't give me back the lost season of Antony and Cleopatra, I'm always up for more bread and circuses.
Trailer Park: Things Get Ugly
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Trailer Trash
Time to kick back, have a turkey sandwich and dig into some post-Thanksgiving movie trailer goodness.
The Ugly Truth
Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler star in this romantic comedy. Butler is an abrasive, chauvinistic TV personality and Heigl is his romantically challenged producer. The story looks fairly predictable and this one is going to have to rely heavily on the charisma of the cast. The release date is April 3.
What Doesn't Kill You
Crime drama starring Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke as childhood friends from Boston whose life of crime puts a strain on their personal lives. This looks reminiscent of other Boston-based crime flicks like The Departed and Gone Baby Gone, but looks like it has a passion all its own. This will be one to watch for and it goes into limited release on December 12.
New in Town
A fish-out-of-water comedy starring Renee Zellweger as a Miami businesswoman who relocates to Minnesota in the middle of the Winter. Having witnessed a Minnesota Winter firsthand, I can sympathize. Harry Connick Jr. plays the flannel-garbed, rough-around-the-edges hunk she falls for. This could be fun, and it comes out sometime in 2009.
A Glimpse of Gambit, Wolverine's Co-Star
Filed under: Action, Fandom, 20th Century Fox, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Images
The first photo of Taylor Kitsch as the card-charging mutant Gambit has leaked online, scanned from the pages of Empire's upcoming Wolverine themed issue. He's quite dapper, isn't he? You can get away with wearing silky purple shirts and velvet vests when you're a mutant who can charge everyday objects with lethal kinetic energy. Anyone who mocks your taste in colors and fabrics is going to end up fried by a card, a bowl of pretzels, whatever he can grab first.
Cheesy clothing aside, I think Kitsch embodies Gambit quite well. He's got the right amount of scruff, the right hair, and he flings his cards with a casual machismo. This character is one of my biggest stumbling blocks for the movie, because I just don't get where he fits into a Wolverine origin story. He was a buddy to Wolverine in many of the comics, but was usually relegated to being a French Captain Obvious. "Mon ami, you are going to use them adamantium claws, no?" Fans love him though, and after being left out of three X-Men movies, I suspect they've used any excuse they can to work him in. But I know Gambit fans are psyched -- and the fact that he's probably being groomed for a spin-off should make up for his lack of X-Men screentime.
Cheesy clothing aside, I think Kitsch embodies Gambit quite well. He's got the right amount of scruff, the right hair, and he flings his cards with a casual machismo. This character is one of my biggest stumbling blocks for the movie, because I just don't get where he fits into a Wolverine origin story. He was a buddy to Wolverine in many of the comics, but was usually relegated to being a French Captain Obvious. "Mon ami, you are going to use them adamantium claws, no?" Fans love him though, and after being left out of three X-Men movies, I suspect they've used any excuse they can to work him in. But I know Gambit fans are psyched -- and the fact that he's probably being groomed for a spin-off should make up for his lack of X-Men screentime.
Papa Cyrus Gets a Gig
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Casting
We know him as the man who made the radios go wild with "Achey Breaky" hearts, and he who holds the loins that made Miley, but could Billy Ray Cyrus soon become that tough action spy?The Hollywood Reporter posts that Cyrus, George Lopez, Amber Valletta, and Katherine Boecher have joined Jackie Chan's upcoming comedy The Spy Next Door. Chan plays a man who helps out his neighbors by babysitting their children. In a twist of bad luck for the guy, one accidentally downloads a code and he must protect the tykes from secret agents. They're lucky Kenneth from 30 Rock wasn't the babysitter... Lopez is "a CIA agent who might not be all the he appears," Cyrus is an agent as well, Valletta is mom, and since we're in spy-land, there are Russian shoes that will be filled by Boecher.
I think it's safe to presume how this will turn out. But what about the family of Cyruses? Will this lead to co-starring father-daughter gigs? Will anyone believe Cyrus is in the CIA? Sound off below!
Discuss: Should They Make an 'Incredible Hulk' Sequel?
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Poor Hulk! Batman, Iron Man, even Wolverine get more sequel press than he does. But late last week, Tim Blake Nelson revealed to MTV that he had signed for Hulk sequels, with every intention of taking the villainous center stage as The Leader. But like the rest of us, he has no idea whether or not they'll come to be, or whether or not Edward Norton will return. "It's all good, and I really do hope [the sequel] happens, for all sorts of reasons. But yeah, we did, we had a great time on Hulk together. I'm eager to do Hulk 2 if they make it ... I'm signed on to do Hulk 2 and 3 whether Edward's there or not, so it's not even up to me ... I certainly hope Edward is on the sequel - but that's up to Marvel and Edward."
Meanwhile, over in Avengers land, Robert Downey Jr. mentioned again that Hulk is going to show up in that crown jewel of superhero flicks. It's a strange place for the green giant to be in, because he's going forward, yet lost in a land of sequel rumor and leading man drama.
It's a question we've thrown out to Cinematical readers before, but with all this additional info, where do you want Hulk to go from here? Do you think that he should get his planned trilogy, then land with a thunderclap in The Avengers? Should they just leave well enough alone with The Incredible Hulk? And how do you feel about yet another Hulk recast?
My personal take is that if Marvel can't make up with Norton, they should just give up franchising Hulk, and just leave him off the big screen until The Avengers. Theoretically, you could have an all-CGI Hulk in that, thereby sidestepping the need to replace Norton. It would be clunky, though, and might "really really suck." Sigh. Why does there have to be so much drama in the world of Marvel? Earth's mightiest heroes should have a much easier time uniting than this.
Meanwhile, over in Avengers land, Robert Downey Jr. mentioned again that Hulk is going to show up in that crown jewel of superhero flicks. It's a strange place for the green giant to be in, because he's going forward, yet lost in a land of sequel rumor and leading man drama.
It's a question we've thrown out to Cinematical readers before, but with all this additional info, where do you want Hulk to go from here? Do you think that he should get his planned trilogy, then land with a thunderclap in The Avengers? Should they just leave well enough alone with The Incredible Hulk? And how do you feel about yet another Hulk recast?
My personal take is that if Marvel can't make up with Norton, they should just give up franchising Hulk, and just leave him off the big screen until The Avengers. Theoretically, you could have an all-CGI Hulk in that, thereby sidestepping the need to replace Norton. It would be clunky, though, and might "really really suck." Sigh. Why does there have to be so much drama in the world of Marvel? Earth's mightiest heroes should have a much easier time uniting than this.
