Tue, October 30, 2012 A live Q&A was held between Hugh Jackman and helmer James Mangold on The Wolverine set. If you have four hours to spare, knock yourself out. Highlights include The Outlaw Josey Wales as an influence, Dwayne Johnson's workout tips, Logan being "angry," confirmation this is a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand and not Wolverine and the one-sheet below.
Mon, October 29, 2012 
Nothing more than a SyFy (Anyone ever ask Harlan Ellison what he thought of that stupid name-change?) TV movie of the week right down to "'high concept' equals cool," IGN Movies has the red-band trailer for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. So good, Paramount slapped on 3D and made us wait till January 2013.
Suppose if schlock cinema is your thing or Van Helsing topped your "Best of 2004" list, good laughs will be had.
Sat, October 27, 2012 
Since news broke a couple days back that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be reprising his famous role of Conan in the tentaviely titled The Legend of Conan for Universal, there have been many skeptical comments:
"Is he crazy?"
"He's going to have a f*cking heart attack!"
"Why doesn't he just give it up!"
While it is expected and obviously natural for those to question why Arnold - now 65-years-old - would take on such a project at his advanced age, you need to understand the type of person this man is and has shown the world for the past four decades and counting.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is undoubtedly the most successful American story of our lifetime. An immigrant from Austria who succeeded in not just one phase of life, but three: bodybuilding, Hollywood, and politics. This is a human being who came up from literally nothing and has become one of the most world-renowned figures of all-time. He is a legend who will be talked about long after he is gone and will be admired and written about for years to come.
A figure such as this does not come along often. They reach such heights from unprecedented hard work, determination, focus, perseverance, and most of all, will. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a man who never stops challenging himself and is always looking for the hardest goal possible to accomplish. In that sense, why wouldn't he take on the challenge of reprising one of his most notable Hollywood roles nearly 30 years after he last played it? I without a doubt believe he feels he can not only play this role again but surpass any expectations we might have of him. Many say there's no way he can physically reach the same heights he once had. But let's not forget, this is Arnold Schwarzenegger we are talking about, the greatest bodybuilder of all-time. If there is one individual who can exceed physical limits at the age of 65, it is him.
I expect Arnold Schwarzenegger to shock the world and silence critics. It is what he has done his whole life.
Why would now be any different?
Thu, October 25, 2012 
Arnold Schwarzenegger will return to one of the defining roles of his career for King Conan. Fredrik Malmberg and Chris Morgan will produce and if Universal gets their way this hits summer 2014.
That would be awesome news. Were it not for the fact it's been twenty-eight years since he last played Conan and the world just had the Conan the Barbarian reboot starring Jason Momoa last August. They plan to conveniently dismiss it and even Conan the Destroyer like Bryan Singer did on Superman Returns opting for Superman & Superman II's continuity blowing off the latter two Christopher Reeve sequels. All due respect, I know Arnold wants to reclaim his past glory and youth. As a pal just confessed over Skype, he's gonna have a heart attack!
Remember how Sean Connery returned to James Bond after "new guy" George Lazenby disappointed? That's what's happening. If it was almost thirty years on and Connery was the Connery of today (To be fair, Connery is still manlier than most alive today).
Thu, October 25, 2012 
X-Men: First Class overcame many hurdles from losing its original director Bryan Singer (a coupe getting him to return) and his late-call replacement by Matthew Vaughn (himself Singer's original replacement on X-Men: The Last Stand before he too quit) to meeting its nut-crunching June 2011 release date (Filming started in Fall 2010) to it being good (A rarity in the sub-genre of prequels).
Then it under-performed and the prospects of future installments with James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence went dim. Probably due to their desire to keep the property on their turf, 20th Century Fox set forth on a sequel, signed down Vaughn to return, a July 18, 2014 release date and the promise of adapting Days of Future Past, a not-subtle way of saying this was their plan to reboot.
Everything's a-OK now, right? Nope, here's a curve-ball thrown at the sequel, via "TOLDJA." Vaughn's bailed. No reason cited (He apparently will stick around with Fox) and since they have that July '14 release and a start of production geared for early next year, they need a replacement. And the rumor-mill says Singer (who served as producer on First Class and from what we’ve heard played a much bigger hand than let on) could step up to direct.
All due respect to Singer, who I continue to be a big fan/defender of, such a last minute move by Vaughn can't be good. Something's up.
Thu, October 25, 2012 The marketing department in charge of A Good Day to Die Hard is phoning it as often as Bruce Willis in the last decade (courtesy of Entertainment Weekly).
"Yippee Ki-Yay Mother Russia?" There were worse phrases out there. I'm clearly in denial. There's also a new trailer. Taking its queue from the teaser trailer, plenty of action in sight (Even the surprise return of Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and noticeably little lip-service from Jai Courtney as John McClane's son. Can't be a good sign.
Thu, October 25, 2012 
This is how assumptions get the better of you.
Since The Wolverine is an adaptation of the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller mini-series and since it’s the second solo Wolverine outing, we all assumed it was set after the events of the ill-received prequel. "Sequel to a prequel," I often described it. Remember one of the post-credits codas had Logan sitting in a Japanese bar! Assumptions told us this would be another adventure set before Hugh Jackman ran around in a hoodie being mind-fucked by Professor Xavier.
Helmer James Mangold says that couldn't be further from the truth (via Empire with photo scan from The Daily Blam!):
"'Where this film sits in the universe of the films is after them all,' reveals Mangold. 'Jean Grey is gone, most of the X-Men are disbanded or gone, so there’s a tremendous sense of isolation for him.'"
A disbanded X-Men sets a darker tone than we saw in the closing moments of The Last Stand. From those closing shots (Save that "Maybe the Cure isn’t permanent" BS with Magneto), suggested things were looking up for the School of Gifted Youngsters. That also makes the Famke Janseen cameo more plausible and less, "Uh, how's that gonna work?"
Assuming this all fits into how the timeline gets screwed up with X-Men: Days of Future Past. But as we’ve just seen, best not to assume anything.
Wed, October 24, 2012 
The benefit of having Christopher Nolan as your executive producer is gets like this.
Johnny Depp will star in Transcendence, the directorial-debut of Nolan's cinematographer Wally Pfister. THR had more details than we're used to from the typically-secretive nature of Nolan productions:
"Plot details have been closely guarded, but sources say the film is described as in the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Inception.
The story centers on a man who creates a computer that develops a malevolent awareness. Depp will play a husband who gets sucked into the computer, contigent on changes Pfister is making to the script, sources say."
Pfister wasn't exaggerating calling it a "fairly big concept" to the Herald Tribune.
Since Jerry Bruckheimer, Gore Verbinski and Tim Burton aren't within distance, perhaps Depp will get motivated out of his rut. Obviously too soon to know how he’ll transition to calling the shots from rocking those IMAX cameras, but Pfister doesn't strike as one to let Depp phone it in with his "colorful weirdo" crap.
Wed, October 24, 2012 
If it's possible, The Evil Dead remake may rival the original and its 1987 sequel in the blood department. Curious how severe the MPAA will force them to cut back.
What's there to take from the red-band trailer (Same one leaked last week)? Producers Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell were cool enough, and not too full of themselves, to allow newbie helmer Fede Alvarez to take a bite at the (bloody) apple.
Tue, October 23, 2012 
Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and Red Mist return for the follow-up to 2010’s irreverent global hit:Kick-Ass 2. After Kick-Ass’ (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) insane bravery inspires a new wave of self-made masked crusaders, led by the badass Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), our hero joins them on patrol. When these amateur superheroes are hunted down by Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse)—reborn as The Mother F%&*^r—only the blade-wielding Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) can prevent their annihilation. When we last saw junior assassin Hit Girl and young vigilante Kick-Ass, they were trying to live as normal teenagers Mindy and Dave. With graduation looming and uncertain what to do, Dave decides to start the world’s first superhero team with Mindy.
Unfortunately, when Mindy is busted for sneaking out as Hit Girl, she’s forced to retire—leaving her to navigate the terrifying world of high-school mean girls on her own. With no one left to turn to, Dave joins forces with Justice Forever, run by a born-again ex-mobster named Colonel Stars and Stripes. Just as they start to make a real difference on the streets, the world’s first super villain, The Mother F%&*^r, assembles his own evil league and puts a plan in motion to make Kick-Ass and Hit Girl pay for what they did to his dad. But there’s only one problem with his scheme: If you mess with one member of Justice Forever, you mess with them all.