You know that a feature film is in trouble when you get bored halfway through its two minute trailer. This was my recent experience with the latest full length preview for 47 Ronin, starring Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, and some CGI dragons. I have many feelings about 47 Ronin so far, but they can all be summed up in one onomatopoeia: Oof.
Is it just me or does Keanu Reeves have bad luck getting a film off the ground? 47 Ronin went through one too many iterations and Bill & Ted 3 is hovering in a movie netherworld. Now Passengers, which Reeves commissioned back in 2010, is going through a few more growing pains.
Frankly, I'm surprised that it has taken this long for Samuel L. Jackson to become President, but it has. Jackson is playing the most powerful man in the world in director Jalmari Helander's Big Game, a film that simultaneously pits the President against terrorists and the wilderness. Today, the first still from the film surfaced, featuring Jackson, a small boy and the Bavarian wild.
The hotly anticipated sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a mere two months away. This means that we're being favored with a number of television commercials advertising everything from cars to fast food joints in the inimitable Ron Burgundy style. But Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is still a movie, and as a movie it needs things called trailers in order to sell tickets. So luckily, two brand new trailers were released today and they are everything you might expect from Will Ferrell and his team.
Ridley Scott has not had the greatest of luck with historical epics. Kingdom of Heaven, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Robin Hood...these are not household names for great epic films. But Scott is hoping that Exodus, his upcoming epic of biblical proportions, will fix his epic track record. Though we haven't seen anything from the film just yet, set photos have surfaced this week, giving us a glimpse into Scott's latest foray into semi-historical lands.
I know that you've been waiting with baited breath to find out if that rumor about Tim Burton directing Beetlejuice 2 was anywhere close to true. Well, we now have word via The Wrap that the director is in talks to take the helm on the sequel to his iconic 1988 film about the ghost with the most.
As we all know, sexiness did not exist as a concept until at least 2005, and stylishness is a contemporary invention. So is it any wonder that any and all properties created before the millennium are in need of a 'sexy, stylish update'? This is apparently true for hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe, created all the way back in 1939 (no one was ALIVE back then!) by novelist Raymond Chandler. Marlowe has been a staple of screen and television ever since, and now will return to the small screen at least in an update from Castle creator Andrew Marlowe (no relation).
At a time when we're inundated by Star Wars casting, the future of the Marvel franchises and whether or not Fifty Shades of Grey will be the worst movie ever made, it's actually nice to have a rumor that does not involve superheroes or S&M obsessed executives.
You know, I would like to give some serious respect to Vin Diesel. The guy may not be the greatest American thespian since Marlon Brando, but he throws himself into every single role with passion and gusto and seems to greatly enjoy the work that he does. That's certainly true for the actor's upcoming role as talking alien tree Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy. He might have only one line of dialogue in the film, but he's taking the role very seriously.
Ant-Man is kind of the dark horse of the Marvel franchises (well, him and the entirety of Guardians of the Galaxy). He's one of the least recognizable characters for those of us who are not comic book fans and with a name like 'Ant-Man,' I think most of us were assuming that he would be something like Spider-Man, except with...ants. But with Edgar Wright on board as the director, I think that interest has been piqued.
