Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger WILL be in Expendables 2

Bruce Willis and Governator both have been confirmed to join the cast of the Expendables, joining an overwhelming cast of action stars for “substantial” roles in the new movie shortly after we learned that both Chuck Norris and JCVD have been confirmed too.
Millennium Films recently revealed that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis will return for “The Expendables” sequel, but now comes word that the two actors have officially closed their deals for “substantial” roles in the film.
Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews and Randy Couture are also all returning. And they will be joined by Chuck Norris, Scott Adkins and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Plot: After Tool (Mickey Rourke) is brutally murdered on a mission, his comrades swear to avenge him. They’re not the only ones who want blood. Tool’s beautiful young and wild daughter Fiona embarks on her own revenge mission, complicating matters when she is captured and ransomed by a ruthless dictator plotting to destroy a resistance movement. Now Barney (Sylvester Stallone) and the Expendables must risk everything to save her and humanity.
This is awesome news. I can barely wrap my head around the insane scenarious that may actually come into fruition after wishing and wanting for sooo many years to see all of my favorite action stars of my youth on the same screen. Governator, Stallone, JCVD, Chuck Norris… Oh yea, this one sits along the top of the Radar list with yellow highlights.

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Tyrese thinks Bay and LeBouf will return to Transformers

Tyrese Gibson is riding high on his accomplishments this year. No, really the guy is sitting on the other side of 1.1 Billion in the box office in the 2 films he’s been a part of this year and thinks that after a little R&R both Shia LeBouf and Michael Bay will wanna return for some more disguised robot goodness.
“My humble prediction would be that… we’re at $1.1 billion. This is the biggest year of my life. I’m on the other side of $1.7 billion in box office receipts, between both films. I think, with the success of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, both Michael Bay and Shia probably want a break from the franchise, but there’s no way, I believe, that, at some point, they’re not going come back to do Transfomers 4. Maybe they need a few years to get a few other creative things out of their system, which is understandable, but for people to love this franchise around the world like they do, it’s damn-near crazy to not give the fans what they love and enjoy again. So maybe two years, maybe three years will go by, you never know, but I believe, and hope, that we are able to do another Transformers. I’m a real Transformers fan, outside of the fact that I’m in the movie, but I just hope we’re able to do it again one day. It’s the first film in Paramount’s 99-year history that has ever grossed $1 billion. I hope we’re able to figure this out.”
Dude makes a lot of sense. There are 1.1 billion reasons why Paramount will want to, and probably will, continue this film franchise and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the upper offices thinks it would be worth the effort to get both LeBouf and Bay back in their respective roles.
Internet fans criticize the hell out of these Transformers movies, and while I don’t agree with all of the criticism, none of that matters. Even after critically being ripped apart, each film in the franchise managed to get most of those people to watch a follow up. And enjoy themselves enough to see or want another entry.
Will there be another Transformers movie? More than likely. Are Bay and LeBouf “done” with the franchise for goo? We’ll see…

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Coming Soon: Scarface remake

I remember the Scarface movie of the 80′s. Cocaine, women, bad accents, and the Miami Sun were the hallmarks of Brian De Palma’s classic gangster epic. What’s not so easy to remember is that the movie was actually a remake of a film from the 30′s. As such, enough time has passed for Hollywood to begin churning the “remake wheels” and begin formulating a way to re-introduce Scarface for a brand new audience.

As Deadline reports, Universal will be going back to the well for a new version that will have Marc Shmuger and Martin Bregman producing; the latter was behind the Pacino movie. It won’t be an unrecognizable tale, since it “will take the common elements of the first two films,” those being “an immigrant, barges his way into the criminal establishment in pursuit of a twisted version of the American dream, becoming a kingpin through a campaign of ruthlessness and violent ambition.”
I got a good laugh when reading that the ethnicity of the main character is being kept under wraps at the moment. It’s supposed to be significant to this movie’s location — the first had an Italian conquering Chicago, the remake a Cuban gaining control of the Miami drug trade. What ethnicity could match a location today? There are at least a few that come to mind.

The ethnicity is being kept a secret? What’s up with that?! There’s a lot of different angles that the producers could approach this movie and I’m not sure which one they might choose. I like the idea of re-making Scarface. Why not? that movie isn’t sacred and I’d certainly like to breathe new life into what is currently a lifeless franchise (no, the terrible sequel doesn’t count). I would really love it if they can get Pacino in the role as the gangster who gets muscled out of his empire.

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Shawn Levy WILL direct Reel Steel 2

It feels like everyday I seem to find a movie get a sequel approved before the release of the original movie. Today we learn that Real Steel is also in that group of films as director Shawn Levy recently confirmed that he, along with Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly will return for a sequel.
Levy told The Playlist, “Yes, well the studio’s faith is very strong. Even, ‘Night at the Museum’ didn’t test like this. People were cheering in a movie theater. The last time I remember that happening was in ‘Rocky III’ with Clubber Lang or even against Drago in ‘Rocky IV.’ So we got that kind of visceral reaction from audiences and the studio not only took the bullish move of developing a sequel and asking me to sign on but then also didn’t deny it when it leaked in the press. That was a show of confidence that hopefully we will reward.”

Levy went on to say that he will direct the sequel and the principal actors from the first film will return for the sequel: “I will produce and direct again, yeah. Hugh Jackman’s definitely in and, certainly, I can’t give away too much, but Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, and Hugh Jackman are all a big part of the sequel. It is the same charatcers, the next chapter. It delves into the fallout of the new fame and money that the Kentons are going to have as a result of Zeus-Atom fight. It also delves into something I thought was a cool aspect of the movie that I didn’t have time to get into, which is the class warfare between the underground unsanctioned world of robot boxing and the monetized corporately funded league. The truth is, it’s not unlike the way boxing saw it’s popularity contested with the rise of a more violent, less rule-bound MMA.”

I’m still not sold on this 1st Real Steel movie. It’s not that I don’t think the movie will be successful financially, I actually think it will as soon as the Lion King gets kicked out the box office, it’s just not my cup of tea. My kid will probably drag me kicking and screaming into this one but I just can’t shake the impression that he’ll be waking me up at the end credits when it’s time to go home.

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Michelle Rodriguez returns for Resident Evil 5

It seems that director extrodinaire Paul W.S. Anderson is loading up on previously deceased stars of his Resident Evil film franchise as today we learn that Odehd Fehr, Johann Urb, and Michelle Rodriguez have also joined the cast of the film.
Michelle Rodriguez, Johann Urb, Boris Kojoe, Shawn Roberts, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr and Kevin Durand will star in the film. Urb, who was a regular on ABC’s Eastwick and starred in 2012. Here, he plays the leader of the Resistance, who teams with Jovovich’s Alice character as she battles the Umbrella Corporation and the swarm of undead.
I get the impression that some sort of unprecedented culmination will occur in this film. This movie has slowly gained my interest thanks to Jovovich and her infectious twittering, and the addition of former cast members is a welcome addition as far as I’m concerned.

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Hugh Jackman not sure about X4

Lauren Schuler Donnor and Bryan Singer are both interested in an x-4, this we already know. Today we learn that Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman, isn’t too sure that the movie will have his involvement but is optimistic about Wolverine 2 and First Class 2.
When asked about whether or not Jackman could see a sequel to X-MEN 3: THE LAST STAND happening, he replied:
“I don’t see it. I can only see one movie ahead. I’m pretty sure I’m well into the second half of this match. I don’t know exactly when the end is, but I only go one at a time. If this [THE WOLVERINE] is the last one, fingers crossed, man, I just hope we finally get that hole in one…”
When asked about whether or not Jackman could see a sequel to X-MEN 3: THE LAST STAND happening, he replied:
“I don’t see it. I can only see one movie ahead. I’m pretty sure I’m well into the second half of this match. I don’t know exactly when the end is, but I only go one at a time. If this [THE WOLVERINE] is the last one, fingers crossed, man, I just hope we finally get that hole in one.”

So I guess he’s realized he’s played the character for over 10yrs now and plans at some point to hang up the claws, which is fine with me. Obviously at some point he’d have to retire from the role but I love Jackman and his portrayal of Marvels favorite mutant, and with a heavy heart I have to understand that if he believes that it’s time to pass the mantle to another actor after, hopefully, accomplishing his goal of finally delivering an awesome Wolverine movie then it’s probably true.

Personally I’d like them to re-cast the entire X-men roster and give it another try at a modern day X-men tale, rather than delivering the 20+ yr old storylines they’ve been using. Yes, a REBOOT. Hopefully something more Sinister.

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Wanted 2 still happening?

Not too long ago we found out that there’d been some progress with the development of a sequel to the 2008 action movie succesful “Wanted”, but haven’t heard too much from the project in the last few months. Today we get a little confirmation that the project is still very much alive with the announcement that screen writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas have been tapped to script the sequel.

Jolie’s lack of interest though (understandable given her characer’s position at the end of the first film) seemed to stymie Universal, and the nascent franchise languished in development hell.
Until yesterday, when The Wrap got hold of Haas and got him to expand on his initial cursory tweet spilling the beans. “We just always loved the Wanted world, and loved working with Universal and Timur Bekmambetov,” Haas says, “so we’re excited! Wanted 2 is going to take off right after the events that just happened; it’ll pick up Wesley a few years later and go back in for another round.” A later Haas tweet confirmed that the script he and Brandt are developing is “Fox-less and loom-less”. Definitely no Jolie then, but will McAvoy be back to reprise Wesley?
Strictly at the writing stage, there’s not yet a green light or start date for the film, and Haas says that Bekmambetov is “a busy guy”, so there’s no director attached yet either.

I like that the writers are still working on this and appreciate that they’re taking their time to ensure a quality film is produced without forcing the return of some of the previous films’ stars. What I don’t like is that they may be taking too much time. It’s been over 3yrs since the release of the original and the fact that they’re still in the writing stage does little to re-assure me that I’ll be watching this film anywhere in the near future. I’m definitely curious to find out what perdicament that they can shove Wesley into in a sequel and sincerely hope it’s as entertaining as the first movie, and I also hope that by the time this movie finds its release that I still have an interest in the franchise.

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Is Cillian Murphy in the Dark Knight Rises?

A really interesting report by the folks over at Obsessed With Film states that Dr. Jonathan Crane himself, actor Cillian Murphy, has been spotted on the set of the Dark Knight Rises in Los Angeles.

Multiple news outlets are reporting that Cillian Murphy has been spotted on the set of The Dark Knight Rises in Los Angeles today, and in doing so answers one of the most frequently asked questions I keep on hearing regarding the new Batman film. YES it now indeed looks like Scarecrow is making a comeback and is terrorising Gotham again!

I’m not too sure about the “terrorizing Gotham” part as it looks like that is just speculation on the writers’ part, but the concept of seeing some of Batman’s rogues escaping Arkham Asylum during the now infamous prison riot scene is an interesting one indeed. Some think that this may allude to a reference of the Joker, but I don’t think there needs to be. The prison riot scene is an awesome opportunity to showcase Nolan’s vision of many known Batman villains even if just in a cameo or fleeting glimpse. Nolan almost completely re-invented both the Joker and Two-Face with his interpretations of the characters and I’m hoping, (*cough* desperate *cough*), that this will give us a glimpse of villains that aren’t the focul point of a film and show us how they too could be re-imagined.

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