EXCLUSIVE: First Image of Josh Brolin as Cable in 'Deadpool 2'




This must be a juicy role given that both Brad Pitt and Russell Crowe were in talks to play the epitomes villain. I, for one, am very excited for Brolin, a fantastic actor, to give us his take on this nasty, ruthless villain.
"Josh Brolin has nabbed the hotly contested role of Cable opposite Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The production has been on the warpath to find the right actor for the role for months, with Michael Shannon almost nabbing the role and Stranger Things star David Harbour on the shortlist. (There were even rumors of conversations with Russell Crowe and Brad Pitt.) In the end, Brolin emerged as a surprise contender, notching his second Marvel Comics character in the process; the actor plays the villain Thanos in the Marvel Studios movies. Sources say Brolin's deal is for four movies. "

Karl Urban Says 'Judge Dredd' TV Series a Go

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I remember going into 2012's "Dredd 3D" with very low expectations. After all, this was a reboot of "Judge Dredd," a terrible 90s action movie starring Sylvester Stallone as a tough street judge. What we got instead with "Dredd" was a genuinely visionary film. Director Pete Travis made something beautifully artful out of the savagery he depicted onscreen. Paul Leonard's exalting techno soundtrack also gave the film an avant-garde edginess that fit perfectly with the film's atmosphere. The 3D was also second to none. Travis, using color and the best use of slo-mo I could recall in ages, made a film that was wholly auteur-ed and singular in its vision. Let us not forget that the screenplay was written by Alex Garland, a man who burst onto the directorial scene in 2015 with his brilliant "Ex-Machina" and is now one of the most sought-after sci-fi filmmakers. Garland's lean, mean scenario had none of the superfluous tropes that would hamper down most of the action movies we see today. I also can't fail to mention Karl Urban ("Star Trek Beyond") who played a great, nasty hero as the titular character himself.


Despite critics missing the boat by greeting it mixed reviews and the film completely tanking at the Box-office, "Dredd" has become a cult classic over time with a solid, loyal fan base that has become a monster in itself. You can thank home video for that and streaming services as well. I can understand the fascination with the film. It is such a re-watchable endeavor. Hell, I remember being sent a copy of the DVD by the studio and seeing it around 5 or 6 times in a span of a few months, which is quite rare for me to do.

 Urban has mentioned countless times that he is very interested in making a sequel. This all leads to the rather disappointing news that Fox had turned down the script for a potential second chapter. Then the fan petitions for a sequel were hitting the web, most notably "Bring Back Dredd," which has gathered 152,000 signatures thus far.

 Now comes the news that Urban is in talks to star in a Judge Dredd TV series. At the Star Trek Las Vegas Convention he was quoted as saying: "“I am in discussions with them about that, I told them that if they write the material and give Dredd something to do and give him a function, I will be there. I would love to.”

 This all looks rather promising as TV now isn't as looked down upon as it was a decade or so ago, and there is a lot more potential in expanding the universe you are trying to create. In other words, it would be perfect for a Judge Dredd venture and especially if Urban and the 2012 movie's creative minds do take part in it. The latter is still up in the air, but we would think they'd want to have some kind of role in it, especially since what they built with "Dredd 3D" has resulted into a hardcore following.

 [Comic Book]

Watch the trippy and surreal 'Guardians' Inferno' Featuring the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and ... David Hasselhoff?



"Guardians of the Galaxy" and music go hand in hand. James Gunn's series has had two incredibly well-chosen soundtracks, or mix-tapes if you will, filled with 70's and 80's guilty-pleasure pop cornerstones. Half the fun of watching these movies is wondering what song Gunn will choose next to move his story forward. It's an indelibly pleasurable experience to be delighted by breathless action and, at the same time, bop your head up and down to, say, Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain," or Cheap Trick's "Surrender."

Following in that tradition, James Gunn and Marvel have given us a real ditty today. The director has posted a retro-looking music video of Sneepers' "Guardians Inferno" featuring the cast of "Guardians." Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Pom Klementieff, Michael Rooker and Zoe Saldana all show up for cameos, so do Stan Lee,  Jimmy Kimmel and his late-night sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez.

 However, the real scene-stealer here is actor-singer-philanthropist-master of awesomeness David Hasselhoff. "Just remember, in these times of hardship: We. Are. Groot," Hasselhoff exclaims in the vid. It all might be a little too trippy for some, but for the rest of us, this is what Nirvana feels like. The '70's costumes and makeup add in the to the surreal nature of the video which owes a lot to the over-the-top, cheesy disco music videos that were everywhere back in the 1970s and early '80s.
The music video is included as a bonus feature on the Blu-ray release "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," which hits stores on August 22nd.

 If that wasn't enough "Guardians" news for today, we've also learned that Gunn is working on screenplays for new Cosmic Marvel movies. According to Gunn, “Those scripts are already in the works, Marvel Head Kevin [Feige] and I talk about it all the time, we just had a meeting today. Discussing what is the next iteration of cosmic characters and where are the characters that we’ve already created going to go in the next batch of films.” The director also mentions that Sylvester Stallone's team of Ravagers will also have a more important role in these films “I’m definitely interested in the direction that these characters are headed and their roles in the Marvel Universe… These are older characters and more criminal than our Guardians. So we’re focusing on that.”

 Gunn is keeping himself busy and reveals no signs of slowing

"Sharknado 5: Global Swarming" Star Was Paid More Than Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot

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The gist of this latest "controversy," trending on social media, is that back in 2014, when Gal Gadot signed her three-picture deal with Warner Bros to star as Wonder Woman,  she was going to earn $300,000 for each DCEU film she was part of – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman and the upcoming "Justice League."

Yes, she was pretty much an unknown actress before this summer's monstrous success, in fact, nobody thought "Wonder Woman" would hit such pay dirt, but it did and she will be generously compensated for the sequel I'm sure. However, comparing Gadot's salary to, let's say, Sharknado 5's Ian Ziering still gives us interesting results because, well, it seems like Ziering actually made more, much more. According to the THR, Ziering made $500,000 per picture of the franchise, a full $200,000 more than what Gadot makes. 

Sure, Gadot had never played the lead in any English-language film before, but she was the leading star of a major action blockbuster and Ziering is, well, the star of "Sharknado 5: Global Swarming," which, by the way, has the cringe-inducing tagline "Make America Bait Again." Ziering has starred as Sam Shepard in the "Sharknado" series since 2013. 

I'm sure Gadot will be highly compensated for the upcoming sequel, but this news really puts into perspective just how pathetic it all looks for Warner Bros.

"Wonderstruck" has a new poster

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A beautiful, hand-drawn poster, in black and white no less, has been released for Todd Haynes' upcoming "Wonderstruck."

 Haynes is a filmmaker that I have grown to love over the years. His filmography has masterful works, ("Safe," "Far From Heaven," "Carol") but watching his latest at Cannes, "Wonderstruck," felt like an endurance test for me. In fact, while watching the film the question I kept asking myself was "Is this movie really directed by Todd Haynes?" None of the director's visual panache or lack of sentimentality were on display. 

 The film, split into two interlocking stories, has to do with a Ben, as played by newcomer Oakes Fegley, who is struck by lightning and ends up deaf. He runs away on a solo journey to 1970s New York City to find his long-estranged father and, obviously when one goes on such a journey to NYC, meets a few sketchy characters. The second story is shot in silent black and white and deals with that same boy's mother at a younger age, Millicent Simmonds as Rose, she's also deaf and headed to New York City as well to find her long estranged mother. Eventually, their fates do meet and the past connections intensify.

 Amazon Studios will release “Wonderstruck” to cinemas on October 20th.

 Wonderstruck

Christian Bale has, yet again, gained a considerable amount of weight to play Dick Cheney in upcoming biopic


Christian Bale transformation for his new role of Dick Cheney.

This will make Christian Bale the first actor to play both Batman and The Penguin, but, seriously speaking, "The Big Short" director is at the helm of this Dick Cheney biopic,. Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, as Donald Rumsfeld, and Amy Adams, as Lynne Cheney, will also star. Expect to see them at the 2019 Oscars. I'm particularly looking forward to Carrell's Rumsfeld.

 The above pictures seem to indicate that Christian Bale is going through another weight fluctuation for his role as Cheney. If you remember, last year Bale decided to leave Michael Mann's Enzo Ferrari biopic because he became worried that he wouldn’t be able to safely gain the weight. At some point, when an adult reaches his or her 40s they have to be aware of the wear and tear that has amassed over the last 4 decades. If you have fluctuated in weight, the way Bale has over his career, then you probably have extra concern for your heart and how much it can actually take with all these changes in body composition that have happened through the decades.

 Just look at this graph:

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 So, any concern Bale might have had with his health seems to have gone away since it looks like he's pudgied up for a role. At the very least this can't be as unhealthy as going down to 113 pounds for "The Machinist," but it does beg the question, when will enough be enough for the legendary actor?

'Get Out' is the most profitable movie of 2017

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First-time director Jordan Peele, one-half of the comedic duo Key and Peele, had the time of his life messing with our heads this past spring with the horror-satire “Get Out.” The clever film packed plenty of tension, but also found a way to skewer and make critical insights about the race relations in America. “Get Out” wasn’t just a horror comedy, but it was filled with political fireworks that made it a lot more nuanced and thought-provoking than your average B-movie flick.
Moreover, it was a treat to see such a brilliant treatise become a box-office phenomenon. According to The Wrap,  Peele’s film has amassed $252 million worldwide on a mere $4.5 million budget. These figures make “Get Out” the most profitable movie so far this year. A considerable achievement that was most likely helped by the incredibly positive word-of mouth from both critics and audiences towards the film. A 99% Rotten Tomatoes rating has helped make it one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year. In fact, last month, “Get Out” topped an Awards Daily poll, conducted by yours truly, that amassed more than 100 critics lists to come up with the best movies of 2017 so far.
Peele’s film wasn’t the only low-budget indie blockbuster of the year. M. Night Shyamalan‘s comeback vehicle “Split” was close behind in second place with a worldwide tally of $277 million, against a $9 million budget and $30 million in marketing costs. Another impressive success story.

Richard Linklater's 'Before' Trilogy Might Add a Fourth Film, According to Ethan Hawke

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Celine and Jesse. It started with “Before Sunrise”, continued with the beautiful, this-is-happening-in-real-time “Before Sunset”, and capped off with the mature, pessimistic “Before Midnight”. Richard Linklater’s trilogy of romance in European cities has built a loyal indie following for more than two decades now. 

“Before Sunset” was a masterful examination of love, family life, and conversation. Never has a cinematic audience wanted an on-screen character to cheat on his wife more than when Jesse shows up at Celine’s apartment in the climactic scene. Celine was indelibly played by Julie Delpy and Jesse was superbly played by Ethan Hawke. Linklater and his two actors wrote the screenplay, much of it clearly improvised, from the artists’ own experiences and points of views. This organic style brought a real sense of authenticity to the films. These movies asked us questions about love that many studio movies always try to duck. Is our view of love as a society conflicted and far-reaching? Or can we really love someone eternally or, if you will, 'til death do us part? How much can we compromise until we end up losing a sense of ourselves and our own independence? There is no one clear answer to any of the questions that have been posed by Linklater and company over these last 20 years, just experiences. Linklater is a curiosity seeker who asks more than he answers and the way “Before Midnight” ends makes you wonder what can possibly happen next. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Celine and Jesse." Linklater has always been a curiosity seeker who always asks more than he answers,

 Linklater is a curiosity seeker who asks more than he answers and the way “Before Midnight” ends makes you wonder what can possibly happen next. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Celine and Jesse." Linklater has always been a curiosity seeker who always asks more than he answers, in fact he knows the fun part is pondering, overthinking rather than finding conclusive answers and the way “Before Midnight” ends, with a couple trying to reconcile after an earth-shattering hotel room fight, makes you wonder what can possibly happen next. We all hoped it wouldn't be last we saw of Celine and Jesse, but, knowing Linklater, maybe he'd rather leave us, yes, pondering and arguing about their fates.

 Celine was indelibly played by Julie Delpy and Jesse was superbly played by Ethan Hawke. Linklater and his two actors wrote the screenplay, much of it clearly improvised, from the artists’ own experiences and points of views. This organic style brought a real sense of authenticity to the films. These movies asked us questions about love that many studio movies always try to duck. Is our view of love as a society conflicted and far-reaching? Or can we really love someone eternally or, if you will, 'til death do us part? How much can we compromise until we end up losing a sense of ourselves and our own independence? There is no one clear answer to any of the questions that have been posed by Linklater and company over these last 20 years, just experiences. Linklater is a curiosity seeker who asks more than he answers and the way “Before Midnight” ends makes you wonder what can possibly happen next. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Celine and Jesse." 

 Linklater is a curiosity seeker who asks more than he answers and the way “Before Midnight” ends makes you wonder what can possibly happen next. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Celine and Jesse." Linklater has always been curiosity seeker who always asks more than he answers, in fact, he knows the fun part is pondering, overthinking rather than finding conclusive answers and the way “Before Midnight” ends, with a couple trying to reconcile after an earth-shattering hotel room fight, makes you wonder what can possibly happen next. We all hoped it wouldn't be last we saw of Celine and Jesse, but, knowing Linklater, maybe he'd rather leave us, yes, pondering and arguing about their fates.

 Ethan Hawk seems to be still thinking about Celine and Jesse, at least that's what we have gathered from an interview he has given, promoting his latest film "Maudie," for The Independent:
"I would have said after the second there was definitely going to be a third one but I do feel complete in that the first one starts with the older couple arguing on the train and by the end of the third one we’ve become that couple. If it were to continue it would change shape. It would be something else. Julie, Rick and I might work together again, we might revisit those characters but it’ll need a new burst of energy. I don’t know what it is. We’re not allowed to think about it until five years after – that’s how we’ve done it every time. “Waking Life” was five years after “Before Sunrise” and “Before Midnight” we met five years after “Before Sunset.” So we’re gonna meet five years after the release of “Before Midnight,” talk about it and see where we wind up."

 Hawke further elaborated on the importance of Jesse in his own life and the way he has built the layers on this character over the last 20+ years:

 “I’ve worked on Jesse at nine-year intervals [since 1995],” Hawke said. “I started working on that character when I was 25 and the last time when I was 41, so it’s been with me and I’ve gotten to put a lot of my own life into those movies.”

 So it seems like it's not out of the question and that these characters seem to be continuously evolving in the actor's psyche, which, I'm sure, is the case for Delpy and Linklater as well. The three films have each been separated by nine years, which means the next one would be released in 2022, when Hawke and Delpy would be well into their 50's. Sensitive territory for sure, but not impossible to manage into this never-ending saga of "love." Knowing Linklater, and his obsession with the passage of time, we think a fourth installment would likely happen if all the creatives are healthy and ready to go.

‘Menashe’: Director Joshua Weinstein on His Quiet Drama [Interview]


You have never seen a movie quite like Joshua Weinstein‘s “Menashe.” The film was shot by Weinstein on a low-budget, in near cinema-verite style, deep in the heart of New York City’s Hasidic community, and it’s presented in Yiddish with English subtitles. Talk about a gamble even for an indie production.
The film chronicles the trials and tribulations of recently widowed Hasidic Jew Menashe (Menashe Lustig in his big-screen debut) whose community forces his son to be raised by his openly contemptuous brother in-law. To get his son back, he will have to marry again, but Menashe isn’t ready for commitment. His first marriage was an unhappy union, and he is less than eager to rush into another matrimonial endeavor. To make matters worse, he must also find stability, which cannot happen with his low-paying, labor-intensive gig at a Jewish bakery. His sole raison d’etre is his son and yet orthodox rule forbids them from living in the same house until he finds a wife. Menashe’s endeavor to regain custody of his son is at the heart of the film’s narrative. This is a quiet drama that stitches together an ordinary life faced with impossibly tasked religious restrictions, yet Menashe persists.
“Menashe” is a slice of an America that you’ve rarely seen before on screen, a world that largely remains from the mainstream, but to which Weinstein shows us a bird’s eye view of here. I spoke to Weinstein and Lustig about their movie and how they made the impossible a reality by working with a cast of mostly non-professionals, and an orthodox community that forbids moviemaking.
Interview can be found HERE

Is 'The Dark Knight' the closest thing to 'great art' a superhero movie will ever reach?

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 Oh, superhero movies.  You'll hear high brow critics moan about them countless times on this site, but sometimes one must just face the facts that they are here to stay. 

Sure, back in the day we had classic superhero movies such as Richard Donner's "Superman II," and Tim Burton's "Batman," but the genre has radically changed since then. No only are Marvel movies the biggest money-making machine in Hollywood, but they are very much part of the current zeitgeist. When did it all start? We'd probably have to go back to 2000 when Bryan Singer's "X-Men" made $157M at the box-office and kick-started a chain reaction which we still haven't gotten rid of to this day. 

 Two years later Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" upped the ante by making $403M domestically.  That's when it REALLY started. The beginning of what would be an important chapter in film history: The mass invasion of a genre that has restructured Hollywood in the most important of ways.

 After the watchable, game-changing "Spider-Man" in 2002, director Sam Raimi made the most important and influential Marvel film imaginable: "Spider-Man 2." This was still 4 years away from "The Dark Knight," but the mind blowing mix of action, humor, heart, character in "Spider-Man 2" changed the game. In Alfred Molina, and his Dr. Octoppus villain, superhero movies had their most complex and scariest villain to date. The film also climaxed on an action sequence, atop a moving train, that could surely be considered one of the very best ever shot on celluloid, a mind-blowing mix of humanism, special effects and artistry. And, how about that final shot? Mary Jane finally figuring out Spidey's identity by the subtlest facial expression.. Raimi perfected the game with this movie, he took everything that came before him and upped the ante at every level. "Spider-Man 2" was considered by many film fans as the best "Superhero ever made." until Nolan changed the game himself with his Batman trilogy. 

 In 2003, Warner Bros. announced that Christopher Nolan, hot off critical darlings "Memento," and "Insomnia" was hired to direct a Batman trilogy. Nolan was just 33 years old when he signed on to the project and his fan base was less-than-stellar despite wowing critics and audiences with his last two features. 

 Commenting on the notion to tackle the Dark Knight back in 2003, Nolan had this to say:

 “All I can say is that I grew up with Batman, I’ve been fascinated by him and I’m excited to contribute to the lore surrounding the character, He is the most credible and realistic of the superheroes, and has the most complex human psychology. His superhero qualities come from within. He’s not a magical character. I had a fantastic experience with the studio on ‘Insomnia,’ and I’m keen to repeat that experience.”

 Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" trilogy is as close to "art" as the genre has attained thus far. There hasn't been any other filmmaker that captured the current zeitgeist quite like he did with "The Dark Knight" back in 2008. All Marvel and DC movies today are cash cows, muckrakers that put the bottom line way ahead of any kind of artistic statement, they might be entertaining, but there is no discernible, heavy substance to them, they don't necessarily adhere or parallel our current world. "The Dark Knight" did.

Nolan, along with an extraordinarily effective cast headed by Christian Bale as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as a Joker to haunt your dreams, perfected the genre, in fact, since then, there hasn't been anything that has topped its staggering quality by either Marvel or DC. This was the way a modern-day blockbuster should triumph, with character before action. The haunted psyche of a superhero tormented by a terrorist Jokester and, in turn, brings about existential dilemmas about how to defeat this evil menace that just wants to see the free world burn. 

 Many have evoked "The Dark Knight" as a post 9/11 depiction of a world gone astray with the leader of the free world making concessions to battle terrorism: To defeat the Joker, Batman had to use un-heroic acts of violence, bend the rules if you will, which led to the ultimate question being asked by Nolan: how much evil must one commit to defeat evil? Many conservatives championed the film as their own, this was George W. Bush's fight against Al Qaeda! Whereas, in the other end of the spectrum, liberals were saying "No, this is our film! It's about standing up for what's right in the world or as The New York Times' Ross Douthat signified: "It's all about the belief that a compromised order can still be worth defending, and that darker things than corruption and inequality will follow from putting that order to the torch."

 Talk about heavy stuff, you definitely won't see these kind of politics being deciphered with the likes of "The Avengers" or "Wonder Woman."  Nolan's eye for detail captured the madness of a demented mind. This was Nolan's beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy before Kanye West even had the idea of mixing dichotomous themes, socio-politics (consumer culture, celebrity and the concept of the American dream). and pop culture all in one perfectly assembled package.  

 The Dark Knight" not only ended up making close to 600 million dollars in the domestic box office, but it captured the zeitgeist in a way that very few movies ever would again. This was "Titanic" proportion hysteria, you HAD to see this movie. It was literally everywhere.

 Of note, the same year of "The Dark Knight,"director Jon Favreau brought forth his own landmark superhero film, albeit one that seemed the the complete opposite of Nolan's film, "Iron Man." A mix of action and humor that would define the tone of every single Marvel movie that released for the next 17 years, but, more importantly, it kick-started the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To this day the language and style Favreau used in "Iron Man" has infused everything Marvel, hell, even James Gunn seemed to riff on it yet again with this summer's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2."  Favreau's film felt fresh, innovative and just downright satirical about the self-serious superhero movies that came before it. "Iron Man" hit a high standard of excellence for mainstream entertainment by combining humor, pop culture references with well-choreographed action, it was and still is a cinematic shape-shifter. In a year that had a never-ending war in Iraq and a severe a market crash, it was time to escape and escape is what audiences did, choosing to elect hope in Barack Obama and escape with Tony Stark.

 At its core, a superhero movie still has the potential for greatness. It is the apex of what the Lumieres and George Melies wanted to achieve with advanced technology at their disposal back in the 1900s. Am I far reaching? Of course not. The superhero movie has all of the elements that have led to the inception of cinema more than a century ago: Science Fiction, Horror, Drama, Film Noir, and, especially in the Marvel movies, a little-added dose of Comedy. The problem is that the concessions Disney and Warner Bros. are putting into these movies is the opposite of artful. Will we ever see an auteur being given as much creative freedom as Nolan was given for his trilogy of films? Doubt it, the more the years go by the more restrictions superhero filmmakers seem to be constrained with. Just look at the long list of auteurs that left a superhero movie in the last 15 years: Edgar Wright, Ava Duuvernay, Darren Aronofsky, George Miller, Terry Gilliam, Paul Greengrass and JJ Abrams. And that's not even half of it. 

 Marvel and DC are now gambling on untested directors for their tentpole movies and it's delivering mixed results. The more tickets they sell every year, the more they can't really afford the risk to hire cinematic auteurs such as Nolan or the above-mentioned outcasts. Why? A well-seasoned director with actual self-worth as an artist would never sacrifice his unique voice for watered-down filmmaking. 

 As the L.A. Times' Josh Rottenberg mentioned in a 2015 article, "Studios Gamble with Untested Directors": "When bringing unseasoned directors like Trevorrow or Trank onto a big-budget project, studios typically tout the originality of their vision. But many insiders say the true impetus to hire relative neophytes is that — in addition to commanding far smaller fees than more established directors — they have less power and can, therefore, be more easily reined in." And that, is what's it all about, power. When you take away the power to create from a filmmaker the end result is a Marvel or DC movie. Not necessarily a bad thing since those studios have found a winning formula for their movies to win audiences worldwide, but when the heads of Marvel or DC have much of the creative input on a film and the director is left just standing there waiting for the given orders, that's not art, that's capitalism.

 So to answer the question of this messy, but important topic, yes, "The Dark Knight" is the closest thing to great art the superhero genre has ever gotten, but the more important question that should be asked is, will it be the last?