Film Junk » Action

Let the Bullets Fly Trailer Starring Chow Yun Fat

Sean — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:09:56 +0000

China's highest grossing movie of all-time is finally coming to North America, but as this trailer clearly states, it "ain't no Avatar." The movie is called Let the Bullets Fly and it is a period action movie set in the 1920s. There's no wuxia to be found here; instead it's filled with bloody fist fights and violent shootouts. It looks to be a Western of sorts, perhaps in the vein of Kim Ji-woon's The Good, The Bad, The Weird. Indeed, I was pretty surprised by how gruesome and off-the-wall the first domestic red band trailer is. The movie stars Chow Yun Fat as a local mobster in a remote provincial town who butts heads with a bandit (Jiang Wen) masquerading as the town's mayor. The two engage in a deadly mind game that ends up leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. The movie debuted in North America at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and will be released by Well Go USA next month. Let the Bullets Fly hits select theatres on March 2nd; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.

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Brian De Palma to Direct Heat Remake Starring Jason Statham

Sean — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:42:39 +0000

Alright, alright... don't get your panties in a bunch. It's not Michael Mann's Heat that's about to get the remake treatment, but rather the 1986 Burt Reynolds vehicle of the same name (apparently there are quite a few movies called Heat). Directed by Dick Richards (Farewell, My Lovely), the original film starred Reynolds as a former gambling addict who now makes a living as a Las Vegas bodyguard. When a female friend gets savagely beaten, he helps her exact revenge on the mobsters who are responsible. The movie was based on a book by William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride), who also wrote the script. Now Brian De Palma has signed on to helm a new version with Jason Statham in the lead role. A remake like this should be an ideal fit for Jason Statham, and will probably be fairly similar to The Mechanic remake that he starred in last year. However, it's a bit more surprising for Brian De Palma, who hasn't really done anything of note in quite some time. It's not that he hasn't directed remakes before (Blow Out is a loose remake of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up) but he isn't really known for straight up action flicks. Still, technically it also qualifies as a crime thriller, which tends to be his specialty. What do you think? Are you looking forward to seeing Brian De Palma team up with Jason Statham and is this version of Heat worth remaking?

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The Bourne Legacy Trailer Starring Jeremy Renner

Sean — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:28:01 +0000

In the lead up to Super Bowl weekend, I was thinking about the few big 2012 summer blockbusters that we have yet to see a trailer for, and The Bourne Legacy stood out as the biggest of the bunch. This week Universal has finally debuted the trailer, but just like Sony did with The Amazing Spider-Man, they decided to unveil it online instead of dropping a few million dollars on a 30 second TV spot that could easily be missed. The question is, will anyone care about a new Bourne movie without Jason Bourne? As previously announced, The Bourne Legacy does not star Matt Damon but rather Jeremy Renner in the lead role, playing a new member of Operation Treadstone named Aaron Cross. Renner is a capable actor, but something tells me this could easily blur together with his recent role in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. It's unclear what Aaron Cross' story will be (aside from the fact that he can also kick all kinds of ass), but Edward Norton apparently plays the film's villain. Director Tony Gilroy wrote the screenplays for the previous three films and also directed Michael Clayton, so the movie seems to be in good hands, and yet it's hard not to see this as an extraneous spin-off from an already solid standalone trilogy. The Bourne Legacy hits theatres on August 3rd; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.

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Robert Rodriguez’ Machete Sequel to Shoot in April

Sean — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:58:06 +0000

The end credits of Machete hinted at the possibility of not one but two sequels, although at the time it was unclear if this was merely a joke or if it was for real. However, when you consider that the movie itself was a self-fulfilling prophecy that grew out of a fake trailer created for Grindhouse, it only makes sense that both Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again would eventually become a reality as well. That being said, it is a little bit surprising that they are happening so soon. For a guy who has been attached to so many different projects over the past few years, you'd think that Robert Rodriguez would be far too busy to bother with another Machete movie right now. That doesn't appear to be the case, as it is now being reported that the first sequel will begin shooting as early as this April. According to Deadline, Machete Kills will be produced and financed by Russian-Ukrainian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, and Danny Trejo is already in talks to reprise the title role. The script was written by Kyle Ward (Kane & Lynch) and finds the U.S. government recruiting Machete to "take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space." I am assuming that Robert Rodriguez will actually direct it himself, but it's unclear if his editor Ethan Maniquis will also be co-directing again. I enjoyed Machete, but I do worry that this burgeoning franchise could easily run out of steam if they don't find some creative ideas and an interesting supporting cast to surround Trejo with. Considering that the budget for these movies will probably continue to decrease, I'm not sure we'll get anyone like Jessica Alba, Robert DeNiro or even Steven Seagal in the next one. On the bright side, it seems that from the plot synopsis, it should be an easy transition to the third film, the full title of which has been revealed to be Machete Kills Again ... in Space. What do you think? Are you looking forward to a Machete sequel or is Robert Rodriguez wasting his time by churning out so many quick and easy sequels on the cheap?

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The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer #2

Sean — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:56:58 +0000

It would seem that Sony had a new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man prepped and ready to go in time for Super Bowl Sunday but decided to just save the money and release it online the next day instead. In retrospect, it was probably a smart move, although they would have easily been the talk of the Super Bowl since most of the other trailers underwhelmed. The release of this trailer also coincides with a fan sneak preview event called The Amazing Spider-Man: The Untold Story, where the trailer was screened in 3D for fans in select cities along with 7 minutes of additional footage. As for the trailer itself, it's two and a half minutes long and features all kinds of new footage including our first good look at The Lizard. It looks fine, but the big problem, as many thought it might be, is that it feels like we've already seen this story once before. I don't know that Marc Webb's take on the character is doing enough to distinguish itself from Sam Raimi's films, even though they are pushing this angle that Peter Parker's father was as an Oscorp employee who worked with Curt Connors. I guess the other thing it has over the previous films is the 3D element, but that's something we can't judge by simply watching this online. What do you think, are you sold on The Amazing Spider-Man? The movie hits theatres on July 3rd; check out the trailer after the jump and sound off in the comments below.

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More Super Bowl Trailers: The Avengers, John Carter, Transformers: The Ride and More (UPDATED)

Sean — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:45:22 +0000

Update: Added the extended version of The Avengers trailer with 30 seconds of additional footage. In addition to the trailers that were released online early for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Dictator, and The Hunger Games, we now have access to the rest of the new trailers that aired during Super Bowl XLVI, and they have all been collected right here for your convenience. The most anticipated one of the bunch is obviously The Avengers, and although it's fairly short, it does seem to have the highest ratio of previously unseen footage. In particular, a couple of quick action shots including one of the Hulk punching a plane are sure to make fanboys giggle with delight. Other new trailers include John Carter, Battleship and Act of Valor, all of which did their best to impress their target audience with an overload of explosions and special effects. There is also a new ad for Transformers: The Ride, opening soon at Universal Studios Hollywood, plus a couple of other movie-related commercials including the Ferris Bueller Honda ad that everyone has been talking about. Did we miss any other good ones? Which Super Bowl ad was your favourite? Check out the trailers after the jump.

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The Hunger Games Super Bowl Trailer

Sean — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:05:25 +0000

The new Super Bowl commercial for The Hunger Games has gone online over at Yahoo!, and well... if this is all we can expect from this year's Super Bowl trailers, it could end up being a pretty boring game! Once again it consists primarily of footage we've seen before in other trailers, however, I will say that has a little more energy and urgency than the previous promos. It also has a little more Stanley Tucci, which is obviously a good thing. Lionsgate recently announced that The Hunger Games will be getting released in IMAX but for one week only. Will you pay a little extra to watch it on a really big screen? The movie hits theatres on March 23rd; check out the Super Bowl spot after the jump and see what you think.

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Brad Bird to Go Swimming with Sea Monsters?

Sean — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:48:54 +0000

Now that Brad Bird has proven that he can handle a live action film just as well as an animated one, everyone is on the edge of their seat waiting to find out what he will choose for his next project. We've been hearing for years about 1906, a disaster movie he's been wanting to direct about the massive earthquake that hit the city of San Francisco, but as of last year he was still rewriting the script and trying to reduce the scope of the film. However, now this week we are hearing reports that he may be circling another project that was once supposed to be a Robert Zemeckis gig. The movie is called Here There Be Monsters, and it is a historic epic about John Paul Jones, a naval commander during the American Revolutionary War. There is a twist, however... the story also involves giant sea monsters! According to Vulture, Brad Bird has recently been holding meetings with Legendary Pictures, who are producing the film. They seem to have a thing for monster movies lately, what with Pacific Rim and the Godzilla reboot also in development. Brian Helgeland (Robin Hood, Mystic River) wrote the script for Here There Be Monsters based on an original idea by Legendary founder Thomas Tull, and it involves Jones being hired to investigate the disappearance of merchant ships in the North Atlantic, only to find that a giant sea monster is responsible. So... Master and Commander meets Clash of the Titans? I'm game. While this could be just another mash-up of historical fact and genre fiction, the thought of Bird bringing his action set pieces to a naval battle definitely has me intrigued. Still, I can't help but wonder what other tantalizing projects he might be getting offered right now. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is definitely opening even more doors for Brad Bird, I just hope he doesn't give up on writing his own material as well. What do you think of this premise? Would you like to see him direct more live action stuff or would you prefer to see him stick to animation?

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Sony Buys The Raid Sequel Before The Raid is Even Released

Sean — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:58:00 +0000

When a studio buys the sequel to a movie before the first one even hits theatres, that's generally a pretty good sign. In case you haven't heard all the buzz surrounding Gareth Evans' The Raid, the insane Indonesian action movie was a big hit at TIFF and Sundance, and now Sony is building even more hype by picking up the rights to its proposed follow-up, Berandal ("thug" in Indonesian), without even waiting to see how the first one will be received by the general public. They also already have an English-language remake in the works. The Raid star Iko Uwais will reteam with Evans for Berandal, which will supposedly have a bigger budget, although that's not necessarily saying much (the original was shot for just $1 million). The story is currently being kept under wraps, but in a recent interview with Collider, Evans explained how the idea for the sequel came about:

"I told you earlier about a film that we tried to get up off the ground and couldn’t get done. While I was developing The Raid, I was looking at ways to kind of link those two scripts together because we had done all this choreography on that first film, we were like ready to go we just needed the finance to pull the trigger on it. Because I didn’t want to just abandon that project, I started to look at ways we could link the two together. So the one problem I had with that original script was that the lead role didn’t have an interesting enough backstory... As I was thinking about it, I thought 'Well if I make this a continuation of the story from The Raid, it'll work much better, and it'll kind of add more ideas and add more different elements to it,' so it's actually gonna be the sequel to The Raid."

He also hinted that the movie would have some car chase elements, including "a cool fight scene where you go inside a car, fighting against four people as it's speeding along a one-way." Whoa. He says that these films will likely form the first two parts of a trilogy, with the third installment still a ways off. Either way, it sounds like he's learning to build on the success of The Raid without having to sacrifice his creativity, which is a great way to go. I still have yet to see The Raid, but based on what I saw in his first film Merantau, I can only imagine how crazy it is. The Raid will hit select theatres on March 23rd... can it possibly live up to the hype?

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Star Wars Live Action TV Show to Introduce Time Travel?

Sean — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:16:03 +0000

I want to make it clear right up front that this next story is nothing more than a big fat rumour, but since Star Wars fans are willing to argue over just about anything, I figured it might be worth mentioning. We all know that George Lucas has been working on a live action Star Wars TV series for quite some time now, but back in 2010 he announced that the series was being put on hold for a few years because it was not yet economically feasible. With a proposed title of Star Wars: Underworld, the series is expected to fill in the gap between the prequels and original trilogy by focusing on the seedy underbelly of the Star Wars universe. Now this week there is a rumour floating around the web stating that the show might introduce a sci-fi element that has been completely absent from Star Wars up until now: time travel. Is George Lucas getting ready to go back to the future? The good folks over at Ain't It Cool News recently received information from an "untested source" about the plot of one of the first episodes of Star Wars: Underworld. The story in question revolves around "a group of bandits acquiring the capability of time travel, and using it to travel back in time to stop Darth Vader from ever existing." This would potentially involve revisiting the prequels and stopping Anakin before he turns to the dark side. If this is true, it could be a pretty dangerous idea to bring to the mix. It's very easy to get carried away with time travel and to start altering continuity (yet again) or to use it as a band-aid solution for every problem. On the other hand, I can't say that I'm not intrigued by the possibilities. Once again, we have no idea if this rumour is reliable in any way, but it doesn't seem all that far-fetched either. Would you like to see time travel introduced to the Star Wars universe? Do you have faith in Star Wars: Underworld or have you completely given up on George Lucas at this point?

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Robocop Reboot Gets Gran Torino Writer

Sean — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:24:47 +0000

Despite the initial setback of losing director Darren Aronofsky, MGM's Robocop reboot is slowly inching its way toward becoming a reality. Last year Brazilian director José Padilha (Elite Squad) signed on to helm the movie and Joshua Zetumer (Quantum of Solace) was assigned to pen the script. Now this week they have hired screenwriter Nick Schenk to do some rewrites on the movie as well. Schenk's only major credit to date is the Clint Eastwood drama Gran Torino. According to Heat Vision, Schenk had already been collaborating with Padilha on an action-thriller called Tri-Border based on the drug trade in South America. He also has a movie called The Judge in development at Warner Brothers. It's unclear what they might do to distinguish this version of Robocop from the previous installments, but Padilha had this to say in a previous interview:

"In the first 'RoboCop' when Alex Murphy is shot, gunned down, then you see some hospitals and stuff and then you cut to him as RoboCop. My movie is between those two cuts. How do you make RoboCop? How do you slowly bring a guy to be a robot? How do you actually take humanity out of someone and how do you program a brain, so to speak, and how does that affect an individual?"

I guess that would make it a prequel of sorts? I'm still not entirely convinced that this movie needs to be made, but I am certainly curious to see what comes of it. Are you on board for Robocop reboot, and does this sound like the right creative team to see it through?

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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Super Bowl Spot

Sean — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:37:04 +0000

From what I'm hearing, there aren't going to be a lot of big movie trailers debuting at the Super Bowl this year. For whatever reason, studios just can't be bothered to spend the money, but at least there are still a few manly movies being advertised, an obvious one being G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The 30 second spot has hit the web a few days early, although there's not too much to say about it. Aside from the addition of some Jay-Z lyrics, we saw most of this footage in the previous trailer. G.I. Joe: Retaliation hits theatres on June 29th; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.

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