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Posts Tagged ‘bruce willis’
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
With THE EXPENDABLES slowing down at the box office, it’s time we start talking about the inevitable sequel. I imagine that we have at least 6-9 months of casting speculation with names like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal, Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson being requested and rumored to be starring in THE EXPENDABLES 2. Of course, a lot of these rumors have, or probably will, come from Sylvester Stallone himself. Such is the case with the casting of the villain in the sequel, which if Stallone gets his way, will be none other than Bruce Willis. Willis, as you may recall, was the mysterious character that hired The Expendables in the first film. Turning him into a villain would be an easy task since they kind of already laid the groundwork in the first one.
The question, of course, is whether or not Willis would have any interest in playing anything more than a cameo in the sequel. Personally, I think it’d be fun, but what I’d like to see is Willis as a the “super villain” and then Stallone and Schwarzenegger having to team up to stop him. That way you could have two teams of The Expendables and possibly fit in all the characters they’re talking about. Plus, that would give Stallone a chance to redeem himself for messing up the scene with him, Willis and Schwarzenegger in the first film.
Source: Sylvester Stallone (via Twitter)
Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, bruce willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, movie news, sylvester stallone
Posted in News |
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
What happens when you take ex-action stars from the 80’s and 90’s after they are past their prime and stick them into a film? Well, you get THE EXPENDABLES, a story about a group of mercenaries (ex-military, ex-CIA, we don’t really know) who take on jobs that require a lot of explosions and knife throwing. Sounds like a good time, right? Well, not so much. Sadly, this film had the potential to be really great especially with the star-studded cast, but it just flopped. As the matter of fact, it was so bad on so many levels that I promise I won’t even mention how full of holes and pathetic the actual plot was, because there are still a handful of problems to look at.
Let’s start with directing and dialogue-both were tragic and we have Sly Stallone to blame for both of these issues. Too many close-ups are okay when you’re filming Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, but I don’t think anyone wants that close a shot of either Sly or Bruce Willis. The audience will get the point if you pan out a little, trust me. Add in the graininess (which could be homage to the classic 80’s action flick) and the oversaturation and it was just an eyesore the entire film. Technology has come too far for this to happen in a film with so many stars and with a budget this big, so a little more care could have been taken and done wonders. The same care could have been taken with the dialogue, it was cheesy as expected with the only redeeming scene being the short exchange between Arnold, Bruce and Sly. But what made that great scene frustrating is that almost every line was delivered with a single, close shot, so we barely got to see the three legends on camera at the same time.
Violence in any form is always fun to watch, but there comes a point when it’s just too over the top, which quite frankly happens very rarely. Watching people have their heads blown off and seeing big explosions are two of the things I really treasure in a good action flick, but it was just too ridiculous in THE EXPENDABLES. There was a five minute montage of Jet Li, Terry Crews, Sly, Jason Statham and Randy Couture running around a mansion placing explosives on the walls and ceilings setting the audience up for a fireworks show. I’m not an explosives expert, but I think this was a little overkill, and by the way, it added absolutely nothing to the plot but just gave us a full minute worth of fire and a crumbling building.
The aforementioned problems are bad, but the most disappointing part is that none of these characters came across as cool. There were few kids back in the day who didn’t dress up as Rambo, Rocky or Schwarzenegger for Halloween. These iconic action stars made up our childhood and we wanted to emulate them. To see all of our favorites reduced to this lame excuse for a film is just sad. I don’t want to think of Jet Li as an old washed up martial arts star who gets his butt kicked by a wrinkly Dolph Lundgren (yes, this happened in the film, but would never happen in real life), he’s just too good for that. Shame on you Sly for making our heroes of the past these exhausted and old action stars who should be remembered for their glory days, not your crappy quick-edited big-budget film.
Tags: bruce willis, dolph lundgren, Jason Statham, jet li, movie reviews, sylvester stallone
Posted in Reviews |
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
Late last week we learned that ‘The Tudors’ star Henry Cavill was set to topline the thriller THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY. I’m sure Cavill’s fans were happy to hear that, but more fans will be pleased to know that Bruce Willis will also be starring in the film. Cavill will be playing a cocky Wall Street banker that reluctantly goes on a vacation to Spain with his family, only to see them get kidnapped, forcing him to uncover a government conspiracy and discover secrets about his father. Willis will be playing his father while Sigourney Weaver is in talks to play the villain. Mabrouk El Mekchri is directing.
At first, I thought this was going to be more of an action movie, but for some reason I’m getting the feeling it’s going to be more of a drama/thriller. It sounds a little more like a mystery that Cavill’s character is going to have to solve, which is fine, but not what I first thought. Willis is always good and I’m interested to see Weaver as a villain.
Source: Deadline
Tags: bruce willis, Henry Cavll, Mabrouk El Mekchri, movie news, Sigourney Weaver
Posted in News |
Friday, June 25th, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
Sometimes when I see a trailer for a movie like this, it makes me think I should really read more comic books. It seems lately there’s a lot of movies coming out that are based on comic books I’ve never even heard of. Such is the case with RED, the new comic book adaptation with Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Karl Urban and Richard Dreyfuss. The film is about a man (Willis) that struggles coping with his post-CIA life when he moves to a retirement community. But of course, he and his old team get dragged back into action when an assassin comes after him.
The trailer didn’t seem as fun as the description sounded, but it will probably be good for a few gags. Watch the trailer here.
Tags: bruce willis, helen mirren, john malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, morgan freeman, movie news
Posted in News |
Monday, June 21st, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
Not many directors are in need of a box office hit more than M. Night Shyamalan and I’m guessing he and Paramount are betting that his upcoming THE LAST AIRBENDER will be a return to form for the director. But while Airbender is getting the finishing touches, Shyamalan is already shopping his next script. Given the fact a brand new Shyamalan script doesn’t carry as much weight as it used to, he went ahead and took the liberty of getting actors to agree to star in it before he found a studio to produce it. In this case, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow and longtime friend Bruce Willis are all attached to star in the film. So even if a studio doesn’t care that Shyamalan wrote it, maybe they’ll care that there’s serious talent attached to it.
I’m one of the few people that actually enjoyed most of Shyamalan’s films, but even I have to admit that this news would have been much more exciting 7 years ago. His secrecy around his films continues (played to great laughs in Entourage) as he will only let top executives read his scripts. Again, that was probably necessary 7 years ago, but I think most people have lost interest by now.
Source: Heat Vision
Tags: bradley cooper, bruce willis, gwyneth paltrow, M. Night Shyamalan, movie news
Posted in News |
Friday, June 4th, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
Bruce Willis, Forest Whitaker and Malin Akerman have all agreed to star in the indie drama CATCH .44 for director and writer Aaron Harvey. The film is about three women that get caught up in a unique situation where they deal with a crazy hitman, a trucker and a delusional cook. Akerman will be the lead female, Whitaker will be the hitman and Willis will play the crime boss that set everything in motion.
This is being dubbed a drama, but with that plot and those characters, it kind of sounds like a comedy to me. I would have liked to see Willis play one of the crazier roles so he could let loose with a character, but overall my interest is peaked with the film. It’ll be interesting to see who else they get to join the cast.
Source: Variety
Tags: Aaron Harvey, bruce willis, Forest Whitaker, Malin Akerman, movie news
Posted in News |
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
I continue to be impressed by the quality projects Summit Entertainment has been putting together. The latest film revolves around a prison security designer that builds the perfect prison, only to be framed and incarcerated in the prison he built. So he must find a way to escape and clear his name. If Summit Entertainment gets their way, Bruce Willis will star in the film and Antoine Fuqua will be directing.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION aside, there aren’t a whole lot of decent prison movies, but this one sounds like it could be fun. It kind of has that DIE HARD in prison feel to it, and Bruce Willis could have some fun with it. I’d be interested to see if Fuqua keeps with his darker style or lets up a little bit and makes it fun.
Source: Deadline
Tags: antoine fuqua, bruce willis, Jason Keller, Miles Chapman, movie news
Posted in News |
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Posted by: Kristy Sturdivant
The buddy cop film COP OUT, starring Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan and Sean William Scott, will be released on Blu-ray July 20, 2010. The Blu-ray special edition, entitled: COP OUT: ROCK OUT WITH YOUR GLOCK OUT EDITION will include a BD/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack. This movie was directed by Kevin Smith but written by Robb and Mark Cullen, and was not well received by critics. The film follows a veteran cop (Willis) whose rare baseball card is stolen and he must track down the suspect with his partner (Morgan) so he can sell the card and pay for his daughters wedding. The special feature include:
- Wisdom from the S*** Bandit
- Focus Points
- Maximum Comedy Mode with Kevin Smith Seann William Scott
Tags: Blu-ray, bruce willis, Kevin Smith, movie news, Sean William Scott, Tracy Morgan
Posted in Blu-Ray News, News |
Saturday, May 15th, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
We just recently learned that Mr. Versatility, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, was going to be flexing his acting chops in a couple of action science fiction films, PREMIUM RUSH and LOOPER. Today we learn that Mr. Levitt will have some help on LOOPER in the form of Bruce Willis. I guess if you’re going to jump into the action genre, there’s no better person to help you along than one of the greatest action stars of all time. Rian Johnson will be directing the film about hit men that travel through time to take care of their targets.
The source says that Willis and Levitt will be playing the same character at different points in time. The story takes a twist when their character is sent to kill himself.
Source: Deadline
Tags: bruce willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, movie news, Rian Johnson
Posted in News |
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
As I’ve debated film with various critics over the years, I’ve found that there’s one movie, more than any other, that tends to divide people and elicit strong emotions on both sides. That movie is the 1998 summer blockbuster ARMAGEDDON. There are people that absolutely despise this film and even though I’m not one of them, I can’t say I disagree with their opinion. There’s no reason to like this movie; the plot is ridiculous, the acting is average, the directing is overly sentimental and stylized, and the list goes on. But at the end of the day, I still love this film.
Although the “plot” (I can’t say that seriously when talking about this movie) has been well debated and discussed over the years, the basic gist of it is that there’s a giant meteor heading towards earth and the only hope for survival is to send a team to drill into the center of the meteor, splitting it into two pieces and sending the pieces away from earth. That alone is absurd, but to make it worse, NASA decides to send oil drillers up into space rather than astronauts. Because why wouldn’t they?
So you may have already noticed by my high rating that I really like this film. So the pressure is on me to try and justify why. The word “fun” comes to mind, but that diminishes the film a little bit. Yes, it is fun and yes, we need mindless summer blockbusters just as much as we need historical dramas and animated kids movies. But Michael Bay managed to create characters that the audience not only can relate to, but that we genuinely care about. I rode the wave of emotions along with Harry’s crew as they achieved success and experienced loss. It was intense and although Bay has plenty of shortcomings, he should be commended for crafting the film in a manner that captivated the audience to the point they forgot how unbelievable the plot was.
In typical Michael Bay form, there’s an overly sentimental scene towards the end that features Mr. Affleck bursting out in tears and this scene is usually what people point to when trashing the film. Even Affleck’s buddy, Kevin Smith uses it to poke fun at Ben on many occasions. If you walk into a room and see this scene by itself, it will make you laugh at how bad it is. But in the context of the movie, I always find myself caught up in the moment and getting choked up along with him. There’s something about it that just really fits into the movie and even though every bone in my body is saying it’s ridiculous, I still find myself loving it.
I remember when this originally came out at theaters; I took the day off from my summer job to catch an early showing. I loved it then and I continue to love it today. I know the film has problems and a plot that makes me laugh just thinking about it, but Bay managed to tell a story with great characters and great style that made up for it.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: For those that own either version on DVD, you know that ARMAGEDDON was never presented in an anamorphic widescreen video transfer. So this is the by far and away an upgrade over anything you’ve ever seen. The video is just beautiful and it was great to see that the transfer was done so well.
Audio: We’ve had decent audio transfers before, but this once again is a drastic improvement. The dialogue and the Bay-sized sound effects boomed throughout.
Aside from a music video, this disc is completely bare bones. The Blu-ray gets a “4″ because we know what they could have included on this transfer and didn’t. I don’t know if there were some licensing issues with the former Criterion release, but at least a couple of featurettes or deleted scenes would have been nice.
Tags: Ben Affleck, Blu-ray, bruce willis, Liv Tyler, michael bay, movie reviews
Posted in Blu-Ray Reviews, Reviews |
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Danny Trejo, Charisma Carpenter with cameos by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don’t even think I have to say anything else about this film with that kind of star power. If you’re not stoked for this film, then there’s nothing I’m going to be able to change your mind. That is just an incredible cast.
Of course, there is a plot (do we care?), which is that Stallone leads a group of mercenaries that take a dangerous mission, get too close to the people they’re trying to protect and then have to fight their way out. Probably the best part about this film is that the sequel possibilities are endless. Oh, and I was really surprised the trailer showed the scene with Arnold and Bruce. When news broke of that scene, it was supposed to be kept under wraps. I guess they figured the cat was out of the bag and they might as well include it in the trailer.
Watch the trailer here.
Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, bruce willis, Jason Statham, jet li, mickey rourke, movie news, sylvester stallone
Posted in News |
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
Unless Bruce Willis has changed his mind since he first agreed to be Adam “Kane” Marcus in 2008, he will be joined onscreen by Jamie Foxx in the upcoming video game adaptation KANE & LYNCH. Foxx will be playing James Lynch in the film about two strange characters that team up to retrieve a stolen microchip. Kane is a tough mercenary while Lynch is a schizophrenic killer. Former stunt coordinator Simon Crane will be directing.
Jamie Foxx has had a series of subpar films, but I actually really like the idea of him playing a character like this. Lynch is going to allow him to go crazy with the role and he has the talent to really do something great with the character. I also hope Bruce is still attached as I was looking forward to him playing the tough-guy Kane.
Source: Variety
Tags: bruce willis, Jamie Foxx, movie news, Simon Crane
Posted in News |
Monday, March 1st, 2010
AUGH! This movie is so frustrating! Not like a “math problem you just can’t get” frustrating, but a “what the hell were these people thinking” kind of frustrating. COP OUT used all of these stars, all this talent, and the direction of a great comedic writer/director in Kevin Smith who should know better and gave us a movie essentially made for 13-year-olds. Knock-knock jokes, really? Poop jokes, seriously? I felt bad for Bruce Willis and Kevin Pollack – the older, better actors pulled into this either on a dare or because they lost a bet. And I feel bad for Tracy Morgan, whose stock was really rising with his success on “30 Rock,” though he essentially plays the same outlandish character here. But I really feel bad for those people, myself included, who walk into this movie thinking they’re going to see a funny action/buddy cop movie, and instead get endless sophomoric garbage, including Sean William Scott spending way too much of the movie, and seemingly countless time out of my life, repeating other people.
First, the title. Kevin Smith initially wanted to call this movie A COUPLE OF DICKS. The studio, fearing the small box office of his last movie with the word “Porno” in the title, made him change it. So in an effort to stick it to the studio he titled it COP OUT. Ha ha very funny…but it still leaves movie-goers scratching their heads. Next, the actors. Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan are funny guys, and I did get a few laughs out of this movie. But most of the jokes either seemed forced or juvenile… and in most cases were just stupid. The funniest ones were used in the trailer. There’s the typical rival cop partners played by Kevin Pollack and Adam Brody, and they exchange insults as the rivals do, but their scenes together and side stories are just dumb. But then the plot of the movie itself is dumb, a generic construct used to put these characters in funny situations. It starts out with a search for a drug dealer – then becomes about Willis’ character, Jimmy Monroe, needing to sell an old baseball card to pay for his daughter’s wedding – leading to a robbery of said card by sensitive idiot Sean William Scott – leading to a stolen car with a beautiful woman in the trunk – leading back to the drug dealer.
Tracy Morgan has a side story with his wife played by Rashida Jones, a funny actress in her own right but this is a Boy’s Club here, and she couldn’t even fake chemistry in her limited scenes with Morgan and despite being his wife never kisses him. The villain is played by Guillermo Diaz, in a menacing turn he is used to after his character in “Weeds,” with the ridiculous name of Poh Boy. And though most of Sean William Scott’s character annoyed the hell out of me, he did have some funny lines as the thief who steals Willis’ prized baseball card, and then the writer’s (Robb and Mark Cullen, who are apparently in middle school), put in a stupid aside in which Scott breaks into houses just to use their bathrooms. And though I say I should expect more from Kevin Smith as a director, I have to remind myself in DOGMA he did have a 6-foot Poop Monster.
But no, we should expect more. Kevin Smith is funny and talented. Bruce Willis has a resume riddled with great action/buddy pictures. Kevin Pollack is a funny, respected actor. And Tracy Morgan was Dominican Lou on “Saturday Night Live.” Okay, lowered expectations a bit. But by and large, this movie is a waste of time and money, both on the part of everyone who made it, and everyone who watches it. And I realize, in retrospect, that that last statement was a little harsh, so I wanted to apologize to Bruce Willis…but come on. Poop jokes, Bruce?
Tags: bruce willis, Kevin Smith, movie reviews, Sean William Scott, Tracy Morgan
Posted in Reviews |
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
There have been some good tidbits from the COP OUT junkets. We’ve already learned about Sean William Scott’s involvement with another American Pie movie. Yesterday, Bruce Willis “announced” that DIE HARD 5 will start shooting next year. When he said that, I thought for sure he was either joking or that someone from Fox would quickly release a statement saying Bruce was cuckoo. But then I thought; if you’re an executive at Fox and Bruce Willis said DH5 is starting next year, wouldn’t you go ahead and get things going, even if you didn’t know about it? So whether or not anyone else in the world knew that DH5 was starting next year, the fact that the one person in the world that needs to be on board is, in fact, on board basically means this thing is going to happen. But anyway, the man boldly declared “I think we’re going to do a Die Hard 5 next year”. So there you have it.
But he also mentioned that he’s had continued talks with Mr. Shyamalan about an UNBREAKABLE 2 and mentioned that if Samuel L. Jackson is on board, he is too. I thought UNBREAKABLE got a bad rap and was a better movie than what its domestic box office totals said. Personally, I’d like to see a sequel to either of these and if Bruce is up for it, they can make a Die Hard movie every year.
Source: MTV
Tags: bruce willis, M. Night Shyamalan, movie news, Sameul L. Jackson, Sean William Scott
Posted in News |
Monday, January 11th, 2010
Posted by: Kristy Sturdivant
John Malkovich will join Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren for the thriller RED based on the Wildstorm/DC comicbook. The film follows an ex-CIA agent who is hunted by a ‘high-tech’ assassin. Malkovich replaces John C. Reilly in the movie which begins production this month. John Malkovich can be seen later this year in the films JONAH HEX and SECRETARIAT.
Even though Mr. Malkovich has picked some crummy roles in the past (ERAGON) I still think he’s an outstanding actor and I look forward to seeing him in this comicbook thriller.
Source: Variety
Tags: bruce willis, helen mirren, john c. reilly, john malkovich, morgan freeman, movie news
Posted in News |
Friday, December 25th, 2009
DIE HARD + REINDEER GAMES + LETHAL WEAPON
by: Nathan Swank
You can’t go out and party every weekend, so on those nights you want to take it easy, Flix66.com has put together a bi-weekly column to help you with your movie selection. The Trifecta is a recommendation of three movies that set a mood, that showcase an actor or director, that acquaint the viewer with a geographic location, or maybe even have some obscure link like a Best Boy or Key Grip.
With the release of AVATAR a week before Christmas and SHERLOCK HOLMES on Christmas day, it feels like Hollywood may have forgotten what season it is. Dramatic Oscar bait is meant for winter and blockbuster action movies are reserved for summer, right? Well apparently not this year, but this began me thinking about action movies that have celebrated Christmas. If you are one of those people that need some action all year round, this Trifecta is meant for you. Sorry folks, but although HOME ALONE does have some great action, I’m vetoing it for it’s family friendly content. Only ‘R’ rated Christmas action on this list. Tis the season to shoot, rob and blow things up.
DIE HARD is quite possibly the quintessential best action film ever. It’s basically what all action films strive to be, so much so that they will use DIE HARD’s name to describe their own film in a different location – “It’s DIE HARD on a boat” or “DIE HARD on a plane.” Which ironically DIE HARD 2 and 3 did have a plane and a boat. John McClane (Bruce Willis) is visiting his (separated from) wife at her company Christmas party in a high rise building in L.A. when a team of foreign terrorists hijack the building and McClane has to disassemble the group one by one hiding throughout the building.
Best Christmas Moment: Listening to the epitome of all bad guys, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) read a blood written message on a dead henchman’s body sent by McClane. (In a German accent) “Now I have a machine gun HO – HO – HO.”
It also introduced me to the song, “Christmas in Hollis” by Run-DMC
REINDEER GAMES isn’t quite the quality action film that DIE HARD is; in fact, it’s not very good at all… ok it’s awful. But it is entertaining in that cheese factor sort of way. You can sit around and laugh at all the ridiculously absurd and yet predictable plot points. Gary Sinise heads up a group of bad for the sake of being bad guys, planning on robbing a casino in full on Santa Clause attire. They kidnap Ben Affleck who recently was released from prison to be there vault guy in a case of mistaken identity. Affleck is pretending to be his dead cellmate to hook up with his girl – and he’s supposed to be our hero, what a winner.
Best Christmas Moment: Charlize Theron in an absolutely unnecessary, gratuitous nude sex scene to the song, “Let It Snow” by Dean Martin… I just really like that song.
LETHAL WEAPON is in my opinion another classic. This is the first installment, which is a lot darker than it’s more comedic sequels. Riggs contemplating suicide while watching a Bugs Bunny Christmas Special is pretty dark. Sergeant Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is about to retire when he gets partnered up with crazy reckless Sergeant Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson). Glover and Gibson have the best chemistry any buddy duo movie has ever had. They are so likeable that we are immediately drawn into their world and rooting for them all the way as they track down drug smugglers and fight Gary Busey. They never miss a shot or a funny quip. “Jingle Bell Rock” is played over the opening credits before a half naked girls falls to her death from her apartment building.
Best Christmas Moment: Riggs busting a small drug ring masked as a Christmas tree lot. The drugs are free but the tree will cost ya.
Tags: Ben Affleck, bruce willis, danny glover, mel gibson
Posted in Trifecta |
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
Remember when Kevin Smith’s new movie was titled “A Couple of Dicks”? Ahh, those were the days. Thankfully, Kevin Smith took the high road and changed the title to COP OUT, so maybe this film will have a better fate than ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO, which he refused to change the name of. It should also help that he has Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Rashida Jones, Michelle Trachtenberg, Sean William Scott and Kevin Smith’s favorite Jason Lee helping him out. The movie is about…well…a couple of cops on a big case that don’t like playing by the rules. The movie opens February 26th, 2010.
Watch the trailer here.
Tags: bruce willis, Kevin Smith, Michelle Trachtenberg, movie news, Rashida Jones, Tracy Morgan
Posted in News |
Friday, November 13th, 2009
Posted by: Kristy Sturdivant
Julian McMahon is in talks to co-star in RED with Richard Dreyfuss, Bruce Willis, Brian Cox, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John C. Reilly and Mary Louise Parker. The story is based on the Wildstorm/DC Comics miniseries that follows a retired black-ops agent, played by Willis, who has to battle assassins trying to kill him. Julian McMahon will play the VP of a company at the heart of the conspiracy. The movie will start filming in January of 2010.
Movies based on comic series are either really good or pretty average, hopefully director Robert Schwentke will give us a good story to go with this great cast.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Tags: bruce willis, helen mirren, julian mcmahon, morgan freeman, movie news, Richard Dreyfuss
Posted in News |
Monday, October 26th, 2009
Posted by: Sturdy
This is perhaps the coolest thing I’ve ever posted or even read about. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone filmed a secret scene for the upcoming film THE EXPENDABLES (watch the trailer). Publicist Maria Lascala wrote as much in her blog and apparently witnessed the whole thing. The blog is loooooonnnnnngggggg, but the gist is that they met in a church and had a good time filming the scene. Yeah, we don’t know much else, but the mere fact that they’re together, on screen, at the same time is incredible. As if we needed another reason to look forward to this movie that already has Jason Statham, Jet Li, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke.
Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, bruce willis, dolph lundgren, Jason Statham, jet li, mickey rourke, movie news, steve austin, sylvester stallone
Posted in News |
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Bruce Willis has done sci-fi before, and the results have been both fun (THE FIFTH ELEMENT) and dramatic (TWELVE MONKEYS), both of which exceptionally provided in their respective goals. But this latest effort, SURROGATES, is neither fun nor written or acted well. It is a thought provoking plot just done poorly, and made me wish I had a surrogate of my own to send to the film, while I stayed at home and watched THE LAST BOY SCOUT.
The film has Bruce playing the time honored favorite, a grizzled old cop (more accurately FBI agent), Tom Greer, but we don’t get to see that agent until 30 minutes in. We first only get to see the surrogate of Greer, which is a mentally controlled robot representation of the user, made to look like the user wishes to look, in this case a younger, blonde version of Bruce, and the plastic look of the flesh is unnerving. Surrogates are used by practically everyone since their creation by the inventor, Dr. Lionel Canter, played by James Cromwell – who you’ll remember created the robots in I, ROBOT, the man is typecast as robot-inventor. Those who refuse and outright loathe the use of surrogates, called Dreads, have formed their own communities and are led by The Prophet (Ving Rhames giving speeches Marcellus Wallace-style), who preaches of a time when surrogates will no longer be used and people will actually experience the world again.
Greer and his partner Peters (Radha Mitchell) investigate a murder, what they say is the first murder in 5 years to go along with a total decrease in crime over those years as well, which begs the question: What did they do before this? A surrogate has been killed and also killed its controller, which is precisely what the surrogates are used to prevent. So Greer and Peters have to find the device capable of killing both surrogate and controller, and also do so quietly so as to not arouse a panic amongst the population of surrogate users. There’s a conspiracy plot, some decent chase scenes, manufactured intrigue and a bunch of mess they throw at the viewers to hide the fact that there’s just not that much here. Rosamund Pike plays Greer’s wife, hiding away from life in her surrogate since the loss of their son. This simply adds to the contrived formula, meant to add conflict and angst to our grizzled Fed, and Willis wears that angst well, but it’s also a page out of the I,ROBOT book, and as such seems like déjà vu all over again.
Finally, if a surrogate of Bruce is used to represent him at an earlier age, why did they make him this weird blonde? Why didn’t they model the surrogate after David Addison on “Moonlighting”? In fact, it would have even been better if they just spliced in clips from “Moonlighting” and altered them to fit the situations. Or maybe I’m just trying to think of something, anything, to make this a less formulaic sci-fi flick. If you want an avatar-based action movie to quench your thirst at movie theaters, sorry to say you’re going to have to wait until James Cameron’s movie comes out in late December. As for SURROGATES, wait until it hits the Scifi network…or Syfy, or whatever they’re calling themselves now.
Tags: bruce willis, Jonathan Mostow, movie reviews, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike
Posted in Reviews |
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
by:Jeremey
You can’t go out and party every weekend, so on those nights you want to take it easy, Flix66.com has put together a bi-weekly column to help you with your movie selection. The Trifecta is a recommendation of three movies that set a mood, that showcase an actor or director, that acquaint the viewer with a geographic location, or maybe even have some obscure link like a Best Boy or Key Grip.
The first Trifecta has to pay respect…and my generation reserves a lion’s share of its respect for a wise-cracking, Irish flat foot named John McClane – the modern action star Bruce Willis. But what am I gonna do, use the first installment to suggest you watch three out of four Die Hards? (I’d be leaning hard away from DIE HARD 2 – sorry Renny Harlin) Perish the thought. That’s not how we play stickball in this neighborhood.
 First, you start the party the way Bruce did, with a comedy. Bruce was still making his bones in “Moonlighting” when he did BLIND DATE, a romantic comedy based on getting a girl drunk to take advantage of her, so maybe a better title would have been “Blind Date Rape.” Kim Basinger plays the vixen, and she and Bruce have a disastrous date in which both get some hilarious scenes of drunken buffoonery and John Larroquette gets to showcase his typecast role as 1980’s slimeball. Keep a listen out for the voice of KITT from “Knight Rider” (William Daniels) in a supporting role, and notice Bruce’s excellent form at throwing a grape into a woman’s cleavage. We could all see this kid was a star.
Then, for the entree, take it up a notch with The LAST BOY SCOUT, a Tony Scott action flick with Bruce as the alcoholic detective – seen first passed out in a car with a dead squirrel – and Damon Wayans in a great role as a disgraced ex-football star as his sidekick (giving hope to all Wayans; hope vanquished by WHITE CHICKS and LITTLE MAN). Aside from Wayans and Willis playing off each other beautifully, you’ve got Halle Berry as a stripper, Bruce saving President Carter, and, in true badass fashion, driving a henchman’s nose through his skull…after telling him he’d do so! Hey, when Bruce asks for a light, you light the man’s cigarette.
 And how do you close the night? Not with Bruce as a supporting player in PULP FICTION or with the obvious blockbusters like ARMAGEDDON or THE SIXTH SENSE, or even the full frontal nudity of COLOR OF NIGHT (really, Bruce?), no you end it with the sense of style only brought by the 1991 Razzie Award winner for Worst Film, co-written by Willis himself- HUDSON HAWK! This is how you end a marathon. Bruce cracks a one-liner Henny Youngman-style in almost every scene, Andie MacDowell makes dolphin noises, James Coburn shows off his kung fu fighting, and Bruce and Danny Aiello rob a museum using a skateboard while singing “Swinging on a Star.” It’s vintage Bruce with that classic smirk in every frame and yes, it even has Frank Stallone. And even with Sandra Bernhard making your ears bleed with every scene she’s in, I’d say the movie caps the perfect McClane-less Bruce Willis evening. Catch the excitement, catch the adventure, catch the Hawk.
Total running time for the trifecta: 300 minutes.
Tags: blind date, bruce willis, die hard, hudson hawk, last boyscout
Posted in Trifecta |
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