Ever since Twitter became a common method of online communication, fans have had direct lines to their favorite actors, musicians and other public figures, and many celebrities, like Tracie Thoms of “Rent,” have appreciated the chance to chat with their followers. On tonight’s “Catfish,” Thoms shared a story about a lovely young woman named Sammie… Read more
With this week’s release of The Avengers on DVD/Blu-ray and Marvel’s Kevin Feige entertaining all sorts of speculative queries as to the future of the superhero franchise, let’s put it to the people: Which Avenger do you want to see step into the spotlight in a standalone sequel after Thor and Captain America? Marvel Studios already have the next many years’ worth of superhero outings penciled in — Captain America 2 , Thor 2 , Guardians of the Galaxy , Ant-Man , and Avengers 2 — but Feige gave some fans hope for a Hulk adventure in a recent interview with MTV . “Do I think Hulk can carry a movie and be as entertaining as he was in Avengers ? I do believe that. I do believe he absolutely could. We certainly are not even going to attempt that until Avengers 2 ,” said Feige. “So there’s a lot of time to think about it.” Mark Ruffalo’s wry Hulk was an ensemble standout, especially after Ed Norton and Eric Bana’s dour, serious incarnations — perfect candidate for the next standalone, no? (Third time’s the charm?) Then again, could he compete with demand for a full feature dedicated to Scarlett Johansson’s sultry Black Widow? If hers includes a few lengthy drunken hookups with Hawkeye, you know who gets my vote. [ MTV ] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Is it me or does Jim Carrey look like he’s dying a thousand deaths in the video below as he kills time on the set of Kick-Ass 2 in Toronto looking like the result of a night of passion between the Riddler’s mom and Sgt. Rock. That actually could be a good thing since stand-up comics, which Carrey was before he became an ac-tor , are great at converting humiliation and flop sweat into moments of brutal and dark comic brilliance — a tone that certainly worked for the first Kick-Ass movie. In the Matthew Vaughn-directed sequel, Carrey plays Colonel Stars, a former mob enforcer who, if the character remains true to the comic series, found religion and formed (with his brother, Lieutenant Stripes) Justice Forever, a superhero group that also included Night Bitch (Lindy Booth) and Insect Man (Robert Emms), who can both be seen with Carrey in the video. Aaron Johnson, who plays the green-suited title character is also on hand. In the John Romita Jr.-drawn, Mark Millar-written comic, Stars ends up in a showdown with Red Mist/The Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and his henchmen that does not turn out well. Photos of Carrey in his crime-fighting get-up were posted on SlashFilm.com . The site also linked to the below YouTube video from SuperHeroHype.com that depicts Carrey and his co-stars on the set. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter. Sources: SlashFilm.com ; SuperHeroHype.com
The new Universal Soldier picture, the latest in the series about genetically-modified supermen raging against their government creators, is a curious exercise in cognitive dissonance; here you have an action flick high on gory, bone-crunching slicing and dicing and kicking and punching — everything star and Ben Affleck doppelganger Scott Adkins ( Undisputed II and III ) can possibly do to evoke oohs and aahs in 3-D in the serious-faced, beefy fashion of his ’80s and ’90s predecessors — and yet director John Hyams didn’t sound completely delusional this week at Fantastic Fest when he said his UniSol fourquel was influenced by David Cronenberg, Michael Haneke, and (yes, I see it, kinda!) even art house provocateur Gaspar Noe. Stylistically these references are obvious, even if they add little to the overarching point of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning 3D . Hyams opens with a neat, tricksy sequence that sets up the plot (and makes the best use of 3-D) through the first-person POV of family man John (Adkins); forced to watch as masked intruders murder his wife and child, we see through John’s eyes as he’s beaten to near-death, the only lasting clue left in his brain being the stone-faced mug of Jean-Claude Van Damme (reprising his role as veteran UniSol Luc Deveraux). When John comes to in a hospital recovery bed with nothing but the lingering memory of that night, he sets out to put the missing puzzle pieces together, which leads him to a strip club and a dancer (Mariah Bonner) who seems to know him. Meanwhile, an agent nicknamed The Plumber (Belarusian MMA fighter Andrei Arlovsky) is activated to wipe out his own kind but is re-educated by a swaggering, confident ex-UniSol ( Dolph Lundren ) bent on spreading the gospel of his boss — Van Damme as cult figure, not a crazy stretch — who seeks to build an army of disgruntled Unisols into raging against The Man. Few elements of the Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning script make much sense (John’s line of vengeance-logic; The Plumber’s proclivity for wearing his plumber uniform everywhere he goes ), and the film meanders through some interminably long, wannabe noir-ish plot stretches to set up reasons for its stars to brawl and, y’know, grow back severed body parts. But Hyams satisfies where it matters — in his slashing, limb-severing, body-pounding action, and the physically impressive Adkins, a stunt performer turned leading man. Saddled with the tough job of playing a vacant-eyed man-machine with no memories and a vague sense of self, Adkins at least comes alive when he’s in his element. (A seemingly seamless single-shot sequence — beautifully and brutally choreographed, though stitched together via subtle CG movie magic — is one for the highlight reel.) Notably, Adkins, Van Damme, and Lundgren turn in far more compelling work than they did in their last film together, Expendables 2 , though maybe that’s not saying much. Van Damme, gloriously off-kilter in that picture, is a study of coiled restraint in Oreo cookie Apocalypse Now face paint; Lundgren might be at his career best – again, perhaps not saying much. In the least, and most significantly, Day of Reckoning should propel British martial artist/stunt veteran Adkins out of the niche genre world — action cinema’s Adkins diet? Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning hits VOD October 25, followed by a theatrical run November 30. Read more from Fantastic Fest . Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
After scoping out Noah cinematographer Matthew Libatique’s dark-but-revealing shot of the interior of the title character’s reptile-laden ark, I find myself praying for a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson in which he lives long enough to say, “I have had it with these mother-fucking snakes on this mother-fucking ark.” Libatique , who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on Black Swan , tweeted the photo on Tuesday, along with the line: “Pre lighting on the holiest day of the year,” an apparent reference to Yom Kippur. The photo appears to prove that Aronofsky won’t be following the part of the Noah story that Noah brought, depending on which Biblical interpretation you believe, at most seven pairs, male and female, of each animal on the planet. (“Unclean” creatures were limited to a single pair, and given the snake’s role in the fall of Adam and Eve — you know, the story where seeking and acquiring knowledge is deemed a really bad thing — I’m thinking snakes fell into that category.) By the way, according to one Biblical interpretation I found on the net, the animals agreed not to procreate on the boat. Apparently, they did not have a strong union at the time. Then again, this is not your Father Flanagan’s Noah , judging from the graphic novel series, Noah, For The Cruelty of Men , that Aronofsky created with executive producer Ari Handel and artist Niko Henrichon to help sell the film. If the movie follows the comic, Russell Crowe, who plays the title character, will be doing battle with such exotic creatures as “Watchers,” 11-foot fallen angels that have no wings but six arms. Here in New York, we call them panhandlers. Anthony Hopkins has been cast as Noah’s 900-year-old father Methuselah and Jennifer Connelly (who is welcome on our ark any time), Emma Watson, Ray Winstone and Logan Leman will co-star. And, with a little help from Above, Samuel L. Jackson! Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The filmmaker-critic relationship has always been complex — as demonstrated last weekend with hearty debate and even more heartfelt punches in the epic Joe Swanberg – Devin Faraci throwdown, henceforth known as the Mumble in the Jungle — but Sunday night, Looper director Rian Johnson and journalist Aaron Hillis united in sweet synergy to drop a rousing rendition of Weird Al’s Kinks-meets- Star Wars classic “Yoda.” I wish I had a futuristic time machine to take us all back to relive the moment with our younger selves, but this YouTube video capturing the entire number should suffice. There’s a long history of karaoke at film festivals, but rarely does festival karaoke reach the heights of the legendary magical musical moments at Fantastic Fest. This year celebrity karaoke began with Mexican recording artist and actress Laura Caro ( who won Fantastic Fest’s award for Best Actress for Here Comes the Devil ), who blew the roof off the Alamo Drafthouse’s Highball singing her signature cover of “I Will Always Love You” — the song that got her on Mexico’s American Idol -like La Academia . Sunday night the entire visiting Looper crew got in on the action as Noah Segan (AKA Looper ‘s Kid Blue) dueted with film journalista Karina Longworth and Tracie Thoms , who sang on freaking Broadway , crooned The Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly.” And of course, yours truly got up there one or two times to sing a little something. When in Austin… Reward Johnson’s tremendous karaoke effort by checking out Looper , in theaters this Friday. [Video via Todd Gilchrist ; Photo credit Jack Plunkett] Read more from Fantastic Fest! Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
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