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Alyssa Diaz (Ray Donovan) has booked a series regular role in ABC’s straight-to-series light crime drama The Rookie, starring and executive produced by Castle alum Fillion. Written by former Castle executive producer/co-showrunner Alexi Hawley, The Rookie stars Fillion as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the Lapd. At an age where most are at the peak of their career, Nolan cast aside his comfortable, small town life and moved to L.A. to pursue his dream of being a cop…...

The longtime agent will work with former client Mark Gordon as chief strategy officer.

Entertainment One (eOne) has recruited CAA television department co-head Peter Micelli for the newly created position of chief strategy officer, film, television and digital.

In his new job, Micelli will oversee eOne’s television and digital content businesses, setting the company’s television strategy and seeking out potential merger and acquisition opportunities.

He will report to eOne’s recently appointed president and chief content officer, film, television and digital Mark Gordon and president, film, television and digital Steve Bertram.

At CAA, Micelli, a 20-year veteran of the agency, represented Gordon’s The Mark Gordon Company, which was recently integrated into eOne. He brought Aaron Sorkin’s feature Molly’s Game to Gordon and packaged Gordon’s TV projects The Rookie and Designated Survivor.

Gordon said: “Pete was my agent for four years, during which he helped me grow The Mark Gordon Company into a trusted...

Firefly star Nathan Fillion wants his new TV series The Rookie to reach the same "high bar" as Joss Whedon's fan favorite as he embarks on his debut exec producer role. Fillion, who also starred in ABC procedural Castle, tells Deadline that he is "certainly more invested" in the Mark Gordon Company and ABC Studios-produced drama as a result of his behind-the scenes role. "I had an experience on Firefly where everybody that worked on that show considered it the bar to…...

Richard T. Jones is moving on. Deadline reports the Wisdom of the Crowd star has joined ABC's new TV show The Rookie The crime dramedy stars Nathan Fillion as “as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the Lapd. At an age where most are at the peak of their career, Nolan cast aside his comfortable small-town life and moved to L.A. to pursue his dream of being a cop.”Read More…...

Glee alum Titus Makin is set as a regular opposite Nathan Fillion in ABC’s straight-to-series light crime drama The Rookie, starring and executive produced by Castle alum Fillion. Written by former Castle executive producer/co-showrunner Alexi Hawley, The Rookie stars Fillion as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the Lapd. At an age where most are at the peak of their career, Nolan cast aside his comfortable small-town life and moved to L.A. to pursue his dream of being a…...

Fresh off Wisdom of the Crowd‘s one-and-done run, Richard T. Jones is staying in law enforcement mode, with a role on ABC’s straight-to-series The Rookie.

Per our sister site Deadline, Jones will play Sergeant Wade Grey, an Lapd Watch Commander who serves as a nemesis to 40-year-old rookie John Nolan, played by Castle‘s Nathan Fillion.

Previously, Melissa O’Neil (Dark Matter) was cast as Lucy, a tough and confident rookie/potential love interest for Nolan, while Afton Williamson (The Night Of, Banshee) and Eric Winter (Rosewood) will play training officers Talia Bishop and Tim Bradford.

Jones’ previous...

Wisdom of the Crowd‘s Richard T. Jones is set to co-star opposite Nathan Fillion in ABC’s straight-to-series light crime drama The Rookie, toplined and executive produced by the Castle alum. Written by former Castle executive producer/co-showrunner Alexi Hawley, The Rookie stars Fillion as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the Lapd. At an age where most are at the peak of their career, Nolan cast aside his comfortable, small town life and moved to L.A. to pursue his dream…...

When The Evil Dead was released in 1981, it helped launched the careers of star Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi, but long before that club hit, the actor and star made a slew of short films with their high school friends Scott Spiegel and Bill Ward. These shorts were showcased with a new DVD set released in August called Super 8 Shorts, with a second volume just now being released. Along with 11 new short films, many of which have never been publicly released before, this set also features some of Bruce Campbell's early TV commercials, including one you can see below for a Michigan radio station from 1984, three years after the first Evil Dead movie. Here's a description of these DVD sets below, outlining some of the history behind these filmmakers.

"While many have seen the iconic horror movie The Evil Dead, and its sequels Evil Dead II & Army Of Darkness,...

Author: Cai Ross

The summer movie season of 1992 opened under a cloud; a dark cloud from the still-smouldering buildings that had burned to the ground during the La riots in April. Racial tension after the disastrous acquittal of Rodney King’s uniformed attackers had reached an all-time high and Hollywood appealed for calm.

Thus, in a touchingly bold demonstration of selfless generosity, Walter Hill’s unremarkable urban thriller, The Looters, was hastily withdrawn and held back until Christmas, re-christened Trespass (memorably starring two Bills – Paxton and Sadler – and a pair of Ices – T and Cube). Elsewhere, it was business as usual.

The Rodney King affair was briefly alluded to in Lethal Weapon 3, the second-biggest hit of the summer and one of only a handful of ‘sure things’ on the menu. Though there were mutterings about the dominance of sequels in the summer movie season, there were weird things afoot in most of the other returnees. Aside from Lethal Weapon 3 – which was essentially a watered down Lethal Weapon 2 with too much added Joe Pesci – the rest of the sequels veered off into strange tangents, with varying results.

Alien 3, for example strayed dangerously far from the template set down by the first two classics. Bravely, it has to be said, David Fincher tried to create a quasi-religious epic, following Scott’s horror movie and Cameron’s war film. Latterly, Fincher’s frustrations and behind-the-scenes interferences became legendary, but audiences didn’t click with his compromised vision and it became the first in a long line of Alien movies to fall a bit flat.

Another major sequel, Honey, I Blew Up The Baby was in fact the complete opposite of 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, culminating in the spectacle of a 99 foot toddler stomping through Las Vegas. It was directed without enthusiasm by Grease director Randal Kleiser, reminding audiences once again why no one remembers who directed Grease.

It wasn’t just sequels that dared to be different. One of the strangest mainstream offerings of the year was Robert Zemeckis’s black comedy, Death Becomes Her, which might have been a delicious satire on America’s vain obsession with cosmetic surgery if only Bruce Willis had stopped shouting at everyone like he was trying to prevent a plane crash.

Back in the ‘90s, much more so than today, comedies were a vital part of the summer success story – an inexpensive sop for the grown-ups while their teenage kids watched things explode in Screen 7. There were high hopes for Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn’s Housesitter, which was only a medium-sized hit, despite the bit where Steve Martin sings ‘Tura Lura Lura’ to his dad, and the other bit when his falls over his couch.

Boomerang was a bigger hit and restored some credibility to Eddie Murphy’s career after the crippling one-two punches of Harlem Nights and Another 48 Hours. It was also responsible for one of the great ironic ‘First Dance At a Wedding’ songs, Boys II Men’s The End of The Road.

Nicolas Cage embarked on a three year long career as a romantic comedy star with the rather wonderful Honeymoon in Vegas, famed for its skydiving Elvis finale. Tom Hanks and his Big director Penny Marshall reteamed to great success with wartime baseball comedy A League of Their Own, which also saw Geena Davis giving a star performance and Madonna giving a bearable one. “There’s no crying in baseball!!!” was probably the most quoted line of the summer.

As with City Slickers in 1991, comedy provided the biggest sleeper hit of the summer: Sister Act, with Whoopi Goldberg excelling as a murder witness hiding out in a convent. As with City Slickers, an unwise sequel was hastily made and hastily forgotten. The original though, was the sixth biggest film of the year and is still going strong as a west-end show to this day.

It wasn’t just the many and varied comic tastes of adults that were appeased; semi-literate young people were also provided for by Encino Man (or California Man as we knew it, since we don’t know where Encino is. It’s in California). Noted for Brendan Fraser’s first stab at the big time, this grungy caveman caper will be of interest to young contemporary archeologists keen to investigate who or what Pauly Shore was.

Teenagers were also palmed off with a silly-sounding comedy called Buffy The Vampire Slayer, written by first-time screenwriter Joss Whedon. Starring Kristy Swanson as the eponymous heroine, but marketed as a vehicle for Beverly Hills 90210 heart-throb Luke Perry, the producers had hoped for a chunk of the Bill & Ted audience that Encino Man hadn’t swallowed up. Sadly, they had to make do with a long-running spin-off television show regularly cited as one of the greatest ever made. Gnarly.

The stalking killer thriller phenomenon that started with The Silence of The Lambs and Cape Fear echoed into 1992 with solid hits like Unlawful Entry and Single White Female. Even Patriot Games – a sort-of sequel to The Hunt For Red October with Harrison Ford rebooting Alec Baldwin’s Jack Ryan – for all its CIA espionage and partial understanding of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, was basically a slasher movie, with Sean Bean doing to Harrison Ford what Robert De Niro had done to Nick Nolte the year before. (Sean Bean dies, obviously).

Crimes against the Emerald Isle weren’t restricted to the gratuitous amounts of Clannad in Patriot Games. Tom Cruise’s Irish accent in Ron Howard’s Far and Away was the benchmark for all bad Irish accents until Brad Pitt graciously took the relay baton in The Devil’s Own. The film, shot in glorious 70mm was the biggest risk of the summer and proved to be the dampest squib, considering the star power of Cruise and (then-wife) Nicole Kidman. Despite looking ravishing, the script had all the depth of a bottle-cap. It desperately wanted to be a timeless classic in the David Lean tradition but held up against Unforgiven, which was released in August, Far & Away was shown up as the glorified Cbbc TV special it was.

Unforgiven came out of nowhere. Clint Eastwood’s previous movie, The Rookie, was somehow even worse than 1989’s Pink Cadillac. However, he’d been sitting on David Webb Peoples’ script for years until he was finally old enough to play William Munny. An extraordinary, mature and masterful critique of Western mythology, Unforgiven was hailed as Eastwood’s best work from the get-go, took the summer’s number five spot and would later win a handful of Oscars, including Pest Picture.

So who was the box office champion of Summer ’92? Well, that question was never in any doubt. Tim Burton’s Batman was the cultural phenomenon of 1989, redefining the parameters of box office limitations and merchandise licensing in a way not seen since Star Wars. Speculation as to who Batman would fight next and who would play him/her began immediately. Dustin Hoffman was touted to play The Penguin and Annette Bening was actually cast as Catwoman, before pregnancy forced her to drop out.

On the 19th of June, all was revealed when Batman Returns opened to a spectacular $45m weekend, $5m more than the original. Michael Keaton returned as The Caped Crusader (having split up with the creditably tight-lipped Vicki Vale), while not one but three villains put up their dukes. Danny DeVito played the Penguin as a deformed, subterranean leader of a gang of circus act drop-outs. Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman (perhaps her signature role) was transformed from a clumsy secretary into a vengeful whip-wielding dominatrix. Christopher Walken borrowed ‘Doc’ Emmett Brown’s hair to play new villain, Max Shreck.

Despite the enormous opening weekend, things took a downward turn almost immediately. Audiences expecting more of the same were treated to a dark, nose-bitingly violent combination of German Expressionism, kinky S&M and oversized rubber ducks. The box office the following week dropped by 40%, and there was further controversy when McDonalds had to deal with the ire of horrified parents across America, ‘tricked’ by their Batman Returns Happy Meals into taking their kids to watch Burton’s deranged fairy tale, pussy jokes et al.

The backlash (against what is now considered a unique high-water mark in the superhero genre), meant that Batman Returns wound up making $100m less than its predecessor and it placed third for the year, behind Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, a film so determined to give its audience a familiar experience that it simply changed the first film’s screen directions from Int. Kevin’S House – Night to Ext. New York – Night and reshot the entire script. (The box office crown for the year was taken eventually by Disney’s Aladdin.)

Warner Bros. took evasive action, hiring Joel Schumacher to sweeten the mix, which would help to restore Batman’s fortunes in 1995, before everything, literally absolutely everything went wrong in 1997 and the world had to wait for Christopher Nolan to finish attending Ucl, become a director and save the Dark Knight from the resultant ignominy.

Hollywood was given a crash course in the perils of straying too far from a winning formula in the summer of ’92. Sadly, for a while at least, it learned its lesson.

The post Tamed Aliens, Harmonic Nuns and a Leather Catsuit: Strange Tales from 1992’s Summer of Cinema appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Author: Competitions

To mark the release of Clint Eastwood 40 Film Collection, out now, we’ve been given a copy of the boxset to give away on DVD.

For nearly 40 years, Clint Eastwood has called Warner Bros home. This essential collection contains the extraordinary films created during his partnership with the studio, where Eastwood opened Malpaso Productions in 1975. The deluxe boxset includes: Where Eagles Dare (1968), Kelly’s Heroes (1970), Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Gauntlet (1977), Every Which Way but Loose (1978), Bronco Billy (1980), Any Which Way You Can (1980), Honkytonk Man (1982), Firefox (1982), Sudden Impact (1983), City Heat (1984), Tightrope (1984), Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Bird (1988), The Dead Pool (1988), Pink Cadillac (1989), White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), The Rookie (1990), Unforgiven (1992), A Perfect World (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Absolute Power (1997), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), True Crime (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), Blood Work (2002), Mystic River (2003), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Letters from Iwo Jima...

Clint Eastwood is one of those rare Hollywood stars who is a legend both in front of and behind the camera. While he's best known to most audiences as an actor, with decades of iconic performances, but he has also established himself as one of our finest filmmakers as well. In recent years, the multi-hyphenate has focused his energies more on filmmaking and less in acting, with his last on screen performance coming in his 2012 baseball movie entitled Trouble With the Curve, where he played an aging baseball scout. During an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, the Hollywood icon suggested that he eventually will make his return to acting.

Variety attended a master class being put on by the actor-filmmaker at the Cannes Film Festival, where he discussed a variety of topics. The filmmaker stated that he does miss performing "once in a while but not often," while hinting...

For a very brief period in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Brazilian actress Sonia Braga looked poised to become a major Hollywood star. Her significant supporting role in Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985), a Brazilian-American co-production that won William Hurt the Oscar for Best Actor and was nominated for Best Picture, got studio suits’ attention; a few years later, she appeared in Robert Redford’s The Milagro Beanfield War and Paul Mazursky’s Moon Over Parador (both of which, oddly, are set in fictional locations, with Milagro somewhere in New Mexico and Parador an entirely invented South American country). Neither film was a hit, and the same tepid box-office fate met her last big Hollywood showcase, The Rookie (1990), in which she played one of the criminals (alongside Raul Juliá again) being pursued by cops Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen. While she would later be nominated for an ...

Directors’ trademarks is a series of articles that examines the “signatures” that filmmakers leave behind in their work. This month, we’re examining the trademark style and calling signs of Clint Eastwood as director.

Clint Eastwood became an american film star in the 1960’s thanks to his acting performances in a number of western films. As he began to branch out with new roles in front of the camera, he sought out to have more creative input into the types of film projects that he would be involved in. One way he was able to accomplish this was by creating his own production company which eventually allowed him to work behind the camera as director. His first film as director was 1971’s Play Misty For Me, which was well received by critics and did well at the box office. HIs second film as director was High Plains Drifter (1973), in which he also starred.

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Three-time Golden Globe nominee Sonia Braga has signed up to play Rosario Dawson’s mum in Marvel’s Luke Cage Netflix series…

After Mike Colter’s manifold appearances as Luke Cage in Marvel's Jessica Jones Netflix series, anticipation for Cage’s own show is beginning to build. Today, we’ve got a piece of interesting casting news.

Sonia Braga has signed up to play Soledad Temple, the mother of Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple character who has appeared in every Marvel Netflix series to date. (All two of them.)

"A character as strong as Claire needs an equally powerful mother, and with Sonia we found the perfect actress to deliver the stellar performance we needed," said Marvel’s TV chief Jeph Loeb. "In Marvel's Luke Cage, fans will now get a chance to see where Claire got the fire we love her for."

Braga is an Emmy and Golden Globe nominee,...

Years ago the news of a team-up between Clint Eastwood and someone like Jonah Hill would probably have meant something along the lines of The Rookie. We live in very different times, however, and with Eastwood now a serious Oscar-bait director, the project on the table is The Ballad Of Richard Jewell: the story of the Olympic security guard who foiled a terrorist bomb plot. Eastwood's J. Edgar and Hill's Wolf Of Wall Street compatriot Leonardo DiCaprio is also attached to star.Billy Ray (Captain Phillips) wrote the screenplay based on a 1997 Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner. The story revolves around the '96 Summer Olympis in Atlanta. Jewell was initially hailed as a hero for finding a suspicious backpack in the sports compound and helping clear bystanders before the bomb contained within it detonated, killing two people on the day and inuring 111 others.But soon the Atlanta Journal Constitution,...

They can be a help or a hindrance, but they're always at their best when shouty and officious. Here's some of the best examples of movie police chiefs

This week's Clip joint is my art director and designer Mark Evans. Follow him on Twitter here, and take a look at the 'zine he recently put together on the subject of police chiefs.

This is based on my love of the officious, aggressive and over-the-top police chief in movies. The one-liners, the put-downs and their very immoderate nature have always endeared me to this hilarious and iconic film character.

Beverly Hills Cop II

We start with the perfect, cliché-ridden sequel that precisely encapsulates this type of character, Inspector Todd from Beverly Hills Cop 2.

Reading on mobile? Click here to watch

Bad Boys II

Another sequel, another brilliant cliché-ridden cop movie – but this time Joe Pantoliano (Joey Pants to his friends) introduces...

Over the past week, Amazon has offered some killer DVD and Blu-ray deals. With today being Cyber Monday, they've updated what's on sale. Here's some of the highlights. In addition, Amazon has over 800 DVDs on sale under $5.00, over 1,100 Blu-rays on sale under $10.00, and if you're a Criterion fan, Amazon also has a ton of Criterion DVD and Blu-rays over 50% off. Since it’s too many to list here, I suggest looking them over for yourself. Finally, Amazon also has a ton of Cyber Monday deals on clothing, computers, cameras, televisions, appliances, and a lot more. Alien Anthology [Blu-ray] $19.99 (71% off) The Raid: Redemption [Blu-ray] $10.96 (70% off) Farscape: The Complete Series $40.99 (73% off) Farscape: The Complete Series [Blu-ray] $59.99 (70% off) Charmed: The Complete Series $49.99 (74% off) The West Wing: The Complete Series Collection $86.49 (71% off) Gilligan's Island: Complete Series Collection $26.99 (76% off) The Shawshank Redemption (Blu-ray Book Packaging) $7.99 (77% off) Clint Eastwood Collection (Absolute Power / Dirty Harry / Gran Torino / Kelly's Heroes...

Back in 1990, Charlie Sheen's interventions were somewhat more star-studded, he told CenterStage this weekend. In fact, when friends, family, and Sean Penn gathered that year to coax Sheen into rehab, there was a late-breaking intervention cameo from his co-star in the film The Rookie. "There's a phone call at the very end, and it's Clint Eastwood," said Sheen. "And he says, 'Come on, kid, you know, you're tougher than this, just go fix yourself, get back in the game.' And I was like, 'Alright, Clint.' How do you say no to Dirty Harry, you know? So I went." And it clearly took, the end.

Few directors have had careers as varied as Boaz Yakin's. He started out working on screenplays for big action movies like the Dolph Lundgren "Punisher" and Clint Eastwood's "The Rookie," before segueing into more personal material as a writer/director (1994's "Fresh," 1998's "A Price Above Rubies"). Yakin would have the biggest hit of his career with a script he didn't write, with the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced inspirational football movie "Remember the Titans." Since then he has bounced around between high-profile screenwriting jobs ("Prince of Persia: Sands of Time," again for Bruckheimer) and personal projects (2008's little-seen "Death and Love"). This weekend, though, he's back and kicking ass with "Safe" – a sophisticated, New York-set action movie starring Jason Statham. We talked to Yakin about his career, what he wanted to accomplish with "Safe," and whatever happened to his "Batman Beyond" movie.

One of the things you really...

Jason Statham returns for yet another action movie, and this one may well be his best yet. Here’s Duncan’s review of the mighty Safe…

It’s amazing what a physiological effect a film can have on me sometimes. Despite the high expectations I had of Safe after the thoroughly entertaining trailer, mixed with my ardent love of Jason Statham, I was exhausted when I went to the screening. So tired in fact, that when I spoke to a friend of mine just before the film started I was barely able to string two words together, even using the word ‘magical’ to describe my hopes for Safe.

Now, I’ve used many superlatives to describe the films of our man Statham over the years, but ‘magical’ isn’t a logical fit. Regardless, by the time Safe had finished, I was running high on adrenaline and in a state of absolute joy,...

When Clint Eastwood made Unforgiven in 1992, he was in a transitional period of his career. Though he was still making pop junk like Pink Cadillac and The Rookie, he had also directed Bird - which started his career as an art-house/Oscar friendly director (though that film was mostly ignored). Eastwood was getting old, and there was sense that he had to stop playing these sorts of role. Unforgiven was his great Western standoff, and he assembled a great cast that included Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, and Richard Harris in a career-defining work. Our review of the Blu-ray of Unforgiven follows after the jump. The film begins with an incident in a whorehouse. Two cowboys cut up a young prostitute, and when sheriff “Little” Bill Daggett (Hackman) offers the ladies less justice than they wanted, the prostitutes band together to offer a bounty. William Munny (Eastwood) is living on a farm with his children,...

We’ve already had a UK quad poster and TV spot for Jason Statham’s latest movie Safe and now Momentum Pictures have sent us six new images from the film, directed by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher, The Rookie, Prince of Persia), which will open in the UK on May 4th.

Safe centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafia desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. The film also stars Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Robert John Burke, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee, Victor Pagan and Danny Hoch.

A second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, Luke Wright (Jason Statham) lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change… until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family...

Following the debut of the UK quad poster yesterday, here’s a new TV spot for Jason Statham’s latest movie, Safe, which centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafia desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. Safe also stars Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Robert John Burke, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee, Victor Pagan and Danny Hoch. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher, The Rookie, Prince of Persia).

A second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, Luke Wright (Jason Statham) lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change… until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family and banishes him from his life forever, leaving Luke to wander the streets of New York destitute,...

Coming courtesy of Zoo (of all places), here’s the official UK quad poster Jason Statham’s latest movie, Safe, which centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafia desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. Safe also stars Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Robert John Burke, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee, Victor Pagan and Danny Hoch. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher, The Rookie, Prince of Persia).

A second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, Luke Wright (Jason Statham) lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change… until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family and banishes him from his life forever, leaving Luke to wander the streets of New York destitute, haunted by guilt,...

Here’s a brand new TV spot for Jason Statham’s latest movie, Safe, which centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafia desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. Safe also stars Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Robert John Burke, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee, Victor Pagan and Danny Hoch. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher, The Rookie, Prince of Persia).

A second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, Luke Wright (Jason Statham) lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change… until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family and banishes him from his life forever, leaving Luke to wander the streets of New York destitute, haunted by guilt, and tormented by the...

Check out the official UK trailer for Jason Statham’s latest movie, Safe, which centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafia desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. Safe also stars Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Robert John Burke, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee, Victor Pagan and Danny Hoch. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher, The Rookie, Prince of Persia).

A second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, Luke Wright (Jason Statham) lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change… until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family and banishes him from his life forever, leaving Luke to wander the streets of New York destitute, haunted by guilt, and tormented by the knowledge...

Here’s a new poster (courtesy of Collider) for Jason Statham’s latest movie, Safe, which centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafiz desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. The girl meets up with a Soldier of Fortune man (Jason Statham) and he protects her from abduction and murder by the Russian and Chinese Mafia agents in the USA, both of which compete to find the girl and get the secrets she possesses so they can use these secrets to blackmail world governments.

Safe also stars Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Robert John Burke, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee, Victor Pagan, Danny Hoch. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher, The Rookie, Prince of Persia).

Typecasting is a terrible fate to befall an actor. Many of them have suffered from it over the years, accepting role after role in similar films with similar plots and similar characters simply because they have no real alternative. However, in spite of the risks involved there are also those who subvert this association; those who have elevated themselves to near legendary status within their chosen genre. Their performances define it and are woven inextricably into its rich tapestry. Two such actors are pictured above and are the subject of this article – one, a silent and anonymous loner with no time for small talk and very direct methods of dealing with his adversaries, the other a straight talking, no – nonsense peacekeeper with a trademark southern drawl. Both are perhaps best known for their westerns, although they also directed, produced and starred in a variety of other films too including military epics and ‘unorthodox’ police procedurals.

Here’s the first trailer for Jason Statham’s latest movie, Safe, which centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafiz desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. The girl meets up with a Soldier of Fortune man (Jason Statham) and he protects her from abduction and murder by the Russian and Chinese Mafia agents in the USA, both of which compete to find the girl and get the secrets she possesses so they can use these secrets to blackmail world governments.

Safe also stars Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Robert John Burke, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee, Victor Pagan, Danny Hoch. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher, The Rookie, Prince of Persia).

Mere marketing tool, or thumping good read? Here, David praises the greatness of movie novelisations…

They’re the novels film buffs love to read, and collect omnivorously. The books take up at least a single shelf, and their collectors smile, impressed, at the way a multi-million dollar scene sparkling with special effects can be effectively emulated in prose. Or maybe that’s just me.

But seriously: haven’t you ever watched Lethal Weapon and thought, “This should have been a book!” If you ever have, then track down and pick up Joel Norst’s paperback version and see how he can make maverick cop Martin Riggs jumping off a building while clinging to a hysterical civilian just as breathtaking as when Mel Gibson does it onscreen.

Or how about when James Bond free-falls over a cliff in Goldeneye? Check out veteran Bond novelist John Gardner’s take on it. These scenes,...

ComingSoon have just debuted these two new images of Jason Statham in his latest movie, Safe, which centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafiz desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. The girl meets up with a Soldier of Fortune man (Jason Statham) and he protects her from abduction and murder by the Russian and Chinese Mafia agents in the USA, both of which compete to find the girl and get the secrets she possesses so they can use these secrets to blackmail world governments.

Safe is released in the Us on October 28th, and the UK on November 18th 2011 and also stars Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Robert John Burke, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee, Victor Pagan, Danny Hoch. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher, The Rookie, Prince of Persia...

It looks like this is going to be another packed week of poster releases for the studios it seems, we had a bunch of posters yesterday and here’s a quick round-up of those poster that have emerged today, including Safe, Vehicle 19, Machine Gun Preacher and two new character posters for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Safe

Safe centers on a young Chinese girl who has vital weapons of mass destruction science secrets both the Chinese Mafia and also the Russian Mafiz desire to obtain and use to blackmail world governments. The girl meets up with a Soldier of Fortune man (Jason Statham) and he protects her from abduction and murder by the Russian and Chinese Mafia agents in the USA, both of which compete to find the girl and get the secrets she possesses so they can use these secrets to blackmail world governments. The film is released in the Us on October 28th,...

As the Charlie Sheen madness continues this week, it's time to take a look at the results from last week's poll and determine his finest achievements on the big screen. At the top of the list with over 35% of the votes was Oliver Stone's Platoon. Yes, it won Best Picture in 1987, but does it deserve to top this list? You tell me. There was a two-way tie for second place between Wall Street and Major League, with Hot Shots! following close behind. Young Guns rounded out the top 5. In dead last was the Clint Eastwood buddy cop flick The Rookie. Do you agree with these results? What did we miss? 1. Platoon -- 35.4% 2. Wall Street -- 14.1% 2. Major League -- 14.1% 4. Hot Shots! -- 13.5% 5. Young Guns -- 7.8% 6. Red Dawn -- 5.7% 7. The Arrival -- 4.3% 8. Navy Seals -- 2.4% 8. The Three Musketeers -- 2.4% 10. The Rookie -- 0.3%

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This sounds awesome! Director Louis Leterrier gets a bad rap for both The Incredible Hulk and last year's Clash of the Titans, but I still think he is a great director and I'm always looking forward to whatever he has coming up. The Playlist reports, with confirmation from Leterrier, that he'll next be directing a heist movie called Now You See Me for Summit, with an original script written by Boaz Yakin (The Rookie, Death in Love, Prince of Persia) & Edward Ricourt. Here's the great concept: a crack FBI squad is caught in a game of cat-and-mouse with a super-team of the world's greatest illusionists, who pull off a series of bank heists during their performances and shower the profits on their audiences. Oh and Kurtzman/Orci are producing! This couldn't sound any more amazing. I'm a sucker for anything with magicians (think The Prestige) and I love heist movies,...

Here's a look back at the second weekend of December through the years: 5 Years Ago - 2005 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe blazed onto the scene with $65.6 million, which was the second highest-grossing December opening ever at the time behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Syriana opened nationwide to a decent $11.7 million, while Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire fell to third. Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha posted sizable limited debuts. * Weekend Report: 'Narnian' Delight: Passion of the 'Lion' Pays Off 10 Years Ago - 2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas spent its fourth consecutive weekend atop the box office, grossing $18.6 million. Action hopeful Vertical Limit didn't climb that high with a $15.5 million start. Russell Crowe/Meg Ryan romance Proof of Life went poof out of the gate, making $10.2 million, while Dungeons & Dragons went up in smoke with $7.2 million.

Another former 80’s big screen box office star (now at home on the TV screen) could be joining the sequel to this summer’s surprise money-making action flick, The Expendables.

Charlie Sheen (who judging from recent reports, appears to have enough demons to keep Buffy in employment for decades to come) has been mentioned as possibly playing the part of a has-been CIA operative who joins the gang on the hunt for villain (rumoured to be played by Bruce Willis). Sylvester Stallone has obviously been drawn to casting Sheen after remembering his award-worthy turn as reckless hotshot Lt. Dale Hawkins in seminal 80’s action classic Navy Seals.

The actor is apparently due to reprise his role in the third sequel to another 80’s favourite, Major League, when Two and a Half Men finishes filming for the season.

What next? The second instalment of buddy cop flick The Rookie, where Sheen...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: Clint Eastwood’s supernatural “Hereafter” had its world premiere in Toronto tonight at a jam-packed Elgin Theatre, but reaction from the masses so far has not been kind.

One hour after the film began, noted film scribe James Rocchi reported via his Twitter feed, “Walked out; Shabby, cliche, manipulative Stuff White Oscar Voters Like. Million Dollar Baby-level trash.”

Hey, James, some of us liked “Million Dollar Baby.” In response to Rocchi, Erik Childress of eFilmCritic tweeted, “Hereafter might be the worst thing Eastwood has ever directed.”

Oof. Erik must not have seen “Blood Work,” “Changeling,” or “The Rookie.”

These unfavorable reactions come on the heels to lukewarm responses from a small, press-only screening held Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank. Mike D’Angelo gave “HereAfter” a 25/100 rating, tweeting, “3 useless narratives go nowhere for 100 mins, then pointlessly converge in a way that’d make G. Arriaga crack up.

Bradley Cooper may be a member of The A-Team now, but he could be Double-a or Triple-a in the baseball flick Disney is developing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he’s attached to star in an untitled dramedy about an injured big league player who gets sent back to the minors — “where the only place he can find lodging is in a senior citizens’ home.”

“There,” the trade continues, “he meets an old baseball guru who helps lead him back.”

Let’s break this down. Immediately, I had two regrets: Paul Newman isn’t around to play the senior citizen...

This sounds like it could be fantastic. The Wrap reports that Summit has picked up a spec script co-written by Boaz Yakin (The Rookie, Death in Love, Prince of Persia) and newcomer Edward Ricourt (a member of Marvel Studios' Writing Program) titled Now You See Me. (No you don't!) The story pits an FBI squad in a game of cat-and-mouse against a team of the world's greatest illusionists who pull off a series of daring bank heists during performances, showering the profits on their audiences while staying one step ahead of the authorities. Doesn't that kind of sound like The Illusionist converted into a contemporary heist movie? Now You See Me is being produced by writers/producers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci. Other than that, we don't know much about this, like how soon it'll move into production and who they're looking at for the lead. I love heist movies,...

Summit is saying "I see you" to writers Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt.

The company, one of the most active buyers in Hollywood, has picked up the duo's spec "Now You See Me" with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci attached to produce via their Kurtzman Orci Paper Products production banner.

The project is described as a thriller that "pits a crack FBI squad in a game of cat-and-mouse against a super-team of the world's greatest illusionists, who pull off a series of daring bank heists during their performances, showering the profits on their audiences while staying one step ahead of the law."

Yakin will executive produce along with Kurtzman Orci Paper Products' Bobby Cohen.

Yakin, repped by CAA, is a longtime Hollywood vet who has written movies such as "The Rookie" starring Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen and directed 2000's "Remember the Titans." He most recently co-wrote "Prince of Persia" and will next direct "Safe,...

As writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are slightly fond of high concepts. The snappy logline and Ott plotline are like crack to the men who have helped bring us Transformers, Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek, among other things. As producers, they’re keeping on feeding that addiction, setting up a spec script thriller called Now You See Me, written by Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt, at Summit.How high, you ask? Get this: the plot finds a top FBI team hunting down a crafty bank robbery team. Who are comprised of the world’s greatest illusionists. Who pull off the heists during their act, but get away with it through trickery. Oh, and by spreading the wealth and sharing their ill-gotten gains with their audiences. That really is the plot.Now we know why David Blaine looks so smug all the time! Aside from, you know, just being naturally smug.

If you're thinking that it didn't take long for either Alice in Wonderland or The Wolfman to hit DVD, you're absolutely right. In the case of Alice in Wonderland, Disney shaved 3 weeks off of the usual release window while it's currently still making money at the box office... no wonder theatre owners were upset about this. There aren't many other noteworthy releases out this week, with the exception of a whole wack of Clint Eastwood movies on Blu-ray, plus Bad Boys, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, and Troma's Class of Nuke 'Em High. Will you be buying or renting anything this week? Alice in Wonderland [1] (+ Blu-ray [2]) The Wolfman [3] (+ Blu-ray [4]) The Stranger [5] (+ Blu-ray [6]) Undisputed III: Redemption [7] (+ Blu-ray [8]) Wild Things: Foursome [9] (+ Blu-ray [10]) Small Town Saturday Night [11] Cornered! [12] Planet Earth: Life [13] (+ Blu-ray [14]) Rescue Me: The Complete Fifth Season [15] Burn Notice: Season Three [16] The Cleaner: The Final Season [17] Aqua Teen Hunger Force...

While we post a lot of giveaways on Collider, today’s is a great one. That’s because thanks to some very kind PR firms, I’ve got a lot of DVDs and Blu-rays to giveaway including the amazing Clint Eastwood 35 Films 35 Years box set and the Stargate Atlantis Complete Series box set. Also, we’ve got Sherlock Holmes Blu-rays, Sorority Row Blu-rays, South Park Blu-rays, and more.

If you’d like to try and win some of the DVDs and Blu-rays, hit the jump for how to enter and to see exactly what we’ve got:

But before we go any further, I have to say sorry to a few PR firms for my delay in posting this article. I meant to have this online sooner.

Now about how to enter…

What you need to do is email thecollidermailbox@gmail.com with your name and address and say March...

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Clint Eastwood - 35 Films, 35 Years This massive collection contains 35 of Eastwood's films, all of which are listed directly below. The set is priced at $129.99 at Amazon right now.

Where Eagles Dare, Kelly's Heroes, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way But Loose, Bronco Billy, Any Which Way You Can, Honkytonk Man, Firefox, Sudden Impact, City Heat, Tightrope, Pale Rider, Heartbreak Ridge, Bird, The Dead Pool, Pink Cadillac, White Hunter, Black Heart, The Rookie, Unforgiven, A Perfect World, The Bridges of Madison County, Absolute Power, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, True Crime, Space Cowboys, Blood Work, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima and Gran Torino.

The special features are listed as: The Eastwood Factor - an intimate short film from Richard Schickel offering a rare personal...

A French Blu-ray distributor has published a rough schedule of what catalogue titles will be going the high-definition route in 2010 over on the Continent, in the process giving us hints about what big titles of yesteryear will be getting the jump to high-def in coming months States-side reports Blu-ray.com.

The biggest releases of the Season are "The African Queen" on March 27th and "Doctor Zhivago" on May 4th. The only AFI Top 100 film not available on DVD in the Us, and only on Very poor quality DVD overseas, 'Queen' has undergone a six-year meticulous restoration job and will be available on both DVD and Blu-ray for the first time. 'Zhivago' has also scored a major restoration.

During the Summer we'll see cinematic classics like A Star is Born, Grand Prix, Kelly's Heroes, The Magnificent Seven and Where Eagles Dare. There'll also be more modern hits like "Armageddon," both "Bad Boys", "Borat,...

On February 16, 2010, Warner Bros. is planning to release a 19-disc collection of 35 films that were either acted, directed, or both, by Clint Eastwood. The package is entitled “Clint Eastwood: 35 Films, 35 Years at Warner Bros.,” and will contain features that span from 1968’s Where Eagles Dare to last year’s Gran Torino. The 35th film will be a short documentary by film critic Richard Schickel called “The Eastwood Factor,” which is a play on the original title for Invictus, which was “The Human Factor.”

“I’ve known Clint for most of the time he’s been at Warner Bros.,” said Schickel. “I was fortunate to be able to wander around the Warner lot with him and hear his reminiscences. To be able to show him in the places where he works and lives and feels most comfortable is, I think, a unique opportunity.”

The package has a beginning price of...

So you've got The Dirty Harry Collection, The Man with No Name Trilogy and maybe one of the other previously released Clint Eastwood DVD box sets, but still you need more. More Clint. Well, you must be feeling pretty lucky, punk, because Warner Brothers have just announced plans to release a rather insane collection of Clint Eastwood's films early next year. Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros will be a 19-disc set that covers all of his movies released through Warner Brothers between 1968 and 2008, starting with Where Eagles Dare and ending with Gran Torino. This is the kind of thing you usually only see years after someone has passed away, but we all know that Eastwood is still going strong. It's too bad they couldn't get this thing ready in time for Christmas though because I'm sure a lot of dads would probably love to see this under their tree.

Chicago – With his second film in just a few months, Clint Eastwood makes one of his biggest missteps of his illustrious career as one of the more esteemed American directors in the history of the medium. Eastwood has made some undeniable masterpieces - “Mystic River”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Unforgiven” - but he has been far from perfect, misfiring wildly with films like “Space Cowboys”, “The Rookie”, and “Pink Cadillac”. “Gran Torino” falls much closer to the latter category on Clint’s spectrum than the former.

Rating: 2.0/5.0 Eastwood stars in “Gran Torino” as Walt Kowalski, a bitter, cranky, snarling old man, who is mean to his priest, vicious to his family, and racist to everyone in his increasingly ethnic neighborhood. Walt could be Clint’s iconic ‘Dirty Harry’ character a few years down the road from when we last saw him and a bit more racist. (In fact, there were rumors...