Tag: David Ayer

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Shia LaBeouf Accused Of “Brown Face” In Latest Film, But Director Says No, No, No!

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So the first trailer for David Ayer’s film ‘The Tax Collector‘ was released a few days ago, and Twitter got all upset about it because they felt like Shia LaBeouf was doing brown face.

In the movie, LaBeouf plays a hardened organized crime boss responsible for collecting “taxes” from gangs throughout Los Angeles.

Shortly after the trailer was released, many critics took to Twitter to debate if LaBeouf, who is the only white actor on the main cast, is doing a form of brownface by appearing as a Hispanic gangster.

Several people went on Twitter to complain about the movie, even though they haven’t actually watched it.

It’s so sad we don’t have enough Chicano actors who were in the gang life for roles like this. Thank God for that little white boy stepping in and saving the day.

Another person wrote, “Shia Labouf in a new movie and I’m really hoping he’s not playing brownface.”

The controversy, which seems to be solely based on Shia’s dialect in the trailer, got the attention of Ayer (the director) and he responded to the claims.

Ayer also added that he grew up in similar environment as Shia’s character in the movie.

I grew up hood and I’m a whiteboy. Chicano culture is inclusive – I’ve seen whiteys, Asians, Blacks, Filipinos all putting in work for the hood. It’s part of street culture.

The Tax Collector is expected to be released inside select theaters on August 7. It’ll also be released on demand.

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David Ayer-Directed Film ‘The Tax Collector’ Starring Shia LaBeouf Lands Theatrical Release

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Good news for the cast & crew of the crime drama ‘The Tax Collector’. The movie has been acquired for U.S. theatrical distribution by the AMC Networks division RLJE Films.

The movie, which was written/directed by David Ayer, stars Shia LaBeouf, Bobby Soto, George Lopez and Cinthya Carmona.

In the drama, David (Soto) and Creeper (Shia LaBeouf), are ‘tax collectors’ for the crime lord Wizard, collecting his cut from the profits of local gangs’ illicit dealings.

But when Wizard’s old rival returns to Los Angeles from Mexico, the business is upended, and David finds himself desperate to protect what matters more to him than anything else: his family.

RLJE Films plans to release this flick in August 2020, which is just a few months away. Looks like they’re hoping most theaters across the country will be open by then.

As we’ve previously said, the July/August timeframe will be incredibly interesting. We’re starting to see a few smaller films set release dates in July and August, which could be a very smart move.

The only big release still on the schedule in July/August is Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ film. Beyond that, the bigger studio releases aren’t set to return until at least September.

So if theaters are open in July/August, these smaller films (which would have been swallowed by bigger releases) will have an opportunity to shine.

But if theaters aren’t open by then, well, they’re kinda screwed.

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A New Trailer For ‘Bright’ Has Been Released, Watch Will Smith And Joel Edgerton In The Sci-Fi Thriller

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Netflix typically sticks with low budget indie flicks, mostly because the risks are low, but now that they’re a big player in the movie industry, they are ready to spread their wings.

The streaming giant reportedly put in $90 million for ‘Bright,’ a sci-fi action flick directed by David Ayer and starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton. The movie, which was written by the always unique Max Landis, follows the story of two LAPD police officers who “form a most unlikely duo (one is a human and the other is an Orc) working to keep the mean streets of Los Angeles safe from a dark, sinister underworld.”

This movie will be released on Netflix (and select theaters) on December 22, and you know Netflix is hoping it does well. In addition to Smith and Edgerton, Bright also stars Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry and Edgar Ramirez.

Check out the second trailer below…

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The First Official Trailer For Netflix Original Film ‘Bright’ Featuring Will Smith Has Been Released

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Netflix is going big with this one. We have seen Netflix push hard this past year for original content. They have released several original TV shows, and a few independent films.

But now they’re going big. Real big. The streaming service put out $90 million for Bright, a fantasy action film starring Will Smith.

And Will Smith isn’t the only big name attached to this project. The director of the movie is David Ayer, who worked with Smith on the recent Suicide Squad film.

It appears to be a buddy-cop movie buried inside a fantasy world, and it actually looks pretty freaking good. You can check out the synopsis and trailer below. It’s scheduled to be released on Netflix in December 2017.

“Ward, a human (Will Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Joel Edgerton), embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.”

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Say Whaaat? Shia LaBeouf Reveals He Almost Starred In ‘Suicide Squad’ — Find Out Which Character He Was Going To Play!

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David Ayer’s ‘Suicide Squad‘ got slammed by critics, but it still managed to break several box office records. So far, the film has grossed almost $700 million worldwide against a budget of $175 million, so we’re sure the studio is pleased with the results, even if it wasn’t a success with the critics like most people thought it would be.

One thing we know for sure is that the film changed so much during filming and in post-production. There were too many cooks in the kitchen, and that’s probably why the movie received a mixed reaction.

Big changes were happening even in the early days of this project. In a new interview with Variety, Shia LaBeouf revealed Ayer asked him to take on the role of Lieutenant GQ Edwards in the movie. “The character was different initially,” he explained.

“Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit. That character and Tom [Hardy‘s] character [later played by Joel Kinnaman] got written down to build Will up.”

But even then he was willing to take the part. He had a meeting with Warner Bros., and they basically told him they couldn’t trust him because he was too crazy.

“I don’t think Warner Bros. wanted me. I went in to meet, and they were like, ‘Nah, you’re crazy. You’re a good actor, but not this one.’ It was a big investment for them.”

Scott Eastwood ended up playing GQ Edwards. LaBeouf isn’t too upset about not getting picked for the role though. The one role he can’t get over is Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

He said he wanted the role so f–king bad, but admits Casey Affleck played the character perfectly.

“The guy is f–king brilliant. You look at it and you go, ‘No way I could have pulled it off.’ But I wanted it so f–king bad. We all chased it. The whole generation went after that. Ben Foster is in the room. Casey. Everyone did.”

 

 

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‘Suicide Squad’ Director Responds To Critics After They Give The Film Terrible Reviews

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Fans have been super pumped for David Ayer’s ‘Suicide Squad‘ film for over a year now. The film has released several trailers in the past year, each one bringing fans closer and closer to climax. This weekend was going to be THE weekend. The film was going to take over the world and be the biggest hit of the summer, and the early projections have seemed to confirm this.

Some experts predict the film could bring in $140 million in its opening weekend, but those numbers might be dropping if the movie is as terrible as the critics claim it is.

It currently sits at 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, and while some critics went easy on the film, the majority of them didn’t hold back in their reviews.

You can check out some of the most negative reviews below…

Richard Lawson — Vanity Fair

“Suicide Squad is bad. Not fun bad. Not redeemable bad. Not the kind of bad that is the unfortunate result of artists honorably striving for something ambitious and falling short. Suicide Squad is just bad. It’s ugly and boring, a toxic combination that means the film’s highly fetishized violence doesn’t even have the exciting tingle of the wicked or the taboo. (Oh, how the movie wants to be both of those things.)”

Peter Travers — Rolling Stone

“The anticipated savior of a bummer summer turns out to be a grabbag of what’s been off and awful about recent comic-book epics (Captain America: Civil War excepted). Suicide Squad wussies out when it should have been down with the Dirty Dozen of DC Comics. Audiences complained that Batman v Superman was too dark and depressing. So director-writer David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury) counters with light and candy-assed… This botch job makes Fantastic Four look good.”

Michael Phillips — Chicago Tribune

“Meanwhile we have this thing, this garish, overstaffed, overstuffed, blithely sadistic corporate directive disguised as a PG-13 summer movie for all ages… Folks, this is a lousy script, blobby like the endlessly beheaded minions of the squad’s chief adversary. It’s not satisfying storytelling; the flashbacks roll in and out, explaining either too much or too little, and the action may be violent but it’s not interesting.”

Obviously this has to hurt the cast & crew, but their leader David Ayer is standing up for them. He went on his Twitter to respond to the negative reviews. He posted the famous quote you see below, attributed to Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, which means ““I’d prefer to die standing, than to live on my knees.”

Sounds like he’s saying that he took a risk with this film, and he’s proud of what he and his team created. He also believes the fans will respond better than the critics.

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‘Suicide Squad’ Director Promises Jared Leto’s Joker Is Incredible And Captivating

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We have to imagine there are several talented actors out there who would have refused to take on the role as The Joker. Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight is the Joker. It’s like a singer trying to walk on stage and make everyone forget about Whitney Houston’s version of I Will Always Love You.

You can’t do it. When that song plays, people will always think about Whitney, and when someone mentions The Joker? Most people are going to picture Heath Ledger.

But Jared Leto will be trying to change that this summer when Suicide Squad hits theaters. As you have probably heard by now, Leto stayed in character nearly all the time on set and regularly confused his co-stars with some pretty sadistic pranks.

The director/writer of the film David Ayer spoke with Total Film Magazine recently, and he claims Leto’s performance is incredible…

“What Jared has done is absolutely incredible. When he steps onto the set the world stops. Everything stops. What he’s done is so powerful, so menacing, so palpable, you can feel him. The crew stops working and just watches him. I have to get everybody going again because he’s so fascinating.”

Geez. Can you imagine hearing such positive comments from your boss at work? Sounds like Leto impressed everyone on set.

Unfortunately, we all have to wait until August to see his brilliance. Suicide Squad hits theaters August 5, 2016.

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Will Smith Leads as Warner Bros. Announces the Official All-Star Cast of Suicide Squad.

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Will-Smith-Tom-Hardy-Cara-Delevingne-More-Sign-On-For-Suicide-Squad

This is as big as it gets in terms of Super Hero Movie news. In fact movie news in general.

Warner Bros. Pictures has confirmed today that they have finalized the actors who will be portraying the Suicide Squad in the new action adventure.

The President of Warner Bros. , Greg Silverman was overjoyed to make the announcement to the press today. Silverman stated,

The Warner Bros. roots are deep on this one. David Ayer returns to the studio where he wrote ‘Training Day’ and brings his incredible ability to craft multidimensional villains to this iconic DC property with a cast of longtime Warner collaborators Will Smith and Tom Hardy, and other new and returning favorites: Margot, Jared, Jai and Cara. We look forward to seeing this terrific ensemble, under Ayer’s amazing guidance, give new meaning to what it means to be a villain and what it means to be a hero.”

I’m sure he had visions of yachts and mansions dancing in his head as he and the rest of the world know that this movie will be huge.

If you are not familiar with the story of Suicide Squad think the A-Team working for the government.  They are basically a bunch of supervillains with a pardon to work for the government. They are sent on missions that are too dangerous for people who actually value their life.  Because of their blatant disregard for life and the living, there is usually a high body count involved in any mission they complete.

Shooting for the film will start in April with the plans to wrap in September. The target release date has been set at August 5, 2016. Mark that on your calendar.

Here is the cast as confirmed – Warner Bros. is taking this very serious.

 

Will Smith As Dead Shot

Will Smith as Deadshot

Tom Hardy as Rick Flagg

Rick Flagg

Jared Leto as The Joker

Jared Leto as the joker

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn

Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang

Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang

Cara Delevigne as Enchantress

Cara Delevigne as Engchantress

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Movie Review: Fury (2014) – A refreshing step away from glorifying War and focusing on the True Devastation

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movie still from the movie Fury

 This big budget war movie, featuring a very rough looking Brad Pitt, is currently topping the box office and pleasing critics. So what is it about ‘Fury” that’s working everyone up into a fervor?

The time is April, 1945. A bulky looking Brad Pitt plays a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy (Brad Pitt). Wardaddy commands a 5 man tank crew. Their mission takes them behind enemy lines, facing overwhelming odds because they’re both outnumbered and outgunned.

This is a tense movie. I haven’t seen a movie this tense since I saw U-571. It’s not only tense, but tense and gritty, and unlike many of the other war movies out there, this film takes a step back at glorifying war and instead shows the devastation.

The movie is shrouded in grays and browns, which is an excellent visual representation of the movie itself, which focuses on the end of the war. The soldiers are exhausted, and battle weary, as they should be and the aesthetic design really plays this up.

This is a war movie along the lines of Saving Private Ryan, in that the director didn’t flinch away from being harsh. It shows true war, and not the dressed up versions that seem to be nothing more than Army recruitment films.

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Fury movie still pictures a tank rolling with Brad Pitt

One great part of this movie is the contrast. It’s the very definition of ‘losing the battle, but winning the war.” By the time the tank crew starts work, it is well known that the Americans are going to be victorious over Germany. But that doesn’t matter to the soldiers in Fury, as they are facing a deadly, almost unwinnable mission. There’s almost a claustrophobic feel to Fury, especially in scenes inside the team’s tank. The movie does well by maintaining an impending sense of doom, leaving the viewer convinced that there is no way the team is making it out alive.

Brad Pitt, still gorgeous at 50, is fantastic as the hardened sergeant. With his booming voice and grizzled good looks, he’s able to spew lines like ‘the dyings not done, the killings not done’ without seeming over the top. He is a man tired of war, but at the same time, he’s a man who doesn’t know how to live outside of war.

My biggest complaint about this movie is that there is absolutely no relief from the tension. There’s very little comedy, even when the team has down time, and after 2 hours and 15 minutes, I was pretty sure it was giving me an ulcer. I could have used something to break severity of the movie.

One thing I really liked was the accurate use of tracer rounds. In a dark movie, the only color we see is the green shots from the German tanks, and the molten pink one from the Americans. They are virtually the only colors you see in a sepia toned movie and the contrast makes a huge difference in the battle scenes.

Fury is the kind of movie that stays with you. It’s an excellent watch with well done battle scenes and a competent cast. This is not your average feel good military movie. Instead, it’s a dark depressing look at the end of the war, with very little hope thrown in. While a bleak look at war, it’s absolutely worthy of all the buzz it’s receiving.

WE GAVE IT: 4.5  Stars: Official Movie Trailer and Movie Poster Below

four and a half stars

 

 

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Official Fury Moive Poster featuring Brad Pitt

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Movie Review: Sabotage (2014)

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tumblr_inline_mwmnizw1H41qg1vd7Gritty, dark and explosive,

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This week I watched “Holy Sh@t Arnold Schwarzenegger Got Old”… Sorry, I meant to say I watched Sabotage, but that’s all I can think when I think of that movie.

In “Sabotage”, an elderly Arnold Schwarzenegger leads an elite DEA task force that takes on the world’s deadliest drug cartels by infiltrating them with senior citizens. Sorry, I just can’t stop. Anyway, Arnold plays DEA agent John “Breacher” Wharton, whose team members are being killed in incredibly gory ways. He investigates the case, to find out which one of his team members is a traitor.

I will say, I like Arnold in this role. It’s not as squeaky clean as the guys he usually plays. He almost reminded me of Vic Mackey in The Shield. He was just as dark and just as morally twisted. While his dialog is stilted at times due to his accent, in this film it works.

The timeline of the movie is a little bit off. The plot drags out through the majority of the movie, and doesn’t get resolved into about the last ten minutes. Then, all the action goes by in the blink of an eye.

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The direction of the movie is gritty and shocking. This prevents it from turning into horror porn and still has an intriguing style. It’s not as goofy as some of the parts Schwarzenegger has played. It’s a bold, ugly movie that will absolutely work for anyone who likes their dramas gritty.

This movie played out a bit like an exploitation flick. Harsh language and harsher scenes are a little bit over the top. Think ‘brains and intestines’ spraying all over the place. I expect that kind of stuff from a tongue in cheek crime movie, but this movie clearly takes itself very seriously.

There is no comic relief at all. The tension is rarely broken, which makes the movie a bit exhausting to watch.

Sabotage isn’t high class. In fact, it feels a little like a movie made for a late night on cable. The plot itself is thrown together, and the mystery isn’t that mysterious. I did enjoy the way it played with the grey area, but the over the top scenes ruined any real dramatic statement. As a result, a movie that could feel like “The Untouchables” instead felt like yet another Rambo sequel.

Mireille-Enos-Joe-Manganiello-and-Sam-Worthington-in-Sabotage-2014-Movie-Image

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I’m going to say, I loved the female characters. Mireille Enos plays the team’s bad assed chick, and her first scene starts us off with incredibly high hopes for the movie. It really plods when she’s not around. What I would really like is a movie just about her character; a coke sniffing, thrill seeking dirty cop.

lf you’re looking for something gritty, dark and explosive, Sabotage might be a good choice for you. It’s not exactly a date movie, thanks to its explicit scenes, but it’s good for an audience who doesn’t flinch away from darker action movies.  Watch the Sabotage Official trailer.

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