Matthew Vaughn’s Upcoming Spy Thriller ‘Argylle’ Is Building An Impressive A-List Cast

Matthew Vaughn has a long career in Hollywood as a producer/director/writer. Most recently, he directed/wrote the Kingsman: The Secret Service, as well as the Kingsman: The Golden Circle. He was also the mastermind behind Kick-Ass.

So yeah, the dude has lots of talent, and you know what that means? He can attract a-list actors. His latest project, Argylle, is building a truly impressive cast.

It’s being reported that Henry Cavill, Samuel L. Jackson, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston and Catherine O’Hara will star in the film, which is planned to be the start of a franchise.

It’s based on the debut novel of the same name by first-time author Ellie Conway.

The film (and book) will follow the globe-trotting adventures of a super-spy named Argylle across the U.S., London and other exotic locations. Pop singer Dua Lipa will provide music for the title track and score as well as making her acting debut in the feature.

Vaughn loves the spy world, so you know he’s excited about this. In fact, he believes it’ll reinvent the spy genre.

When I read this early draft manuscript I felt it was the most incredible and original spy franchise since Ian Fleming’s books of the ’50s. This is going to reinvent the spy genre.

The novel will hit shelves next year, while filming on the project will start in August. It’s looking like this movie could be released summer/fall 2022.

Samuel L. Jackson Responds To Martin Scorsese’s Negative Comments On Superhero Films

You probably heard the controversy over the weekend. Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese started some trouble when he compared Superhero/Marvel flicks to theme parks.

During an interview, he revealed he tried to watch the films, but he just can’t…

I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.

He’s throwing some shade, no doubt about it. And I don’t necessarily disagree with him. If you’ve been following this site for any length of time, then you know I’m not the biggest fan of comic book films.

That being said, I’m not sure his comparison is a fair one. Times are changing, and he might not like it, but cinema is changing. Lots and lots of people like these movies, and just because you personally might not like them, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the same amount of respect.

While walking the red carpet for Tyler Perry’s movie studio grand opening, Samuel L. Jackson fired back at Scorsese.

I mean that’s like saying Bugs Bunny ain’t funny. Films are films. Everybody doesn’t like his stuff either. There are a lot of Italian-Americans that don’t think he should be making films about them like that. Everybody’s got an opinion, so I mean it’s okay. Ain’t going to stop nobody from making movies.

That’s a great reply. Little disappointed by the lack of f-bombs, but hey, we’ll take it.

What In The World Is Happening, Samuel L. Jackson Joins Chris Rock’s ‘Saw’ Reboot

We told you earlier this year that Chris Rock was working on developing a re-imagined take on the ‘Saw’ horror franchise.

It was reported that Rock would produce the film and receive a story credit since he came up with the original idea for the script.

Now we are learning more information about the project, and it’s getting crazier by the second. Chris Rock will reportedly star in the film alongside Samuel L. Jackson.

In the new film, Rock will play a police detective investigating a series of grizzly crimes, and Jackson will play Rock’s father. Minghella will play William Schenk, Rock’s partner on the police force, and Nichols will play Capt. Angie Garza, Rock’s boss.

Pretty damn crazy, right? How many people thought they’d be watching a Saw spinoff starring Chris Rock and Sam Jackson? The answer is no one.

According to the reports, this movie will hit theaters October 23, 2020, and we are weirdly excited for it. I’m not sure if they’re going for straight horror or a horror-comedy, but either way…sign me up.

The Trailer For Upcoming ‘Shaft’ Movie Has Been Released (VIDEO)

Samuel L. Jackson is back, but he’s not alone. The new trailer for the latest installment in the ‘Shaft‘ franchise has been released, and it includes three generations of private eyes.

The film will feature Jackson as John Shaft II, who starred in the Shaft film from 2000. We’ll also be introduced to his son John Shaft Jr., and the original John Shaft played by Richard Roundtree.

“The movie follows JJ, aka John Shaft Jr. He may be a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, but to uncover the truth behind his best friend’s untimely death, he needs an education only his dad can provide. Absent throughout JJ’s youth, the legendary locked-and-loaded John Shaft agrees to help his progeny navigate Harlem’s heroin-infested underbelly. And while JJ’s own FBI analyst’s badge may clash with his dad’s trademark leather duster, there’s no denying family. Besides, Shaft’s got an agenda of his own, and a score to settle that’s professional and personal.”

In addition to the names mentioned above, the cast will also include Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp and Matt Lauria.

Shaft is set to be released June 14. Check out the trailer below…

Remember That One Time Samuel L. Jackson Urged A Reporter To Say The N-Word During Interview? (VIDEO)

It’s a slow Monday in the movie world, so we’re going to treat you all with a throwback post. Back in early 2013, a film journalist named Jake Hamilton was interviewing Samuel L. Jackson about Quentin Tarantino’s movie Django Unchained.

During the interview, Hamilton asked Jackson about the use of the N-word in the film. It was reported that the film’s characters say the word over 100 times in the movie.

Jackson was tired of being asked this question, especially since no one was actually saying the word when they asked, so he decided to challenge the reporter.

“Have you ever said it? Try it! We’re not going to have this conversation unless you try it,” Jackson said. The reporter, who was clearly intimidated, laughed and asked Jackson to say it, “F–k no, it’s not the same thing,” he replied.

BuzzFeed interviewed Hamilton after the video went viral, and he admitted that while Jackson was intimidating, he wasn’t going to risk losing his job…

“He’s an intimidating guy. I’ve talked to him once before for The Avengers and that interview went OK. But it’s one of those things where I have my own set of moral values, just like anybody else, and I’m not going to compromise them for anyone, much less a celebrity.”

Watch Ryan Reynolds Try To Protect Samuel L. Jackson In Red Band Trailer For ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’

Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson in a buddy comedy? Sure. Take our money now. Just when the buddy comedy genre was going to take its last breath, Jackson and Reynolds have come to save the day.

Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment has released the red band trailer for The Hitman’s Bodyguard. The film, which is scheduled for an August 18, 2017 release date features a lot of classic Samuel L. Jackson. He’s got one dirty mouth in this film.

Jackson plays the world’s most notorious hitmen in the movie, and Reynolds is the world’s top protection agent. He’s forced to protect Jackson’s character, which is a great struggle because they are enemies.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard also stars Elodie Yung, Joaquim De Almeida and Kirsty Mitchell. It was directed by Patrick Hughes.

You can check out the official synopsis and trailer below…

“The world’s top protection agent (Ryan Reynolds) is called upon to guard the life of his mortal enemy, one of the world’s most notorious hitmen (Samuel L. Jackson). The relentless bodyguard and manipulative assassin have been on the opposite end of the bullet for years and are thrown together for a wildly outrageous 24 hours. During their raucous and hilarious adventure from England to the Hague, they encounter high-speed car chases, outlandish boat escapades and a merciless Eastern European dictator (Gary Oldman) who is out for blood. Salma Hayek joins the mayhem as Jackson’s equally notorious wife.”

Movie Review: The Hateful Eight (2015) – Tarantino in a way I haven’t seen him since Pulp Fiction

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It’s about damn time Quinton Tarantino put out something new. I feel like I have to wait decades between his movies, which sucks, because he is my favorite director.

What can I say? I dig excessive violence.

It looks like he’s digging the historical perspective, as this one is another one set in Civil War era. John “The Hangman” Ruth (Kurt Russell) is a bounty hunter crossing Wyoming with unhinged prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) during a blizzard. They pick up a few sidekicks along the way, to include Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), both notably connected to the Civil War on opposite sides.

So it’s clearly set for some conflict, and the tension is almost immediate. Every character in this movie has an ulterior motive and a backstory. It’s Tarantino at his absolute best. As a result, he picked many of the actors he loves to pair up with for movies like this, including Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell, who both bring their best to their roles. Another standout is Jennifer Jason Leigh, the sole female character in the film who manages to be an incredibly intriguing character. Her quicksilver temper and over-the-top reactions are perfect and she truly is a stand out character.

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Of course, we can’t go over a Tarantino movie without discussing the gore and there’s lots of it. However, sometimes it went too far, to the point where it almost felt slapstick. There’s a fine line between tongue in cheek violent, and straight up comical, and in that, a few scenes in this movie missed

The running time is painfully long. At 2 hours and 47 minutes, expect a numb butt by the end of this one. That’s especially difficult as there’s an underlying mystery and this whole movie can be a bit exhausting. I feel like a few scenes should have been left on the cutting room floor. I have yet to see a movie over two hours long that couldn’t have been shorter and still been effective…and yes, I’m including Schindler’s list in that equation.

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I do dig the flashback scenes that give us a fully fleshed out look at how all of the characters came together. Tarantino is the king of bending time and making it fit together seamlessly and the Hateful Eight is no exception.

This is a film that you can really sink your teeth into. Despite its long running time, it didn’t really drag out. Instead, you’re kept thinking through the entire thing and there are more than a few surprises in store. This is Tarantino in a way I haven’t seen him since Pulp Fiction, and that’s high art, as far as I’m concerned. While Django Unchained got a bit difficult to watch and was a bit flat in the storyline, Tarantino’s second historical film is better in that he has a lot more character development.

This is absolutely worth the watch, though you may want to get comfortable. You’re going to be there awhile.
WE GIVE IT: 4.5 STARS!

four and a half stars

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Movie Review: Barely Lethal – Felt Like A Made For TV Movie

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While Barely Lethal is getting thoroughly panned by the critics, I do have to give it points for originality of the premise alone.

Barely Lethal is a unique mix of Mean Girls, Clueless and with a bit of La Femme Nakita thrown in. Our heroine is Megan, a girl who has been trained since birth to be a secret agent. Megan is a girl obsessed with living a normal life and spends her non-assassin time binge watching teenage comedies about high school. Finally, after having enough she fakes her own death and signs herself up as a normal teenage high school girl.

All and all, a great premise. The problem is it feels like the movie barely left the pitch phase. It was like they were in a hurry to make it, before anyone else came up with the idea. Its characters are poorly fleshed out teenage caricatures. Despite the fact that the cast is pretty star studded, this feels like a made for TV movie.

The idea that being in high school is more perilous than being a super spy is incredibly intriguing and this could have been a major hit. The issue is that they didn’t move this movie beyond its idea to an actual strong storyline, like with Mean Girls or Pretty in Pink.

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Barely Lethal

Of course, because this is a spy movie as well, there’s lots of car chases and fight scenes between classes. That kind of makes up for the humdrum acting and poor dialog. The problem is many of them were so nonsensical they didn’t seem to fit, even with this crazy premise.

There was so much room for excellent dialog in this. Dialog along the lines of Sucker Punch. But then they fought for that PG rating, when honestly, a movie like this doesn’t require a PG rating. If they’d gone all in, instead of shying away from a more adult audience, this would have been great.

The problem is they seemed a bit confused as to who their audience was. They tried to focus it on kids, when the premise was more adult. They tried to keep it clean, when it would have been better if they played it dirty. After all, the leads in this aren’t afraid of an R rating.

Heather, the main mean girl is played by Sophie Turner, who also plays Sansa Stark in games of Thrones. If she can be in a TV show that can’t go five minutes without a graphic sex scene, she can be a character with a bit of edge. Despite an incredibly edgy premise, the movie just doesn’t go there.

All in all, I have to say I was incredibly disappointed. There was a cast and a storyline that had a lot of potential. The missing ingredient was the actual writing. Strong dialog could have sold this movie. Better characters could have sold this movie. Instead, they refused to move this past pitch and came up with a halfhearted effort that could have been great.

WE GAVE IT: 2 Stars – Watch the Official Trailer and Official Movie Poster below!

2 Stars

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Movie Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron – Easy, Stupid Fun With A Ridiculously High Budget

The summer movie season rolled out with the first big blockbuster of the season. The much anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron is finally out. While not the best in the series, it certainly looks like the most expensive.

The premise is this. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) has created a villain. Ultron was initially designed to protect the planet earth. Of course, because it’s artificial intelligence, it immediately becomes an evil robot bent on world domination.

When will people learn?

The avengers, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) all get together to save the day. As if there weren’t enough main characters to remember, be prepared for a couple more including Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and sister Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).

The humor that made the first few movies good is still there and fans of the comic books series will appreciate some of the tongue in cheek comments, like why Thor is the only one who can lift his hammer. There’s a few side stories going on where the writers try to inject some humanity into their characters, by showing the burgeoning love affair between the Black Widow and Hulk, as well as Hawkeye’s rural life.

Despite that, this movie is nothing you don’t expect. It’s easy, stupid fun with a ridiculously high budget. Everything unfolds as you’d expect and it’s pretty much a paint by numbers big budget action movie. They didn’t climb too far out of the box on this one.

It’s absolutely CGI heavy, with extensive battle scenes filmed from impossible angles, with people doing impossible things. While visually stunning, it feels a bit like the battle scenes were padded out for the purposes of fleshing out a simplistic script.

Everyone reprises their characters with the same enthusiasm as they had in the first few movies. That’s a feat in and of itself, as they’ve all been at this for a while. Iron Man is still charming, the Black Widow is still creepy, and everyone still wonders why Hawkeye is even there.

This is Joss Whedon’s last direction go around with this franchise, and I will say he went out on a high note. The movie is well done, fun to watch and easy to follow. It’s exactly what a big budget blockbuster should be, and Whedon has managed to keep it going for awhile now. Here’s hoping when someone else takes the helm, it will be just as good.

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There’s already a new one planned, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, that is expected out in 2018. This is a franchise that has still managed to not lose its steam and will probably be around for a long time to come…as long as they keep making money.

While a bit heavy on battle scenes and CGI, it’s still a commendable effort and was the perfect start for the summer movie season. If you’re looking for fun that won’t make you think so much, this one is worth the watch. .

WE GAVE IT: 4 Stars – Watch the Official Trailer and Official Movie Poster below!

4 stars

 

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Introducing the Marvel Movie Marathon and the Avengers: Age of Ultron Marathon Trailer (Video)!

58921LThis is the type of news we like to start the week with.  This is the season where Marvel fans go completely out of their minds with anticipation.  I would have to say this is pretty cool for just movie fans in general.

How does 29 hours of all 11 Marvel movies released since 2008 sound?  To my girlfriend that probably sounds like a nightmare, but to my collegeroommate (who is now 34) it sounds like two amazing days off of work.  This is all going to go down at AMC and Regal Movie theaters located around the country.

Fans who actually manage to stick around for the entire thing will be rewarded with the first showing of Avengers: Age of Ultron!

So far Regal movies have identified 4 locations and AMC theaters have many more locations but will not be showing all eleven Marvel films.  Here is how they breakdown:

REGAL

Ultimate-marvel-Marathon

 

They will be showing all 11 films.  If you live in the following cities you are in Luck:

Ontario, CA,

Atlanta, GA

King of Prussia, PA

Houston, TX

AMC

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Amc will be showing only 6 but they have many more locations, including some that are very close to me.  Here is their list of cities:

Atlanta, GA,

Baltimore, MD

Boston, MA

Chicago, IL

Cincinnati, OH

Dallas, TX

Denver, CO

Detroit, MI

Hosuton, TX

Indianapolis, IN

Jacksonville, FL

Kansas City, MO

Los Angeles, CA

Miami, FL

Minneapolis, MN

New Orleas, LA

New York / New Jersey

Philadelphia, PA

Phoenix, AZ

San Diego, CA

San Francisco, CA

Seattle, WA

Tallahassee, FL

Tampa, FL

Toronto, ON

Washington, DC


 

I advise you to visit both sites for the latest most up to date information and Advance ticket sales.

REGAL MOVIES  |  AMC

WHAT IS A MARATHON TRAILER?

I can’t believe you don’t know what a marathon trailer is!  And you call yourself a movie fan?  Of course you don’t know what it is because I made the term up.  It sounded much better than a “mashed up, long ass” trailer, but that’s exactly what it is.

A Youtuber by the name of JohnnyB2K (cool name), has decided to take all three Age of Ultron trailers and link them together in chronological order.  I think he did a pretty good job despite all of the petty Youtube comments on the sound quality.  To those people pressing thumbs down I say, “Where’s your trailer”.

JohnnyB2K tried to put everything in chronological order to the best of his ability.  The order dictates a lot of the story so it will be interesting to see how close he got.  People are complaining about spoilers from this trailer.  Maybe they missed the part where he just used the EXISTING TRAILERS. People, it’s not that serious.

Maybe I will see some of you on April 29th.  I will be the guy wearing one of those hats that holds the drinks on each side and an adult diaper on.  Can’t afford bathroom breaks.  Enjoy the trailer!