Archlight Films is proudly sharing a first look at Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe’s new upcoming thriller, Poker Face. Crowe, who previously helmed the multi-award winner, The Water Diviner (2014), is directing from a script he co-wrote with Stephen M. Coates (John Doe: Vigilante).
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A quiet loner with a dark and violent history finds redemption by protecting an innocent child unfairly targeted by criminals. Oh, you have? What if I told you this anti-hero leads a quiet life that they narrate while driving around at night working a blue-collar job? You get it! Yeah, wait, I see your point- it is pretty similar to other stuff. In this one though, the main character has an ominous nickname from their mysterious past and at one point they reveal a massive back tattoo that really illustrates (get it?) how tough they are right before they start taking out the bad guys in cold-blooded fashion? Oh right! I forgot about those movies where they already did that. You see this concept’s different though because it’s going to feature an actor not normally known for action. It’ll really be a trip for the audience to see this award winner kick some ass on-screen. Right! Just like… oh, wait a minute. You have a point. Let me think.
Deadline‘s Nellie Andreeva is reporting on the development of 1999 hitman drama, Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, as a one-hour series with Wu Tang: An American Saga duo RZA (Cut Throat City, The Man With The Iron Fists) and screenwriter Alex Tse (Superfly remake, Watchmen). The move comes following updates roughly around late 2017 and the following year as RZA was also involved with sequel efforts at the time, hailing a possible reunion with Jarmusch and title actor Forest Whitaker.
Coverage on Wednesday from Deadline finally brought things back on track for RZA’s new crime drama, Cut Throat City. Well Go USA has a new trailer out, and plans to roll the film onto three hundred screens beginning July 17 following its cancelled release earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The upcoming LA Film Fest is already loaded with an exciting variety of titles. Writer and director Dallas Jackson’s latest, Thriller, is just one of them and the latest trailer in its wake does a fine job of arousing the filmic horror senses ahead of its Nightfall section premiere.
Let’s hope the right people will convene on this one.
RZA and Jerry Bruckheimer will executive produce the series which succeeds Al Adamson’s 1977 Jim Kelly-headlining adaptation of Olden’s book. The series will see Common in the role of Robert Sand, a former soldier belaguered by racism, and raised and trained in the samurai arts for seven years by the master who rescued him, only to walk the path of vengeance and self-discovery when he learns of his master’s death and that of his beloved samurai brothers.
Conrad Miller, is an AWOL military officer who has been accused of selling secrets to ex KGB during the cold war. When Miller realizes he has been tracked by his counterpart hit man Myron, Miller knows his love, and his compromise has been threatened, and he does the only thing humanly possible. RUN. The Soviets enlist the services of Detective Adams to aid them in the local hunt to track down Miller by any means necessary. Miller has 72 hours to make his rendezvous point and get out of the country with his love and the only secrets that will keep him alive.
Regardless of whatever feelings you might have about actor, musician and filmmaker RZA‘s 2012 kung fu hip-hopera, The Man With The Iron Fists, the fact is it now has a sequel and as soon as this April, it’s coming home on DVD and Blu-Ray. On that note, we finally have some artwork from the folks over at Universal for The Man With The Iron Fists 2 prior to the film’s release, which you can check out just beneath.
SYNOPSIS:
Thaddeus (RZA) is back in this explosive action adventure inspired by kung fu classics. A reluctant villager joins forces with a mysterious outsider to fight off powerful evil forces, both earthly and otherworldly, in a 19th century Chinese mining town. When a stranger, Thaddeus, is found badly wounded near the village, miner Li Kung (Dustin Nguyen) and his wife Ah Ni (Eugenia Kang) offer him refuge. As he heals, he becomes entrenched in a conflict that pits the townsfolk against the evil Master Ho (Carl Ng), his nefarious Beetle Clan and the terrifying Lord Pi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). With Thaddeus at his side, the mild-mannered Kung transforms into a deadly warrior in this martial arts epic.
Michel De Ruyter helmer Roel Reine directs this time around while the film also brings back a few of the original film’s memorable favorites, namely Grace Huang and Andrew Lin as the Yin/Yang twins who met their demise in the first film, so their addition to this film adds further interest to the intrigue. April 14, 2015 is the date, and you can now pre-order your copy at Amazon or wherever movies are sold. For reassurance, however, the trailer below should suffice.
H/T: City On Fire
The film is expected to see a line-up of some old faces in addition to new ones, featuring actors Dustin Nguyen and Roger Yuan (Once Upon A Time In Vietnam), actress Eugenia Yuan (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: The Green Destiny), and Cary Tagawa (Skin Trade), with the fascinating return of Andrew Lin and Grace Huang in their roles from the first film as the Gemini twins. As early as it is, further details are pending as usual. In the meantime, after being teased with just twenty seconds of it in the previous week, the full teaser for this direct-to-DVD sequel is officially online. Check it out below!
Luke Goss leads the action-packed adventure as AWOL Marine Conrad Miller, who in possession of key secret government information is chased by Russian Mobsters, an LAPD Dectective (RZA) and a highly-paid assassin (Bokeem Woodbine) in order to get the military secrets he carries.
The season continues looking pretty good for television with FOX’s most recent promotional efforts with the new series, Gang Related. The show earned its first bit of footage with a full-on cinematic TV spot during Monday night’s premiere of 24: Live Another Day. You can now catch that TV spot and a previous promo below the following series description.
Gang Related airs beginning May 22. Check your local listings!
DESCRIPTION:
Every villain has a noble cause, and every hero has a dark side.
In the gritty new action-drama GANG RELATED, Detective RYAN LOPEZ (Ramon Rodriguez, “Battle Los Angeles,” “The Wire”) is a rising star in Los Angeles’ elite Gang Task Force. What the world doesn’t know is that long before Ryan became a cop, he pledged allegiance to a different band of brothers – a powerful Latino gang called Los Angelicos.
When Ryan’s best friend and police partner is senselessly killed by a notorious gang member, Ryan teams up with longtime Task Force member CASSIUS GREEN (RZA, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “Californication”), who has been at the forefront of the city’s war on organized crime. In this war between law enforcement and gangs, the series explores how only people who really know the streets can win the battle on the streets.
Despite his profession, Ryan is still beholden to the gang’s leader, JAVIER ACOSTA (Cliff Curtis, “Live Free or Die Hard,” “Training Day”), the father figure Ryan has tried to make proud his entire life and the man who masterminded his entry into the police force. It’s a secret that has been held for a decade by Ryan, Javier and Javier’s sons: cold-blooded gang lieutenant CARLOS (Rey Gallegos, “Sons of Anarchy,” “24”); and Ryan’s childhood best friend, straight-laced investment banker DANIEL (Jay Hernandez, “Last Resort,” “Hostel”).
But Ryan is starting to realize that he is even more dedicated to being a cop than he is to Los Angelicos. He is respected by his team, including TAE KIM (Sung Kang, “Fast Five,” “Live Free or Die Hard”), VERONICA “VEE” DOTSEN (Inbar Lavi, “Underemployed,” “Street Kings 2: Motor City”) and Task Force leader SAM CHAPEL (Terry O’Quinn, “Lost”), Ryan’s other surrogate father figure, whose estranged daughter, JESSICA (Shantel VanSanten, “One Tree Hill,” “The Final Destination”), is the city’s Assistant District Attorney.
Ryan’s education comes from the streets, and that schooling will work to his advantage, as he, Cassius and the rest of the police unit take aim at the city’s most dangerous gangs. While balancing two allegiances, two father figures and two families, Ryan’s increasing sense of loyalty to one will help him finally determine which side of the law he is really on.
GANG RELATED is from 20th Century Fox Television, Imagine Entertainment, Chris Morgan Productions and Skeeter Rosenbaum Productions. The series is created and written by Chris Morgan (“Wanted,” “Fast Five”). The series is executive-produced by Morgan, Scott Rosenbaum (“The Shield,” “Chuck”), Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer (“24,” “A Beautiful Mind”) and Francie Calfo (“The Great Escape,” “The Playboy Club”). Allen Hughes (“Dead Presidents,” “Book of Eli,” “Menace II Society”) directed and served as an executive producer on the pilot.
Hollywood Streams: BTS Of Brick Mansions:
Moviegoers are just a few weeks away from the release of Camille Delamarre‘s directorial debut, Brick Mansions, a redux of the 2005 French original, Banlieue 13. And this week, we are offered just a little more insight into the production with a brand new six-minute B-roll featurette and a brand new clip to get a whiff of the action that will hit the big screens in North America on April 25.
For some, the footage may be a bittersweet offering after the death of actor and philanthropist, Paul Walker, who stars opposite David Belle reprising his role from the initial film. As it stands, the film was meant to mark a new movement for the actor as a bonafide cinematic action hero following the spectacular success of Universal’s hit franchise, The Fast And The Furious. By some notable accounts, that very commitement to the job and the willingness to meet the physical demands represented more than just a great day at the office.
“The set was like a playground for Paul,” Belle says in a recent statement quoted at USA Today. “Sometimes, he would make me laugh just before a take when I was all serious and focused. I would have to get my wits together. There was always joy and fun with him.”
The director also stated his own observations of the late actor, who completely finished all post-production work on the film just days before he died. “It was a big triumph for Paul — he had never done a movie like this,” says Delamarre of Walker and Belle. “He pushed himself so hard here, and the results are better than we could have ever hoped for. They are incredible.”.
Catch Brick Mansions in theaters on April 25, 2014.
Actor Paul Walker‘s tragic death has been a high point of focus for a few of the studios currently responsible for completing and promoting the late actor’s last two films, one of which include the upcoming Parkour action remake, Brick Mansions. Unlike the forthcoming release of Fast And Furious 7, Walker had already completed all of the post-production work he was needed for on Brick Mansions within days before the sudden car crash on November 30, 2013 that claimed his life and that of friend and businessman Roger Rodas. And in the months since, EuropaCorp and Relativity Media made it clear that they would revamp their promotional campaign before it began so that they could promote the film in a way that would honor the actor’s memory.
Take that in mind as we now look at the latest second trailer for the film, marking Luc Besson protegè Camille Delamarre‘s directorial debut. While much of the analysis among observers so far is that it basically resembles the original 2004 Pierre Morrel helmer almost beat for beat, today’s second trailer does carry a more definitive effect as we are offered small, split-second glimpses into the depth of Walker‘s character, Damien, and the rift between him and actor RZA‘s role as the villain, Tremaine. In my view, aside from the similarities drawn between both films, this particular promo does an exceptional job at putting Walker front and center with actor and parkour impressario David Belle as the driving force of the high-speed action both actors will endure. In my opinion, whether or not you approve remakes, I think Brick Mansions is going to deliver a fine spectacle with tons of action and a good story, with a largely exceptional cast headlined by one leading man in the middle of his finest hour in the world of cinema.
Brick Mansions opens April 25. Support this film. Don’t let it tank.
SYNOPSIS:
In a dystopian Detroit, abandoned brick mansions left from better times now house only the most dangerous criminals. Unable to control the crime, the police constructed a colossal containment wall around this area to protect the rest of the city. For undercover cop Damien Collier (Paul Walker) every day is a battle against corruption. For Lino (David Belle), every day is a fight to live an honest life. Their paths never should have crossed, but when drug kingpin, Tremaine (RZA) kidnaps Lino’s girlfriend, Damien reluctantly accepts the help of the fearless ex-convict, and together they must stop a sinister plot to devastate the entire city. With stylized action featuring thrilling Parkour stunts (David Belle is the co-founder of the physical training discipline), Brick Mansions puts an entertaining twist on the action genre.
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