the magnificent seven

Review: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (2016) Upholds The Western Frontier With Gravitas And Tact

While Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven is a remake of the 1960 film by the same name, I like to think of it as a direct reimagining of its original incarnation of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai from 1954. It bears noting that Kurosawa is, to this day, still Stephen Spielberg’s totemic inspiration behind his every endeavor, which calls to mind the question of how much that influences have made it into those films both thematically and narratively. I would say that the influence manifests like the whimsy of a film student’s interaction with the arguments that give sustenance to a story of camaraderie. A story like this one, especially, that arrives on contact with the bold charisma of a gunslinger. I’m calling it; if this sort of Western is an analog to another form of cinematic expression, it would be to anime a la Voltron or Gundam Wing – a […]

Fuqua Will Return To Direct THE EQUALIZER 2 Starting Next September

Lee B. Golden III

This weekend begins the theatrical run of Antoine Fuqua’s latest endeavor, The Magnificent Seven, reinterpreting John Sturges’s own 1960 remake classic inspired by Kurosawa Akira’s earlier epic, Seven Samurai. The film has been on the campaign trail following a string of trailers and promos leading up to its premiere at TIFF earlier this month, and with select cast and crew on deck for the publicity tour as of late, fans and onlookers are getting a little more first-hand insight on the film, which headlines an ensemble cast led by actor Denzel Washington. The film reunites the actor/director duo following their stellar 2001 crime drama, Training Day, and their 2014 reunion, The Equalizer, inspired by the popular 1985 television series of the same name. Joining Washington with actress Chloë Grace-Moretz and actor Martin Csokas, Richard Wenk wrote the script which centered our lead actor in the title role – a former […]

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Rolls Out A New IMAX Poster

Lee B. Golden III

As far as remakes and reboots go, the 2014 adaptation of hit TV series, The Equalizer, seems to signal that director Antoine Fuqua knows how to gel with certain properties on par for big screen prospects. Thus, his latest comes by way of another remake classic, The Magnificent Seven, previously iterated by John Sturges with respect to late film auteur Kurosawa Akira. Landing our main roster of heroes and villians in the old West, Fuqua reunites with actors Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke among an ensemble cast that sees the heroes take on an evil industrialist. The most recent trailer from July certainly lends an appealing view for Fuqua’s treatment while we may very well get a second trailer with the film currently due in just over three weeks. In the meantime, the marketing campaign continues as per the current rollout of character vignettes, and Fandango’s exclusive presentation of the […]

Meet THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN In The Explosive New Trailer!

Lee B. Golden III

If there was ever a director as of late who has compelled me more for a Western, it would be Antoine Fuqua. Thus, we get The Magnificent Seven with actor Denzel Washington leading the way for any and everyone still fond of last year’s The Equalizer and Washington’s Academy Awarded role in 2003’s Training Day. Rooted as a retelling of the classic Jim Sturges remake of Kurosawa Akira’s Seven Samurai, it’s also pretty rewarding for anyone who enjoys good old-fashioned tales of a ragtag band of grey-shaded heroes out to do good. And not for nothing either with fellow Fuqua cohort Ethan Hawke joined by everyone’s favorite raptor whisperer, Chris Pratt, and the beautiful Haley Bennett who looks like she’ll bring more than meets the eye here. SYNOPSIS: Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ and Columbia Pictures’ The Magnificent Seven. With the […]

Watch The Sizzling New Trailer For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Lee B. Golden III

I’m already a long sold fan of director Antoine Fuqua, and I don’t say that lightly. I dug The Replacement Killers in 1998 as well as thrillers like Training Day and Shooter. I could probably go on all day about how much I enjoyed his 2014 big screen reboot of The Equalizer but I won’t; that it’s a box office success getting a sequel is enough for me. As for this week, Sony and Columbia are off to spend the rest of the year guaranteeing us another solid piece of work in the reboot category pairing our dear director with a terrific ensemble cast in The Magnificent Seven. Photos and stills from the movie have already begun circulating for the last week or so with images coming out of CinemaCon and as recently as USA Today with actor Denzel Washington leading the way once more in a Fuqua vehicle, and […]

Ethan Hawke In Talks To Reprise TRAINING DAY Role For CBS, Smrz's 24 HOURS TO LIVE

Lee B. Golden III

Any chance you may have come across actor Ethan Hawke’s name in recent history may be due to the fact that a small screen adaptation of the Antoine Fuqua’s hit film, Training Day, is getting a spot on television in the months ahead. I’d call this a pretty momentous occasion now as it seems that word is now out that he’s reportedly in talks to reprise his role in the new series for CBS, thus reuniting with directot Antoine Fuqua for the pilot. Hawke earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the original 2001 crime drama for Warner Bros. in which he played a rookie narcotics detective assigned to his first day analysis by a seasoned and morally bent rogue detective, a role that ultimately awarded Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington. Fuqua is also producing with Jerry Bruckheimer for CBS who have ordered a pilot in which, if Hawke […]

Two More Join Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been a few days since MGM’s forthcoming Western reboot, The Magnificent Seven announced at least one more key role in the form of actor Peter Sarsgaard who will play the villain, via Variety. Since then it’s also been stated that actor Jason Momoa dropped out after his name began circulating a few weeks ago, but casting has moved on with at least two more now in the mix. Deadline reports that actors Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Martin Sensmeier will play the respective roles of “Vasquez” and “Red Harvest”, joining lead actor Denzel Washington in a remake of director John Sturges’s titular 1960 Western adaptation of an earlier Kurosawa classic. The new film reunites Washington will his Training Day and The Equalizer helmer Antoine Fuqua from scribe John Lee Hancock’s final draft which centers on a group of five outlaws hired to protect a small mining town from a ruthless gold baron. […]

Antoine Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Adds Two More To The Cast!

I will be the first to admit that I am old at 52 and I happen to love Westerns. Growing up with a father born in Kentucky, and a mother from Oklahoma, my tastes in music and film partially stemmed from their influence. And one of those influences is the appreciation of country music. I get that from my mom and dad. Films on the other hand, were directly influenced by my father. I grew up watching John Wayne films that my father enjoyed. And I enjoy them too. The last Western I watched was the intriguing Cowboys vs Aliens that I found “amusing,” to say the least. My dad would have laughed at this. So, normally, whenever a new Western was on TV that my father had not seen before, my older brother and I made a family night together with dad. One of my father’s favorite films was […]

Wagner Moura Adds To Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Lee B. Golden III

For all the bruhaha from some critics over director Neill Blomkamp’s 2013 sci-fi epic, Elysium, at best, it was a film I ultimately enjoyed. It especially landed actor Wagner Moura on my radar while I haven’t yet seen his previous films, Elite Squad and Elite Squad 2 – they’re on my watchlist, so all things in good time. Meanwhile, Moura‘s screen presence is defintely something I look forward to, particularly with director Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming remake, The Magnificent Seven. The film itself is one that’s come up on occasion in the last few years, interestingly enough with the previously-mentioned and hopeful involvement of Martin Scorsese and action duo Donnie Yen and Yuen Woo-Ping for a remake of Seven Samurai, the 1954 Kurosawa Akira classic on which helmer John Sturges’s 1960 western in question was based. For now though, it’s Sturges’s movie in the headlines and Training Day trio, stars Denzel […]

Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Gets A Release Date!

Lee B. Golden III

Director Antoine Fuqua‘s western thriller revival, The Magnificent Seven, is still in the casting phase with just five actors enlisted, so there’s still a ways to go before we hear anything about who gets to apprear. In the meantime, MGM is planting its flag for the film’s release on January 13, 2017, according to reports forwarded by ComingSoon.net. Actress Haley Bennett, and actors Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke are all tapped to star in the film alongside leading man Denzel Washington in his latest return to the set with Fuqua in what will be their fourth pairing since the 1999 film, Training Day and last year’s box office reign of the hit action thriller TV adaptation, The Equalizer. Netflix’s Daredevil co-star, actor Vincent D’onofrio is expected to join the cast as the main villain in a story based on John Sturges’s titular 1960 film inspired by the 1954 classic, Seven […]

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Ethan Hawke May Reunite With 'Training Day' Cohorts For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Lee B. Golden III

There’s something to be said about a certain type of project and the goodness it brings when all the right people come together. In 2000, that very project came in the form of the award-winning crooked cop thriller, Training Day, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington. If you haven’t seen it, just know that you’re missing out on one of the most terrific cinematic experiences you’ll ever have as it turns out with a handful of some of the best performances you’ll ever see. It certainly did the trick years after my own recognition of Fuqua came with action star Chow Yun-Fat’s hit role in The Replacement Killers, and you would be especially advised to make note of the director as well following the accolades he receivged with his paring with Washington for The Equalizer. All things considered, Fuqua and Washington may very well be […]

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Haley Bennett Reunites With Washington And Fuqua For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN!

Lee B. Golden III

Last year’s go-around with the Denzel Washington/Antoine Fuqua hit pairing, The Equalizer, turned out some really amazing from its cast. One such performance came from supporting actress Haley Bennett who plays a friend to that of lead actress Chloe Grace Moretz in the story of a monastic former government operative whose fight for a young girl’s freedom from human traffickers turned into a sprawling one-man war against an entire criminal organization, and at the rate we’re going, we could very well see a sequel. Before then, director Fuqua and our lead actor Washington are bound to rejoin for the production of The Magnificent Seven as of last June – a remake of the original 1960 classic western directed by John Sturges and starring Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen. Actor Chris Pratt was announced for a possible role in the film last December as well, and now, Deadline is reporting the […]

REVIEW: THE EQUALIZER (2014)

Lee B. Golden III

SYNOPSIS: In The Equalizer, Denzel Washington plays McCall, a former black ops commando who has faked his death to live a quiet life in Boston. When he comes out of his self-imposed retirement to rescue a young girl, Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), he finds himself face to face with ultra-violent Russian gangsters. As he serves vengeance against those who brutalize the helpless, McCall’s desire for justice is reawakened. If someone has a problem, the odds are stacked against them, and they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer. REVIEW: I know who the late Edward Woodward was, and I may have seen a few of his works over the years. However, I was pretty young at the time the CBS TV series, The Equalizer was a popular show in its heyday, and I’ve only ever seen bits and pieces of the show so I can’t really […]

Victor Ortiz Joins Antoine Fuqua's SOUTHPAW

Lee B. Golden III

Director Antoine Fuqua has just begun filming his latest boxing drama in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for The Weinstein Company titled Southpaw, and this week brings the start of a second significant step forward in acting with a co-starring role for former boxing champion and The Expendables 3 co-star, Victor Ortiz. The film is written by Richard Wenk and Sons Of Anarchy series creator Kurt Sutter, and casts Ortiz as “Ramone”, fellow up-and-coming boxer whose story will be attributed somewhat similarly to Ortiz‘s own life story leading up to his career as a WBC Welterweight champion until earlier this year. Ortiz joins lead Prisoners co-star, actor Jake Gyllenhaal who himself leads the film as “Billy Hope”, a welterweight boxer rising in the ranks while his while his personal life falls apart. Actress Rachel McAdams and Star Wars VII cast member, award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, and actors Forest Whitaker and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson […]

MGM Reteams Washington And Fuqua For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Lee B. Golden III

Director Antoine Fuqua is having a pretty good year in film, with The Equalizer on deck for a Fall release and a sequel in the works. In addition to his attachment to producer Ridley Scott’s new crime thriller, Narco Sub, Fuqua is also posied to helm a theatrical remake of the classic Western, The Magnificent Seven. Well, MGM is noticing a pattern nowadays, one which has much to do with the seemingly lucrative partnership between Fuqua and actor Denzel Washington since their memorable work on the 2001 crime drama, Training Day. Plus, with all the buzz now surrounding the duo’s work on The Equalizer, it’s understandable the studio would adhere to the excitement and are now looking to cast Washington in the remake. The original 1960 film from director John Sturges that saw actors Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen leading a grizzled cast of tough gunslingers protecting a defenseless agricultural […]