Matthew Monagle
Here’s a Good Look at Kurt Russell’s Character in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if art house cinema had the same weird toy leaks as blockbuster movies. These days, we’re more likely to see a character’s design leak thanks to a brand new action figure than a behind-the-scenes photo; what if the same thing happened in the world of independent cinema? What if we’d encountered Moonlight spoilers thanks to a new line of beach toys? Or if La La Land’s third act was spoiled due to a fully posable Ryan Gosling action figure? Come to think of it, I’d probably buy the heck out of a Moonlight bath toy. No shame there.
Discover the Creepy New Poster and Super Bowl Teaser for ‘Life’
Here’s something I’ve never been able to fully understand about myself: I find haunted house movies terribly boring and haunted space station movies absolutely terrifying. Take your typical spooky movie — with old buildings, dark hallways, and moving shadows — and I could fall asleep right there in the theater. But kick that spooky movie up into space and give the characters some space suits? As far as I’m concerned, that makes anything an instant classic — and I’ve got the Event Horizon ticket stubs to prove it.
‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ Will Feature a Deleted Scene From the First Movie
If there’s a silver lining to 2017, it’s that Hollywood is gearing up for an excellent year of action blockbuster sequels. Over the next few months, we can expect follow-ups to Guardians of the Galaxy, John Wick, Furious 7, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and, of course, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. And often neglected from these lists — but no less exciting from an action fan’s perspective — is Matthew Vaughn’s sequel to Kingsman: The Golden Circle, one of the more ridiculous action movies to be released in the past few years.
Super Bowl 51 Gets a Coen Brothers ‘Easy Rider’ Commercial
While countless football fans — myself included — embark on a stomach and liver-related training regimen for next weekend, there is more to the Super Bowl than just the game on the field. The Super Bowl has always secretly been a big day for cinephiles as well, featuring big trailers for much-anticipated movies and clever commercials from some of the best filmmakers of our generation. Directors such as Doug Liman, Ridley Scott, and Judd Apatow have all directed Superbowl commercials, and now you can add two more big names to the mix: Joel and Ethan Coen.
Fox Orders the ‘Behind Enemy Lines’ Series We All Must’ve Wanted
Here are some facts you may not know about the 2001 Owen Wilson-led war thriller Behind Enemy Lines. First, despite overwhelmingly negative reviews, the movie was a box office success, grossing over $90 million worldwide. Second, the film spawned three loosely related direct-to-video sequels: Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil, Behind Enemy Lives: Colombia (starring Joe Manganiello!), and SEAL Team 8: Behind Enemy Lines. And finally, despite nobody anywhere requesting it, Fox is about to give us our very own Behind Enemy Lines television show.
Robert De Niro’s Still Trying to Lure Joe Pesci Out of Retirement for Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’
Like most cinephiles, I was vaguely aware that Joe Pesci has been retired from acting for a while now, but I assumed that meant he had made a few low-budget movies in the early 2000s and walked away. Imagine my surprise, then, when I realized that Pesci has made exactly two live-action movies since Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998. One was The Good Shepherd, the Robert De Niro-directed 2006 drama about the early history of the CIA. And if a close friend can lure Joe Pesci out of retirement once, maybe he can do it again.
‘Rogue One’ Featured Unused ‘Star Wars’ Footage Found by the Director
Even if you’re not the biggest fan of CGI actors returned from the dead, you probably had to appreciate the ways that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards tried to bring the events of Star Wars: A New Hope more directly into his film. In several key sequences, Edwards was even able to feature unseen footage from the original 1977 film, causing fans to wonder where that new footage came from (and why they hadn’t seen it before). Are there entire archives of unseen footage that Lucasfilm has been hiding from fans for all these decades?
Ben Affleck Says He Won’t Make ‘The Batman’ if the Script Is Bad
We all know that Ben Affleck’s performance as Batman was one of the few things both critics and fans of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice could completely agree on. From his shallow playboy persona as Bruce Wayne to his thinly veiled rage as the Dark Knight, Affleck’s take on the character got everyone very excited to see what the actor-writer-director could do with a free hand for his standalone The Batman movie. Unfortunately, things have slowed considerably since, with rumors of mediocre scripts and a shifting release date taking some of the buzz off the upcoming release.
Will Smith Explains Why He Passed on ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ for ‘Suicide Squad’
I’ll admit, I was one of those people mildly excited for Independence Day: Resurgence. Not only did the film return both Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman — as well as the up-and-coming Maika Monroe — it was also a welcome trip down memory lane to the original Independence Day, one of the first really big blockbuster movies I remember seeing in theaters. I know I’m not the only one whose interest in the film was pure nostalgia; as it turns out, this link to the past is exactly why Will Smith chose not to come back for a second film.
Tim Miller Speaks Out Against Those ‘Deadpool 2’ Production Rumors
One of the stranger stories to end the year was the sudden departure of director Tim Miller from Deadpool 2, the sequel to 2016’s biggest breakout hit. Given the original film’s agonizing production history, it seemed like shooting a sequel would be a walk in the woods; instead, Miller’s decision to walk away from the project caught everyone by surprise, and rumors have swirled about creative differences ever since. Thankfully, Miller himself recently spoke at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects (via iO9) and put some of these rumors to bed.
Rumor: Did a Copyright Filing Reveal the ‘Star Wars: Episode 8’ Subtitle?
Look, we get it. Even with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story set to hit theaters next week, some of you just prefer your Star Wars stories to be part of the main story. And although we might be as caught up as everyone else in talking about the prospect of prequels and standalone movies, that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten how to give you some good, old-fashioned Star Wars: Episode VIII gossip. Here’s one we know you’ll like: rumors are circulating that the title of the next film popped up in the most unlikely of places.
Dwayne Johnson Gets Physical in These New ‘Jumanji’ Fight Photos
Last year, we published a video essay on Arnold Schwarzenegger that suggested that Arnold is much an auteur as the directors he has worked with. While most people still think of movies like Terminator and True Lies as the work of James Cameron, our own Matt Singer argued — and rather persuasively, I might add — that Arnold’s status as a cinematic auteur should be just as important a factor in how we evaluate his films. No matter who is behind the camera of an Arnold movie, you know the types of characters and narratives you are going to get.