The Expendables 3 OFFICIAL Teaser Trailer

Unlike other, so called, reputable film news sites - Total Film, Collider.com, Den of Geek etc. we actually waited till the REAL teaser trailer was available.
For those of you who don't know, a fan made trailer, using some impressive graphics and footage from other films, was shared by professional and fan sites this morning, despite clearly being made up from footage from other films and debuting on YouTube in November. Not US though :) (sorry feeling VERY smug)

Here is, however, the official teaser for Expendables 3!


WHAT DID YOU THINK?
let us know!
- The Kick Ass Kid

'ORIGINAL GANGSTAS 2: OLD SCHOOL GANGSTAS' KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

A few days ago we reported on the fantastic news that Fred Williamson's Po' Boy Productions and Bargain Basement Productions are teaming up for Old School Gangstas, the follow-up to Original Gangstas. You can read more HERE

Well the Kickstarter campaign went live today and there are all sorts of groovy prizes for supporting the film but, really, the biggest incentive is to see this awesome film get made.
The Hammer, Jim Brown and Pam 'Coffy' Grier joining up together again for a movie? Once was mind-blowing enough, twice is exceptionally cool.

Here's what The Hammer himself has to say about the campaign:

"Fred Williamson has the script, actors, and production schedule lined up. The only thing holding back the film is funding. With his 40+ years of production experience writing/directing/acting/producing via his company Po' Boy Productions, Williamson can make a $1.2 million dollar film that will go toe-to-toe with any big studio picture. With YOUR HELP, The Hammer & co. can make OLD SCHOOL GANGSTAS independently, and with style. This film will deliver. Thank you!"

We here at Dr.Action and the Kick Ass Kid and The After Movie Diner will be supporting and reporting on this film up to the day of its release so please join us, won't you and give generously. Chances like this never come again.

- The Kick Ass Kid

Original Gangstas 2 rolls into production!

Bargain Basement Productions posted this on their Facebook page earlier today:

"Fred "The Hammer" Williamson's Po' Boy Productions and Bargain Basement Productions are teaming up for OLD SCHOOL GANGSTAS, the follow-up to ORIGINAL GANGSTAS. This film will re-unite The Hammer, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, and Robert Forster, plus adding Bernie Casey, Gloria Hendry, and Antonio Fargas to the mix. We launch the epic $1.2 million Kickstarter campaign this Sunday, December 15. Forget The Expendables, the old school is coming back! Are you ready?"

Are we ready? er... YES! the first one was a great, fun, entertaining and awesome, kick ass action flick and one of my favourites. Considering the inability of anyone in Hollywood to cast The Hammer, Jim Brown or Pam Grier in any of the new wave of action films, you have to respect that these titans of action cinema are doing it for themselves AGAIN.
It's been especially disappointing that Pam Grier has not been mentioned more prominently in the continued attempts to get The Expendabelles off the ground because when we think of tough, strong women, we think of Pam.
No matter though, they will all get to flex their muscles and crack some skulls in the upcoming Old School Gangstas!

So according to the statement there is a kickstarter campaign being launched for the film on December 15th and we will have the details of that on this site the moment we get them. We hope you'll all contribute because this film HAS to get made.

UPDATE: Support the KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

There is a Twitter account for the film you can follow:
https://twitter.com/OriginalGsPart2
and here are some of the highlights of that Twitter feed so far:

Stick around action fans, we'll report more news as we get it!
- The Kick Ass Kid

Paul Walker R.I.P.

It is very sad news that Paul Walker, 40, star of The Fast & Furious franchise has passed away in a single, horrific car accident today.
An official statement on his Facebook page reads:

It is with a truly heavy heart that we must confirm that Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident while attending a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide. He was a passenger in a friend's car, in which both lost their lives. We appreciate your patience as we too are stunned and saddened beyond belief by this news. Thank you for keeping his family and friends in your prayers during this very difficult time. We will do our best to keep you apprised on where to send condolences. - #TeamPW

Readers of the site and listeners to our podcasts know that both the Doc and I are huge fans of the crime/racing/action films and long before the recent, high-profile, additions of The Rock, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham, Paul Walker WAS The Fast and Furious franchise, along with co-stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster.

Part 6 was a big hit this summer and Part 7, which was recently shooting is due out in 2014 with a Part 8 which had been tentatively planned already. Walker also has the drama film 'Hours' due for release on December 13 about a father struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

His co-star in the Fast and Furious films, Ludacris said this:
Ludacris "Your humble spirit was felt from the start, wherever you blessed your presence you always left a mark, we were like brothers & our birthdays are only 1 day apart, now You will forever hold a place in all of our hearts @paulwalker legacy will live on forever. R.I.P."

Our thoughts are with his and the driver's friends and family. A tragic loss, too young.

Red Band Trailer for Beyond Outrage

Magnolia Pictures will release BEYOND OUTRAGE on iTunes/On Demand November 28, 2013 and in theatres, January 3, 2014 in the US.

Written and Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Starring Takeshi Kitano, Ryo Kase, Toshiyuki Nishida, Shun Sugata, Machiko Ono and Ken Mitsushi

The press release plot description says:
"With BEYOND OUTRAGE, action cinema master Takeshi Kitano returns to the hard boiled characters, black comedy and unflinching violence of his crime masterpiece OUTRAGE. This time, a manipulative police crackdown on organized crime has ignited a tricky power struggle in the yakuza underworld.

The Sanno crime family has grown into a massive organization dominated by young executives whose new approach to running the family is causing frustration and pent-up resentment with the old-guard members. This vulnerability in the Sanno hierarchy is exactly what anti-gang detective Kataoka has been looking for, as the police force prepares a full-scale crackdown.

Kataoka wants start a war between Sanno and the neighboring Hanabishi crime family in the hopes that they destroy each other. His trump card is Otomo (Kitano) – the rumored-dead boss of a defunct family that was destroyed by the Sanno, who has just been released from prison. Otomo wants to retire from a life of crime, but finds himself drawn back in through Kataoka’s manipulations as the Sanno and Hanabishi clans teeter on the brink of an all-out war."

Beyond Outrage will be rated: R

New "Awesome Asian Bad Guys" Web Series to feature AL Leong!

One of the guys behind the website 'Awesome Asian Bad Guys' wrote to us recently to let us know that it is becoming a web series featuring:

Al Leong (Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Big Trouble in Little China), 

Yuji Okumoto (The Karate Kid, Part II) 

and George Cheung (Rambo: First Blood Part II).

Which, as you can imagine, is right up our street. They were also very cool and sent us this teaser to share with all of you!

You can find out more over on their website http://www.awesomeasianbadguys.com

- The Kick Ass Kid

Statham in talks to join Susan Cooper

You may remember, a while back, that we reported The Stath had registered some interest in possibly doing a buddy cop comedy type film or some sort of comedy partnership and had mentioned Will Ferrell's name. NOW we have news that the Britkicker is eyeing a role in Paul Feig's (Bridesmaids, The Heat) new comedy spy actioner "Susan Cooper" starring Melissa McCarthy.
Obviously it's not quite the testosterone filled 48 hours type action comedy we may have envisaged but it would be fun to see Statham handle something like this so different in tone. It's also a wise move as Melissa McCarthy is hugely popular right now and it could give JS an even bigger boost into the Hollywood stratosphere after The Expendables franchise and Fast 7.

As the film is designed to be a female James Bond type deal, the studio is even whispering about a possible franchise should it prove successful.
Bond comedy rip offs are tricky and the likes of Austin Powers, Johnny English and Get Smart have all sort of failed to maintain an audience past their initial run, could Statham and McCarthy have the right comedy chemistry to make this fly?
What do you think?
Statham showed great comedic skill in the Crank films and proved a worthy sidekick in The Expendables, there's also a long history of action stars doing comedy films (with varying degrees of success) do you think and/or like this possible pairing and direction for The Stath's career??
LET US KNOW in the COMMENTS BELOW!!

- The Kick Ass Kid

3 NEW Grudge Match Posters

Telling the story of two old boxers who come out of retirement for one more fight, Grudge Match stars, Rocky himself, Sylvester Stallone as Henry "Razor" Sharp and the Raging Bull, Robert De Niro as Billy "Kid" McDonnen.

Set for release on Christmas Day in the US, this week Warner Brothers released these awesome posters. Enjoy!

Official poster for Beyond Outrage

Thanks to our friends over at Magnet and Magnolia we have the poster for Takeshi Kitano's new action film Beyond Outrage, which premiered on Movies.com

Written and Directed by Takeshi Kitano

Starring Takeshi Kitano, Ryo Kase, Toshiyuki Nishida, Shun Sugata, Machiko Ono and Ken Mitsushi

The plot synopsis from the press release: With BEYOND OUTRAGE, action cinema master Takeshi Kitano returns to the hard boiled characters, black comedy and unflinching violence of his crime masterpiece OUTRAGE. This time, a manipulative police crackdown on organized crime has ignited a tricky power struggle in the yakuza underworld.

The Sanno crime family has grown into a massive organization dominated by young executives whose new approach to running the family is causing frustration and pent-up resentment with the old-guard members. This vulnerability in the Sanno hierarchy is exactly what anti-gang detective Kataoka has been looking for, as the police force prepares a full-scale crackdown.

Kataoka wants start a war between Sanno and the neighboring Hanabishi crime family in the hopes that they destroy each other. His trump card is Otomo (Kitano) – the rumored-dead boss of a defunct family that was destroyed by the Sanno, who has just been released from prison. Otomo wants to retire from a life of crime, but finds himself drawn back in through Kataoka’s manipulations as the Sanno and Hanabishi clans teeter on the brink of an all-out war.

Thankfully the film will be rated R

 For more info:

Official Site: http://www.magnetreleasing.com/beyondoutrage/

Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondoutrage

Magnolia Pictures will release BEYOND OUTRAGE on iTunes/On Demand November 28, 2013 and in theaters January 3, 2014.

Escape Plan videos

With Escape Plan coming to US Theatres on October 18th 2013 Sly and Arnie have been doing the rounds and giving some interviews. Here are those videos below!

EXPENDABLES 3 Update - Frasier Crane and near death for Statham

News has come through today that Kelsey Grammar, him of Cheers and Frasier fame, is joining the cast of The Expendables 3 instead of Nicolas Cage. He will, apparently, play the part, earmarked initially for Cage, of Bonaparte, an ex-mercanary who help the team out.

I give you a moment to let it sink in.

Now there are a few bizarre things about this news, not least of which has to be that Nic Cage actually turned down a film role! A periphery glance at his recent work on IMDB shows you how much of a rarity that is.

The other bizarre thing is the tons of action actors, yet to be put into a role, that could've done this and would've been better suited:
Steven Seagal, Kurt Russell, Roddy Piper, Jeff Speakman, Jeff Wincott, Billy Blanks, Pam Grier, Sigourney Weaver, Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Carl Weathers, Sho Kosugi, Gene Hackman, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson, Fred Williamson, Liam Neeson and even Grammer's old Cheers colleague, Woody Harrelson!
I think Grammer is a lot of fun in The Simpsons, 30 Rock and even Frasier back in the day and if he was narrating the film then it wouldn't be such a shock but as an old mercenary helping out these 80s action stars, I am not so sure.
Ex3, with all the weird news we've had so far, is going to have some surprises in store for certain, I think.

This announcement comes off the back of Robert Davi's surprise casting as well. Davi is more obvious, of course, with his James Bond bad guy heritage but let's hope that he doesn't turn Ex3 into another Bad Pack

The other news that emerged this week, from the cool and funny lips of Terry Crews no less, is the story that, the legend that is, Jason Statham narrowly avoided death, or at least injury, on the set of Expendables 3 when a truck he was driving failed to stop and plunged into the Black sea.
Terry Crews told the story to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show saying that Statham simply swam out from the truck, leaving it to sink into the water, and was back to work later that day.

This is the second water and Statham related stunt-gone-wrong incident on Expendables 3 that has been reported in as many months. I am not sure if they are the same story but the first one stated Statham did a pond based stunt, earmarked for a stunt man, and ended up going to hospital with water in his lungs but this telling of this, possible, second incident by Crews, seems to have the Britkicker seemingly strolling out of the water unharmed and heading back to work.
I believe the second story more, Statham, hasn't spent time in hospital in his life. He heals himself using man sweat and awesomeness.

- The Kick Ass Kid

win an AWESOME grindhouse action film with 

THE AFTER MOVIE DINER!

Homefront Theatrical Trailer

Homefront stills and release date

Source: USAToday

Today we were finally treated to some character information, some plot points and some snaps from Jason Statham's upcoming action drama Homefront, written and produced by Sylvester Stallone, directed by Gary Fleder (Things to do in Denver When You're Dead) and co-produced by the team behind Safe and The Expendables.

The story, based on Chuck Logan's novel, seems to be typical action fodder. Set in Louisiana, a local hood named, if you can believe it, Gator, played by James Franco who runs with ex-bikegang moll, Winona Ryder, goes after and up-against Statham's DEA/British Interpol agent.

Also in the mix are The Stath's daughter played by newcomer Izabela Vidovic and Kate Bosworth as Gator's junkie sister.

Although on the surface this looks and sounds as formulaic as they come, director Fleder, who comes from a history of tense dramas rather than action, and Our Man Stath both insist that like Safe and Hummingbird/Redemption before it, this will showcase Stath's lighter, more emotional side. I see Homefront, then as sort of Safe meets The Mechanic with a bit of Parker thrown in. Not bad. Not bad at all.

After Parker, Fast 6 and Redemption, both from 2013, this marks Statham's fourth release this year and that is a dizzying pace for him to keep up as a one-man action-drama machine. I am sure there are people out there with Statham fatigue, sad pathetic people with no excitement or sense of humour but we are not those people, we, personally, want 3 Statham films EVERY year from now on. We can't wait 12 months for the next one and, thankfully, we won't have to. Next year we already have Heat, Expendables 3 and Fast 7 and what 2015 holds yet? we don't know but as long as he keeps making them, we'll keep watching and raving about them.

Homefront is released on November 27th in the US and November 29th in the UK

You're name's Gator then Franco? Is that some sort of fuckin' joke?

Beetlejuice 2? Sure! I'm in!

Yep! In this one Statham rides a fuckin' horse. Nice!

- The Kick Ass Kid

MORE Expendables 3 on-set photos

From Comingsoon.net

So, there you have it, they have been filming only a couple of days and already we have tons of on-set photos and THIS photo of a heavily pumped up Mel Gibson:

and while it's fantastic and, of course, my action nerd heart is already palpitating, I hope they ease off so there's SOME surprises in the movie!

- The Kick Ass Kid

First EXPENDABLES 3 On-Set Pictures

Comingsoon.net released exclusive onset photos from EXPENDABLES 3 today which started shooting in Varna, Bulgaria this week. Take a look!

-The Kick Ass Kid

Gibson and Banderas CONFIRMED as Expendable

After rumours back and forth, according to Entertainment Weekly and one of Stallone's reps Mel Gibson is officially signed on to play the villain in EX3 which could form part of a villainous comeback for Mel if Machete Kills is as damn good fun as it looks. It also means that mentioned story points about a younger, computer literate team being the villains maybe not happening now and we, personally, couldn't be happier about that.
The more oldies he adds, the better.
As for Mel's previous alcohol related troubles what do people think? do we care when we see him on the screen being enjoyable? Let us know!
In the same announcement, the man who Stallone calls "a consummate actor and a gentleman" Antonio Banderas, who has long been rumoured for a part in the franchise, has also been added, officially, to the cast.
So that's two more official members to the film and, personally, I am happy that they are some old, proper 80s and 90s action stars. That's what these films NEED. As long as they are not young computer nerds because that will surely make them the Scrappy Do of the film and was tried in Die Hard 4 where the only weak part was Olyphant's pathetic villain. I prefer the idea of the President kidnap scenario, sort of an Air Force One 2 with Ford as a kick ass Pres, Gibson as a hand ringing villain and Banderas as a member of the Expendables.
Whatever happens in Stallone we trust!

-The Kick Ass Kid

Harrison Ford Jonesing for some group action!

Stallone hit Twitter again today and proves that, not only are they still casting and, therefor, supposedly scripting EX3 right down to the wire (it's set to start filming this August) but also that this film will scoop up and include basically every single action star it possibly can.

His tweet about Ford read:
WILLIS OUT... HARRISON FORD IN !!!! GREAT NEWS !!!!! Been waiting years for this!!!!

and followed it up with

GREEDY AND LAZY ...... A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE

Now I don't know if that second Tweet is an inspirational comment or a dig at Willis but there is the news: Willis, who plays Mr. Church in the franchise (and whose character, to be fair, has sort of run its course), will not be returning and Harrison "Inidiana Jones" Ford will be joining the, already, mega star cast.

Some have speculated the cast is getting a bit ridiculous and it's going to be a mess but IN STALLONE WE TRUST. I personally think it's awesome news and they should continue adding people all the way up to day one. I love it.

UPDATE: it is now being reported by various outlets from sources inside the film that Willis was booted off for demanding $4million for 4 days work in Bulgaria after already being offered $3million!
Firstly that's not exactly the spirit of ensemble films like this (you know some folks who work EVERY day on the film aren't getting that much) and also it's just ridiculously greedy.

It seems like, from recent behaviour, that Willis is trying to torpedo any good will people had towards him and while we here at the blog are still very much 'hate the artist but not the art' it is a shame that this was the reason he backed out and I wish he would pay just a little bit of attention and put some effort in to how he comes across.

Stallone's camp would only confirm that the second tweet was aimed squarely at Willis. So that answers that then. I can only imagine how he feels, he wants his old mates around him and he wants the film to be as good as possible.

Ford, who is also known for being prickly or odd in interviews, clearly didn't make such demands and fan reaction seems to be positive, so good for him!

- The Kick Ass Kid

Those Van Damme Remakes!

Action remakes, on the whole, are few and far between. Yes Statham did The Mechanic, The Rock did Walking Tall, Samuel Jackson had a crack at Shaft, Stallone tried to do Get Carter and there are a handful of driving ones like The Italian Job, Death Race and Gone in 60 Seconds but when compared to the horror genre, for example, action doesn't get the rape and plunder treatment very often.
There's a good reason for this.
The reason is that the action genre has always been happy to have its box full of bona fide original classics and then it's a thousand imitators.
You've got a million mercenary/man on a mission movies, a million one man against a thousand nameless terrorist movies and, of course, you've got your competition/martial arts movies.
You know what you're getting and you get what you want but the best thing about all this was that the action genre was always happy to rename, recast and re-situate their films. They'd set it in a different place or, even, in a different time, they'd add a new character beat or a back story that wasn't there before and, bingo! a brand new film.

So it is with much grinding of the teeth, pulling out of hair and sheer brain-numbing, slack jawed amazement at the pointlessness of it all that I shudder to announce remakes of not just Bloodsport but also Kickboxer.
James McTiegue, the man behind V For Vendetta will helm Bloodsport with a script by Taken's Mark Kamen. It doesn't matter that there are already 4 Bloodsports, 8 Bloodfists and 4 Best of the Bests (not to mention a gazillion other similar titles), they have decided, in their infinite wisdom to still call this film Bloodsport even though it's not about Frank Dux, it's set in Australia and Rio De Janeiro and it's all about Brazil's Vale Tudo martial art.
Van Damme has apparently shown interest in appearing in the film but Kamen made this rather ridiculous, slightly pompous and rather harsh statement against that happening:
“This is a character driven, politically motivated film. It has nothing to do with splits or muscles or grudge matches and as I said, if the title were not attached to the rights, you would not associate one film with the other.” - Source: Slashfilm
SO it's NOT Bloodsport then is it??!! So DON'T call it Bloodsport!!

Which brings us to Kickboxer, of which there are already 5 in the series! It appears to be an even more pointless remake considering they are remaking Bloodsport and, let's be fair, the concepts are not so miles apart. All we know about the Kickboxer reboot right now is its director, Stephen Fung who made Tai Chi Zero.

I don't know what to think. I mean I love having more action movies and I would love to see the revitalisation of the fight-competition genre but would it be so hard to give these movies different names at the very least?

I am going to leave you with some words from Chris (with a C) who is one half of the fantastic team who bring you the simply radiant and sublime WAFU FM podcast. WHICH YOU SHOULD ALL BE LISTENING TO EVERY WEEK!
He writes:
There are certain films that you don't need the remake rights, and the name, to remake...Kickboxer is one of them. There are about 20 films that, plot wise at least, are almost identical to Kickboxer that aren't remakes. So why bother? It's not like Kickboxer is a well known instantly recognizable name unless you're a Van Damme fan...in which case you're probably not very interested in a fucking remake of Kickboxer.

And as for the guy in the comments who seems to be seriously suggesting Taylor Lautner for the lead role...shame on you, sir. Fucking shame on you. Shame....I can't believe any grown man would suggest that guy for any movie, never mind a remake of Kickboxer. God, I hate people.

~Chris

I really couldn't put it better myself (and I tried!)
- The Kick Ass Kid

EXPENDABLES 3 ROUND UP

Trying to keep up with the Expendables 3 casting rumours has become a 24/7 job as firstly, there are so many stars to choose from and secondly, so many sources of possible casting news. These include Sly's personal Twitter feed, IMDB, TheExpendablesPremiere.com, TheArnoldFans.com and, practically, every news agency under the sun.
With Stallone, Willis, Arnold and Statham all doing press tours on various other movies right now, interview snippets and sound bites have been pouring in daily.

Cold hard facts are not easy things to come by in the casting, with everyone reporting something different.
Going strictly from Sly's Twitter feed this year, what we can say for certain is that
Stallone
Lundgren
Rourke
and
Wesley Snipes will be in the cast as will new comers UFC champ Ronda Rousey and boxing star Victor Ortiz
Staying with Sly's twitter feed for the moment, he has also hinted at, but not solidly confirmed, Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal, Mel Gibson, Gina Carano and even Antonio Banderas although Carano and Banderas haven't been mentioned anywhere else whereas Jackie Chan and Mel Gibson have been confirmed in other interviews, like the one below, and the Steven Seagal rumour has only been confirmed by a Bulgarian news outlet and not the star himself.
Lastly Sly said recently in an interview with TheArnoldFans.com:
"We have a great director and the best stunt coordinator in the world. I said we’re going to make this like there’s no two other Expendables and that this is the first one. And we got Mel Gibson, Nic Cage, Jackie Chan and Wesley Snipes and now I have FIVE NEW guys that you have never heard of."

This would seem an odd claim to make as inside sources claim Mel Gibson hasn't confirmed yet (Source: Cinemablend.com), Nic Cage told DenOfGeek "I'm not in Kick-Ass 2 and I don't think I'm in Expendables 3 and I like those guys, but I would say it would be highly unlikely that I'd be in that movie" and I haven't read anything official about Jackie Chan since he made his statement that he would definitely do it but only if his part was substantial.

Statham has confirmed in several interviews that he is definitely returning and as Sly's right hand man in the first two it would seem odd if he didn't.
I have read that Schwarzenegger is definitely returning but nothing concrete from Willis yet.

We are also going to assume that Jet Li, Randy Couture and Terry Crews are also back. Terry Crews says that he is and in the same interview he confirms Milla Jovovich's definite involvement, which was another long-running rumour that's been buzzing about.
IMDB lists Jovovitch and Li but, weirdly, not Couture and Crews.

There's lots of worrying news about the stupidly named, vacant eyed, bland and probably brainless nobody Kellan Lutz (who's apparently from those fucking Twilight movies) being in talks for EX3 too but I hope that's just his agent's wishful thinking (or tactic) and/or he is the young meat puppet that gets killed in the first 5 minutes like Thor's brother in EX2.

So that's about it, so far. No word yet on who will be Statham's British counterpart. There was Vinnie Jones murmurings but I still hold out hope for Darren Shahlavi.

Plotwise the film is meant to centre around either The Expendables against a young group of computer criminals, The Expendables saving the President or both. I hope the computer nerd villain storyline is just a rumour because we've already seen Die Hard 4.

So what do you think? and who would you cast?
The film is scheduled for release August 2014

- The Kick Ass Kid

ROCKY living with a new CREED

Director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B Jordan are planning, with a little help from their friends at MGM and a certain Mr.Stallone to breathe life back into the Rocky franchise in a rather ingenious way.

The plan is to make a movie, titled CREED, about Apollo Creed's grandson, to be played by the aforementioned Michael B Jordan who would be tempted to become a boxer and get trained by, none other than, Rocky himself.

Apollo Creed was originally played by Action Jackson, Carl Weathers in Rocky 1 thru 4 and the fanboy in me wants Weathers to some how appear in this film despite having been killed by Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren)

With any of Sly Stallone's franchises my personal preference is when he has creative control. The studios and even Sly don't seem to give him the credit he deserves. That being said any of his three franchises continuing is a plus in my book and as Stallone, himself, proved with, the very successful, part 6, there's life in the old pugilist yet.

Cue Frank Stallone and let's get this training montage started!!

- The Kick Ass Kid

Escape Plan Trailer

Here it is folks, we have got the first trailer for Arnie and Sly movie Escape Plan (formerly The Tomb) and it looks like a pure slice of awesome. A real throw back with a decent plot and Arnie and Sly battling against each other and together to get out of an insane prison.
The release date in the US is currently set for Oct 18th 2013.

Neeson's Taking $20 Million to be Taken AGAIN!

Yes apparently Taken 3 is in the works. Luc Besson and Mark Kamen, the screenwriters of the other two, have a script already well in development and rumours abound that Neeson will make the biggest pay day of his career, $20million, to return.
The second film, despite not being, exactly, the film we were all hoping it would be, only cost $20million more than Taken 1 but out grossed it by $150million, making another sequel a no-brainer for EuropaCorp and Luc Besson.
Neeson and sequel director Olivier Megaton had both said previously that there was no need for a part 3 and while I am happy they are wooing Neeson back with bundles o'moola, personally I hope they DON'T do the same for Megaton. While Transporter 3 wasn't bad at all, Columbiana was a little lackluster and Taken 2, frankly, disappointing.

SO what do people feel about the return of Bryan Mills?
I would like it if they returned to the brutality of the first film and not the compromise drivel of the second.

-The Kick Ass Kid

Jason Statham update!

Statham has been doing the rounds lately promoting his new film Hummingbird (out here in the States renamed as Redemption) which comes out this weekend June 28th.
For us here at the blog it's one of our most anticipated releases as it seems to blend Stath like action with an early 80s Bob Hoskins style gritty London movie. Cinematic gold in other words.
Here's a great interview he did for MTV where he actually goes in depth on Redemption, Fast 7, Expendables 3 and where he sees himself now.



Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

For those who have read our article 'Parker and let's get serious about Statham' you'll know that we have been supporting Statham's attempts to push his acting and work with interesting writer/director teams. It's nice, here, to see, finally, on this round of interviews, people asking him about precisely that. The slow ones will catch up, just remember we saw his genius first.

He also mentions, again, about wanting to do an action comedy and a pairing between him and Will Ferrell sounds amazing! Of course, if that doesn't work out, he could always try Jimmy Fallon with whom he stretched his comedy chops AND his arm wrestling skills recently on the late night talk-show.

and the last bit of info we have on the future of Stath is that while he may never be asked to don the tux of James Bond (because the producers are fools!), he may not have to as he has been pegged to star in a $35 million dollar British action film based on the Bulldog Drummond spy novels. Books which Ian Flemming himself said were an inspiration for Bond.

The film, Bulldog Drummond: Hero for Hire is currently on hold because they have been attempting to build a workable studio in Bahrain were some of the action set pieces will take place. Also where the producers of the film are trying to get a tasty tax rebate.

Jason, if he is involved, is probably thankful for the delay though because what with Heat, Homefront, Ex3 & Fast 7 on his plate already it would seem impossible to squeeze another film into that schedule but, we'll see! Just as long as he keeps making them, I'll keep watching them and applauding like an insane person!

- The Kick Ass Kid

New Pictures and TV Spot from Statham's Redemption (Hummingbird)

We were lucky enough to get hold of the below new photos from Jason Statham's next film Hummingbird in the UK and the disappointing name change to Redemption in the US.

Due out on the 28th of June, while the film certainly has some fight scenes in it, when I see the trailer I get very cool, early 80s Bob Hoskins, Mona Lisa vibes from it. 

Written and Directed by Steven Knight, the man behind Eastern Promises and Dirty Pretty Things I think this is just another fantastic step on Statham's journey to become the next Hoskins, Stamp or Caine. A rough and ready London boy who can handle material with emotional depth too.

Statham deniers need to shut up or move on around me, I am constantly impressed by the man. 

-The Kick Ass Kid