This Week in Movie News 2/11-2/15

Before I get into the movie news for this week I wanted to apologize for the lack of content the past few days. Things have been pretty busy and I have been unable to finish writing a couple of posts that I want to put up. I will set those aside for the next time this happens so that there will still be some content on the site every day. This week was pretty slow in terms of big movie news but there are a few minor tidbits that are actually really interesting.

A Good Day To Die Hard Sucks!

Title is foreshadowing

This is not a major surprise but after reading probably about 50 reviews I lost all desire to see this movie. It currently has a 15 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes which is right up there with Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Safe Haven. Something that has really disturbed me about the Die Hard Franchise is that it has gotten away from its roots. In the first few films John McClain was an Average Joe who just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now he has become an unstoppable action hero who saves the world. Essentially these films have become just generic action movies with the Die Hard name attached to them which is part of the reason why I did not like Live Free or Die Hard and why I was hesitant to see the new one. Kevin is planning on seeing it though so if your looking for a review he should have one up over the weekend hopefully.

 
Harrison Ford to play Han Solo again

Apparently he has been signed to reprise his role as Han Solo in Star Wars VII. I’m not sure what to think about this because Harrison Ford is old as F**K now, that being said its better than bringing in some new actor to play Han Solo. I am really iffy on this movie so it is going to take a lot of convincing for me to get on board (cool posters and trailers usually do the trick).


 

The Awesome Peter Dinklage cast in X-Men Days of Future Past

This film continues to look more and more awesome. They picked an awesome storyline for the movie, are bringing in both the casts from the first 3 X-Men movies and the cast from X-Men First Class, brought Bryan Singer back to direct and now have cast Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones). I have no idea what role he is playing but he is awesome in just about everything. Now we just have to wait a year for this to come out.






Albert Brooks brought back for Finding Nemo 2

I love Albert Brooks especially for his performance in Drive. That being said it’s disappointing to see that Pixar is continuing their trend of just making sequels to all of their films. They are no longer the studio that doesn’t make bad movies.    




Michael Mann and Chris Hemsworth teaming up for a movie!

I will watch anything that Michael Mann makes especially in the thriller genre. I know Collateral is one of Kevin’s favorite films and I love Heat. Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers) is hit or miss for me, I thought Red Dawn was the worst movie of 2012 but Cabin in the Woods was a fun movie. Making a film with Michael Mann might be a great career move that should give us an idea of his acting potential.

 

Jason Statham may be the villain in Fast and Furious 7

 The face I made when I heard this news

I would hold off judgment on this until I see Fast and Furious 6 which I am skeptical of after seeing the full length trailer. I guess this is going to become somewhat of a rival franchise to the Expendables as it has evolved from street racing crime movies to huge scale blockbusters featuring an ensemble cast of action stars. I am not much of a Jason Statham fan but it could be interesting seeing him be a villain and getting a chance to fight Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Vin Diesel. 



David Ayer to direct WW2 Tank Movie!

Director or Trucker?

If you do not know David Ayer is the guy who directed End of Watch and is directing a new Arnold action film Ten which is set to come out early 2014. He also wrote Training Day and The Fast and the Furious so he is a somewhat accomplished Writer and Director. The film is supposed to be about an American Tank Crew in 1945 during the last weeks of the war in Europe. This is definitely a different direction for a director who has really only done crime movies. It sounds pretty bad ass and actually a somewhat different take on WW2 which seems to be a genre that unfortunately looks to have finally been exhausted. It would be cool to see a bit of resurgence in the genre and this could be the start! 



Shrinking Man Reboot

The Incredible Shrinking Man was a 1957 film based off of a sci-fi novel written by Richard Matheson who has had a lot of his stories put to film. Usually I don’t like the idea of reboots but this is a situation where I think it is a good idea. I think rebooting movies that are no longer culturally significant and are significantly dated are the types of films to reboot, especially if there is a really good story at the heart of it. Also apparently the studio has hired the original author Richard Matheson and his son to write the screenplay. This sounds like something that could become a surprise success. 


Oliver Twist Action Movie?

Action Hero?

The number 9 spot on news has become the spot for terrible movies that are getting made I guess (Paul Walker Hitman Movie last week). This just sounds like a terrible idea, apparently it is going to be set 20 years after the book and try to be like the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes movies. Best case scenario this is about as good as Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. 







New Posters!

Summary-

So overall there was not a lot of big news but still some interesting stuff happened. Again I apologize for the lack of content through the middle of the week and there should be plenty of stuff to read on here over the weekend. Have a good weekend and try to avoid the terrible movies that are in theaters right now.

-Chris "Da  Franchize" Hart