Fans of the Riddick franchise -- all six of us -- thought for sure that, despite occasional rumblings to the contrary, the series was dead. The expansive, expensive Chronicles of Riddick was trashed upon release, after all, and flopped at the box office (at least domestically). Another sequel seemed foolhardy, sure to be met with gales of laughter from the same peanut gallery that so readily dismissed Chronicles.
I still think that's probably true, but I won't tell Vin Diesel, who is determined to make two more sequels happen. In an interview with MTV, he said that writer-director David Twohy is currently working on the scripts, and that the "only question" is whether they will be shot together, LoTR-style, or as two separate productions. Why did it take so long? No money problems, Diesel insists -- they just want to get it right. This was, after all, envisioned as a trilogy, with Pitch Black acting as a stand-alone companion film.
I've wasted a lot of breath defending The Chronicles of Riddick to naysayers, and have pretty much accepted that the film will never meet with much popularity. (My hopes that it would become a cult hit on DVD despite its initial chilly reception have been cruelly dashed, though the spin-off video game proved popular.) I continue to think that it's an ambitious, genuinely interesting piece of science-fiction and world-building. So I'll gladly get excited for sequels from the same creative team, even as I harbor doubts that they'll actually get made.
It comes as little surprise whenever a studio decides to kindly remove a film from a director's hands -- the situation with Lionsgate's treatment of Punisher: War Zone still smells fishy from this end -- but while most filmmakers would proceed to bite their tongues and salvage their careers, Mathieu Kassovitz begs to differ on his own film, the Vin Diesel vehicle Babylon A.D., which opens this Friday in an all-too-familiar August dump situation (joining it on the marquee: alleged comedies Disaster Movie and College).
In an exclusive interview with AMC's sci-fi blog, Kassovitz admits that a troubled production and comprised final cut (at least in the States, although reviews from elsewhere aren't much kinder) are responsible for turning his adaptation of Maurice Georges Dantec's futuristic novel into "pure violence and stupidity... like a bad episode of '24'."
I suspect that this trailer for Fast and Furious -- that's The Fast and theFurious, Part IV: Articles Result in Wind Resistance, or 2 Fast 2 Furious x 2 -- just made a wide number of gearheads moist over the triumphant return of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker as they drive fast and glare hard in a combined effort to save their careers.
Diesel and Walker find themselves reunited with Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster of the hollow but entertaining original, and the whole photogenic ensemble find themselves directed by Justin Lin, a.k.a. the guy they brought in to direct the hollow but tiresome three-quel that none of these actors were themselves a part of (okay, so Diesel made the briefest cameo, yippee for that). The stunts, though, appear to be more along the practical lines of the first two films, so perhaps a happy medium can be struck between their relative entertainment value and the numbing antics of Tokyo Drift.
Fast and Furious leaves skid marks in theaters next June.
Were you out there feeling like there were still just too many unanswered questions in The Fast and the Furious franchise? Okay, probably not, because that's like asking for CliffsNotes for an episode of The Hills. But, I guess somebody out there felt there was some explaining to do, because Coming Soon reports that Vin Diesel (who plays muscle car driver extraordinaire, Dominic Torretto) will be directing a 20-minute prequel to the upcoming Fast and Furious.
There aren't many details on the short, but starring alongside Diesel will be Michelle Rodriguez, who will reprise her role as Letty, and Sung Kang will also be returning as Han. Diesel did not provide any details about the story for the short, but for those of you who are well versed in the world of Fast and Furious, you can probably guess that it will act as a tie-in to bring together the events of the second and third films.
I'll admit I was surprised to discover that Diesel has already directed before. Mainly they were other short films, but back in 1997, he wrote, directed, and starred in Strays, a drama about hustlers, and of course, there are still those long-standing rumors about Diesel directing his own Hannibal (not the cannibal) feature. Nobody knows for sure where the Fast and Furious prequel will appear first, but the obvious choice would be online. There is also a chance that to drum up a little business Universal will premiere it on TV, or as an extra on the DVD. One thing is for sure, unless Justin Lin has the running time of Fast and Furious down to 70 minutes, I doubt we'll be seeing it in theaters.
Fast and Furious is scheduled to open on June 5th, 2009.
I'll admit it; I have a soft spot for Vin Diesel. Feel free to laugh at me, but I can't help myself, it's something about that voice. So you might want to keep my personal bias in mind when I say that Babylon A.D. really doesn't look all that bad. Silly? Yes, but entertaining none the less. Ropes of Silicon found the latest poster for the sci-fi flick from Gothika director Mathieu Kassovitz and if nothing else, it's a step up from the first one-sheet/Oakley ad we saw a few months ago.
Diesel stars as Toorop, a mercenary who takes the job of escorting a woman from Eastern Europe to New York. But if you have seen the trailer, you know that there is a lot more to this lady than meets the eye. Say what you will about the film, but you have to admit, some of those 'Bladerunneresque' shots of the city were pretty impressive. Starring alongside Diesel is the criminally underused Michelle Yeoh as an a**-kicking nun, as well as, Gerard Depardieu, and Charlotte Rampling.
Babylon has had rough time throughout production. The project started back in 2005, when Kassovitz was hired to adapt the novel, Babylon Babies. Originally the French actor Vincent Cassel was expected to take the lead, but Diesel decided to drop out of Hitman (probably not a bad idea all things considered) to lobby for the role. It was even speculated that the move caused bad blood between Cassel and Kassovitz, and ruined a long standing friendship. As if that wasn't enough stress; there were also delays from weather and talk about the film running over budget.
Hopefully all these problems won't be showing up on the screen when Babylon A.D. opens in theaters on August 29th.
Well, if you have a soft spot for the Fast and Furious franchise, then I'm sure the above picture will make you feel warm and fuzzy all over -- or, at the very least, just a little nostalgic. Sure we got to see some photos of cars, but blurry shots of a few cars was hardly the scoop of the century. At least now we're getting the first official stills (courtesy of USA Today) from the fourth installment of the racing franchise. So for anyone who might have missed those earlier shots, here is your chance to see Toretto (Vin Diesel) and O'Connor (Paul Walker) together again. Furious also brings together writer/director Justin Lin (who directed the third installment of the series) with series vets Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez (reprising their original roles).
For the latest film in the series, Diesel's underground racer and Walker's undercover cop will reunite to take down a common enemy. There was some early speculation -- possible spoiler warning -- surrounding the return (and reported demise) of Rodriguez's character, Letty, and there were even some photos floating around that would support the theory. Either way, I'm not one of those people who feed off spoilers, so I'm going to let that particular plot point stay a mystery for now. But since I'm not the type to judge, you can take a look here -- but don't say I didn't warn you.
We're soon approaching the three-year anniversary of covering Vin Diesel's eternally forthcoming future-set thriller, Babylon A.D. - on the 24th, baby! - and in perhaps an uncanny move to soothe our patience pains, IGN Movies has delivered the film's first domestic trailer.
The result comes across as The Transporter by way of Children of Men, if Jason Statham and Clive Owen were then replaced by Sir Diesel and some snowmobiles. Sure, it might turn out to be zippy late-summer fun, but moving one's release date from February to August doesn't exactly qualify as a vote of confidence in any respect.
Oh, and as for those rumors that only half of Babylon will make it to the States, CHUD picked up on some counter-rumors that suggest such is not the case. We may not know how legitimate this MySpace source of theirs is, but I struggle to believe that this thing could ever have run 160 minutes, only to lose almost half of that running time in select territories. In fact, I'm fairly certain that, to some medical professionals, behavior like that qualifies as an 'episode' of some sort.
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, Babylon A.D. opens on August 29th, opposite Disaster Movie and College, which are bound to be 'episodes' in their own right.
For fans of The Fast and the Furious franchise, there were still a few pretty big questions hanging over the movie. Mainly, just what exactly was this movie going to be about ... other than fast cars that look real cool when they go real fast? Well, wonder no longer because Universal has announced the official title and the final plot synopsis for the latest installment of the racing franchise. Now titled Fast and Furious (yo, they left out the 'the!'), the story centers on reuniting Dom Torretto (Vin Diesel) and agent Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) along with vets from the first film (Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez).
According to Universal's description, "When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O'Conner (Walker). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmanuever him."
So far there have been a few on-set photos, and don't forget there was an early script review from Latino Review back in November. It would seem that it might have been legit since it got some of the details right (including some spoilerific details regarding the fate of Rodrgiuez's character, Letty). Director Justin Lin is already talking about making one more film before retiring the series, but we'll have to wait to see how high gas prices climb first. Fast and Furious will arrive in theaters on June 5, 2009.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Vin Diesel can't catch a break when it comes to sci-fi movies? Twitch is reporting that Diesel's latest, Babylon A.D., has undergone a serious edit and the film has been reduced from a running time of 160 minutes to a mere 90. Just so we have this straight, it looks like Fox has cut the film pretty much in half. It had been reported that two distinct versions of the film (one for European audiences and one for the US) were going to hit theaters, but now we'll all be getting the same version since a 90-minute cut was submitted to the UK's BBFC for certification.
Babylon A.D. was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, and it centers on a young woman who has been infected with a virus that could wipe out humanity. Diesel plays a mercenary who's been charged with escorting this walking time bomb from Russia to New York City. Joining Diesel is Michelle Yeoh as a butt-kicking nun and Mélanie Thierry as Aurora, the futuristic 'Typhoid Mary'. Originally the film was expected to be a dark action flick (what else could it be with Kassovitz at the helm?) but according to Twitch, the film is now aiming for a PG-13 rating.
OK, I'll admit it: I have watched all of the Fast and the Furious movies. IThough I know next to nothing about cars, that never really mattered to me. I mean, who doesn't like watching shiny things driving at the speed of light? Car Domain is now posting images of some of the cars from the set of Fast and Furious 4 (although Car Domain's scooper says most of them are background for a nightclub scene). We've already seen stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker hard at work, so it's about time we got to see some of the real stars of these films -- the cars (you can see the full set and some bonus camera phone footage over at Car Domain).
The fourth film in the series reunites the original cast (Diesel, Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez) along with some new faces, including Ms. Israel, Gal Gadot. Chris Morgan (Wanted) wrote the script and Justin Lin is back behind the camera (he also directed the third installment, Tokyo Drift). The story centers on Walker and Diesel who are out to stop a heroin importer known as Braga. Of course, the only way to do that is to join his underground racing team (I know, it doesn't make that much sense, but what can you do?).
Before I even start, I just want to say that at no point am I going to take any cheap shots at Michelle Rodriguez about her driving habits -- and believe me, it isn't easy. Instead, lets just focus on what she does best, playing bad a** chicks. Coming Soon.net reports (via Rodriguez's web site) that she will be returning for the latest installment of The Fast and The Furious franchise.
For those of you out there who don't know your cheesy car flicks, Rodriguez starred in the first film back in 2001as Letty, the girlfriend to street racer Vin Diesel. Like most of the original cast, she was nowhere to be seen in the later sequels. But this time around, it looks like director Justin Lin is going back to the beginning and reuniting Diesel, Paul Walker, and Rodriguez.
The story will focus on Brian (Walker) and Dominic (Diesel) teaming up to stop a drug kingpin known as Braga. So where do the cars come in, you might ask? I mean, this is a Fast and Furious movie after all. Well, our two heroes vie for a spot on the criminal's team, in a snazzy Nissan, with a plan to catch the man red-handed. (Just a couple of weeks ago, we got our first look at Diesel and Walker on set.) Rodriguez is also still doing some post-production work on James Cameron's Avatar, so I would guess that it won't take long to wrap up her part as Letty before she heads back to finish up the sci-fi blockbuster. The Fast and the Furious 4 is scheduled for release summer, 2009.
Not long ago, a friend of mine was auditioning for a role in Fast and the Furious 4. I never found out how that went, but we had fun running through the script pages he had; showing him how to get into character. (As if I know what I'm talking about -- heck, he probably lost the role based on what we told him to do.) Anyway, there's been lots of buzz surrounding part four, seeing as both Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are reprising their roles from the earlier films. Well, JFX Online (those folks who stake out film sets and snap photos) have posted a few photos and a video from the set of Fast and the Furious 4. We get our first look at Vin Diesel (above), as well as Paul Walker (after the jump) and a bunch of the vehicles being used in the flick (see video). Fast cars. Fast women. AND Vin Diesel. Is your mouth watering yet?
In addition to the Fast and the Furious photos, JFX Online was also stalking the set of Adam Sandler's new film Bedtime Stories, and managed to get the first pic of Sandler holding an umbrella for a scene that features ... gumballs falling from the sky? We've included that photo after the jump for you to check out; Bedtime Stories follows a dude (Sandler) who realizes that, after reading bedtime stories to his nephews, the characters suddenly come to life. It's due out this Christmas.
See, stuff like this just bugs me. According to Twitch (via the Babylon A.D. production blog), two different versions of Vin Diesel'sBabylon A.D. will be hitting theaters far apart from one another. It's not that I care so much about seeing a longer version of the film in theaters (which, apparently, is what will take place in the UK), it's just that Fox has once again decided to release a film in the UK first and then wait six months before putting it in theaters here in the states. You'll remember something similar happened with Danny Boyle's Sunshine earlier this year. The film was released in several cities around the world in March, but Fox decided to hold it back until December. Luckily, we're still not waiting for the film because Fox ultimately chose to stuff Sunshine into an already-packed summer line-up.
Anyway, UK folks will supposedly get to see a two hour and forty minute version of Babylon A.D. early next year when it's released across the pond. However, Fox has decided they will in no way ask people to sit through a three-hour Vin Diesel film in America, so they're going to trim that sucker down to a reasonable time and release it on August 29. In my opinion, this is a stupid move because by the time it's released in the states, copies of that sucker will be all over the internet, etc. I remember a good month after Sunshine was released in the UK, that film was all over the place -- one of my friends actually had it, and asked if I wanted a copy. I did not take it. I wanted to see the film in theaters. And I did.
Babylon A.D., a pet project for Diesel, follows a Veteran-turned-mercenary who's placed in charge of escorting a woman from Russia to China. What he doesn't know is that this woman is to host an organism that a cult wants to harvest in order to produce a new Messiah. The film was originally supposed to be released in the states on February 28, the same day as the UK, and I imagine they're taking the extra time to trim. Here's my question: Would you even be interested in a two hour and forty minute Vin Diesel sci-fi flick? And does watching the man for that long make a person stupider?
Okay, so apparently Vin Diesel wasn't the only celebrity to get their breakdancing groove on back in the 80s. I'll admit Diesel's instructional breakdancing video is pretty hilarious, but at least it least it was edited fairly well. In this video, circa 1985, Cuba Gooding Jr. stars in one of those fast-paced, breakdancing montages with one helluva kickin' soundtrack. It's killer! My favorite part of the video is when they hold up a card that says, "Starring" and then flash a shot of Cuba Gooding Jr. But they don't show his name; instead, they cut from Cuba to a license plate that says "Black Girls Are Bad" -- so it almost looks like they're trying to tell you that this short stars some random kid and bad black girls. Eventually, they throw up Cuba Gooding's name in graffiti lettering (because you weren't cool in the 80s unless you knew how to write your name in graffiti), and grainy footage continues with a bunch of kids breakdancing. Someone takes a bite out of Mickey Mouse, there are kids breakdancing on rollerskates, and, well, why don't you watch it for yourself. How he went from this to Daddy Day Camp ... I have no idea.
You know smooth-headed, cool-as-ice Vin Diesel likes to come across as a sort of tough-as-nails bad guy, right? You saw him acting tough in Pitch Black, The Fast and the Furious, and ... The Pacifier. But did you know that he made an instructional breakdancing video?
It's true, and thanks to the modern glory of the 5Min Life Videopedia, it is here for your viewing pleasure. He also has a full head of hair in it, which looks completely different than the crazy locks he had in Find Me Guilty. So take some time out from your Halloween to enjoy Vinnie in full breakdancing gear doing some synchronized breakdancing in the video below. You might learn a thing or two.
Fans of the Riddick franchise -- all six of us -- thought for sure that, despite occasional rumblings to the contrary, the series was dead. The expansive, expensive Chronicles of Riddick was trashed upon release, after all, and flopped at the box office (at least domestically). Another sequel seemed foolhardy, sure to be met with gales of laughter from the same peanut gallery that so readily dismissed Chronicles.
It comes as little surprise whenever a studio decides to kindly remove a film from a director's hands -- the situation with Lionsgate's treatment of 
Were you out there feeling like there were still just too many unanswered questions in 
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We're soon approaching the three-year anniversary of covering 
For fans of The Fast and the Furious franchise, there were still a few pretty big questions hanging over the movie. Mainly, just what exactly was this movie going to be about ... other than fast cars that look real cool when they go real fast? Well, wonder no longer because Universal has announced the official title and the final plot synopsis for the 
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OK, I'll admit it: I have watched all of the Fast and the Furious movies. IThough I know next to nothing about cars, that never really mattered to me. I mean, who doesn't like watching shiny things driving at the speed of light? Car Domain is now posting 
Before I even start, I just want to say that at no point am I going to take any cheap shots at .jpg)
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