The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

The Skinny: Two warring sorcerers fight for control of New York city. The goodguy sorcerer Balthazar Blake (Cage) recruites everydayman Dave Stutler (Baruchel) to assist him in the battle against the evil Maxim Horvath (Molina). In the meantime, its school time for the young apprehentice as he learns the ropes of sorcerer-ship from a fedora-wearing wizard, and the meaning of courage. 

The Helmer: Jon Turteltaub - Harpers Island (2009 TV), National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), Jericho (2006 TV 2 episodes), National Treasure (2004), More, Patience (2001 TV), The Kid (2000), Instinct (1999), From the Earth to the Moon (1998 TV), Phenomenon (1996), While You Were Sleeping (1995), Cool Runnings (1993), 3 Ninjas (1992), Driving Me Crazy (1991), Think Big (1989).

The Casts: Nicholas Cage (Balthazar Blake), Jay Baruchel (Dave), Alfred Molina (Horvath), Teresa Palmer (Becky), Toby Kebell (Drake Stone)

The Prediction: Turtletaub and Cage - they've had some successes together notably the broad appeal actioneer National Treasure series. Will the same combination work again? Cages career of late has been a series of yes and no's. You had "Next" which was a no, "Kick Ass" which was a yes. The thing about Cage is that he plays himself in all his movies. The way he speaks, the way he stands ... movies are built around him, as opposed to him melting into the role and expanding the story.But then again, this is a Disney movie which means it cannot not fail. Entertaining? Check. Spellbinding? Check. Family wholesome fun? Check.

Release date: 16th July 2010 USA

Official Trailer

Official Site

Centurion (2010)

And so another epic movie pops out. A sand, spear and sandal adventure makes its appearance for 2010 with Neil Marshall's Centurion, right on the heels of Robin Hood. Do I see a pattern?

The Skinny: A splinter group of Roman soldiers struggle to survive the onslaught of vicious guerrilla attack by a small local tribe in the hinterland of northern Britain in AD 117, led by the beautiful but brutal female leader Etain. Roman General Virilus is kidnapped and it is up to his second in command Dias to rescue him. The full summary from Pathe Productions can be found here.

The Helmer: Neil Marshall - The Descent 2 (2007), Doomsday (2008), The Descent (2005), Dog Soldiers (2002), Combat (1999).

The Casts: Michael Fassbender (Quintus Dias), Dominic West (Virilus), Olga Kurylenko (Etain), Noel Clarke (Marcos), David Morrissey (Bothos).

The Prediction: This looks brutal and cold. I like it. I also like Olga Kurylenko in vicious mode with swords. How will it do? Neil Marshall was critically acclaimed with Dog Soldiers, a simple plot of a movie concerning a group of training soliders deep in the English forest under attack by a group of vicious werewolves. He was also lauded for his all-female cast of the effective claustrophobic movie of splunkers descending into uncharted undergroud labyrinth who come face to face to humanoid monsters who feed on flesh. So technically, since he wrote and directed this movie, he may carry the same level of shock and awe in his previous successes.If he does, we should expect a medieval action flick slanted in brutal, shocking sequence.

Release date: 27 August 2010 USA 

Centurion Trailer 

Basic Info

Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010)

Michael Cera is in danger of being stereotyped; typecast; pigeonholed etc. Since I don't know the guy personally, I can only assume he plays himself in all his roles; from the straightforward, linear thinking, innocent, nice Arrested Development kid to the Superbad kid, to the indie-pic kid in Juno. And Scott Pilgrim is, from what I can gather, is not that much different. 

The Skinny: Scott Pilgrim is the leader of an underground band who is aiming to make this hot chick his girlfriend, only that he has to battle 7 of her exes. Each with incredible super powers. 

The Helmer: Edgar Wright - Grindhouse (2007 - fake trailer "Don't"), Hot Fuzz (2007), Straight 8 (2004 TV), The Man Who Would Be Shaun (2004 V), Funky Pete (2004 V), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Fun Dead (2004 V)

The Casts: Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Ramona V Flowers), Kieren Culkin (Wallace Wells), Chris Evans (Lucas Lee), Anna Kendrick (Stacey Pilgrim), Brandon Routh (Todd Ingram), Alison Pil (Kim Pine), Jason Schwartzman (Gideon Gordon Graves), Ellen Wong (Knives Chau),

The Prediction: This movie is essentially a multiple-layered video game made into a film with dialogue and plot. This is where the hero engages in tougher-by-the-level challenges exactly like in any first person games. And in between, there's comedy and romance and amazing set pieces. Will it work? It didn't work that well with Neveldine and Taylor's Gamer although it did relatively well with the Crank 1 & 2 which operated on similar premise. But honestly? This looks like a fun, colorful movie with great potential for sequels and imitators. And it really helps that helmer Wright does have a few notable notches on his belt with his successful remaking of existing genres, such as his zombie take with Shaun of the Dead, and action cop take with Hot Fuzz. 

Official Website

Trailer

Release Date: July 2010 - USA / November 2010 - Malaysia

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2011)

Its good to see Vin Diesel back in action. Serious action that is. Babylon AD was technically okay, not really good, but competent enough to display a satisfactory level of bad-ass'ness. Pity it got whacked at the box office. Having said that, its good to have this baldy hardman back in the mix. Nowadays, action heroes are either pre-teens or post-men'a'pause.

The Skinny: Apparently Xander Cage survived the near fatal incident which led to chubby Ice Cube taking on the role of triple x in the good-only-if-it-was-someone-else-BESIDES-chubby-ice-cube xXx 2: State of the Union, sequel. And he's back for more ass-kicking action in glorious 3D. Woohoo!

The Helmer: Rob Cohen - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), Stealth (2005), xXx (2002), The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Skulls (2000), The Rat Pack (1998 TV), The Guardian (1997 TV), Daylight (1996), Dragon Heart (1996), Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993),  The Antagonists (1991 - TV), Eddie Dodd (1991 - TV), Nasty Boys (1990 TV), Thirtysomething (1988 - 1990 TV), Hooperman (1989 - TV), A Year in the Life (1987 TV), Private Eye (1987 TV), Miami Vice (1985 - 1986 TV), Scandalous (1984), A Small Circle of Friends (1980)

The Casts: Vin Diesel (Xander Cage), Samuel L. Jackson (Agent Augustus Gibbons)

The Prediction: The first xxx movie was a decent attempt at re-inventing the spy action genre. Only it never took off. Instead it plummeted and practically killed the initial entry of Diesel into the hard-man action genre he was obviously constructed for. The situation was not helped much, with the second instalment of the xxx series with chubby boy Cubes going bad-ass on a bad-ass-lite version. I mean, come on, can Ice Cube ever be bad-ass? He's just not cut that way. So yeah, Diesel / Xander back in action looks good. I'm looking forward to this because it can be good if Cohen sticks to something mindless but exhillirating

Basic xXx Info

Diesel Cohen Cohorting

More xXx 3 News

Mad Max: Fury Road (2012)

Back in 1978, Australia joined the league of kick-ass action movie-producers with the one and only ultimate action road adventure known as Mad Max. Led by the young Mel Gibson, it told the story of Max, a loving family man who turned vigilante kick-asser extraordinaire in the barren wasteland of the future, battling horrific bad guys on the road with his side kick dingo in his V6 engine black vehicle of destruction. This was a milestone for the Aussies as back in the day, they weren't that well known for action movies. Only long, boring, incomprehensible flicks with a lot of people crying (or maybe not). Whatever it is, Mad Max is a historic pivotal point for not just Australian cinema, but also ALL action flicks with its superior and brutal road action scene.

The Skinny: The future is dark, grim and very dangerous.

The Helmer: George Miller - original Mad Max helmer for both Mad Max, and Mad Max: Road Warrior.

The Cast: Tom Hardy as Mad Max and Charlize Theron as his moll (?)

The Prediction: Please, please don't screw this up. Mad Max is an institution in itself, showcasing one of the finest road battles ever committed to movie reels. If its an update, well and good, but if its a POLITICALLY CORRECT update, then we are doomed. I don't see the relevance of having an A-list female star along side Max because Max has been a loner throughout his violent career since the loss of his wife and family. New chicks don't and shouldn't enter frame.

Things You Should Know about Mad Max

The Director

Contagion (2011)

An all-star cast led by Matt Damon in this new action adventure flick by acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh. What can go wrong? Not much.
 
The Skinny: A team is set up to counter the global threat of a new disease.

The Helmer: Steven Soderbergh - The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg (2010), And Everything is Going Fine (2010), The Informant! (2009), The Girlfriend Experience (2009), Che: Part One (2008), Che: Part Two (2008), Ocean's Thirteen (2007), The Good German (2006), Bubble (2005), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Eros (2004), K Street (2003 - TV 10 episodes), Solaris (2002), Full Frontal (2002), Ocean's Eleven (2001), Traffic (2000), Erin Brokovich (2000), The Limey (1999), Out of Sight (1998), Schizopolis (1998), Gray's Anotomy (1996), Fallen Angels (1993 - 1995 TV), Underneath (1995), King of the Hill (1993), Kafka (1991), Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989), Winston (1987), Access All Areas (1985 V), Yes: 9012 Live (1985 V).

The Casts: Matt Damon (Thomas Emhoff), Jude Law (Allen Krumwiede), Marion Cotillard (Dr. Leonora Orantes), Kate Winslet (Dr. Erin Mears) Gwyneth Paltrow (Beth Emhoff), Laurence Fishburne (Dr. Ellis Cheever)

The Prediction: The last time we had an action-packed movie about diseases was Dustin Hoffman's excellent "Outbreak", where there was a monkey, several choppers, Kevin Spacey dying in a spacesuit and running against time, and a big bad bomb. It did well at the box office and made Hoffman, for a very brief moment, an action hero. Although he did not kick any ass. So this time around we have a very strong cast, helmed by a very competent director, on a very current subject matter of global pandamic. I'm going to risk it and recommend that this movie is worth the price of admission because its going to be good. So there you have it: Matt Damon hot off the Green Zone kick-assery battling viruses. Now whose ass is he going to kick, I wonder ...

Information

Soderberghs Contagion to go 3D

Red (2010)

Bruce is Back! After the recent action comedy "Cop Out" with Tracy Morgan, and the brief stint in the Gorilaz "Stylo" music video, he's back home on the action-kick-ass front. This time around he's supported by an outstanding casts of award winner Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman in the movie adaption of graphic novel by British comic writer Warren Ellis in his Wildstorm series.  

The Skinny: Bruce is Frank Moses, a retired government assassin who finds himself smack in the crosshair of the agency he used to work for. Naturally all hell breaks loose as he teams up with ex-hitman from the same agency to find out just what the hell is going on. The titular "Red", appears to be an acronym for RETIRED EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

The Helmer: Robert Schwentke - The Time Traveler's Wife (2009), Lie to Me (2009 - TV), Flightplan (2005), The Family Jewels (2003), Tattoo (2002), Heaven! (1993).

The Casts: Bruce Willis (Frank Moses) Helen Mirren (Victoria), Morgan Freeman (Joe Matheson), John Malkovich (Marvin Boggs), Richard Dreyfuss (Alexander Dunning).

The Prediction: This looks and sounds like a good movie and possibly it is. Its also sympthomatic of the the current trend in recycling old action stars where they'r put in action movies and played up to the max making it part of the plot.   The Expendables and Righteous Kill are recent examples. But its fun, and it shows that old dudes can kick ass, still. And thats not a bad thing is it?  

Red Trailer

What You Need to Know