A new Bruce Lee movie started shooting yesterday, and it was announced that Philip Ng (New Police Story, Bodyguards and Assassins) will be taking on the role of the legendary martial artist.

The story is set in the mid-1960s and focuses on the fight between Lee and Wong Jack Man. The story is told from the point of view of one of Lee’s students, Steve McKee, who is being played by Billy Magnussen. After the fight, Lee reinvented himself and his fighting style of kung fu.

Shaolin Master Wong Jack Man will be played by Yu Xia, and the rest of the cast includes Jinging Qu as McKee’s love interest and Jin Xing as a crime boss. 

The film is being directed by George Nolfi from a script written by Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele, who have worked on films such as Ali and Nixon. The director had this to say in a statement:

“Birth of the Dragon is a rare opportunity to make an action film with rich characters based on real events and real people. It’s a story about people from the East and West transcending their differences to work together, which is obviously a very timely story.”

Producer Michael London added:

“We’re thrilled to be telling one of the great untold stories in martial arts history, especially at this unique moment when China and Western audiences are opening up to each other as never before. To work with a Chinese film company like Kylin on a story that has so much significance in China has been a wonderful collaboration, and, we hope, the first of many.”

It seems like this will be Ng’s highest profile role to date. He looks the part, and it will be interesting to see how his martial arts skills compare to Lee's.

I’m such a huge fan of Lee, and it’s great that we are going to get to see another movie based on part of his life.  

I’ve got a fantastic, adrenaline-fueled action short for you to check out today called "Singularity." It was directed by Samuel Jorgensen, and it has some pretty damn good production value.

The film was financed through Kickstarter and was made on a budget of only $10K. They definitely put that money to good use to bring this story to life. Here’s a brief story summary:

In the midst of a war between humans and sentient androids, a Delta Force team must battle a dangerous enemy to rescue the US President.

One of my favorite things about the short is how much story they were able to tell in such a short amount of time. I could easily see this being a feature length film. I hope you enjoy the film!

We've got the first trailer for Zoolander 2 for you to watch, and it looks like it's going to be just as funny and absurd as the first film! If you were a fan of Zoolandeer, then you're gonna love what you see in this trailer. Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Will Ferrell are back to reprise their roles, but of course, there are going to be a ton of cameo appearances! 

The movie takes place a decade after the first film, and Derek and Hansel have been forgotten and aged out of the modeling world. Since no one knows who they are, they have to reinvent themselves. As they start down this new path some of the hottest male models begin to be killed off and all of them died flashing Derek's legendary "Blue Steel" look. So they embark on a mission to find out what is going on. 

Stiller directed the sequel and co-wrote the script with Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder). The movie also stars Penélope Cruz, Christine Taylor, Kristen Wiig, and Cyrus Arnold, with special cameos by Benedict Cumberbatch, Billy Zane, Fred Armisen, Justin Bieber, Kyle Mooney, Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, and more.

Zoolander 2 will be released on February 12th, 2016. Now, enjoy the trailer!

ABC and Marvel have released the first promo trailer for Agent Carter season two. This season Peggy takes the action to Hollywood. We get a little glimpse at what's in store for her in this promo, and it's filled with her kicking ass. She's definitely not someone you'd want to mess with. It looks like season 2 is going to be a lot of fun! 

Marvel’s Agent Carter returns for a second season of adventure and intrigue, starring Hayley Atwell in the titular role of the unstoppable secret agent for the SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve). Dedicated to the fight against new atomic age threats in the wake of World War II, Peggy must now journey from New York City to Los Angeles for her most dangerous assignment yet. But even as she discovers new friends, a new home–and perhaps even a new love–she’s about to find out that the bright lights of the post-war Hollywood mask a more sinister threat to everyone she is sworn to protect.

The supporting cast for season 2 will include James D’Arcy as Edwin Jarvis, Chad Michael Murray as Agent Jack Thompson, Enver Gjokaj as Chief Daniel Sousa, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, Bridget Regan as Dottie Underwood, Wynn Everett as Whitney Frost, Reggie Austin as Dr. Jason Wilkes, Currie Graham as Calvin Chadwick, Lotte Verbeek as Ana Jarvis, Lesley Boone as Rose, Ken Marino as mob boss Joseph Manfredi, and Kurtwood Smith as Vernon Masters.

Marvel’s Agent Carter season two premieres on ABC on Tuesday, January 5th for a ten-episode season.

X-Men 3 director Brett Ratner is currently in the process of developing a film based around the video game Tetris. It will be a biopic type film based on the life of Russian video game designer and computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov, who created the iconic game.

The film is being produced by Ratner and James Packer of RatPac Entertainment. The news comes from The Tracking Board, and this is what they had to say about the story. I had no idea that there was such a heavy, dramatic story behind its creation:

"In the vein of The Social Network, the story details the career of Pajitnov, who first developed Tetris with the help of Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov in 1984 in the communist-run USSR. Pajitnov was working for a Soviet-funded research and development center in Moscow when he developed the first version of the puzzle game, which began to spread throughout the region–initially exchanged between computer programmers.

"As Tetris grew in popularity, being upgraded and adapted for various gaming devices and systems, the rights to the game became the crux of multiple complicated legal battles that spanned across the globe. The battles became so heated, in fact, that they threatened to destabilize relationships between governments. Following a controversial court ruling, Nintendo gained the legal right to sell the game, and as a result, Tetris was sold with every Game Boy console in America. Pajitnov, who moved to America in 1991, did not see a dime for his creation until 1996.

"That same year, GameSpot named Pajitnov the fourth most influential computer game developer of all time, while IGN later cited him as “the ultimate video game one-hit wonder.” He went on to develop games for Microsoft."

This sounds like it will be a fascinating film, and as long as Ratner doesn't direct it, it should be decent. However, if you don't want to wait for this movie to learn the behind-the-scene tale of Tetris' creation, you can watch a BBC documentary called Tetris: From Russia With Love. I've included the embed for that doc below.

I remember when I got my first Gameboy for Christmas one year, and like many other people around the world, I played Tetris for hours on end. It's an incredibly addictive game! Just for the hell of it, I also included a clip from the documentary The Ecstasy Of Order: The Tetris Masters, which centers on people who have mastered Tetris. It's unbelievably insane to see what these players are capable of!

A video has surfaced online that kind of gives us our first look at Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role of Negan in The Walking Dead. The quality of the video is pretty bad, but you do get to see Negan beating the hell out of someone with his baseball bat, "Lucille." 

The video could contain a big SPOILER so watch at your own risk. Oh, and in case you think this video might be a fake, the original video that was posted on YouTube video was taken down by AMC. That leads me to believe that the footage you are seeing is legit. 

The question is... who is Negan beating with the bat? The video offers some speculation. I won't mention it here, so if you're interested, just watch the video!

Negan will appear in the season six finale of The Walking Dead, and he is by far the most evil person that Rick and his crew will have come across yet. 

UPDATE: Removed video at the request of AMC

Back in August I had the opportunity to sit down with two very impressive voice actors at the first ever Salt Lake Gaming Con. Those two talented individuals were the delightful Canadians Amber Goldfarb and Elias Toufexis... View Full Post on GameTyrant

Permalink

Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, and Charlize Theron are three of my favorite actresses working today, and the fact that they star in The Huntsman: Winter's War together is pretty exciting. That's one of the main reasons I'm interesting in seeing this film. Snow White and the Hunstman ended up being disappointing, but this sequel looks a hell of a lot better.

Universal Pictures has released a full trailer for The Huntsman: Winter's War, and it really looks like it could be a great film! I had no interest in this movie at all when it was first announced, but now I'm completely on board. I just hope the movie ends up actually being as good as it looks. It kind of has a Frozen vibe to it. I also included a couple new posters that have been released.

The movie was directed by visual effects supervisor Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. Hopefully, he has a better sense of storytelling than director Rupert Sanders did with the first film. Here's the full detailed synopsis:

The fantastical world of Snow White and the Huntsman expands to reveal how the fates of The Huntsman Eric and Queen Ravenna are deeply and dangerously intertwined. 

Long before the evil Queen Ravenna (Theron) was thought vanquished by Snow White’s blade, she watched silently as her sister, Freya (Blunt), suffered a heartbreaking betrayal and fled their kingdom. With Freya’s ability to freeze any enemy, the young ice queen has spent decades in a remote wintry palace raising a legion of deadly huntsmen—including Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and warrior Sara (Chastain)—only to find that her prized two defied her one demand: Forever harden your hearts to love.

When Freya learns of her sister’s demise, she summons her remaining soldiers to bring the Magic Mirror home to the only sorceress left who can harness its power. But once she discovers Ravenna can be resurrected from its golden depths, the wicked sisters threaten this enchanted land with twice the darkest force it’s ever seen. Now, their amassing army shall prove undefeatable…unless the banished huntsmen who broke their queen’s cardinal rule can fight their way back to one another.

The Huntsman: Winter’s War opens in theaters on April 22nd, 2016.

A Spanish news station is apologizing after hilariously mistaking the Star Wars rebel alliance insignia for the al-Qaeda logo. In what would be considered a simple mistake if you googled "rebels" and grabbed the first image you saw, the station looked rather foolish as this Vine shows below...

Let me preface everything I'm about to say with if you haven't seen Master of None...see it. It's definitely an indie comedy, but the way Aziz Ansari covers some really deep issues in today's society is insanely good and real. So real, in fact, that actor Ravi Patel almost didn't take the role in the "Indian Actors" episode.

For those that haven't seen it, Dev (Ansari's character) gets offended after an audition when the casting agent requests he do an "Indian accent" when auditioning for a normal role on television. It then talks about how many Indian actors who appear on television have to be portrayed as guys who are fresh over from India or they don't seem to get hired. Patel took offense to Ansari's take on the issue and almost bowed out of the role according to Business Insider...

"When I read it I thought it was kind of condescending to the blue collar Indian actor," he explained. "He was talking a lot about how he doesn’t do the accent. I felt it was condescending to guys who do do the accent. I'm one of those guys, and I’m also friends with all of those guys, and I just have a lot of sympathy for the inherent kind of s****y role exposure that you have to endure if you're a blue collar actor... just trying to work your way up to get to a place where you can say no..." 

It's awesome because the two have a seemingly improvised discussion about it in the episode, and it's really good. I especially liked it because I never even realized how weird and almost offensive it is that Indian-Americans are expected to play that role as they do. Once again, if you haven't seen the show, watch it on Netflix!

You've gotta check out these limited edition Star Wars-inspired jackets from Mustrbrand. They're insanely cool! I love the style, and I think it's some of the best looking Star Wars clothes I've seen so far outside of the movies, and cosplay. The detail that was put into creating these things is great, and the jackets in the collection include Sith Lord, Sith Lady, TIE Pilot (male and female), and the Skywalker. The prices range from $219.99 to $499.99, and they provide a really slick look for Star Wars fans.

Via: Fashionably Geek

Well, that didn't take long. Last week, word came out that a handful of actresses were testing for the female lead in Paramount's upcoming Baywatch movie opposite the already-cast Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson. I wrote about how my guess for who'd win the role was Alexandra Daddario, not only because of the eye candy factor (this may as well be called Eye Candy: The Movie), but because she already worked with Johnson on San Andreas. Now Johnson himself has confirmed that Daddario has joined the cast:

IT'S OFFICIAL: Want to welcome the talented and gorgeous @alexannadaddario to the cast of #BAYWATCH for the role of "Summer". Alex is a one of kind woman (I know from experience) and can't wait for you guys to see her own the role. The female roles of #BAYWATCH have become extremely hot properties around Hollywood and as promised, the quality women we'll cast are stepping into these roles to have fun and make them iconic for the world to enjoy. The #BaywatchFamily so far consists of a tatted up bald guy named Rock, the cool, yet extremely unattractive Zac Efron, the talented and gorgeous Alexandra Daddario...and some big casting announcements coming soon. And juuuuust wait til you guys see who we cast for the iconic role of "CJ Parker"....👀 #CueSlowMotionRunningDownTheBeach #WhosPuttingTanningOilOnMyBack? #GetReadyForSomeFunInTheSun #BAYWATCH 👊🏾🌊

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Nov 18, 2015 at 8:24am PST

For those who don't remember the show from the '90s, the role of Summer was originally played by Nicole Eggert, while CJ Parker was originally played by Pamela Anderson. I'm a little surprised Daddario isn't playing Parker here (I didn't watch the show regularly, but I always assumed Anderson's character was the female lead), but Deadline says Summer is the female lead in the movie and the love interest of Efron's character. Either way, Johnson definitely has me curious to see who they've chosen to fill out that iconic red bathing suit.

In Baywatch, Johnson plays "a by-the-book and very serious lifeguard who is forced to team up with a young rule-flouting hothead (Efron) in order to save their beach from environmental destruction at the hands of an oil tycoon." Director Seth Gordon (The King of Kong, Horrible Bosses) is gearing up to shoot early in 2016, and we'll keep you posted with more info as soon as we hear it.

FunnyOrDie recently released this funny parody trailer of a romantic drama that imagines a love affair between master spies Jason Bourne and James Bond.

Matt Damon's Jason Bourne (OK, OK, David Webb) will next be seen in the still-untitled sequel Bourne 5 on July 29th, 2016, while Daniel Craig's Bond can be seen in theaters right now in Spectre (my review here).

We’ve the promo teaser and trailer for the Arrow and The Flash crossover for you to watch today, as well as a couple of new photos giving us a better look at Hawkman (Falk Hentschel) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée) in between the two main heroes. This next crossover event looks like it's going to be a ton of fun! 

The Flash half of the crossover is called “Legends of Today,” and this is the official description:

“In its second major crossover event with “Arrow,” Vandal Savage (guest star Casper Crump) arrives in Central City and sets his sights on Kendra Saunders (guest star Ciara Renée). After Vandal attacks Kendra and Cisco, they turn to Barry for help. Realizing how dangerous Vandal is, Barry takes Kendra to Star City and asks Oliver and team to hide her until he can figure out how to stop Vandal. However, things quickly go from bad to worse when a man with wings AKA Hawkman (guest star Falk Hentschel) shows up and flies off with Kendra. Meanwhile, Harrison develops a serum to make Barry run faster and asks Jay (guest star Teddy Sears) to test it out.”

That’s set to air on Tuesday, December 1st.

The Arrow half of the crossover is titled “Legends of Yesterday,” and this is the description for it:

“Oliver and Barry Allen take Kendra Saunders and Carter Hall to a remote location to keep them hidden from Vandal Savage while they figure out how to defeat him. Malcolm arranges a meeting between Vandal, Green Arrow and The Flash that doesn’t go as planned. Meanwhile, Felicity, Thea, Diggle and Laurel work with Team Flash to come up with a weapon powerful enough to destroy Vandal Savage.”

This episode will air on December 2nd. What do you think?

For those of you who are big fans of James Cameron's Aliens, you will have a chance to own the watch that Sigourney Weever's Ripley wore in the movie. That watch is the Seiko Giugiaro 7A28-7000, and Seiko will be reissuing it for a limited run.

The design of the watch was a perfect fit for the 1986 movie, which is obviously why Cameron picked it. The watch was first released in 1983, and the design came from car designer Giorgetto Giugiaroto. It has a unique look that features a distinctive panel with large chronograph buttons on one side.

After the movie came out, fans wanted to get their hands on the watch. Up until now, you could get one on eBay, but it's not cheap. I've seen them go for about a grand. But the reissue of the watch will only cost you $260-$290, which is a bit more reasonable. 

Seiko will release two versions of the classic watch: the Seiko Spirit Smart SCED037 (black version) and the SCED035 (grey version). According to Gizmodo:

The most notable difference between the original 7A28-7000 and the new SCED035 (the gray model) is that it’s missing the crown and extra button on the left side of its case. It gives the watch a slightly sleeker look, and helps Seiko differentiate the re-issue from the original.

Anyone plan on buying themselves one? I'd put it on my Christmas list. 

There has been a string of casting rumors recently for Warner Bros.' Justice League Dark film. Some of those actors included Ron Perlman as Swamp Thing, and Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor being eyed for Constantine. Heroic Hollywood is now reporting that Ben Mendelsohn is being looked at for the role of the villain, Anton Arcane.

Created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, Anton Arcane is considered Swamp Thing's arch nemesis. Anton Arcane is a mad scientist obsessed with gaining immortality which has led him to create monstrous creatures known as "Un-Men" as well as other monstrous biogenetic experimentations involving the dead.  Back in the day, Louis Jourdan portrayed Anton Arcane in the 1982 movie version of Swamp Thing for director Wes Craven. Jourdan also reprised the role in the 1989 sequel The Return of Swamp Thing.

With all this information starting leak out, it sounds like Warner Bros. is actually getting serious about developing this movie and getting it into production. 

Mendelsohn is an incredibly talented actor who had a lead role in the Netflix series Bloodline, as well as appearing in films such as The Dark Knight Rises, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Mississippi Grind, and he also has a role in the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

According to the report, Medelsohn's decision to involve himself with the movie all depends on who comes in to direct the film. It's a shame that Guillermo del Toro left the project after years of developing it. He was the perfect guy to take it on. It will be interesting to see who the studio hires to bring the film to life. I love all of this potential casting, though. 

Justice League Dark is said to be going into production in 2016.

I would not want to run into Tom Hardy in a dark alley. There's a dangerous quality to him, an edge that seems like it's hardwired directly into his personality and an intensity that seems to simmer just below the surface at all times. He can dial it back when he needs to make a public appearance, but there's always the feeling that he could snap at any moment. This is largely because of the often-deranged characters he's played over the past few years, but at the same time, it's also just him: the guy is super intense.

In honor of his new movie Legend (my review here), Digg put together a supercut of some of the actor's scariest on screen moments, and it's absolutely NSFW: he swears profusely and enacts violence on nearly everyone he encounters here. Check it out below:

Via: Uproxx

Philippa Boyens is the unsung hero of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. While Jackson and, to a lesser extent, Fran Walsh have recognition outside of those three movies, Boyens — an epic Tolkien nerd — does not. But she's the third part of that writing triumvirate, and she's co-written everything Jackson has directed since Fellowship. But it looks like she's spreading her wings and moving on to a solo project.

Deadline reports that Boyens has been hired to write an adaptation of T.A. Barron's The Merlin Saga, a series of books that tell the origin story of the famed Arthurian wizard. Here's the description of the first book from Amazon:

Washed up on the shores of ancient Wales, the boy had no home, no memory and no name...he was determined to find all three. 

This best-selling series follows the adventures and training of young Merlin on the mist-shrouded isle of Fincayra, an enchanted land between earth and sky that is being destroyed by blight. With this land's inhabitants to guide him, the boy will learn that Fincayra's fate and his own quest are strangely interwined. 

He is destined to become the greatest wizard of all time--known to all as Merlin.

The Oscar-winning writer is apparently excited about the material, and it should be interesting to see what she does outside of the comforts of working with her regular collaborators. Disney is hoping this turns into a Harry Potter-esque film franchise, so...no pressure.

In video games there are all sorts of currency. In Fallout, there is Bottlecaps, Mega Man has Zenny, even Mario has the ever plain Coin. But one currency we are all too familiar with is the Rupee from the Legend of Zelda... View Full Post on GameTyrant

Permalink

Daniel Craig's fourth entry in the long-running James Bond film franchise, Spectre, hasn't been nearly as acclaimed as Skyfall or even Craig's first outing, Casino Royale. I thought it had a few enjoyable aspects but was ultimately disappointed with it, and it turns out that a former 007 actor feels the same way.

Pierce Brosnan, who played the role of England's greatest super spy right before Craig from 1995's GoldenEye all the way up through 2002's Die Another Day, spoke with Hitfix about his thoughts on the latest Bond film:

“I was looking forward to [Spectre] enormously. I thought it was too long. The story was kind of weak — it could have been condensed. It kind of went on too long. It really did.

[Spectre] is neither fish nor fowl. It’s neither Bond nor Bourne. Am I in a Bond movie? Not in a Bond movie? But Daniel, in the fourth go-round, has ownership of it. He had a nice looseness to him. He’s a mighty warrior, and I think he found a great sense of himself in this one with the one-liners and a nice playfulness there. Just get a tighter story, and he’ll have another classic.”

I totally agree. While Craig definitely looked like he was having fun in Spectre, the last act went on for way too long and the entire villain situation was so ridiculous that it ended up retroactively hurting the three previous movies. The entire film would have benefitted from a better script...but even despite my complaints, I can't deny having some fun with the movie, too. What do you think about Brosnan's comments?