Locked MNN (I Kill Giants Trailer; Nominations for 2018 Oscars and Razzie Awards)

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

John G. Avildsen, Director of ROCKY and THE KARATE KID, Dies at 81

John G. Avildsen, who won an Academy Award for directing Rocky and helmed the first three original Karate Kid movies, has died. He was 81.

Avildsen died of pancreatic cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son, Anthony, told the Los Angeles Times.

Avildsen also directed Susan Sarandon and Peter Boyle in the ultimately violent drama Joe (1970); guided Jack Lemmon to the Academy Award for best actor in Save the Tiger (1973) in a story about a businessman having a mid-life crisis; and kept things together on the set of The Formula (1980), which starred the temperamental actors George C. Scott and Marlon Brando.

Rocky (1976), of course, starred Sylvester Stallone as a determined Philadelphia club fighter who goes on to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world.

"When this script [also written by Stallone] came to me from an old friend … I said I had no interest in boxing, I think boxing's sort of a dumb thing," he said in an interview with the Baltimore Sun last year. "He pleaded and pleaded, so I finally read the thing. And on the second or third page, he's talking to his turtles, Cuff and Link. I was charmed by it, and I thought it was an excellent character study and a beautiful love story. And I said yes."

He received another Oscar nom in 1983 for directing the documentary short Traveling Hopefully and returned to work with Stallone again in Rocky V (1990).

Avildsen also called the shots on The Karate Kid (1984), the inspirational film that starred Pat Morita as an Okinawan martial arts master who agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager (Ralph Macchio), then stayed on for the sequels in 1986 and 1989.

"Mr. Miyagi was the ideal surrogate father that everybody wished they had," Avildsen said in the Sun piece. "He was wise, he was generous, he was funny. He was a fairy godmother. And Pat Morita brought him to life, he was ideal. Who could be better?"

Avildsen's film résumé also included W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975), starring Burt Reynolds; Neighbors (1981) with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd; Lean on Me (1989), with Morgan Freeman playing a real-life high school principal in an inner city; and 8 Seconds (1994), starring Luke Perry.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...d-oscar-winning-director-rocky-was-81-1014439

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS Synopsis Confirms Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah

Press Release: Following the global success of 2014’s Godzilla and this year’s Kong: Skull Island, comes the next chapter in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ cinematic MonsterVerse: an epic action adventure that pits Godzilla against some of the most popular monsters in pop culture history.

The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species — thought to be mere myths — rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.

The film, which begins principal photography today, is being directed by Michael Dougherty (Krampus), and stars Oscar nominees Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring films), Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai), and Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine), the latter two of which are reprising their Godzilla roles. Their co-stars include Kyle Chandler (The Wolf of Wall Street), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) in her feature film debut, Bradley Whitford (Get Out), Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), O’Shea Jackson, Jr. (Straight Outta Compton), Aisha Hinds (Star Trek Into Darkness), and Golden Globe nominee Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

Dougherty directs from a script he wrote with Zach Shields. Filming is taking place mainly in Atlanta, Georgia. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is currently scheduled for release on March 22, 2019.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Full Trailer for AMERICAN ASSASSIN Kicks All Kinds of Ass

American Assassin follows the rise of Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien), a CIA black ops recruit under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton). The pair is then enlisted by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on both military and civilian targets. Together the three discover a pattern in the violence leading them to a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) to stop a mysterious operative (Taylor Kitsch) intent on starting a World War in the Middle East. In theaters September 2017.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

3-Time Oscar Winner Daniel Day-Lewis Announces His Retirement from Acting

Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis has announced his retirement from acting.

Day-Lewis' publicist, Leslee Dart, said Tuesday in a statement: “Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject. ”

Day-Lewis' last film, which has a Dec. 25 release, will reunite the actor with his There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson. While it has been reported to have the working title Phantom Thread, the film is still officially listed by its distributor as Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project. From Annapurna Pictures and Focus Features, it is set in 1950s London and will see Day-Lewis playing a fashion designer who caters to high society. According to Dart, the actor plans to participate in promotion for the movie, which is expected to be an awards-season contender.

Extremely selective about the roles he chooses and slow to sign on to any movie, Day-Lewis retreated from film once before, in the late 1990s, in what he described as "semi-retirement" to return to one of his main loves, woodworking, and at the time also moved to Florence, Italy, where he took up shoemaking.

After five years, Martin Scorsese persuaded the actor to return to filmmaking in Gangs of New York, in which Day-Lewis played colorful gang leader William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting.

The British actor, one of the most celebrated of his generation and known for the intense dedication he brings to each role, has been nominated for an Oscar five times and taken home the trophy on three occasions — for 1989's My Left Foot, in which he played the physically challenged artist Christy Brown; for 2007's There Will Be Blood, in which he played a driven, turn-of-the-century oil baron; and for 2012's Lincoln, in which he played the title role of Abraham Lincoln.

His roles have ranged from an American backwoodsman in The Last of the Mohicans to an Irish revolutionary in In the Name of the Father to a New York aristocrat in The Age of Innocence to a Puritan farmer in The Crucible.

Day-Lewis, who lives in Ireland with his wife, actress Rebecca Miller, has been quoted in the past as saying, "In every actor's life, there is a moment when they ask themselves, 'Is it really seemly for me still to be doing this?'"

Daniel Day-Lewis Says He's Quitting Acting and His Last Film Will Be the Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Film

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller No Longer Directing HAN SOLO Movie

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are no longer directing the Han Solo Star Wars spin-off.

"Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are talented filmmakers who have assembled an incredible cast and crew, but it’s become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and we’ve decided to part ways. A new director will be announced soon," said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm in a statement.

"Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project. We normally aren’t fans of the phrase 'creative differences' but for once this cliché is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew," said a statement from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Lord and Miller, the helmers of The LEGO Movie and 21 Jump Street and its sequel 22 Jump Street, signed on to direct the Star Wars stand-alone in July 2015. The film will star Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, while Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson and Donald Glover also star.

The film has been shooting in London since February. Sources say there are several weeks left on the shoot (who will be helming those is currently under wraps), with re-shoots scheduled for later in the summer.

The release date of May 25, 2018 remains unchanged.

'Star Wars': Han Solo Film Loses Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Due to Creative Differences

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Details on Why the HAN SOLO Directors Were Fired; Possible Replacement Directors

Creative differences is a term that is often used loosely when a director is fired from a Hollywood movie.

But it actually appears to ring true in case of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who have been let go by Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy from directing the ‪Star Wars spinoff that centers on the fan-favorite character Han Solo.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the style and vision of Lord and Miller clashed with that of Lawrence Kasdan, the legendary screenwriter behind the classics Empire Strikes Back and ‪Raiders of the Lost Ark, who also wrote, with his son, Jon Kasdan, the script for the Han Solo stand-alone set (for now) to be released in 2018.

Lord and Miller (21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie) have a comedic sensibility and improvisational style while Kasdan favors a strict adherence to the written word — what is on the page is what must be shot.

The creative clash, according to one insider, also came down to differences in understanding the character of Han Solo. “People need to understand that Han Solo is not a comedic personality. He’s sarcastic and selfish,” said that source.

The friction was felt almost immediately when the movie began shooting in February, sources say, but the directors always thought it could be worked through. Kennedy, the producer and head of Lucasfilm, decided to back her lifelong colleague, who shaped much of Solo’s character in Empire and ‪Return of the Jedi and who had a specific tone in mind for the new movie. The duo also didn’t feel they had the support of producer Allison Shearmur, who was acting as Lucasfilm’s representative on the London set.

Lord and Miller, who had relocated to London with their families for preproduction and production of the movie, were said to have been blindsided by the firing, which they learned about Monday, according to one source, although another disputed that account.

The production had gone on a short hiatus to review what had been shot and to clear the air.

"Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project. We normally aren’t fans of the phrase 'creative differences' but for once this cliché is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew," Lord and Miller said in a statement released Tuesday.

Lucasfilm and owner Disney have already targeted their replacement, although the companies are keeping mum.

Ron Howard is one of the names that has emerged, according to sources. Joe Johnston, who directed The Rocketeer and Jumanji, has been mentioned as another possible candidate. Others suggest that Kasdan, who has directed movies like ‪The Big Chill and Silverado, could step in as he is already in prime position to know what needs to be fixed. That move could be complicated by DGA rules preventing someone already working on a film taking over for a director that is being replaced except for a short-term emergency.

It is expected that a new director will take the next several weeks, with the production shut down, to go over what Lord and Miller have shot, re-edit what they’ve filmed “and go from there,” according to one source.

According to some observers, Lucasfilm should have known going in that a clash of tones could occur given Lord and Miller's previous work. But this is not the first time that Disney and Lucasfilm have had to take drastic turns on Star Wars movies. Last summer, the companies sidelined Gareth Edwards by bringing in Tony Gilroy to rewrite and direct substantial reshoots of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a move that happened only five to six months before the movie was released. Rogue One proved to be a massive hit, both financially and critically.

The studio now is more than willing to flex its muscle, and spend chunks of money, to protect the Star Wars brand and to ensure that it is not tarnished by a movie that doesn't deliver what fans want.

Lord and Miller's next move is not immediately clear, but already rumors are circulating that the pair could return to The Flash, Warners' movie about the DC Comics hero to which they had been attached to helm several years ago. The project is currently on the hunt for a director.

'Star Wars': Why the Han Solo Film Directors Were Fired; Ron Howard and Joe Johnston Possible Replacements (Exclusive)

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

First Trailer for Courtroom Drmaa MARSHALL Starring Chadwick Boseman

Long before he sat on the United States Supreme Court or claimed victory in Brown v. Board of Education, Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) was a young rabble-rousing attorney for the NAACP. The new motion picture, MARSHALL, is the true story of his greatest challenge in those early days – a fight he fought alongside attorney Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), a young lawyer with no experience in criminal law: the case of black chauffeur Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), accused by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson), of sexual assault and attempted murder.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Jurassic World Sequel Title is JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM; First Promo Poster

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Ron Howard Announced as the New Director for HAN SOLO Movie

The Millennium Falcon has a new pilot. Ron Howard has been named as the new director of Lucasfilm and Disney's untitled Han Solo movie, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter exclusively. The official announcement is expected Thursday morning.

The move comes two days after directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were let go from the movie they had spent over four-and-a-half months directing. Creative differences over style and tone came to a head between the duo and Lawrence Kasdan, with the studio backing the veteran screenwriter.

The firing sent shockwaves around Hollywood and beyond as the movie was about three-quarters through principal photography and the replacement of a director at that stage is near-unprecedented. The movie was scheduled to shoot for three and a half more weeks, with five weeks of reshoots built into the schedule — the latter a standard procedure on large franchise productions.

Howard, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, will meet with the actors — Alden Ehrenreich is playing the iconic smuggler, Donald Glover is playing Lando Calrissian, with Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton also on the roll call — to soothe a rattled set and will pore over a rough edit to see what the project needs. Filming will resume on July 10.

Howard, who directed 1995's Apollo 13 and won an Oscar for helming 2002's A Beautiful Mind, comes to the Han Solo film with several connections to George Lucas and the worlds of Lucasfilm. He appeared in Lucas' 1973 breakout film American Graffiti and helmed Lucas' 1988 pet fantasy project Willow. Howard also revealed on a podcast in 2015 that Lucas had approached him to direct 1999's Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace.

Though his recent movies, including Inferno and In the Heart of the Sea, have been costly ventures that underperformed at the box office, Howard is considered to be a safe choice to complete the task, someone who will ably finish the movie while being a calming presence on set.

"At Lucasfilm, we believe the highest goal of each film is to delight, carrying forward the spirit of the saga that George Lucas began 40 years ago," said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, in a statement. "With that in mind, we're thrilled to announce that Ron Howard will step in to direct the untitled Han Solo film. We have a wonderful script, an incredible cast and crew and the absolute commitment to make a great movie."

The untitled Han Solo film is slated for release on May 25, 2018.

Ron Howard Steps in to Direct Han Solo Movie After Phil Lord and Chris Miller Were Fired (Exclusive)

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: June 22, 2017

More Details on Why Lord & Miller Were Fired from HAN SOLO with Ron Howard Picking Up the Pieces

Ron Howard is now steering the Millennium Falcon. And he has to maneuver it out of a giant asteroid field.

A little over a day after the directors of the upcoming Han Solo movie were fired, Lucasfilm has turned to the veteran filmmaker to steer the Star Wars project home.

“At Lucasfilm, we believe the highest goal of each film is to delight, carrying forward the spirit of the saga that George Lucas began forty years ago,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement. “With that in mind, we’re thrilled to announce that Ron Howard will step in to direct the untitled Han Solo film. We have a wonderful script, an incredible cast and crew, and the absolute commitment to make a great movie. Filming will resume the 10th of July.”

Howard previously worked with Lucasfilm when he directed the 1988 fantasy adventure Willow, with Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer, and Joanne Whalley. And the A Beautiful Mind Oscar-winner also served as an unofficial adviser to George Lucas on his prequel films, having been a longtime friend ever since costarring in Lucas’s coming-of-age classic American Graffiti in 1973.

The Star Wars stand-alone project, starring Alden Ehrenreich in the role originated by Harrison Ford, was just weeks away from ending principal photography when directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, best known for The LEGO Movie, were dropped from the film Monday — with Lucasfilm and the filmmakers both citing “creative differences.”

The question remained for Star Wars fans: What exactly were those differences, and why were they so insurmountable that neither side was willing to compromise to avoid this public upheaval?

Here’s what we know now: Several sources close to the movie and others close to the directors tell EW that ever since filming began back in February, Lord and Miller, who are known primarily for wry, self-referential comedies like 21 Jump Street and the pilot episodes for Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Last Man on Earth, began steering the Han Solo movie more into the genre of laughs than space fantasy.

Apparently, the split was a subtle one that became magnified over time: Lucasfilm and producer Kennedy believed Lord and Miller were hired to add a comedic touch; Lord and Miller believed they were hired to make a comedy.

It’s an ironic turn. Last year, when Rogue One was undergoing reshoots, fans were critical because they assumed Lucasfilm was trying to “lighten” the war story with more comedy. Those concerns were unfounded, but now the opposite may be the case for the Han Solo film: Lucasfilm wants young Han Solo to be more grounded.

As usual with stories like this, not all sources agree. Another individual close to the movie says it wasn’t a question about how much comedy would be in the film. The consensus, however, is that the filmmakers were encouraging significant improvisation from the actors, which some at Lucasfilm believed was shifting the story off-course.

With actors who are also writers, and gifted at coming up with their own material, like Atlantacreator and star Donald Glover in the role of Lando Calrissian and Fleabag creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge as an unspecified motion-capture character (which in galactic terms, that usually signals a droid or alien), the sources say Lord and Miller began straying from the script by Star Wars veteran Lawrence Kasdan and his son, Jon Kasdan (The First Time).

One person close to the fired directors says: “They thought they were brought on to make a Phil and Chris movie. … Sometimes they just thought the actors could do it differently.”

But others on the project say they pushed too far. It wasn’t just a question of tone. The variations added up to significantly change the story. They may have been brought aboard to give young Han Solo a wiseacre vibe and an irreverent style, but Lucasfilm still felt the directors had a responsibility to tell the story as written.

When dailies began rolling in featuring improvisation from the actors and new ideas from the directors that significantly parted ways with the script, the relationship with the home office at Lucasfilm became fraught. As principal photography for the movie approached its end, it became clear that the filmmakers and producers did not share the same vision for some critical scenes.

Reshoots were always possible (they are factored into almost every major film these days, and each new Star Wars project has undergone them), but as Lord and Miller dug in, refusing to compromise on what they saw as best for the film, the partnership went from strained to fractured. If they wouldn’t do the scenes as Lucasfilm and Kennedy wanted them now, why would they do them that way during reshoots?

Sources close to the studio tell EW that Kennedy was also determined to do what was best for the film. Those perspectives were just different — and growing further apart.

After relaunching the franchise, which had taken damage from the critical reception of the Star Wars prequels, and building not just an acclaimed new saga with The Force Awakens but kicking off a series of stand-alone films with Rogue One, Kennedy felt she had earned her galactic bona fides: The directors should give her the benefit of the doubt and follow her concept of what the Star Wars movie should be.

Lord and Miller are well-liked within the industry and have a style that has often led studios to compete for their attentions, but Kennedy — whose long history of credits include Back to the Future, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park — also has an immense, proven track record. Backing her was Kasdan, Star Wars royalty — the screenwriter of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

They became immovable objects. If the filmmakers were refusing to make the movie Lucasfilm expected, why continue?

On Monday, Lord and Miller were told they were terminated. The production was put on hold.

Howard’s name began circulating immediately, but yesterday his agency, CAA, was still saying a deal hadn’t been reached. This morning, it was done.

He will have two weeks to get to England and get up to speed on where things are, where they went awry from the studio’s point of view, and come up with a plan to complete it — if not on time, then with minimal extension to the schedule.

Meanwhile, Lord and Miller will begin packing up and heading home. Reps for the directors declined to say whether they might return Warner Bros.’ big-screen version of the DC Comics superhero The Flash, which they had left to take on the Han Solo movie. But since they were fired over a difference of vision, rather than an out-of-control production, they aren’t expected to take a massive career hit.

A source close to them said they wouldn’t have bad blood toward Howard. “Somebody has to take over the movie.”

Some close to the pair say Lord and Miller see the Han Solo film like a romantic break-up. It’s the end of an unhappy relationship, something they once deeply cared about, even if there is no future together.

How the Han Solo film broke apart — with Ron Howard picking up the pieces

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

First Trailer for PITCH PERFECT 3 Takes the Bellas Worldwide

After the highs of winning the World Championships, the Bellas find themselves split apart and discovering there aren’t job prospects for making music with your mouth. But when they get the chance to reunite for an overseas USO tour, this group of awesome nerds will come together to make some music, and some questionable decisions, one last time. In Theaters Christmas

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Trailer for THE FOREIGNER Starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan

 

[GhostZ06]

Trailer for THE FOREIGNER Starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan

yes!

 

[GhostZ06]

But now it has iPads.

i was gonna post this

 

[SheetsMMAfan]

Trailer for THE FOREIGNER Starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan

This looks fantastic. Love Pierce in that role, and Jackie lookin' old!

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Warner Bros. Developing THE ACCOUNTANT Sequel with Ben Affleck to Star

Warner Bros. is readying a sequel for The Accountant, with Ben Affleck in talks to return to star.

Writer Bill Dubuque and director Gavin O’Connor are also in talks for the proposed sequel to the 2016 feature, which followed a highly functioning autistic man who worked as an accountant for criminal organizations. When the Treasury Department starts to follow his activities, he uses his background as an assassin to protect himself and others.

The action-drama grossed $86 million at the domestic box office on the relatively modest budget of $44 million. It earned $155 million globally.

Affleck has a long working relationship with Warners, which made his Oscar Best Picture winning feature Argo. The studio also distributed his most recent passion project, the 2016 period crime-drama Live By Night, which did not fare as well at the box office.

Warner Bros. Developing 'The Accountant' Sequel With Ben Affleck in Talks to Return to Star

 

[Ikuza]

Trailer for THE FOREIGNER Starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan

I think that's the first time I've seen Jackie use a gun.

 

[BayAreaGuy]

They had me at "director of Casino Royale."

 

[Vulcan]

official poster

 

[deise69]

Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, of Dragon Tattoo and John Wick, dies at 56

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/27/swedish-actor-michael-nyqvist-dies-56

Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist has died at the age of 56. He had been battling lung cancer.

The Stockholm-born actor was best known for his role as Mikael Blomkvist in the original Swedish Dragon Tattoo trilogy, which included The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

He later appeared in Hollywood action thrillers such as John Wick and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Nyqvist’s representative released a statement on Tuesday that read: “It is with deep sadness that I can confirm that our beloved Michael, one of Sweden’s most respected and accomplished actors, has passed away quietly surrounded by family after a year long battle with lung cancer.