Summit Entertainment have released this new Super Bowl TV spot for their new movie, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance which is released in the UK February 17th. It stars Nicolas Cage, Violante Placido, Ciarán Hinds, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert, Idris Elba and is directed by the chaps who brought us the Crank franchise, Brian Taylor, Mark Neveldine. We’ve got interviews with both Neveldine and Cage so keep your eyes peeled for those over the next week or 2.

Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze in Columbia Pictures’ and Hyde Park Entertainment’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny – still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter – is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the devil (Ciaran Hinds). At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy – and possibly rid himself of his curse forever. Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Screenplay by Scott M. Gimple & Seth Hoffman and David S. Goyer. Story by David S. Goyer. Based on the Marvel Comic. Produced by Steven Paul, Ashok Amritraj, Michael De Luca, Avi Arad, and Ari Arad.

Here’s the rest of our Super Bowl coverage.

Source: Latino Review

Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road) and Catherine Keener (Where the Wild Things Are) have signed on to star in Frank or Francis.

Winslet and Keener will star opposite Steve Carell (Dan in Real Life), Jack Black (Be Kind Rewind), Nicolas Cage (Kick-Ass) and Kevin Kline (French Kiss) what’s being described as a “very meta musical comedy”.

Frank or Francis centers on a director (Carell) who becomes obsessed with the message board commenter (Black) critisising his films on a Hollywood website.

Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York), who has worked with both Winslet and Keener before, will direct his own screenplay.

Production is expected to begin later this year for a 2013 release.

Source: Vulture

Neveldine and Taylor are bringing their own brand of insanity to the world of Ghost Rider with Spirit of Vengeance which is out early next year.

Nicolas Cage is joined by Idris Elba and Ciaran Hinds in the sequel and if you’re in any doubt as to the tone of this one then it’s best you acquaint yourselves with the new trailer which is out today.

Here’s a synopsis,

 Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze in Columbia Pictures’ and Hyde Park Entertainment’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny – still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter – is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the devil (Ciaran Hinds). At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy – and possibly rid himself of his curse forever.

I had the good fortune to speak with Mark Neveldine yesterday about the production and it sounds like they are making good on their promise to make this a darker take on the character. You can read my interview early in the New Year, in the meantime enjoy the trailer.

The crazy Yahoos had this first,

The week of Valentine’s Day seems a wildly innappropriate time for the release of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in UK cinemas, with a bike-riding, flaming-skulled anti-hero this is as far from being a date movie as can be.

The film is directed by the formidable duo of Brian Taylor & Mark Neveldine and sees Nicolas Cage​ return as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider and also stars Violante Placido​, Ciarán Hinds, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert​​ and Idris Elba​​.

If you’ve seen the trailer then you’ll know what to expect, if not click here, then read this little synopsis,

Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze in Columbia Pictures’ and Hyde Park Entertainment’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny – still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter – is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the devil (Ciaran Hinds​). At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy – and possibly rid himself of his curse forever. Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Screenplay by Scott M. Gimple & Seth Hoffman and David S. Goyer. Story by David S. Goyer. Based on the Marvel Comic. Produced by Steven Paul, Ashok Amritraj, Michael De Luca, Avi Arad, and Ari Arad.

A note of thanks to Rope of Silicon.

We’ve been sent a rather intense clip from Justice, the new film starring Nicolas Cage and Guy Pearce. Lisa’s review of the film was posted an hour ago and judging from her words and this clip it appears to be superior Cage on offer this time around.

Cage and Pearce are joined by January Jones and this, is the synopsis,

Popular high school teacher Will Gerard (NICOLAS CAGE) lives a life of content domesticity with his beautiful musician wife Laura (JANUARY JONES). Until one night’s horrific events, turns their world upside down.

After Laura is violently attacked and left traumatised in hospital, Will is approached by a well-dressed stranger (GUY PEARCE) offering to dispense immediate justice to the attacker and save the couple from an emotionally traumatic trial. Distraught, Will accepts the proposal but soon learns justice comes at a price.

Yikes. Not one for the family then. But Cage and Pearce can pull out a decent performance when inspired and Jones, who has had a rough ride critically for her recent film appeareances will hopefully shine in this role.

Here’s the clip friends,

No stranger to staging well-paced crime thrillers, like The Bank Job, The Recruit and No Way Out, director Roger Donaldson is about as qualified as any to bring this gritty story of crime and revenge to the screen – all set in one of the most exciting cities in the US, New Orleans. But although most films cannot resist the seedy allure of the French Quarter – and this film is no exception in parts, Justice does try to delve into a more realistically captured but darker depiction.

Nic Cage stars as Will Gerard, a husband who enlists the services of a vigilante group, headed by its curious leader Simon (Guy Pearce), to help him settle the score after his wife, Laura (January Jones), is brutalised. However, Will gets involved way over his head and tries to get out of the deadly pact he has made. The trouble is whom can you trust?

While the film is a half-decent enough thriller with so many twists and turns it trips itself up at times, the basic thriller ingredients have been tried and tested a lot better before, so a good proportion of the film feels like a carbon-copy of others we’ve seen. Granted, the thrill for Cage fans is seeing their hero in a rather physical role, dodging traffic and hanging from underpasses that even leaves him rubbing his head (more than once, and usually in the car) in exasperation.

What is most intriguing is the film’s main idea of disenchantment in a wounded city still hurting from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, leading to self-served justice, and this gives the whole affair an empathetic but equally menacing edge. Cage is the ideal star to tap into this darker aspect.

Like Will, Cage has a crazed, risk-taking side that the New Orleans setting flatters and seems to nurture, and an increasingly erratic Cage is more than capable and watchable in this type of action role as he makes it his eccentric own. The issues come not from his portrayal, but from the complex – and sometimes irrelevant – labyrinth of subplots that Donaldson and writers feel are necessary to throw at him. With too much at play, other things naturally go unexplained.

Sadly, we only get to see a one-dimensional and frustratingly under-developed performance from Pearce, for example, with no explanation as to where his loyalties stem from – even though we understand that his character and others are designed to be as enigmatic as possible throughout to add to the intrigue. On the plus side, Jones, who normally adds the cutesy glamour to any scene, does some of her best work yet as the victim in the first half of the film, only to be sidelined in the rest as a pawn in the increasingly paranoid Cage dance with death. Still, it’s a vast improvement on her usual film roles, and one we’d quite like seeing her tackle again.

Justice is well staged at the start and has the presence to go far. It’s just the sum of its parts – like the random journalist murder subplot – don’t add up at times and make it feel somewhat disjointed. Cage fans are guaranteed a thrill at seeing him in action, with Ghost Rider elements of a mortal Blaze out to serve and protect the ‘ordinary man’ – and Cage is always satisfying in this type of ‘moral crusader’ role. It’s just a shame Donaldson’s film doesn’t fully realise that immense talent, having him running from pillar to post throughout – and making us rub our heads in anguish at times, too.

**½~~ (2.5/5)

Fans of Neil LaBute may be pleased to learn that filmmaker Mike Figgis will be breaking his eight year absence from the big screen with Seconds of Pleasure, an adaptation of LaBute’s book of short stories which the playwright/director has penned for the long AWOL British director.

What’s more, the Leaving Las Vegas helmer has assembled an interesting line up, with the likes of Matt Dillon, Julia Stiles, Brendan Fraser, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Hendricks signing up for the tale of six different couples whose separate stories are intertwined in one drama.

It’s a welcome return for the director, and it’s interesting to note that both Figgis and Labute have a previous connection of sorts, as in the past, they’ve managed to bring out the very best and very worse of actor Nicolas Cage (in the aforementioned Oscar-winning tale of an alcoholic’s descent in that titular US city and the remake of The Wicker Man, respectively).

Via The Hollywood Reporter.

Robert De Niro’s name has cropped up in a couple of future titles which will be on sale next week at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, and one (at least) is a potentially interesting project.

He’s down to appear in the next directorial effort from Sean Penn, entitled The Comedian. Co-starring Bridesmaids’ Kristen Wiig, the actor will play an aging TV comedian (whose successful career is on the slide), who meets a feisty female (Wiig) when he’s ordered to do community service following an onstage fracas.

Co-written by producer and long-time pal of De Niro and Penn, Art Linson, it sounds like the actor may need to flex some acting muscle he hasn’t exercised for quite a while, although his second feature may not be quite as challenging.

He’s joining John Travolta in survivalist action picture, Killing Season for director Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil, Ghost Rider). The story has De Niro’s military veteran battling a twisted Serbian soldier (Travolta) surrounded by an Appalachian mountain backdrop. A dubious choice of director (John McTiernan was originally earmarked to helm this) the film was also intended to reteam Travolta with his Face/Off co-star, Nicolas Cage.

It’s probably safe to say Penn’s offering will pick up the plaudits here, but may have been a different story if long-time AWOL McTiernan was still attached.

Via Deadline and Collider.

Here’s the first clip from the sequel to 2007 movie, Ghost Rider with the aptly name title, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. It sees Nicolas Cage return as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider and also stars Violante Placido, Ciarán Hinds, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert​, Idris Elba​ with directors Brian Taylor & Mark Neveldine at the helm.

Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze in Columbia Pictures’ and Hyde Park Entertainment’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny – still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter – is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the devil (Ciaran Hinds). At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy – and possibly rid himself of his curse forever. Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Screenplay by Scott M. Gimple & Seth Hoffman and David S. Goyer. Story by David S. Goyer. Based on the Marvel Comic. Produced by Steven Paul, Ashok Amritraj, Michael De Luca, Avi Arad, and Ari Arad.

It should be with us February 22nd next year.

Source: Latino Review

Schwarzenegger’s appearance alongside Stallone and Willis in the first Expendables film was a glorified cameo and didn’t have nearly as much impact as they all seemed to think it did. Frankly, I felt robbed and it is therefore with some gratitude that I hear that there may be a bit more of him this time around.

Yes, it’s sequel time and along with the rest of the returning cast, we should get a whole host of other action stars as well. So far, we know to expect Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Sly, Scott Adkins, Chuck Norris (who apparently can win Connect 4 in three moves), Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and possibly The Rock, Vin Diesel, John Travolta and Nic Cage. Crikey.

Rumour-mongering aside, we know that Sly, Willis and Arnie are on set, because we have this lovely photo to prove it. So there.

Source: It’s from Arnie’s Twitter feed.

UPDATE: It seems the man can’t get enough of tweeting his movements, today he also found the time to tweet a pic of him ‘wrapping up a big day on The Last Stand with Zach Gilford and our great director, Jee-Woon Kim’.

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/10/19/schwarzenegger-on-set-for-the-expendables-2/feed/ 0 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/09/28/first-uk-poster-for-nicolas-cages-justice/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/09/28/first-uk-poster-for-nicolas-cages-justice/#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:00:16 +0000 David Sztypuljak http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=108492

Last week, we saw the first trailer for Nicolas Cage & Guy Pearce’s new movie, Justice and now Momentum Pictures / Alliance have released the first UK poster for the movie. The movie also stars January Jones of Mad Men fame and hits UK cinemas 18th November.

Popular high school teacher Will Gerard (NICOLAS CAGE) lives a life of content domesticity with his beautiful musician wife Laura (JANUARY JONES). Until one night’s horrific events, turns their world upside down.

After Laura is violently attacked and left traumatised in hospital, Will is approached by a well-dressed stranger (GUY PEARCE) offering to dispense immediate justice to the attacker and save the couple from an emotionally traumatic trial. Distraught, Will accepts the proposal but soon learns justice comes at a price.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

In a flash of typical brilliance the good people at the Picturehouse Podcast are bringing back one of the Nineties most bizarre and epic action movies to the big screen and you could be there as HeyUGuys are giving away a pair of tickets.

John Woo’s Face/Off won a place in our hearts all those years ago with some marvellously over the top lead performances from Nicolas Cage and John Travolta and a whirlwind of insane gunplay, and Sam Clements and Simon Renshaw, your hosts for one of the best podcasts out there (and if you’re not a fan already click here and prepare to be) are unleashing this fine film on the big screen at the Stratford Picturehouse on Thursday the 29th of September.

The terrifyingly talented Sam Gilbey has created this poster for the event which is one of the finest things we’ve seen all year, and do check out Sam’s work at his blog here.

We’ve got two tickets to give away, and all you need to do is answer the question below, but even if you’re not the lucky winner tickets are available here at the shockingly affordable price of £5 or £3 if you’re a Picturehouse member (part of their September Sale – click here for more details). How can you say no?

So, here’s your question – good luck to you all.

What was the name of John Woo’s 1996 film, which also starred John Travolta?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 28th September at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Scott Walker’s directorial debut will be worked from his own script for The Frozen Ground, the true story of a seemingly respectable family man, Robert Hansen, who turns out to be a serial killer. Over the course of more than a decade, Hansen kidnapped, then hunted and killed more than two dozen women in the hostile wilds of Alaska.

John Cusack will play Hansen, in what seems like a beautiful piece of casting. Nicolas Cage will be the State Trooper who finds Hudgens, who is one of the few of the intended victims who has managed to escape. Perhaps inevitably, Hudgens’ character struggles to make people believe her seemingly improbable story. Curtis “Fiddy Cent” Jackson is on board as an executive producer and has also been cast in a role as a 1980′s-era pimp.

I’m inclined to say that I’d watch Cusack in pretty much anything, so the idea of seeing him as a menacing, presumably psychopathic serial killer fills me with anticipation. One to keep an eye on.

Sources: Deadline and Anchorage Daily News.

Momentum Pictures / Alliance have released the first trailer for Nicolas Cage Guy Pearce and January Jones’ new movie, Justice which according to IMDb is / was called Seeking Justice in the US. This may be the title in the US or it’s an old title but I’ve confirmed that the title is simply ‘Justice’. It’s directed by Roger Donaldson and is set for release in the UK November 18th and after seeing this trailer, I’m looking forward to it.

Popular high school teacher Will Gerard (NICOLAS CAGE) lives a life of content domesticity with his beautiful musician wife Laura (JANUARY JONES). Until one night’s horrific events, turns their world upside down.

After Laura is violently attacked and left traumatised in hospital, Will is approached by a well-dressed stranger (GUY PEARCE) offering to dispense immediate justice to the attacker and save the couple from an emotionally traumatic trial. Distraught, Will accepts the proposal but soon learns justice comes at a price.

Frequent Nicolas Cage collaborator Jon Turteltaub is changing tack for his next feature. The Hollywood Reporter brings news that the National Treasure helmer is in talks to make comedy Last Vegas.

Written by Crazy, Stupid, Love’s Dan Fogelman, it concerns four retired friends who reunite in Vegas to celebrate one of the quartet’s upcoming nuptials with a woman half his age.

Sounds like the kind of premise studios would salivate over, given the recent success of similarly-themed, comedic ensemble pieces like the two Hangover films and this year’s Bridesmaids.

Let’s hope they cast it right (Jack Nicholson’s name must surely have been bandied around a one point) and Turteltaub can dial it down a little.

A few weeks ago, when the first set photos from Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby went online, it came to our attention that Leonardo DiCaprio had discovered the Fountain of Youth, emerging younger looking than ever before.

It now appears (with thanks to THR for the tip-off) that he isn’t the only one who has ways of delaying/stopping the aging process, with proof now arriving on eBay that another huge star, Nicolas Cage, is in fact a vampire.

I kid you not. An eBay seller who goes by the name jack_mord has put up a listing on the American version of the site for a picture he says is of Nicolas Cage, with the picture dating circa 1870, taken in Bristol, Tennessee, and measuring 4” x 2.5”.

“Original c.1870 carte de visite showing a man who looks exactly like Nick Cage. Personally, I believe it’s him and that he is some sort of walking undead / vampire, et cetera, who quickens / reinvents himself once every 75 years or so. 150 years from now, he might be a politician, the leader of a cult, or a talk show host.

I’ve had a lot of questions asking where I purchased this. As followers of my website know, I collect antique memorial photography - images of dead people – from the 1800s.  This photo was found in the very back of album that contained an unusual number of Civil War era death portraits (which is why I purchased it). All of the other people in the album, living and dead, were identified by name – this man was not.”

And the asking price for this monumental find? A cool $1m. And if you’re worried that he’ll get you on the postage and package, you can put your fears aside, my friends, because international shipping is just $3.95.

Of all the crazy things that I’ve seen go up on eBay, this has got to be one of the strangest. You hear stories about people buying air guitars on there, and things like that, but a million-dollar photo of Nicolas Cage from the nineteenth century, proving him to be a vampire? Not to mention the fact that it is of course utterly unverifiable.

The seller does do a pretty good/amusing job of answering people’s questions about its authenticity, though. Credit where credit’s due.

“Q: Vampires can’t be photographed. Which means neither this man in a photo or an actor in a photoplay/movie could be a vampire. Whatcha say to that?

A: If vampires can’t be photographed, how do you explain this? http://bit.ly/nuNHcd”

Touché, salesman.

I have a lot of love for Nicolas Cage, and would probably happily welcome his undead status if it were true, because that would mean he could potentially be in a never-ending number of films and still keep his ridiculously cool persona however many years down the line. But sadly, I remain just a tad sceptical.

From what I can tell, the listing is ending pretty soon, so I’ve taken the liberty of taking a few screenshots and embedding them below in case it finishes before you get a chance to take a look. Or, slightly less likely, in case someone buys it and the listing closes. Either way, I wanted to keep it for posterity. At the time of writing, the seller has had more than two hundred offers on the photograph, all of which have been declined. But if you happen to have a million dollars lying around for just such an occasion, then this photo could well be yours. Good luck with your offers.

Here’s some rather welcome news at 23.40 on a Tuesday evening! While I’m sitting here waiting for the new Twilight trailer to drop, EW have just posted the news that Chuck Norris and Jean Claude van Damme have been confirmed for The Expendables 2 with Nicolas Cage on the wish-list. This news follows that of Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger are on board too.

In an interview with Sylvester Stallone who wrote, directed and starred in the original movie, he broke the news that Van Damme and Norris are confirmed and thinks that Cage will be appearing but it sounds like he wants to get a few more involved too including Michael Biehn and Michael Pare and maybe even John Travolta making it a nice Face Off reunion with Cage:

“We’ll have a big showdown between me and Van Damme, which has been anticipated for a long time, so it should be a good one”

“We’ve got Chuck Norris and I think Nic Cage. We’re trying to work out different scenarios. I like using people that had a moment and then maybe have fallen on some hard times and give them another shot. So we’re always looking for actors like Michael Biehn and Michael Pare. I like those kinds of guys. Someone did it for me and I like to see if I can do it for them. We also need some new blood in there, a Navy Seal-type, because with the Expendables none of them have 20-20 vision anymore. They need some help, man.”

I was desperate for Norris and Van Damme to appear to appear in the original 2009 movie but it looks like we had to wait a couple of years longer to see them. The addition of Cage could be cool and all I need to do now is work out how I can get on set! Now all we need is for Steven Seagal and Jackie Chan to sign on the dotted line and the line up is complete! Then again, we’ll need some more people for The Expendables 3 no doubt!

The movie is expected to be released August 2012 and shooting starts at the end of this month.

The casting of Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman to me is an odd one. If I think if two people in movies that are least likely to become a married couple, I think it would have to be these too! Yes they are both awesome but are they awesome together?

Anyway, what’s done is done and they have both been cast in new movie, Trespass which has so far had an absolutely terrible poster and an average trailer. I guess time will tell but in the meantime, we’ve got a nice new clip from the movie here for your viewing pleasure!

I’m hoping that the saving grace for this movie is that Joel Schumacher directed it so all is not lost yet!

From what I can find, Trespass is released in the UK October 16th. This new clip comes from Entertainment Tonight.

The new Ghost Rider film looks certain to improve on the series’ first outing in 2007 with Neveldine/Taylor taking the reigns and dragging this one through fiery hell and back.

We got to see some footage at Empire Big Screen last weekend and for a sequel to a film whose low expectations were not met this new Ghost Rider film looks like enormous, violent fun. At times it, unsurprisingly, looked like Drive Angry in Hell (which isn’t too much of a leap) with Nicolas Cage on top Nicolas Cage form amidst the vehicular madness and death by flame.

Coming Soon revealed the poster which is as subtle a this film is going to get and the trailer came all the way from . The 22nd of February 2012 is the date to scrawl in your diaries before setting fire to it.

Enjoy!

Trailer Source: Apple

Having destroyed the Batman franchise and whatever was left of his critical reputation in the process of making Batman & Robin, Joel Schumacher has kept his work relatively low key ever since. Tigerland and Phone Booth were quiet but effective and his work since then has had its moments, even if little of it can be said to be an unqualified success.

His latest outing pulls in some heavyweight acting talent in Academy Award winners Nic Cage  and Nicole Kidman as a couple terrorised by home invaders, who are looking to gain entry to a secure vault in their home. From the trailer we’ve added below, it can seen that there is a certain sheen and polish to the film, rather than the grit and grime of others within the genre, though the on-screen titles do suggest that at some point Cage and Kidman will fight back.

Will the end product be derivative and predictable, or will we get something more edgy and unconventional? One can only assume there will be a pull-the-rug-out twist thingy, such is the norm for thrillers these days, but we’ll have to reserve judgment until this one sees the light of day – 14th October 2011 in the USA, presumably elsewhere shortly afterwards.

Thanks to Rope of Silicon for bringing the source for this one.