In 2005, Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer were an unlikely pair to be headlining a film together. Downey Jr. was in the early stages of his comeback from years struggling with drug addiction, and Kilmer’s casting as a camp private eye seemed at odds with his reputation as a difficult and intense presence on set.

But put them with first-time director, and writer of Lethal Weapon, Shane Black, and you have one of the most delicious films of the last decade.

Based in part on the book Bodies Are Where You Find Them by Brett Halliday, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a neo-noir that comes complete with fast dialogue, an almost incomprehensible plot, and lots of corpses. Rather than being a Tarantino-style blood bath, however, Black’s film is a wildly hilarious farce.

Harry Lockheart (Downey Jr.) is in L.A. – a fantastical city at the best of times – for a screen test, after accidentally crashing into a film audition and impressing the casting agents. At a party he is introduced to ‘Gay’ Perry van Shrike (Kilmer), a private detective who has been recruited to give Lockheart some experience of the profession for Lockheart’s film role. Not long after they meet, Lockheart is embroiled in two murder cases and the bodies begin to pile up.

Black delights in taking reality, smashing it and throwing the distorted pieces back in your face. Lockheart, our narrator, can rewind or fast forward the film to refine his story, and ends the film with a straight-to-camera epilogue thanking us for watching. Downey Jr.’s quick delivery is perfect for Black’s smart dialogue, and his bemused expression throughout all the hi-jinks makes the bizarre turn of events even more entertaining. Next to Downey Jr., Kilmer is clearly having a blast as Gay Perry, always ready to bring a healthy dose of rationality to the situation. The often underrated Michelle Monaghan completes the unfortunate trio as Lockheart’s beautiful and intelligent childhood sweetheart.

You may not be able to follow the plot, but that’s not really the point. Just let the beauty of L.A., bathed in Michael Barrett’s glowing cinematography, and the glorious madness wash over you, and enjoy the ride. After all, with a film that includes a drunken robot, Elvis and urinating on corpses, it was never really going to make a lot of sense.

Wrriten by Hannah McCarthy

Grolsch Film Works have sent over this rather interesting press release and a couple of behind the scenes images from the film of their brand new feature film along with announcing three new directors who have signed up to come on board. These three directors are Harmony Korine, Jan Kwiecinski and Alexei Fedorchenko with each director filming a 30 minute short film in their own country of America, Russia and Poland.

Each Director worked from the same brief which Grolsch Film Works have shared with us:

“The (Filmic) Fourth Dimension”
Creative Brief
Written by Eddy Moretti

Dear Director from another land, here are your instructions…

This film must be the best film you have ever made.

It should blur the line between what is real and what is fake.

We must never know “the truth.”

We need to be shown things we have never been shown before.

We need to go places that we may not have been before.

You need to take us to a different world, an unknown world.

You cannot be afraid. Be bold.

The hero needs to be bold. Bold in an unexpected way.
The hero also has to be flawed.

The hero must never appear to be a “hero.”

The hero must have greatness thrust upon him or her.

The hero must have a missing tooth.

The hero tells bad jokes. But they’re good.

The hero needs to believe in something so deeply that nothing else matters.

The hero needs to be independent.

Eccentrics are good.

People with “too much character” are good.

People who live outside the mainstream are good.

People who look a different way are good.

People who move a different way are good.

Stray dogs are good. They can be really meaningful.

There needs to be music playing within the scene.

Someone must sing a song that is completely made up.

There needs to be a character named “Mickey House.”

There needs to be love.

Someone should wear tap shoes.

A stuffed animal needs to make an appearance.

You must try and make this film look very beautiful.

The director must direct one scene from the film with a blindfold on over his or her eyes.

We will choose that scene.

We will film the director while he or she is directing that scene.

We must hear someone tell a great story.

The story must be something that has actually happened to the writer/ director in real life, something that they have never revealed to anyone else.

A character must say “Don’t worry, I’m sure you will survive.”

We need to see what the sky looks like where you are filming.

This is really important: you must refer to the “Fourth Dimension.”

And you must show us a glimpse of this “Fourth Dimension.”

It should challenge our commonly held assumptions of what the “Fourth Dimension” is.

Director, your audience must walk away transformed, transfixed, excited and even afraid of their own potential as human beings.

Catch lighting in a bottle.

Give us magic.

Director, you cannot fail. We’re all behind you.
THE END.

Korine (Kids, Gummo and Mister Lonely), is first to film and his short will star Val Kilmer.

Sounds like an exciting idea. Check out the images below which you can click to enlarge and scroll down for more info.

TRIO OF DIRECTORS SIGNED FOR GROLSCH FILM WORKS FEATURE

Harmony Korine, Jan Kwiecinski and Alexei Fedorchenko shoot new film

London September 22, 2011 – GROLSCH FILM WORKS today announces a trilogy of international directors brought together to shoot a unique, experimental feature film.

Each director will film a 30-minute short in their home nation – Harmony Korine in the US, Alexsei Fedorchenko in Russia and Jan Kwiecinski in Poland.

This is the first film to come from Grolsch Film Works, which launched in April 2011 as a studio to champion film talent worldwide and help bring creative, independent cinema to a wider audience. Grolsch Film Works is funded by the Dutch beer Grolsch and this feature film is created in collaboration with VICE Films.

Each film-maker will follow the same brief designed by project director Eddy Moretti, executive director of VICE, best known for his film Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Moretti will oversee the continuity of the three-part film.

Moretti said: “Grolsch is serious and sincere about supporting film art. They want to add something to the global film community, something far beyond sponsorship which is why we wanted to get involved.

“The mandate of the project is to create cinematic experiences with filmmakers that have truly unique approaches to character and story-telling. I created a weird and wonderful brief that tasks each director to create riveting characters that inhabit supra-normal worlds.

“At the heart of the brief is the notion of the ‘Fourth Dimension’. Each director was asked to explore what a ‘Fourth Dimension’ might be. What is it? Where is it? What does it look and sound like?

“What we got back from the filmmakers was in turns intense, hilarious, poignant and completely without precedent.”

Korine, whose credits include Kids, Gummo and Mister Lonely, is the first to shoot with Val Kilmer taking the lead role of a motivational speaker at the fictional ‘Lotus Community Centre’, set in Nashville.

Fedorchenko, who’s Silent Souls showed at the Toronto and Venice Film Festivals last year – scooping three jury prizes at the Lido – will start shooting in Eekaterinburg after he completes judging on the 2011 Venice Film Festival jury.

Kwiecinski is best known for his short-film Incident which won awards in festivals across Poland (e.g. New Horizons International Film Festival, Polish Film Festival) and attracted international attention when it screened around the world. Kwiecinski will shoot in Parysow, near Warsaw. This will be the first time he has directed on a full feature project.

Thomas Kamphuis, who heads up the Grolsch Film Works programme, said: “Grolsch Film Works supports all directors who are bold, standby their creative beliefs and bring to cinema audiences the opportunity to choose interesting films to sit back and enjoy.

“We want to work with film makers who create the sort of work that transports viewers somewhere new and original.

“The director’s involved in this project have had full creative licence to realise their vision of the brief. It’s an equal bold move from us to handover the controlling reigns of this project to their unique interpretations.

“We’re delighted to be working with three brilliant directors on our first feature film and are looking forward to showing the results of the debut project from Grolsch Film Works to the world.”

The currently untitled film is scheduled for release in the early part of 2012 and will be screened in each of the director’s countries and other territories globally.

Director Harmony Korine added: “I’m really excited to make a film with Grolsch Film Works. It’s a great chance to experiment and make something amazing.

“The idea of these three films working together under one central idea is great.  I think it’s gonna turn out really nice. I’m very excited about it.”

His leading-man Val Kilmer, who will next be seen in Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt, added: “I’ve never been more nervous during a comedy, and I’ve truly never been treated with more respect and pure love.”

Russian director Alexsei Fedorchenko, commented: “It has been a long time since I wanted to make a short-length film but the concept of the project seemed appealing because of how risque and cheeky, in a good way, it was.

“That was why I was excited to join this project. I wish luck to all film-directors on this project, its producers and the bold Grolsch company!”

Directing the Polish chapter of the film, Jan Kwiecinski, added: “Grolsch Film Works’ first film brings together three directors from three totally different parts of the world and will give us access to the private lives of people and places we have never seen before.

“For me as a director there is nothing more exciting than that.”

way.
The hero also has to be flawed.
The hero must never appear to be a “hero.”
The hero must have greatness thrust upon him or her.
The hero must have a missing tooth.
The hero tells bad jokes. But they’re good.
The hero needs to believe in something so deeply that nothing
else matters.
The hero needs to be independent.
Eccentrics are good.
People with “too much character” are good.
People who live outside the mainstream are good.
People who look a different way are good.
People who move a different way are good.
Stray dogs are good. They can be really meaningful.
There needs to be music playing within the scene.
Someone must sing a song that is completely made up.
There needs to be a character named “Mickey House.”
There needs to be love.
Someone should wear tap shoes.
A stuffed animal needs to make an appearance.
You must try and make this film look very beautiful.
The director must direct one scene from the film with a
blindfold on over his or her eyes.
We will choose that scene.
We will film the director while he or she is directing that
scene.
We must hear someone tell a great story.
The story must be something that has actually happened to the
writer/ director in real life, something that they have never
revealed to anyone else.
A character must say “Don’t worry, I’m sure you will
survive.”
We need to see what the sky looks like where you are filming.
This is really important: you must refer to the “Fourth
Dimension.”
And you must show us a glimpse of this “Fourth Dimension.”
It should challenge our commonly held assumptions of what the
“Fourth Dimension” is.
Director, your audience must walk away transformed,
transfixed, excited and even afraid of their own potential as
human beings.
Catch lighting in a bottle.
Give us magic.
Director, you cannot fail. We’re all behind you.
THE END.

It seems the pattern is NOT full Ghostrider! I was six when Top Gun came out back in 1986 (my age spoiler right there) and unfortunately for me, neither my mum nor dad saw fit to take me along to my local cinema in Sutton to watch one of the all time classic Simpson / Bruckheimer productions! The movie stars Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, Tim Robbins (if you can spot him before he was famous!), Michael Ironside and a little semi-cameo from Meg Ryan.

Earlier today at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, the announcement was made equipped with some footage already converted into 3d that the movie will be getting a the 3D treatment (courtesy of Legend3D) and a theatrical re-release! The audience were treated to the aerial flight sequence clip with Danger Zone playing out at volume 11!

I am finding it hard to contain my excitement!! To be honest, I’m, not that bothered about seeing it in 3d although that will be a nice touch, but watching it completely remastered for 21st Century cinemas will be fantastic and I cannot wait!

What do we think of this news? Is it worth re-releasing and what do you think about the conversion from 2D to 3D? Tell us in the comments section below.

And just so you all know, you can be my wingmen (women!) anytime!

Here’s the original trailer from 1986.

American Zoetrope have released the first official trailer for Twixt, which – at over three minutes – provides a decent insight into the upcoming horror-thriller.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now), Twixt stars Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Elle Fanning, Ben Chaplin, Joanne Whalley, David Paymer and Ryan Simpkins.

Synopsis: A writer with a declining career arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl. That night in a dream, he is approached by a mysterious young ghost named V. He’s unsure of her connection to the murder in the town, but is grateful for the story being handed to him. Ultimately he is led to the truth of the story, surprised to find that the ending has more to do with his own life than he could ever have anticipated.

Twixt is scheduled to premiere at the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival next month, and is likely to hit UK cinema screens early next year once a distributor has been found.

Check out the official trailer below, courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival website:

The Toronto Film Festival will see the premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s latest and there’s a few new pics to feast your eyes on today.

Once called, rather romantically, Twixt Now and Sunrise the film now goes by the name of Twixt, which does in fairness open it up to a fairly obvious confectionary tie-in, and it sees dead people in the form of Elle Fanning, who starred in Sofia Coppola’s last film Somewhere.

The film’s Facebook page gave us these peeks at the production and Coppola looks very relaxed on set despite the presence of Evil Elle Fanning (by which I mean she looks evil, not that she herself is evil).

Hold man! Here comes a synopsis bearing teeth,

A writer with a career in decline arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl. That night in a dream, he is approached by a mysterious young ghost named V. He’s unsure of her connection to the murder in the town, but is grateful for the story being handed to him. Ultimately he is led to the truth of the story, surprised to find that the ending has more to do with his own life than he could ever have anticipated.

Click each one and give your spine a bit of a chill,

American Zoetrope have released four blood-drenched promo posters for their upcoming horror-thriller Twixt.

Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now), Twixt stars Elle Fanning, Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Ben Chaplin, Joanne Whalley, David Paymer, Alden Ehrenreich, Don Novello and Ryan Simpkins.

Synopsis: A writer with a declining career arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl. That night in a dream, he is approached by a mysterious young ghost named V. He’s unsure of her connection to the murder in the town, but is grateful for the story being handed to him. Ultimately he is led to the truth of the story, surprised to find that the ending has more to do with his own life than he could ever have anticipated.

Twixt is set to receive its world premiere at the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival.

Check out the posters below:

Source: The Playlist

The Toronto Film Festival website has been updated with a load of new images from some of the films playing there this year and Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt is among them.

It’s an intriguing first look at a film whose panel at this year’s Comic-Con showed a director whose inspiration and vision were finding their feet once again and this film looks to make the most of the cast Coppola has attracted.

Synopsis time,

A writer with a declining career arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl. That night in a dream, he is approached by a mysterious young ghost named V. He’s unsure of her connection to the murder in the town, but is grateful for the story being handed to him. Ultimately he is led to the truth of the story, surprised to find that the ending has more to do with his own life than he could ever have anticipated.

Ben Chaplin, Val Kilmer and Elle Fanning lead the film and if you want to see Kilmer’s ponytail and Chaplin’s Edgar Allan Poeish get up then you’re in for a treat.

Here are your pics,

It was recently announced that the legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola would be making an appearance at this year’s Comic-Con (he last visited there to promote his 1991 Dracula adaptation) and he would be bringing his return to the fantasy/horror genre, Twixt, with him.

Now Entertainment Weekly has scored the first look at the film, which star’s another semi-AWOL figure (from the big screen, at least), Val Kilmer, as a horror author who sets out to uncover the mysterious sightings of a young girl who was previously murdered in her small town. The girl in question is played by Elle Fanning (Coppola must have been impressed with the performance she gave in his own daughter’s last feature, Somewhere) and that’s her sporting a strange punk/gothic hybrid look next to the beret-wearing director in the image below.

The independent feature has yet to find a distributor in the US, but maybe the Comic Con publicity will help put an end to that. Even though it’s probably safe to say his glory days are well and truly behind him, it’s always nice to another film on the big screen from this past giant of cinema.

A few weeks ago I had the chance to interview Renny Harlin about his latest film, 5 Days Of War. He proved to be a passionate, enthusiastic and gracious interview subject and you can see what we discussed and also read my review of the film here.

5 Days of War is getting a proper theatrical release in the US, but we are having to content ourselves with a DVD release here in the UK. Having watched the film on the small screen, I can confirm it still has plenty of impact, but I continue to maintain that it is a shame the film could not get the UK theatrical release that the scale, quality and subject matter of the film deserve.

While we are on the subject of 5 Days of War, here is a new poster for the film, which in now standard fashion has been photo-shopped beyond all reasonable measures. Frustrating, because it makes an otherwise sincere and impactful film appear cheap and silly. Anyway, IMP have brought us this one, so thanks to them.

After he is rescued by Georgian forces from an ambush while reporting on the Iraq war, US journalist Thomas Anders (Rupert Friend) hears of a developing conflict in the former Soviet state of Georgia. He heads there with a cameraman friend Sebastian Ganz (Richard Coyle), where they find a complicated and tragic situation developing. After filming a shocking and barbaric execution, they find themselves battling against Russian military might and worldwide apathy in their efforts to get the news to the world at large.

*****

As the world sat glued to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a matter of far greater import was unfolding in Georgia, but few of us knew and even fewer cared. Having gained its independence from Russia following the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Georgia found itself essentially being invaded once again, following the expressed desire by two republics of Georgia (South Ossetia and Abkhazia) to separate and rejoin Russia. Russia claimed its involvement was solely to assist these republics, whereas Georgia saw itself as a victim of Russia’s desire to once again expand.

Georgia reached out to the US and the EU, but there was little in the way of a response. Perhaps it was felt to be simple local skirmish, irrelevant to wider, global concerns. Certainly that seems to be a gross over-simplification and the fact that Russian forces remain in place in the separatist republics gives the lie to this not being about Russian expansionism.

Fortunately for all of us, Renny Harlin (who has long-since established his large-scale, big-budget credentials with Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight) came to hear of the conflict and embarked on this thrilling and yet deeply moving portrayal of a relatively unknown war. As Harlin said during his exclusive interview with us (which will be on the site later today), he grew up in the shadow of the Soviet empire and felt that he understood the tensions and complex issues surrounding Georgia’s relationship with Russia. Certainly the end product is a film about which Harlin feels very strongly and he is able to bring his considerable expertise in large-canvas action to bear as well.

Evenly spread across the film, yet feeling genuinely organic within its fabric, we have a number of military attacks on towns and villages. Tanks rumble, helicopter gunships destroy buildings, fighter jets roar overhead. Harlin has clearly not lost one ounce of his touch in staging these sorts of sequences, with a seemingly effortless sense of geography, scale and movement. Unlike these sorts of sequences in other big budget tent-pole releases I could mention, you can see precisely what is happening and they feel nothing like stand-alone set pieces, instead threading seamlessly through the overall narrative of the film.

There are engaging and satisfying human beats as well, no mean feat given the scale of the action sequences and the global dimensions to the conflict that was rapidly unfolding. Although some of the characters do feel a little like cyphers at times, for the most part we are presented with living, breathing, flesh and blood people, whose eventual fates we care about deeply. The exception would be the invading Russian and mercenary forces, who are a little two-dimensional and boo-hiss villainous for the most part, rarely presenting anything in terms of characterisation or motivation.

This is a minor gripe however, amidst some of the finest work that Renny Harlin has ever put on screen. Some of the resolutions are a little simplistic and it is abundantly clear where the sympathies of all concerned lie, but it is an exceedingly accomplished piece of film-making, bringing to us some much needed education on a significant conflict about which we would have to say we know very little. When I spoke to him, Renny Harlin expressed a great deal of pride in the film and rightly so. The action sequences are as gripping as any from his considerable back catalogue, but he engages the emotions here in a way he has rarely managed in the past.

Despite covering such a large-scale series of events, Harlin never allows the film to become or feel bogged down. It moves along at a good energetic pace, allowing time for each character to develop, but always keeping the film moving along within its disciplined running time. The acting performances are mostly spot on, with the well-known faces (Val Kilmer, Dean Cain, Heather Graham, Andy Garcia) never feeling like stunt casting, being instead as well-immersed in their roles as anyone else on show here.

It is a great shame to see this film miss out on a theatrical release in the UK, however it is due to enjoy a theatrical run in the US later in the summer and you can get it on DVD in the UK from today.

5 DAYS OF WAR RELEASED ON DVD AND BLU-RAY ON 13 JUNE 2011 FROM ENTERTAINMENT ONE

****~ (4/5)

Here’s our second competition of the day from Lions Gate Home Entertainment. They’ve also been kind enough to give us three copies of their new movie, Double Identity which is released 16th May to give away.

Val Kilmer (Heat, Top Gun) becomes entangled in a deadly web of lies and murder when he is wrongly identified as a secret agent in DOUBLE IDENTITY. Set in Chechnya, this taut action-packed spy-thriller also stars Izabella Miko (Clash of the Titans) and Julian Wadham (The English Patient) and will be available to own on DVD from 16^th May 2011.

Dr. Nicholas Pinter (Kilmer) is an American physician working for Doctors Beyond Borders when he is mistakenly identified as a secret agent by the Russian mafia. After a violent pursuit by two mobsters, he escapes a close brush with death when he is rescued by the beautiful and mysterious Katrine (Miko) from the British Secret Service. But Nicholas soon realises that the deadly game has only just begun…

DOUBLE INDENTITY Cast & Crew:

• Val Kilmer (Heat, Batman Forever, Top Gun, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)
• Izabella Miko (Clash of the Titans, Coyote Ugly,)
• Julian Wadham (The English Patient, Exorcist: The Beginning,)
• Directed by Dennis Dimster

To be in with a chance of winning this movie, simply become a fan of HeyUGuys on Facebook and answer the following question using the form below:

Who plays Dr. Nicholas Pinter in the movie, Double Identity?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 16th May 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

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

Yahoo and IMPA have released a brand new poster and trailer for a movie called Kill the Irishmen which until they were released, i’d never heard of! I’m glad I have now as it looks great!

It has an all-star cast which includes Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Steven R. Schirripa, Vincent D’Onofrio, Paul Sorvino and is directed by Jonathan Hensleigh.

Synopsis: Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonate in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene and the Italian mafia. Turning the tables on loan shark Shondor Birns and allying himself with gangster John Nardi, Greene stops taking orders from the mafia and pursues his own power. Surviving countless assassination attempts from the mob and killing off anyone who went after him in retaliation, Danny Greene’s infamous invincibility and notorious fearlessness eventually led to the collapse of mafia syndicates across the U.S. and also earned him the status of the man the mob couldn’t kill.

I’ve not found a UK release date as yet but it’s coming out in the US 11th March. Scroll down to see the poster and trailer below.

Christopher McQuarrie, the guy who penned The Usual Suspects, has just confirmed with The Vulture that Maverick will return as the lead in the upcoming Top Gun 2 sequel.  With that said, Tom Cruise will be reprising his role as the famed pilot.

If this movie does actually come to fruition, Tony Scott will be the man with the directorial reigns with Jerry Bruckheimer most likely producing.  My only question is will Iceman actually have a prominent role in the flick because if he does, Kilmer better be the only man playing him.

So what are your thoughts on the film.  Does it make you feel better that Cruise will have the lead in the sequel since they are most likely going forward with this project?  Please leave your comments below.

Typical! You wait ten years for a new Francis Ford Coppola feature and three come along, all within two or three years of each other!

Deadline have revealed that the director behind such seminal classics as The Godfather series (well, parts 1 and 2 anyway) and Apocalypse Now has already begun directing his next feature, Twixt Now And Sunrise, It’s been described as “a thriller with overtones of horror”, and will star none other than Val Kilmer.

The film is based on a short story written by Coppola and in a rather cost-effective move, he’s shooting it on his property in the Napa Valley region, situated north of San Francisco.

Rounding out the cast will be Bruce Dern and Elle Fanning (younger sister of Dakota.)

Featuring an all star cast including Val Kilmer (Heat, True Romance), Ryan Phillippe (Cruel Intentions, Crash) and Kristen Wiig (Knocked Up, Whip It), MACGRUBER will have you grinning from start to finish with its winning combination of all out action, crude uproarious gags and humour.

And you can grin from ear to ear on the 11th of October when MacGruber hits the streets on Blu-ray and DVD, and we here at HeyUGuys thought it would be nice to get the chance to win a Blu-ray of this action comedy right here, right now.

So, answer the following question using the form below and cross those fingers and toes,

Which 80s action series is MacGruber a parody of?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close Monday 11th of October at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

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

MacGruber is a movie adaptation of the short comedy sketches that featured on Saturday Night Live that was itself a parody of the awesome MacGyver TV series (Now getting its own movie) but with MacGruber being completely inept at what he does. The feature length film builds on the SNL sketches successfully and creates one of the most entertaining comedy characters I have seen in a long while.

Will Forte stars as MacGruber, a well decorated solider with 16 purple hearts to his name and the only American to be a member of the Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Army Rangers. MacGruber, who’s presumed dead, gets called out of his self-imposed exile in South America to hunt his nemesis Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), who killed his bride on their wedding day, and has stolen a nuclear missile which he has pointed at Washington DC. But after assembling his crack squad of elite soldiers (made up of huge WWE stars) a hilarious unforeseen circumstance means he is unable to go into the mission with them, so MacGruber has to rely on former partner Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig) and assigned soldier Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) to bring down Dieter Von Cunth.

MacGruber’s specialty is using everyday objects to concoct weapons, tools and distractions which are pretty funny and useless and he also refuses to use guns so he claims to use throat rips as his weapon of choice which is brilliantly proved in the climatic scenes. Those fans of the SNL sketches will get a nice nod to them as MacGruber has to disarm the Nuke in 30 seconds which was a nice touch and although the ending was a bit too stupid for my liking overall I laughed enough to make it the funniest film I’ve seen this year.

Written by SNL vets Will Forte, Jorma Taccone and John Solomon, they have taken a funny concept and expanded it perfectly so not to dwell the idea of the show and focus more on the character of MacGruber giving him freedom to blossom into a brilliant, entertaining and very likable comedy character. Throw in some wonderfully amusing pieces of ’80s nostalgia like MacGruber’s mullet, his obsession to his removable car stereo in his car, the awesome 80’s tunes like Broken Wings by Mr.Mister and Toto’s Rosanna that he plays whilst driving, which always raised a smile, the nods to 80’s action movies like were marvelous which further added more hilarity to an increasingly likable film.

Kristen Wiig puts in another witty performance and is the perfect accomplice to the dimwitted MacGruber having some great opportunities to get some big laughs and Ryan Phillippe plays it pretty straight which gives MacGruber tons of chances to attack in every way possible. Kilmer is having loads of fun as the villain hamming it up where possible and his rivalry with MacGruber is so funny especially the explanation of how their friendship was broken which is priceles but it’s Will Forte that is the most fun to watch, MacGruber is his character and whatever comes out of his mouth whether funny or not he’s wonderful to watch.

MacGruber is funny, at times eye wateringly funny but it is by no means an inspired comedy or one that will appeal to everyone as it’s rude, crude and at times plain stupid but it’s definitely funny. There is an overuse of jokes, especially in Cunth’s name that I’m sure was used at least 15 times to get a laugh which wore thin but MacGruber is a prime pick up and have a laugh comedy that thoroughly entertains and even though it has a pretty high hit and miss joke rate it has more than enough on offer to raise a good amount of genuine belly laughs and that can’t be bad.

MacGruber is out on the 18th June.

Trailer found here.

Yahoo have just put up a character promo video looking specifically at Kristen Wiig’s character Vicki St Elmo. Vicki is the love interest to Will Forte’s MacGruber which is directed by Jorma Taccone and also stars Val Kilmer, Ryan Phillippe, Rhys Coiro and, Maya Rudolph.

MacGruber will be with us, 18th June and from what we’ve heard, it’s awesome! Our review will be up in the coming weeks.

Synopsis: Only one American hero has earned the rank of Green Beret, Navy SEAL and Army Ranger. Just one operative has been awarded 16 purple hearts, 3 Congressional Medals of Honor and 7 presidential medals of bravery. And only one guy is man enough to still sport a mullet. In the 10 years since his fiancee was killed, special op MacGruber has sworn off a life of fighting crime with his bare hands. But when he learns that his country needs him to find a nuclear warhead that’s been stolen by his sworn enemy, Dieter, MacGruber figures he’s the only one tough enough for the job. Assembling an elite team of experts — Lt. Dixon Piper and Vicki St. Elmo — MacGruber will navigate an army of assassins to hunt down Cunth and bring him to justice. His methods may be unorthodox. His crime scenes may get messy. But if you want the world saved right, you call in MacGruber.

Those lucky chaps over at Empire have done it again and have been given a couple of new posters for MacGruber which stars Will Forte as the title character, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillipe, the man with the coolest name in the world – Powers Booth, and the iceman himself, Val Kilmer. It’s directed by Jorma Taccone and as the posters tell us, it’s released in the UK June 18th (or 21st May in the US).

Empire also give us the short synopsis:

The story sees Will Forte reprising his Saturday Night Live character MacGruber, a former Special Operative called back into operation when his old nemesis, Dieter Cunth (Val Kilmer), threatens to nuke Washington DC. He’s joined by Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig).

Click the image above to enlarge.

Yesterday we gave you the red band trailer for MacGruber which you had to be 18 to watch, we’ll good news tonight is that the green band trailer has been released for the movie directed by Jorma Taccone on Yahoo. MacGruber stars Will Forte, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe and Maya Rudolph. It focuses around a spy named MacGruber who, although is rather dim, always gets the results that his bosses, the US Government are looking for. Check out the trailer below.

Synopsis: Only one American hero has earned the rank of Green Beret, Navy SEAL and Army Ranger. Just one operative has been awarded 16 purple hearts, 3 Congressional Medals of Honor and 7 presidential medals of bravery. And only one guy is man enough to still sport a mullet. In 2010, Will Forte brings Saturday Night Live’s clueless soldier of fortune to the big screen in the action comedy MacGruber.

In the 10 years since his fiancée was killed, special op MacGruber has sworn off a life of fighting crime with his bare hands. But when he learns that his country needs him to find a nuclear warhead that’s been stolen by his sworn enemy, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), MacGruber figures he’s the only one tough enough for the job.

Assembling an elite team of experts–Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig)–MacGruber will navigate an army of assassins to hunt down Cunth and bring him to justice. His methods may be unorthodox. His crime scenes may get messy. But if you want the world saved right, you call in MacGruber.

Head over to Yahoo to view in HD or watch it embedded below.

Thanks to the lovely medium that is Twitter, I’ve just been directed by Universal Studios account to the first trailer for MacGruber which is on the official Rogue Pictures website here.

It’s not embeddable so you’ll have to visit their site to view. It’s the red band one so you have to be ‘mature to view’.

The movies stars Will Forte, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe, Maya Rudolph and it’s directed by Jorma Taccone.

Synopsis: Only one American hero has earned the rank of Green Beret, Navy SEAL and Army Ranger. Just one operative has been awarded 16 purple hearts, 3 Congressional Medals of Honor and 7 presidential medals of bravery. And only one guy is man enough to still sport a mullet. In 2010, Will Forte brings Saturday Night Live’s clueless soldier of fortune to the big screen in the action comedy MacGruber.

In the 10 years since his fiancée was killed, special op MacGruber has sworn off a life of fighting crime with his bare hands. But when he learns that his country needs him to find a nuclear warhead that’s been stolen by his sworn enemy, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), MacGruber figures he’s the only one tough enough for the job.

Assembling an elite team of experts–Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig)–MacGruber will navigate an army of assassins to hunt down Cunth and bring him to justice. His methods may be unorthodox. His crime scenes may get messy. But if you want the world saved right, you call in MacGruber.