Looks like Joe Carnahan's Daredevil project is dead. And the below sizzle reel concocted by Carnahan for his version of The Man Without Fear makes me so dang sad. Who knows if he could have pulled this off or not, but I love the Super Fly music and The Warriors "CAN YOU DIG IT?!" pronouncement. My only hope is that Carnahan can take some of this 70s/80s grime and apply it to his Death Wish remake. Or is that dead too?
So if Fox doesn't get a Daredevil film into production by October the rights of the character revert back to Marvel Studios. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I don't want Daredevil hopping around The Avengers universe. Why? Cuz I don't want a superhero Daredevil. I want a vigilante Daredevil. And apparently I wanted a Joe Carnahan Daredevil.
Just waking up after the miraculous screening that was The Avengers. You'll have to wait for my Week In Dork for further fanboy rambling, but what I can tell you now is that it blew me away. Easily my favorite film of 2012 so far and I find it hard to believe that any other movie this year could contend with the ridiculous amounts of joy birthed from Joss Whedon's epic. So, watching my favorite comic book heroes assemble on screen last night got me to thinking, what are the other great super groups of cinema. Here's what I came up with:
5. 44 Inch Chest: After Ray Winstone's wife cheats on him, his gangster BFFs help him through this dark time by kidnapping the wife's lover and presenting him bound & gagged for execution. But it's not as simple as a bullet to the head. A terribly claustrophobic film filled with hilarious hateful back & forth banter from the entire cast. Ian McShane as the homosexual Meredith and John Hurt as the repulsive Old Man Peanut are definitely the highlights of the film, but the interaction between the whole cast is simply wonderful. And the plot doesn't take you to the obvious dark places promised at the start of the film. An absolute gem of a movie.
4. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: T-U-R-T-L-E Power. This collection of radical mutant adolescent siblings only want to scream Cowabunga, eat pizza, and possibly Ninja Rap but Shredder and his foot clan won't let them relax. But throw in sports fanatic Casey Jones, Zen master rat Splinter, and plucky reporter April O'Neal and you've got a totally tubular team of crime fighters. NYC is safe.
3. The A Team: Forget the haters, I love this movie. Liam Neeson's Hannibal is the perfect combination of manly bravado to lead this team of cartoonish misfits and I seriously appreciate how Joe Carnahan maintained the weirdo whacky charm of the original show's hijinks. Fools get pitied, Face charms the skirts off ladies, and Howling Mad is just that. The A Team is a lark, and a thoroughly entertaining one at that.
2. The Killing: Now here's a sorry batch of losers forced to work together to score a little scratch. Sterling Hayden is the Parker of the group, trying to ignore the incompetence of the small time hoods around him as a means to an end, but the others will always foul things up for the level headed. Timothy Carey is a scary ass monster petting puppies as he negotiates the murder of a horse and Elisha Cook Jr is a lovable sad sack schlub. It's all gonna go tits up, but it's sure fun to watch.
1. Ocean's 11: Now here's the criminal equivalent of The Avengers. Where The Killing gang screws it all up, Danny Ocean's team gets it all right. And you'll laugh your ass off through the entirety of their all too clever shenanigans. Too bad the sequels never could recapture the original(remake)'s allure.
Just a few days ago, The Grey director Joe Carnahan let the world know via Twitter that he's signed on to direct a Death Wish remake. I definitely dig Carnahan's films and I love the hell outta the original Death Wish series, but I'm not so sure I need a new version of this story. It's simple enough where one could run off with a very different take on the style/narrative so I'm not freaking out or anything. Besides, I like the cut of Carnahan's Tweets' gib:
"Guys. I’m doing ‘Death Wish.’ But this version is a re-imagining of the book and set in present day Los Angeles. The L.A. of ‘Collateral.’ It’s on buses, cabs, metro trains. I want to show an unseen version of L.A. L.A. on foot. Prowling. Hunting. The vast emptiness of downtown. … Refn did a phenomenal job shooting L.A. It took on a different dimension. That’s the key. … The only role I’m writing in ‘Death Wish’ which will mark the ONE time I’ve ever written exclusively for an actor, will be for @FrankGrillo."
Bronson Grillo
Well, now Mondo just posted the below picture on their tumblr page. A quick Tyler Stout Charles Bronson! This gets me salivating at the very notion of a Stout Death Wish Mondo print. Want, want, want. Of course, if it was anything like today's Drive release I won't have a holy heck of snagging one.
I really cannot wait to see Liam Neeson punch some wolves in The Grey. Matt & I have been talking about this film nearly since the second it was announced; Liam Neeson has been kicking some serious ass of late with Seraphim Falls, Taken, Unknown, & The A-Team and I don't want him to stop. Please, no more film's like The Other Man. We know you can do drama Liam, but we just want you to bust some heads ya vicious bastard.
Anyway, to celebrate I picked a batch of other Color related titles featuring some pretty tough old dudes.
5. Silver Bullet: This fairly decent Stephen King adaptation not only features two tough dudes (Everett McGill & Gary Busey), but one's a (SPOILER!!!!!!!!!) a Werewolf! and the other's a friendly Drunk Uncle! Silver Bullet is not going to win any awards in the scary horror department, but it's a fun little film in that Halloween Marathon kinda way.
4. Mackenna's Gold: Last week I ranted and raved about Gregory Peck in The Gunfighter, and now I'm here to sing the praise of his even older, tougher badass performance in Mackenna's Gold. Held hostage by Omar Sharif's gold hunting gangster, Peck must keep his wits about him as he turns bandido against bandido while also keeping an eye out for rampaging savages...uh, Native Americans.
3. Red Heat: Is there anything more badass than Arnold Schwarzenegger's Russian cop playing Bus Chicken with Ed O'Ross' cocaine trafficking maniac while Jim Belushi cowers & screams in the aisle? Answer, no. I LOVE RED HEAT! Is it my favorite Arnie picture? Not by a long shot. But that Walter Hill 48 Hours formula is still going strong in this film, and there is enough 80s sleaze to keep that teenager part of your brain throbbing. Absolute ridiculous action violence fun.
2. The Blues Brothers: Jake & Elwood are on a mission from God to save their orphanage and bring the band back together. And they are ice cold, cool as cucumbers, cool. As a child, I knew I never had a chance in heck of being this cool no matter how many harmonicas I stuffed down my briefcase. The Blues Brothers remains one of my all time favorite movies.
1. Soylent Green: And here's another film I can't talk enough about. Seriously, I know you already know the climactic spoiler, but this film is much much more than just its well-known revelation. Soylent Green is an excellent dystopian police procedural with one of Charlton Heston's finest performances. Mix in a pretty nifty collection of neckerchiefs, Brock Peters, Chuck Conners, and Edward G Robinson and you've got yourself one helluva night out at the movies.
The Grey is definitely one of my most anticipated films of next year. Yeah, yeah, yeah--Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, Breaking Dawn Part II, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance--no, man, it's all about The Grey. The new trailer looks fantastic with Liam Neeson gettin' all To Build A Fire on your ass. Loved his partnership with Joe Carnahan on The A Team and I'm loving what I see below. And the intro is great too.
