Chinese director Jiang Wen launches latest movie

BEIJING (AP) — Hoping for maximum publicity, Chinese director Jiang Wen launched his latest movie at an event Monday — more than three months before it is due to open in cinemas.

"Gone With the Bullets" is a 3-D sequel to Jiang's 2010 political satire "Let the Bullets Fly," which featured a bandit posing as a mayor. It grossed $103 million in mainland China.

With an estimated budget of $20 million, "Gone With the Bullets" is set in 1920s Shanghai and revolves around a beauty pageant. Jiang is the first Chinese director to shoot a film with an IMAX 3-D digital camera, according to an IMAX press release.

Jiang was asked whether he wanted it to make more money than "Transformers: Age of Extinction," which became the biggest grossing film in China in July.

Jiang, who also acts in the film, said, "I definitely want to see a big box office for my movie and I want it as big as possible."

The launch event was also attended by actresses Shu Qi and Zhou Yun and actor Ge You.

Fast 8

‘Fast & Furious 7′ Starts Filming; Vin Diesel Talks Kurt Russell in ‘Fast 8′

Fast & Furious 7  will be in theaters on July 11, 2014 – with Fast & Furious 8 sure to follow soon thereafter.

 As we have already discussed, the Fast & Furious franchise is, in many ways, a superhero franchise that rivals the biggest titles in the genre – and like any good modern-day superhero franchise, they aren’t waiting to make plans for the continuation of their universe, they are setting it up early and teasing it to fans now.

      

That brings new additions to the F&F7 cast up to Russell, martial arts movie star Tony Jaa (Ong Bak) – and reportedly Games of Thrones actress Nathalie Emmanuel (Daenerys Targaryen’s translator) has been added, too. Rumor had it we could also see UFC star Ronda Rousey join the cast, though that hasn’t been concretely confirmed yet.

Harry Potter' spin-off movie series announced, written by J.K. Rowling

BEST BUY@ ebay & amazone. Posted by Kashyap POnkia via Techno Quist

Warner Bros. have announced a new film series that will be set in the same world as Harry Potter: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Potter fans will recognize the title, as it was used for a Potter spinoff book, presented as a Hogwarts textbook read by Harry, Ron and Hermione. The film will be an original story centered on the supposed author of that book, Newt Scamander. JK Rowling will write the first film herself, making her screenwriting debut.

The wizarding world of Harry Potter is coming back to the big screen through a new spin-off movie written by J.K. Rowling herself. The movie will be set 70 years before the events of Harry Potter, and will follow the adventures of Newt Scamander. For big fans, Scamander's name may be familiar — in the original series, he was the author of a textbook called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which Harry was required to buy. The textbook's title is serving as the name for the upcoming picture as well. Warner Bros. announced the new film this morning, saying that it would be the first in a whole new series, and that some familiar characters and creatures could turn up once again.

RELATED: 'HARRY POTTER' AUTHOR J.K. ROWLING ASSUMED A MALE IDENTITY TO SECRETLY RELEASE A DETECTIVE NOVEL

Not shockingly, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them won’t only be a film series. Notes the press release, “Fantastic Beasts” will also be developed across the Studio’s video game, consumer products and digital initiatives businesses, including enhanced links with Pottermore.com, Rowling’s digital online experience built around the Harry Potter stories.”

Warner Bros. will also partner with Rowling on the upcoming TV adaption of her book The Casual Vacancy, distributing the miniseries in all territories except the UK, where it will air on BBC.

RELATED: 'HARRY POTTER' SERIES COMING TO THE KINDLE LENDING LIBRARY FOR AMAZON PRIME SUBSCRIBERS

Tattooed Miss America contestant Theresa Vail is first to show ink during pageant

ATLANTIC CITY — She isn't the only one with a tattoo.
Miss Montana, for instance, has a big bold one on her foot, with a cross and an inscription.
But Theresa Vail's ink was front and center last night at the first round of Miss America preliminaries. Exposing a tattoo seemed a far cry from the pageant queens of old who came to visit, like BeBe Shopp, from 1948, who once, it was reported, told media she didn't think bikinis were appropriate for American women.
Between Vail's red bikini, on her right side, spanning her ribs and hip, is the "Serenity Prayer," written in a sizable series of vintage font.

View full sizeMiss Kansas Theresa Vail.Miss America photo gallery.The Star-Ledger 

She is Miss Kansas, and while she wasn't there to wear them — the ladies will don their parade shoes Saturday — her plain tan boots also stood out in a table of glitzy, glittery heels yesterday at a preview for the Show Us Your Shoes Parade.
Vail, 22, joined the Kansas Army National Guard at 17, lists her employment as being in the medical detachment, and has double majored in Chinese and chemistry at Kansas State University.

Just in case you were wondering what Theresa looked like in uniform and as a brunette, we’ve got both covered with this photo from November of 2011 featuring Theresa and her dad, which she captioned, “Everything I aspire to be…”

If you wanted Theresa Vail as a brunette, but not necessarily in uniform, we’ve got you covered there too! Here’s another photo of a dark-tressed Theresa looking absolutely lovely while attending a wedding in October, 2009. (Once again, Theresa is posing with her pop.)

The 2014 Miss America Competition will air Sunday, September 15 at 9/8c on ABC.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 5

'PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES' DELAYED BEYOND SUMMER 2015

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer reveals script issues behind the move, which follows the summer flop "The Lone Ranger": “We’re supposed to start [shooting] in March and you start spending a lot of money now.”

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer says the decision to push Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which is set to returnJohnny Depp to the Capt. Jack Sparrow role, was made because of script issues. He is hopeful that the film can be ready for summer 2016.

Disney is flush with product so the studio is not pressuring for a start. And the summer of 2015 already is packed with major films, including Warner Bros.' tentatively-titled Batman vs. Superman, set to open one week after Pirates' original July 17 date. Disney's schedule for 2015 still includes Star Wars: Episode VII, another Avengers movie and a Pixar film, Inside Out.

Right now, other than Pirates, Johnny Depp has two other movies in the pre-production stage; Mortdecai and Into the Woods. There is also the matter of the recently announced follow up to Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

Will the delay of Pirates complicate things for the actor’s already busy schedule, thus further delaying the production of Dead Men Tell No Tales? Right now, we will just have to wait and see how things unfold.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, filmmakers were not happy with screenwriterJeff Nathanson’s initial draft of the script calling it “too expensive” and “really hard to follow”. He is currently in the process of re-writing the script based on an outline that was very well received.

Disney now hopes to keep the cost of the fifth Pirates movie under $200 million — a goal the studio is unlikely to meet. But bringing in Kon-Tiki directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, who made their film on the water for a price, should help keep costs down. Nonetheless, industry observers have anticipated a tough negotiation between Disney and Bruckheimer, given the size of the Lone Ranger write down.

 

who r waiting for captain jack sparrow????????

'Riddick' review: still angry after all these years

The Riddick Series has never been AAA cinema. 2000’s Pitch Black was a B-movie mash-up of sci-fi, horror, and action, while its PG-13 sequel The Chronicles of Riddick aspired to be more of a costumed action epic — and failed at the box office.

The character has maintained a loyal following over the years, however, and nine years after the last installment Diesel and writer-director David Twohy have stripped the character back to his R-rated essence with Riddick. The new film sets the stage for what could be a gleefully absurd genre ride, but the movie never quite finds its footing, missing out on the very elements that have made Diesel’s recent films so much fun in the first place.

see the trailor +=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o6BAGrqS2gQ

The plot, such as it is, is pretty straightforward. Years after The Chronicles of Riddick, our lead has been betrayed by the Necromonger Vaako (a fleeting appearance from Star Trek’s Karl Urban). Banged up and left for dead on a barren planet, Riddick slowly gets back into fighting shape, and in order to secure off-world transport he activates the emergency beacon at an abandoned outpost. There’s still a reward out for Riddick’s head, and two crews of bounty hunters come running.

The group led by Santana (Jordi Mollà) is full of bloodthirsty mercenaries in it for the cash, while the more refined crew headed up by Matt Nable’s Boss Johns has a slightly different agenda. Of course, Riddick is Riddick, so neither side finds it very easy to track down the escaped convict — and when a storm brings a torrent of vicious alien creatures into the mix all parties have to team up to survive.

THE MERCENARIES ADD A BRIEF FLASH OF LIFE

If it sounds like the same terrain as Pitch Black, you’re not far off. Swap a solar eclipse and Alien clones for a rainstorm and giant water scorpions, and the films bear more than a passing resemblance. But where Pitch Black took pains to slowly introduce audiences to Diesel’s character — building up a mystique that still lingers — Riddick assumes we’re on board right from the start. So instead we get to watch Riddick reset his broken leg. And train an alien dog. And collect venom from a scorpion creature. It’s a slow, tedious opening act, and even a satisfying action payoff can't undo a first impression that sets the tone for the entire film.

The movie briefly course-corrects with the arrival of the two mercenary crews. Mollà brings a scummy sleaze to Santana, acting like he’s the smartest guy in the room while events prove he’s anything but. Twohy mines the character for laughs and tension — a scene with an explosive lock is a hold-your-breath standout — and at its very best the vibe calls to mind 1980s genre classics like Predator. Boss Johns, on the other hand, is far less memorable, despite the character having a strong emotional tie back to the original Pitch Black. The other team members fare no better; even with the oversized presence of WWE star Dave Bautista, they’re simply pawns to be knocked over one by one.

And then there’s Katee Sackhoff’s Dahl. Sackhoff was one of the high points of the rebooted Battlestar Galactica. Her take on Starbuck was tough, smart, yet vulnerable — completely reimagining Dirk Benedict’s role in a way that ended up being neither a stunt nor a gimmick. As Boss Johns’ right hand, Dahl appears to be cut from similar cloth, but thenRiddick veers wildly off course. Dahl is a remarkable sharpshooter and can throw a punch, but her primary function in the story is to be the subject of topless shower-scene objectification, or to serve as the target of rape threats — some uttered by Riddick himself. Yet in some kind of meathead movie alchemy, this somehow ends up wooing Dahl by the end.

Riddick is a movie about a buff guy with shiny eyes fighting water scorpions; nobody’s expecting a world-changing look at gender dynamics. But one thing that Twohy and Diesel have excelled at is making Riddick more interesting and nuanced than your average action thug. In Pitch BlackRiddick was a violent killer, yes — but he also had a strong paternal side when it came to the young survivor Jackie. That protective streak carried over to The Chronicles of Riddick, but here it’s all but vanished. Riddick may love his dog, but that’s largely it — and the absence is palpable. Even the vague platitudes he spouts to Boss Johns about personal fortitude feel like weak placeholders.

It’s even more frustrating because the film does have some great moments. A bloody altercation that was teased this summer has a glorious payoff that takes things a graphic step further, and while Diesel looks considerably older than he did the last time around he still brings his trademark growl and menace. Twohy delivers visually as well, bringing in a stylish, large-scale look on a modest budget.

There’s little doubt that the character of Riddick is close to Vin Diesel’s heart, and with the new film both he and Twohy are trying to give fans the R-rated experience they want. In that rush to please, however, they seem to have pushed too far, losing sight of the balance of interest and investment that lets an audience get behind an antihero in the first place. Given the trilogy’s pedigree, it’s not exactly an earth-shattering disappointment, but it’s a shame we couldn’t see the same whirlwind energy that’s been present in Diesel’s recent successes directed into Riddick’s horror and sci-fi world. Maybe the return of Xander Cage will be better.

KNOW 5 THINGS ABOUT 'ROBO COP"

5 things about ROBO COP

1ST . RoboCop Begins: By putting an up-and-coming star into the main role, surrounding him with an all-star cast of acclaimed character actors and shooting for an expected PG-13 rating, Padilha apparently hopes to replicate the massive critical and commercial success Nolan earned with his Dark Knight trilogy. While that may win the franchise a wider, more family-friendly audience, a watered-down, less bloody RoboCop runs the risk of alienating the diehards that found the Rated-R original such a guilty pleasure and made it a box office hit. Already, Netizens are slamming the reboot as an uninspired Hollywood retread and it will be up to the Brazilian filmmaker best known for the foreign documentary Bus 174 to prove them wrong.

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2. Murphy Lives! In the first film, Peter Weller starred as Detroit police officer Alex Murphy, who in the year 2028 is pronounced dead after being brutally attacked by crime boss Clarence Boddicker and his thugs, only to be resurrected as the robot crime fighter. In this one, Murphy is portrayed by The Killing's Joel Kinnaman, but this time, his character survives a car bombing. Murphy's fate is also a subtle allusion to the current plight of many American servicemen injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

NEWS: RoboCop first look: Cyborg's black suit snapped on set

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3. It's Got Batman! Furthering the Batman analogy, Padilha casts Michael Keaton in the role of villain Raymond Sellars, the CEO of OmniCorp., the all-powerful corporation that creates our cyborg hero. Of course, Sellars aims to use Murphy to his own nefarious ends by turning him into a weapon he can deploy at his disposal. Fanboys have decried the filmmaker's decision to lose the old school silver metal armor suit in favor of all-black "tactical" look. And who better to give RoboCop that big-screen makeover than the guy who played the original Dark Knight in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman?

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4. Did We Mention Gary Oldman?! The erstwhile Commissioner Gordon plays the pivotal role of Dr. Dennett Norton, the scientist who puts humpty dumpty Murphy back together again after the latter sustains "4th degree burns over 80 percent of his body," as he notes. Once again, Oldman is seemingly playing a good guy, who we imagine will likely serve as a father figure/mentor for our protagonist's journey (which the 1987 version didn't have).Morgan Freeman, alas, isn't in it, but joining Oldman is Samuel L. Jackson as a media mogul and the ever-creepy Jackie Earle Haley playing Maddox, a military man who trains RoboCop. And based on this teaser, we've a gut feeling the latter's character is going to be doing Sellars' dirty work the way Kurtwood Smith's Clarence did the same for RonnyCox's OCP President Dick Jones in the original.

PHOTOS: Check out the hunkiest hotties of sci-fi

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5. So Long Anne Lewis: The new RoboCop also gets rid of Murphy's female partner, Officer Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen) in favor of a male one in the form of Michael  K. Williams. Presumably that's because the film delves into the family drama more with the addition of Abbie Cornish as his wife, Clara, and John Paul Ruttan as his son, David.

Despite these differences, if the 2014 RoboCop has one thing going for it in the vein of its predecessor: there's plenty of action to be had as the robot cop battles a slew of fellow Iron Men in crime-ridden Detroit (which, by the way, just filed for bankruptcy in real life). No word however if the clunky ED-209 will be back (could the below pic be it?).

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Whether moviegoers buy the reboot for a dollar—or pony up full price admission for that matter—we'll have to wait and see when RoboCop hits theaters on Feb. 7, 2014

PHOTOS: Movies from the future!

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Free download first trailer for the new 'RoboCop'...........!!!!!!!!

RoboCop has returned to Detroit. The first trailer for the remade RoboCop has just debuted, and while it shows a similar outfit, it looks much more like a high-concept, big-budget action film than what was seen in the original 1980s picture. Even so, director José Padilha says that he's still out to capture the political tones that were ubiquitous in the original — this time with an eye toward drones. RoboCop is set to hit theaters on February 7th of next year, and you can catch your first glimpse of its dystopian world below.

LINK=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UuVphAuRo7Q#t=0