ScreenCrave.com » Vin Diesel

New Official Photos From ‘Dredd’ And ‘Riddick’ Hint At Dark Characters And Violent Futures

Bronwen Winter Phoenix — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:42:18 +0000

Two sneak peaks of the upcoming science fiction films Dredd (that’s the Judge Dredd reboot) and the new Riddick sequel (starring Vin Diesel) were released in the form of new promo photos this week. It’s something of a treat for fans of sci-fi dystopias featuring brooding and musclebound anti-heros, man-hating prostitutes of the future, and highly unnecessary reboots and sequels.

Dredd was featured in The LA Times, which included a new photo of Lena Heady as Madeline “Ma-Ma” Madrigal, along with an exclusive interview with the actress.

“She’s a prostitute who then kills her pimp and takes over his drug-running business,” says Headey of her role. “And Ma-Ma is a bit of a man-hater.”

The movie takes place among the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd, played by Karl Urban, is the infamously feared elite Street Judge (previously played by Sylvester Stallone in the original film, Judge Dredd), who holds the power to enforce the law and sentence offenders – sometimes even executing them on the spot – if necessary.

“I think of her like an old great white shark who is just waiting for someone bigger and stronger to show up and kill her,” continued the Game of Thrones star. “She’s ready for it. In fact, she can’t wait for it to happen. And yet no one can get the job done. She’s an addict, so she’s dead in that way, but that last knock just hasn’t come. This big, fat, scarred shark moving through the sea and everyone flees and she’s like, ‘Will someone just have the balls to do it? Please?’”

Dredd will be released in 2D and 3D on September 21.

Meanwhile, Riddick star Vin Diesel was happy to share a sexy shirtless set photo from the new movie that’s sure to appeal to female fans, along with this message regarding the latest in the third film his hard-bitten sci-fi series:

“A still from the Riddick set this year… we are in post and I can’t tell you how excited I am to see it manifest. You all were such a part of it becoming a reality… willed it into being, so to speak…”

The star has already let slip that his Riddick will have not one, not two, but three new looks.

Riddick will be released to theaters in 2013 and stars Vin Diesel, Joel William Gonzales, Karl Urban, Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Mollà, Matthew Nable, Bokeem Woodbine, Dave Bautista. The film is directed by David Twohy.

Which film are you most excited about?

Sources: ComingSoon and MovieWeb

Photos: Vin Diesel as Riddick and Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows

Damon Houx — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:25:55 +0000

Tim Burton‘s Dark Shadows is hitting theaters May 11, which means we should be seeing a trailer here any day now. For the time being there’s a new still of Johnny Depp in the film, and it suggests that his character is in line with many Burton protagonists of the past. He looks like a man-child, though that could be just in this still. We should know more when the trailer hits. Check out Vin Diesel in the first still from his latest film Riddick…

Vin put this up on his Facebook page, which proves that film is really going forward. Pitch Black was a small film that ended up doing rather well and helped launch Diesel’s career, but the follow up – The Chronicles of Riddick – felt stagebound and bombed at the box office. Diesel and writer/director David Twohy love the character, so it seems the success of the last two Fast and Furious films have let Diesel go back for round three.

That in itself is weird. Perhaps the DVD and Blu-ray sales on the series were stronger than ticket sales on the sequel, or perhaps they’re doing this one on a very tight budget. But – as with a number of films in production and development – we’re getting a sequel to a franchise that was rejected by theatrical audiences.

Are you excited for a third Riddick film?

Fast And Furious Franchise Will Go to at Least Seven Films

Damon Houx — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:35:55 +0000

Though the sixth film already has a release date, Vin Diesel confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that it won’t be the last go around for the crew. A script for the seventh film in the Fast and Furious franchise is being written alongside the sixth film, as Diesel says they’ve already got too many ideas and characters for just one film. As Fast Five was ridiculously entertaining, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.

What this also means is that cast members like Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and Dwayne Johnson will likely be returning for more. Director Justin Lin has said he had already pre-vis’d an action sequence for the next film, and the worldwide success of the last film means that they’ll have some freedom to go crazy. It’s currently (and likely to remain) the sixth highest grossing film of 2011, and made over $600 Million worldwide.

The question is if they can keep getting it right. The first film came at the right time and place to blow up, and the franchise took a while to find its footing – so much so that by the fourth film audiences were happy to see Diesel and Walker back as the leads. In some ways it’s the most improbable series since Police Academy, but as long as there are good looking cars and women in the films, it will surely find an audience.

What do you want out of the sixth and seventh Fast movies?

The Fast and the Furious 6 coming May 24, 2013

Damon Houx — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:15:00 +0000

Studios – like Ain’t-it-Cool-News Talkbackers – love calling “First!” And with studio tentpole titles, they like to have breathing room. The weekends for big releases are now being called years ahead of time, with films that often have no scripts and no casts. Maybe they have some contractual agreements with the stars – stars often have to sign on for a number of films if the studio thinks they have a franchise – but even there, the cast and crew aren’t always lined up. On that note, Universal has announced that Fast Five‘s sequel will be hitting theaters May 24, 2013.

This suggests that Dwayne Johnson, and original stars Vin Diesel, and Paul Walker are returning, but with this franchise, they’ve made films without either original lead, so who’s to say. What is known is that Fast Five cleared $200 million domestic, and worldwide is nearing $600 million. The franchise – which has been around for a little over a decade now – seems to know what to do now, and Universal’s smart to keep going with the sereis.

And yet making movies for release dates has led to some bad movies. The best example is Iron Man 2, which was – quite obviously – rushed into production to meet a street date. One of the better examples is X-Men: First Class. But even if First Class proves to be the best summer film this year, fans will note that some of the effects shots went unfinished. The idea seems to be that audiences will go anyway – regardless of what critics think, regardless of what the majority of audiences think – because of the branding. To that end… they’re right.

What’s the best title for The Fast and the Furious 6?

Fast Five: Movie Review

Damon Houx — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 01:00:39 +0000

Summer movie season usually starts the first week of May, but this year Fast Five is kicking things off a week early. Returning vets of the series Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster and Tyrese Gibson are joined by newcomer Dwayne Johnson for a car chase and heist movie that manages to be the fifth film in a franchise that somehow revitalized itself after a super-successful fourth entry. How good is the fifth film? Have a look…

The Players

The Director: Justin Lin
The Writer: Chris Morgan
The Stars: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Matt Schulze, Tego Calderon, Don Omar, Elsa Pataky, Joaquim de Almeida

The Story

After breaking Dominic Toretto (Diesel) out of jail, ex-FBI agent Brian O’Connor (Walker) and his girlfriend Mia (Brewster) are on the lam, only to hide out in Rio where Dom’s brother Vince (Schulze) lives with his wife. Brian, Mia and Dominic take a job stealing a couple cars (off a moving train), which goes bad and gets the ire of Rio’s crime kingpin Reyes (de Almeida). The car they stole holds info on his holdings, so the three assemble a team of thieves and car people to steal a hundred million dollars from Reyes. But because of the car heist gone bad they’re being tracked by Hobbs (Johnson), a no-nonsense FBI agent who is not to be triffled with.

The Good

This movie knows what it is: Though this franchise is baffling (how it survived it’s first two sequels is impressive), it feels like all the previous films have been a rough draft to finally get to this movie. It takes cast members from the earlier sequels (some killed off in previous entries) and brings them together for an “assemble the team” movie that delivers laughs and thrills better than any of the Ocean’s Eleven movies, or the Italian Job remake.
Practical Effects: When these cars are moving and crashing – though there’s definitely digital work to be found – for the most part you get the sense that you’re watching cars on streets interacting with each other. With car stunts movies that’s something that can’t be faked.
The Cast: The assemblage of all these cast members gives the film a number of different voices that it doesn’t have to establish. Since backstory is the death of these movies, that everyone involved shows up and delivers a moment or a line or two that kills, you’re constantly entertained by the ensemble. And it doesn’t hurt that the cast is filled with attractive people. Though the leads are a couple years on, men like Tyrese Gibson and Sung Kang have a sexy cool about them, while Gal Gadot and Elsa Pataky give the film some compentent acting and eye candy. That said, if someone walks away with this movie it’s…
Dwayne Johnson: As a film star, there’s been few roles that have given him as much fun things to do as this movie. He gets to bark orders, and do a riff on Tommy Lee Jones’s character in The Fugitive (which was a riff on Les Misérables‘ Javert), when the third act kicks in he gets to deliver some of the film’s best moments both as a character, and as a person who puts foot to ass.

The Mixed

Takes a while to get going: Though the opening is absurd in the right way, the film has a couple of opening it has to get through, from getting Dominic out of prison, establishing Rio, getting the gang in trouble with Reyes, establishing Johnson’s character and then assembling a team. But this also works for the film, as it builds to a great third act where the film is firing on all cylinders. It just takes a little for the film to settle in.

The Bad

Nothing, if you accept that this is a summer film: Look, there’s nothing all the deep going on in this film, there’s no subtext (not even the barely concealed homoeroticism of the second film), and everything is cartoonish and stupid. That said, it’s the right kind of cartoonish and stupid. It delivers, it delivers in a way that most big event films don’t. This is a full combo meal of junk food that manages to satisfy all cravings for what a good trashy film should be.

Overall

If someone told me that it would take five movies to make a great Fast and Furious film I would never believe them, but having seen Fast Five on Monday, I’m contemplating going back again this weekend. For whatever reason – however all the pieces came together – Justin Lin has managed to craft one of the most rousing, audience-pleasing, completely satisfying Summer films in a long, long time.

Rating: 8.5/10

Fast Five hits theaters April 29. Seriously, check it out.

Fast Five Super Bowl Commercial

Krystal Clark — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:13:39 +0000

Did you really think we were done with the excessive Super Bowl promotions? Nope! There’s more where that came from. Another movie that got some prime ad time during last night’s big game was Fast Five. The fifth installment in the long running Fast and the Furious franchise. It was 30 seconds of high octane action that featured a very angry Dwayne Johnson. Check it out…

Did you catch that last shot? Not only were Paul Walker and Vin Diesel speeding on a curved highway but they jumped off a cliff and out of a car simultaneously! Talk about taking the Thelma and Louis moment to the extreme. We hope that’s not the last scene in the film. That would be both a rip off and a spoiler.

Official Synopsis:

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker lead a reunion of returning all-stars from every chapter of the explosive franchise built on speed in Fast Five. In this installment, former cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) partners with ex-con Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) on the opposite side of the law. Dwayne Johnson joins returning favorites Jordana Brewster, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Matt Schulze, Tego Calderon and Don Omar for this ultimate high-stakes race.

Since Brian and Mia Toretto (Brewster) broke Dom out of custody, they’ve blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he’s not the only one on their tail.

Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can’t separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey…before someone else runs them down first.

Fast Five hits theaters on April 29.

What do you think of the TV spot for Fast Five? Are you interested in seeing the sequel?

Vin Diesel Discusses New Look for Riddick Sequel

Krystal Clark — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 21:25:07 +0000

It seems that Vin Diesel is hell bent on reprising all the roles that made him famous, including his character from Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. The actor is set to appear in a third film in the series simply titled Riddick that will illustrate the character in a way that we’ve never seen him before.

Over on Diesel’s official Facebook page, he revealed that his character in Riddick will have not one, not two, but three new looks.

“So the director of Riddick, my partner on COR since the beginning, DT… has a new challenge in store. He wants me to have 3 different body looks for this next chapter…

There is the DiNorscio type, the Dom type, and the lean Furyan type… but all in the same movie, haha…

When it comes to art, we all like a challenge.”

What does that mean exactly? He just named off three different types that reference characters or themes from other movies. We’re assuming that Dom is for Dominic Toretto from The Fast and the Furious, DiNorscio is for Giacomo DiNorscio from Find Me Guilty, and the Furyan represents the home planet his character in the Riddick series comes from. To be honest, we haven’t been waiting on the edge of our seat to see another installment. The second film didn’t exactly leave us wanting more.

What do you think about a third Riddick film? Are you interested in seeing the movie?

Vin Diesel vs Dwayne Johnson in Official Fast Five Photo

Krystal Clark — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:16:41 +0000

It’s the battle of the bulk in the first photo from The Fast and the Furious sequel, Fast Five. It features franchise star Vin Diesel and the new kid on the block Dwayne Johnson. But don’t worry, judging from this picture he has no problem holding his own against Diesel. Check out what happens when these two come face to face.

Why is it that Vin Diesel does that same “now what!” pose in all of his movies? It feels as if we’ve seen this from him before. We wonder if Diesel is standing on his toes so he doesn’t dwarf in Johnson’s presence?

You might be wondering after four films why someone like Johnson would decide to get on board so late in the game. The actor told USA Today, “One of the things I’ve always loved about the franchise — the reason I think it’s been so successful over the years — is that they never stop trying to up the action.”

If you’re interested in seeing that new action up close and personal, Diesel claims that the first trailer will debut online this Tuesday.

What do you think about the first official photo from Fast Five? Are you excited for the film?

Cast Photos: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris in Fast Five

Krystal Clark — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:00:21 +0000

The fifth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise entitled Fast Five has us royally confused. We recently learned that Dwayne Johnson joined the cast and Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, and Sung Kang are set to reprise their roles in the sequel. Over at Collider, they’ve posted a few on set photos that feature the new crew including Paul Walker and Vin Diesel but no Johnson. Take a look…

Why is Ludacris in this movie? Is he a cop now? We didn’t see Fast & Furious but we’re well aware that Kang was in the it as well as Tokyo Drift. Gibson was the second lead in 2 Fast 2 Furious, which Ludacris had a cameo in the last time we checked. Apparently, his street racing character has moved up since the last time we saw him. Either way it looks like the folks behind this film aren’t playing any games, the gang’s all here!

These photos were taken off the Twitter feeds from Gibson and Ludacris and feature the cast mean-mugging for the camera with guns and all. At first, the idea of ANOTHER Furious film was daunting but dammit if they’re not trying to suck us back in with this cast!

What do you think of the first on-set photos from Fast Five? Are you interested in seeing the sequel?

Vin Diesel Reveals New Riddick Concept Art

Krystal Clark — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 02:17:32 +0000

Even though the first Pitch Black sequel The Chronicles of Riddick was pure visual cancer that hasn’t stopped the cast and crew, led by star Vin Diesel from making another one. The actor has been using his personal Facebook Page as a means to give fans updates on the movie including this latest jewel. He posted the first piece of concept art that features him and some type of mutated creature. We’re not exactly sure what it is but it looks like it’s kicking his ass…

Universal will once again produce the latest film in the Chronicles of Riddick series with David Twohy, who wrote and directed the first two movies. So far the story is said to echo the vibe of the first film, which means it won’t concentrate so much on the universe Riddick lives in, as opposed to the character himself.

Here’s the photo Diesel posted…

Early Riddick concept art… first frame of a 2D Motion Choreography Study.
Grrrr…
The Furian… left for dead…
p.s. Being involved in the various preproduction engines, I am afforded an education that is priceless. I have always been a fan of internships as a way of education. When Steven Spielberg hired me for ‘Ryan, the running joke was that I would have come to set just get him coffee – it was the educational an experience.

Riddick looks like he’s getting his ass handed to him in that photo but since he’s the hero in the series we know he’ll eventually rise to the occasion.

What do you think of the concept art released for the third Riddick film? Are you interested in seeing the movie?

Rob Cohen Set to Direct XXX in 3D

Laura Aguirre — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:55:10 +0000

After it was announced that Rob Cohen wouldn’t be returning for another XXX film, fans of the original film let out a huge sigh. They were sad for all of two seconds because that news didn’t stick. Apparently he WILL direct the third film which will reunite him with star, Vin Diesel. After being through many ups and downs at Columbia Pictures, the project has been moved to Paramount and the studio will take over the franchise, finance the production, and distribute the film for late 2011 or early 2012.

Cohen originally left the project believing Sony would never actually go ahead with it (the studio did however finance the development of the script by Michael Ferris and John Brancato). In 2005, Cohen directed Stealth for the studio, which bombed at the box office earning only $32 million domestically.

“I left the project because I had a very strong instinct it would never get made at Sony, that it wasn’t picking up the critical mass and traction that a movie needs. I got along very well with everybody there, from top to bottom, but in these recession times, you make your picks carefully and it always comes down to judgment calls based on taste and the objectives you’re trying to meet for the studio. For whatever reason, Paramount sees the future of this, and we’re in a very positive place at a new home where there is genuine enthusiasm. For whatever reason, Paramount sees the future of this, and we’re in a very positive place at a new home where there is genuine enthusiasm.

Joe Roth has joined XXX with Neal Moritz, Diesel and Samantha Vincent, all to serve as producers. Roth recently produced Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland, and his next film out, which is likely to be yet another success is the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz feature Knight and Day.

The third XXX will have Diesel reprising his role as Xander Cage, who’s been left for a dead, but returns to execute a very difficult assignment that only he can pull off. Samuel L. Jackson comes back as Agent Augustus Gibbons, and for the most part, everything will be set in Europe. One huge difference from the first two installments (which should come as no surprise) is that Cohen will use a 3D camera to shoot the third XXX.

XXX seems to have all the right people to make this action packed film a box office hit: Joe Roth, Vin Diesel, Rob Cohen and Paramount. It’s always better to see Diesel as a bad-ass than as a bad baby-sitter. And surely, all of you fans are glad to hear that the series original director is back to continue what he started.

What do you think of the latest developments of XXX?

via Deadline

Vin Diesel and Fast Five Headed to Brazil

Krystal Clark — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:55:09 +0000

Vin Diesel will reprise his role in the long running Fast and the Furious franchise with the fifth installment entitled, Fast Five. After the unprecedented success of last year’s Fast & Furious we shouldn’t be surprised that another sequel is in the works. Diesel has been updating fans via his official Facebook page about the latest film’s progress and he recently dropped a bomb about its location.

The actor wrote about a meeting with Furious director Justin Lin regarding the new movie and what he could or couldn’t reveal to fans. Diesel along with Lin, Paul Walker, producer Neal Moritz, and screenwriter Chris Morgan are all set to return for Fast Five and it sounds like they’ll be headed to South America. In the actor’s latest Facebook post he wrote the following entry,

Had a meeting with Justin Lin today regarding the Fast saga… some daring but fascinating thoughts in terms of action set pieces… and relationships, old and new.
The team is on their way to Brazil this evening, to scout, and to see what selection of cars there are.

P.s. Will be talking to DT next week, maybe he can let me show some concept art of Riddick… Peace.

Don’t you love how he refers to this as a “Saga?” This isn’t Star Wars. That word used to carry weight but now with this and the Twilight series, it’s lost all credibility. Diesel also managed to sneak in a little tidbit about the third Riddick film, another project that will be rehashed even though it doesn’t need to be. Get ready guys, it sounds like we’re going to Brazil.

Where do you think the series could go if it was set in Brazil? What other locations should they try out?

ScreenCrave.com » Vin Diesel

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Fast Five: Movie Review

The Players

The Story

The Good

The Mixed

The Bad

Overall

Rating: 8.5/10

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