Losers and Proud and On the Way Back for More

Cute and fun-looking.

Perfectly calibrated in tone.

And still very Guardians of the Galaxy.

I’m talking, of course, about the first teaser for next summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 starring Chris Pratt, Zoë Saldana, David Bautista, Elizabeth Debicki (AMC’s The Night Manager), Kurt Russell, and Sylvester Stallone, among others.

Check it out:



Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – directed by returning helmer James Gunn and featuring once again Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel (Baby Groot Alert!) – is due out on May 5.

Love at the Edge of the Galaxy

So surprised they didn’t tease the s--- out of this one with trailers for the trailer.

I’m talking about Passengers, Morten Tyldum’s follow-up to his Academy Award-nominated Imitation Game. The upcoming Christmastime release stars Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, in what promises to be the second-most grabbing end-of-year pairing at the box office after Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in La La Land.

Pratt and Lawrence – who ended up with the part after Rachel McAdams and Reese Witherspoon both circled it at one point or another (Keanu Reeves was once attached to the male lead) – play a couple of people who meet on board a cutting-edge spacecraft transporting thousands of folk to a distant planet. They come together after their suspended animation faults, and they awaken 90 years too soon. Needless to say, the pair bonds, with the two falling deeply in love – a good thing, for the ship is malfunctioning and collapsing all around them.

Together, Jim and Aurora – those are their characters’ names, FYI – will have to sort out not only why but also how to survive this beyond-massive impasse.

OMG, can you imagine? Like, they paid all that money for that to happen? I would be sooo aggroyed.

Passengers – co-starring Master of Sex Michael Sheen – be in theaters on Dec. 21.

Photo: ThePlaylist.net.

Your New Han Solo Is This Guy

Say hello to Alden Ehrenreich. You’re gonna be seeing a heckuva lot from him in the next few years.

Move, Chris Pratt – there’s a new It Guy in town.

Quite as expected, Ehrenreich (Hello, Caesar!) has landed the part of young Han Solo in Han Solo: A Star Wars Story, the second Star Warsverse spin-off anthology film that Phil Lord and Chris Miller are getting ready to direct for a 2018 release.

The project will follow this December’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, in as far as these side movies go.

Photo: ScreenCrush.com.

Woman Got Some Gunslingers

Coming up later this year, it’s The Magnificent Seven!

Indeed, as expected, Southpaw director Antoine Fuqua is delivering his Nic Pizzolatto-written remake reimagining of the 1960 film about a group of gunmen who defend a Mexican town from a bunch o’ outlaws (and the woman who puts them on the task).

The Sept. 23 release will pit cowboys (led by Denzel Washington) against cowboys (hey there, Peter Sarsgaard) in a sandy battle of bullets and whathaveya.

The Magnificent Seven co-stars Chris Pratt, Haley Bennett, Ethan Hawke, Matt Bomer, among others. Behold the movie’s first trailer now.

Photo: ComingSoon.net.

Taking the Galaxy

James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is officially in production, with Chris Pratt, Zoë Saldana, David Bautista & Co. all back for more.

Legit-joining them, as expected, will be Kurt Russell coming on board, maybe, to play Pratt’s Peter Quill’s long-lost father, and Elizabeth Debicki in a top-secret role.

Mmm...who might the Man from U.N.C.L.E. starlet be portraying....

Guess we shall find out a lot closer to the blockbuster’s May 2017 opening date. Ha!

In any case, Chris Sullivan (Cinemax’s The Knick) and Canadian actress Pom Klementieff (Oldboy) also have secured parts in the production.

Photo: News.com.au.

Papa Quill, Is That You?

Kurt Russell is going from the snowy wilderness of the Tarantinoverse to...quite the Marvelicious outer space?

Indeed, he might be.

It was revealed this week, that the Hateful Eight star was in negotiations to play Peter Quill’s long-lost alien father in director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Peter Quill, of course, is the earthbound a.k.a. of one Star-Lord, the rascally hero role that catapulted Chris Pratt deep into that sweet, sweet A List of Hollywood.

Papa Quill reportedly will play a pivotal part in the sequel’s shenanigans.

Photo: TheVerge.com.

Bring On the Second Volume!

And henceforth, the sequel to last summer’s surprise mega-hit Guardians of the Galaxy (you know...Chris Pratt’s starmaker) shall be known as...Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Director James Gunn confirmed as much, so there you have it.

The title, fans will know, is a riff on a nostalgia-tinged plot point in the original blockbuster, as well as on the title of its well-received soundtrack.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is due in theaters on May 5, 2017.

Photo: Fandango.com.

Magnificent Bomer

Matt Bomer is magnificent, we know that.

But now, the man is Magnificent. As in one of The Magnificent Seven.

The Golden Globe winner has signed on to join Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt in the Antoine Fuqua-directed remake of the 1960 film centering on a group of gunmen who defend a Mexican town from a bunch o’ outlaws-and-comer.

Bomer joins a cast that also includes Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio (Netflix’s Daredevil), Jason Momoa, and Haley Bennett (the Magic Mike XXL star will play her husband).

Photo: TomAndLorenzo.com.

The Real McCoy

Jeez. They certainly are keeping Chris Pratt busy.

The Jurassic World star has signed to carry a new bootlegging drama centering on sea captain Bill McCoy on his brawny, blockbuster-y shoulders.

The movie will chronicle McCoy’s rum-smuggling runs from the Bahamas to the United States during Prohibition.

“The real McCoy.” Ever heard of that expression? It came from him, for he claimed never to have paid for protection from the law or the mob, and because he always delivered uncut liquor. Just, you know...the real McCoy

A director has yet to be hired for this one, but something tells me the search should be a short one. Everyone wants to be in the Chris Pratt business these days.

Photo: Time.com.

Magnificent Girl

Up-and-comer Haley Bennett (Marley & Me) will do anything to stay close to Denzel Washington.

Clever girl.

Bennett has landed the plum role of the widow of a murdered man who hires a bounty hunter, who, in turn, then contracts six gunmen to protect her, and by proxy her town, from the thugs that introduced her man to his maker, in The Magnificent Seven.

The movie stars Chris Pratt and – whaddya know – Washington, Bennett’s leading man in The Equalizer.

Antoine Fuqua will direct the Nic Pizzolatto-written project.

Photo: StyleBistro.com.

Is She a Passenger or What?

Earlier this month came word that Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt could be co-starring opposite each other in Academy Award nominee Morten Tyldum’s forthcoming follow-up to The Imitation Game.

Titled Passengers, the project is set on a spacecraft on a century-long journey. Oky doky....

Alas, both talents seem to be super-too busy at the moment, so I cannot help but wonder what will come of this, especially because J. Law and Pratt on a press together would be a riot.

Hope they can swing it.

Photo: Refinery29.com.

2014: The Year in Review, Pt. 1

Well played, 2014 – you had so much to offer, movie-wise, I am trying something new this year...from the third city in which I have lived this year.

Yeah. It’s been a plentiful year as well, speaking to the personal.

And I likey.

But back to the subject at hand. I am splitting my now-traditional look back at the year that was in two.

Happy 2015.

Best Supporting Abs: Zac Efron’s in That Awkward Moment and Neighbors

Good Abs, Bad Movies: Kellan Lutz in The Legend of Hercules and Kit Harington in Pompeii

Best Aging Hair and Make-up: Tilda Swinton’s in The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Vainglorious Hair and Make-up: Tilda Swinton’s in Snowpiercer

Best (Dirty) Look: Reese Witherspoon’s in Wild

Best Kept Secret: Matt Damon’s role in Interstellar

Best Line: “Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine,” said by Jack Bannon, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Keira Knightley at different points of The Imitation Game

Best (Meta) Villains: New York Times critics, as depicted in Birdman and Big Eyes

Let’s Feature More: Swarthy leading men like Amr Waked (Lucy) and Manish Dayal (The Hundred-Foot Journey)

Let’s Not Again: Have Michael Fassbender wear a papier-mâché head for the entirety of a movie like they did in Frank

Most Game: Boyhood’s Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater

Most Kick-ass: Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow

Most Shut. The Front. Door!: Uma Thurman in Nymphomaniac: Volume I

Most Underrated (tie): Draft Day and Edge of Tomorrow

Most Surprising: Guardians of the Galaxy

Most Welcome to the A-List: Chris Pratt

Most Welcome Back: Godzilla

Worst Trend: Unfunny comedies (Walk of Shame, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Sex Tape)

Can’t Wait to See More of – Female: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, from Belle

Can’t Wait to See More of – Male (tie): Domhnall Gleeson, from Frank, and James Corden (Begin Again)

Best Soundtrack: The Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Vol. 1

Best OK Movie Made for the Fans: Veronica Mars

Worst Movie: Jersey Boys

Photos: Universal Pictures (Neighbors); Magnolia Pictures (Frank); Fox Searchlight Pictures (Belle).

Magnificent Chris Pratt

Another week, another bit of Chris Pratt casting news.

The actor – who just opened up about his son’s premature birth – has his eye on the Magnificent Seven project that Antoine Fuqua is getting ready to direct.

Starring Denzel Washington, the project is a remake of the 1960 film centering on a group of gunmen who defend a Mexican town from a bunch o’ outlaws.

F to the Y to the I: Nic Pizzolatto (HBO’s True Detective) wrote the original draft for the new script. So this is a hot project.

Photo: IrishExaminer.com.

The Schizo Hero

Once he is done wrangling the...uh...critters of Jurassic World, Chris Pratt is going to play a Cowboy Ninja Viking.

A what?

See, Hollywood’s latest It Man has signed on to star in the forthcoming adaptation of the A.J. Lieberman and Riley Rossmo graphic novel, presumably as Duncan, the titular hero whose multiple personality disorder is weaponized. Meaning he can be three different assassins in one.

In the novel, Duncan hunts down some of his other “triplets,” who have gone rogue, but the movie reportedly will see him tracking down the billionaire who masterminded the experimental program that turned him into a killing machine.

The search for a director is ongoing for this one, and, more importantly, it is not yet clear whether Pratt will play the Cowboy, the Ninja, and the Viking (which he should). Evidently, the first draft of the script calls for three different actors for each part. But this sounds like it could be fun.

Photo: GQ.com.

The Park Is Open!

’Twas a nice, fun day for those of us who enjoy a nice trailer leak.

Oh, let’s face it. We may not approve of the practice, but we still watch ’em.

Case in point: The first full preview for next summer’s Jurassic World, which was supposed to debut on NBC during some football game on Thanksgiving night...until someone went and uploaded it to the Internet today.

It’s like, really? We can’t even wait two days to see something we probably were going to regardless?

Urgh.

But, whaddya gonna do? Cry over spilled milk a leaked trailer?

Nah. Not when you can all excited and s--- about the return of the dinosaurs – here are three key words you need to imagine what is coming: “genetically modified hybrid” – and about Chris Pratt’s latest opportunity to play the hero. (Hey, are those raptors not chasing Pratt while he rides his motorcycle? What is going on over there?)

Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins (Iron Man 3), Judy Greer, Jake Johnson, Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi), Omar Sy (X-Men: Days of Future Past), a returning BD Wong, and Vincent D’Onofrio co-star in the Colin (Safety Not Guaranteed) Trevorrow-helmed blockbuster, which is set 22 years after the 1993 Steven Spielberg original, on a fully functioning Isla Nublar that is now an essentially trouble-free destination theme park.

That is, until this movie gets going, of course.

Without further ado then, here’s the trailer for Jurassic World.

Photo: UPROXX.com.

Opening Back Up for Business

Mark your calendars for Thursday, kids.

No, not because it’ll be Thanksgiving but because that’s when the first full trailer for the upcoming Jurassic World, starring Chris Pratt, will premiere on NBC (and online, natch).

In the meantime, here’s a preview of the preview to tide ya ovah.

So excited!

Photo: io9.com.

Hemsworth the Sexiest

Duh!

Sorry, Chris Pratt and Neil Patrick Harris, but People magazine has gone with Chris Hemsworth as its Sexiest Man Alive for 2014.

Personally, I would also add that the In the Heart of the Sea star – the man who is Thor! – is the Hottest Man Alive. And the Manliest Man Alive (that voice!).

I also reckon that Australia would dub him Sexiest Aussie Alive and the Aussiest Aussie Alive on account of the self-deprecation he reportedly exhibited when he found out he had been selected for the annual hot-nor.

“Good – but you’re a couple years late,” he told the magazine during the shoot for the popular issue, on sale this week. “I hit my peak a few years ago. I’m on the decline now, so.... I’m not sure that I still deserve it, but thank you.”

Oh, you deserve it, dude.

But don’t feel bad for Pratt, though. The Guardians of the Galaxy star also was singled out by People for the brand o’ sexy he has been bringing, especially this year,  and will continue to provide to the world for many years to come.

Ditto Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan. Ki Hong Lee, from The Maze Runner. Matt Bomer. And Michael Strahan.

Photo: People.com.

Losers and Proud

The new Marvel joint – the gonzoest of ’em all – Guardians of the Galaxy, is a movie about losers.

It probably also is the funnest blockbuster the studio has produced so far, in spite of its esoteric, albeit trademark-by-now plot, for here is a Marvel movie that kinda sorta takes a break from the big picture that has driven and continues to propel the action for the Avengers, yet very much stays on point and manages to be fun and have fun.

To win.

In other words, this one may be quite a departure...but it’s more of the same as well.

And we all know how much enjoy just about everything Marvel does (because they do do it so well).

Directed by James Gunn (Slither, Super), Guardians of the Galaxy marks the launch of a new far-away-set franchise populated by some loco not-so-proven-yet folks (like a mayhem-loving raccoon...and a talking tree) with a self-contained story/parallel look at that same big picture on which Iron Man et al. already have left their mark.

Trust me, it’s a good thing. A bit of a throwback to the all-in devil-may-care gamble that Marvel took with Iron Man back in the late 2000s, but, y’ know...one made with an incredibly well-seasoned grasp on the game.

Starring Hollywood’s Ittest of new leading men, Chris Pratt, Avatar’s Zoë Saldana, and MMA fighter-turned-actor David Bautista (and featuring the rather invaluable voices of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper), Guardians of the Galaxy centers on a quintet of intergalactic misfits that must overcome their impulses and a host o’ differences in order to save the galaxy (well, more like Xandar, a distant planet of the Marvelverse) from the all-destroying power of a force similar to the Aether and the Tesseract of productions past.

Pratt, in his star-making role, plays Peter Quill, a.k.a. (in his own mind) Star-Lord, the legendary outlaw. He’s a Terran (that is, an earthling) who was taken from Earth by some space pirates when he was 8, right after his mom died without having the chance to, uh...maybe tell him he’s like, hella way more than meets the naked eye, and who has grown into a (studly) smart aleck rogue of the first order, and Pratt is just so winning in the part.

Which is the joy of watching of these movies in the first place. We spend our jack on these big-budget extravaganzas looking to see these stars (RDJ, G.P., ScarJo, SLJ, Chrises Hemsworth, Evans, and now Pratt) have fun portraying these comic-book characters we either love or know very little about, right.

We don’t do it for the story!

Not seriously really, anyway....

All this to say, Quill’s just stolen this Orb that just about everybody else’s coveting, including Saldana’s green-hued Gamora, the weaponized, but noble adopted daughter of the long-foreshadowed Thanos, and Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser, a Kree warrior with a hardon for Xandar that’s spoiling to procure the Orb for Thanos so the big bad can make good on his promise to destroy Xandar for him.

Of course, Thanos, voiced by Josh Brolin, is the one who ultimately wants these items, these Infinity Stones we have come across in all these Marvelventures. But you know that – you know that if you’ve been watching these blockbusters.

Needless to say, Quill’s not about to let anyone destroy the galaxy he’s a part of, so he rallies his newfound band of ragtag friends (Bautista’s revenge-seeking and literal Drax the Destroyer, Cooper’s genetically engineered and badass Rocket, and Diesel’s imposing Groot, a kind, not-so-verbose giant humanoid tree-creature-like alien...thing) to defend their turf.

They may not be the the smartest bunch, or the toughest, and they just very well may be the biggest idiots around, but they are what we have – what they have – and they rock (they rock it to the tune of one of the better, funner soundtracks of late).

Better yet, in the end the movie lets them claim the unexpected, if well-earned title of Guardians of the Galaxy, and grow up and, become better versions of themselves. Bonafide superheroes we’ll welcome with opens arms in many a sequel or crossover to come

What...was with that post-credits tag at the very end of the movie, though?

Wacky stuff. And so...fitting.

My Rating ****

Photo: BehindThePanels.net.