There’s a lot of interest in Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass these days and now there’s a couple of new items that have been released, in the form of a new poster and trailer courtesy of UGO.com, which give us a better look at one character in particular: Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy. The character, fairly obviously modeled after Batman right down to the yellow-highlighted utility belt, is standing on a rooftop overlooking Manhattan and features the caption “I can’t be invisible. But I can kick your ass.”

The new clip shows Cage’s character not in costume, but in a secluded location training his daughter Hit Girl, played by Chole Moretz. Said training involves learning how to take a couple bullets to the chest while wearing a bulletproof vest and then negotiating with her father to allow her to shoot him a couple more times. The clip further reinforces the humor, and how dark it is, that has previously been established in prior trailers.

I’m sure these latest two releases will bring interest in the film to an even higher pitch. Unfortunately, we’ve still got to wait until April, 2010 to wait to see it in theaters. Until then, check out the clip and a larger version of the poster after the jump.

Continue Reading →

Though he’s coming off of the train wreck which was Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Nicolas Cage still needs needs money, badly. That means that 2010 will probably become the “Year of Cage,” with at least 6 of his films getting theatrical release next year. One of those films is Season of the Witch, which already looks like a front runner for the 2010 Razzie Awards.

The film’s plot is pretty straightforward: Nicolas Cage is a knight who is set to transport an alleged witch to a monastery, where a monk declares her powers could be the source of the Black Plague. Basically replace Bruce Willis and Mos Def from 16 Blocks with Nicolas Cage, a witch, and black magic, all taking place in Medieval Times.

Check out the brand new trailer after the jump, which admittedly has some cool moments, even if the use of Nicolas Cage and a recycled plot may be present. The film, directed by Whiteout’s Domenick Sena, hits theaters nation-wide on March 19th, 2010.

Continue Reading →

For those getting ready for Nicolas Cage’s version of 1992’s Bad Lieutenant, they should do two things. One: check out our review of the new film before they decide to buy a ticket, and two: check out this amazing video that SNL’s Bill Hader and Mean Magazine put together about a year ago when the remake was first announced.

Hader is currently one of the “Not Ready For Primetime Players” on Saturday Night Live, but he’s also one of the more popular character actors of the past few years. Most will remember him as one of the officers from Superbad, the Shaman in Year One or the park owner in Adventureland. His next big role will be alongside Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Paul.

Check out the video after the jump, and join us in complaining that Werner Herzog decided to cast Nic Cage in the lead role in Bad Lieutenant rather than going with Hader.

Continue Reading →

Not many people say it, but Nicolas Cage gets a bad rap. Often, even from me. Sure, he’s made some questionable script choices in the past, and been known for a few colorful and even over-the-top performances, but if there’s one thing he is known for, it’s consistency in a role. That’s exactly what he brings to the table with Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

The film is an almost-modern-day reboot of the 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel. This time, rather than the rough streets of New York City, the setting has been changed to a post-Katrina New Orleans, with crime high and morals low, the only thing left to keep the streets safe is a deranged lieutenant on a path to his own personal hell.

Continue Reading →

Lionsgate has really stepped up on the marketing for their newest Marvel comic-turned-film, Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass. In a matter of a week, we’ve already gotten a peak at four new character posters, the brand new website, the first official teaser, and now we’re getting yet another poster to check out.

For those not in the know, the film is based on the Mark Millar (Wanted) comic where superheroes are all about as real as they are in the real world, except there are a few who feel they need to take vigilante justice into their own hands. That’s where Dave Lizewski comes in. Dave is a less-than-average highschooler who has never really done anything with his life, until he dons the identity of Kick-Ass, and takes to the streets.

The film will be an interesting test to see if the regular audience is ready for a sardonic and gritty comic book film. Watchmen was able to obtain a small amount of the Dark Knight carryover, but not nearly enough in the box office. Kick-Ass could be a way for fans to one day see comics like Fables and The Boys turned into feature films.

Check out the poster in full after the jump. Kick-Ass, starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Nicolas Cage, hits theaters on April 16th, 2010.

Continue Reading →

A few months ago, there was a little gathering of pop culture fans that some call San Diego Comic-Con. There, movie studios bring projects that are upcoming to show off, and almost every time, one of the fans shoots the footage on their phone and later posts it on the internet. This has happened to some of the bigger projects of the past few years, from Spider-Man to Iron Man, and it even happened to Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass.

For a while, that bootleg footage was all we had to go by, until now. Lionsgate Studios has been on the marketing warpath this week, with the release of the first Kick-Ass posters hitting the web a few days ago. We now have our hands on the first theatrical teaser for the film, which is even more to salivate over.

The film, which is based on the ongoing Marvel series written by Mark Millar with art by John Romita Jr., stars such names as Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin), and relative unknown Aaron Johnson taking on the titular role of Kick-Ass.

Check out the first new teaser after the jump, which looks to already have some great panel adaptation, even in a two-minute teaser. Kick-Ass will hit theaters on April 16th, 2010.

Continue Reading →

Things have been pretty quiet on the Kick-Ass front since the bootleg trailer hit the web right after San Diego Comic-Con back in July. Lionsgate recently picked up the distribution rights to the Matthew Vaughn film based on the Mark Millar comic series.

We’ve now got a bit more to chew on until the April release date, as a series of character posters has gone live, and we’ve got them for your viewing pleasure. Each of the posters show off the main characters of the film, Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz), and Kick-Ass (Aaron Johnson)

The film is based on a comic where superheroes aren’t real (go figure) and one nerdy, wallflower high school kid decides to take crime fighting into his own hands and don the persona of “Kick-Ass.”

Check out the full posters after the jump, including the super-cool group poster they all come together to make. Catch Kick-Ass in theaters on April 16th, 2010.

Continue Reading →

Halloween is officially 8 days away (7 if you celebrate on the 30th), so it would make sense for a studio like Lionsgate to put out lots of genre films to coincide with the spookiest of holidays, right? Wrong, because according to them, March is the new Halloween. Whatever that means.

There is a brand new teaser out for Season of the Witch, starring Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore (The Bank Job), Ulrich Thomsen (Hitman), and yes, Nic Cage. Also, don’t be surprised that a film about witches isn’t coming out around Halloween, because director Dominic Sena’s last film, Whiteout, sat on the shelf for nearly a year before a soft release.

Though October is considered a dead financial month for films, it was nice that the trailer tried to cover it up by proclaiming that “Halloween is for Amateurs.” March isn’t a much better time, but it is where bad horror films go to die, so don’t expect much on March 19th when Season of the Witch opens nationwide.

Check out the first teaser trailer after the jump!

Continue Reading →

Not many people are fans of Nicolas Cage. It could be that his hair is a bird, or that he has been known for many poor film choices like Wicker Man, Next, Knowing, Bangkok Dangerous, World Trade Center or Ghost Rider. The trailer for his newest film, however, doesn’t look half bad — even if it is a remake.

Bad Lieutenant is a remake of the 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel about a cop who walks the line of moral and amoral, drinking and gambling along the way. The idea may feel a bit beaten to death for anybody who watched all 6 seasons of FX’s The Shield, but director Werner Herzog is pushing through regardless.

The script was adapted (or copy-and-pasted) by a veteran of the world of police drama, William Finkelstein, who’s writing credits date all the way back to 1990 with Cop Rock. This remake also changes the settings from New York City to a post-Katrina New Orleans, which opens itself up to a series of outdated references and plot points.

Joining Cage in the remake is Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Coolidge, and Brad Dourif. Catch Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans in limited theaters in November. Until then, check out the first full trailer after the jump.

Continue Reading →

With the Marvel/Disney deal looming, the race is on for studios to secure properties. Variety is reporting that Columbia Pictures is working on a sequel to Ghost Rider, with David Goyer reportedly in talks to create the story, as well as supervise additional writers for the film. Nicolas Cage is expected to reprise his starring role as Johnny Blaze.

The resurrection of Ghost Rider as a franchise comes in the middle of negotiations with other Marvel characters at Sony, Fox, Universal and Paramount. Studios must move on these properties now if they want to retain the rights to their Marvel superheroes.  If the properties languish, Marvel Entertainment can reclaim the rights to those characters. This is exactly what happened with the Dr. Strange, Black Panther and Iron Man properties. Iron Man languished in development hell at New Line before Marvel turned the property into a self-financed blockbuster last year. And we all know how well that went.

Although Goyer stated through a spokesman, that he has not officially signed on to a second Ghost Rider, plans are already under way to base the sequel on a script Goyer penned years ago. Goyer’s, superhero work includes successful screen transfers of DC’s Batman Begins and Marvel’s Blade franchise.

Columbia isn’t the only one getting in on the properties action. Fox plans to reboot Fantastic Four with Green Lantern scribe Michael Green; develop a Wolverine sequel and other X-Men spinoffs; a Silver Surfer film; and a revamped version of Daredevil.

Sony recently tapped James Vanderbilt to pen the fifth and sixth installments of the Spider-Man series, and Universal is continuing work on Sub-Mariner. Paramount will continue to be the distributor for Iron Man 2 and are also expected to distribute the upcoming Thor and Captain America flicks.