Jeremy Renner will return for Mission: Impossible 5

In an almost unsurprising move back in 2011, shortly after Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was released, news leaked out that there would be a fifth installment to the popular spy franchise. Since that time fans (such as myself) have been waiting almost impatiently for what was in store for the franchise.

In recent weeks there has been a swirl of rumors surrounding the production of Mission Impossible: 5, but it has been confirmed that Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg will both be back, Chris McQuarrie will be in the director's chair, and the script was written by Drew Pearce and re-written by Will Staples. Also, just yesterday it was confirmed that Avengers and Bourne Legacy star Jeremy Renner will be reprising his role as Agent Brandt from Ghost Protocol. There's no official word yet on whether Paula Patton will reprise her role for MI: 5 yet.

During an interview with Yahoo, Jeremy was asked about whether he would be involved with True Detective, but he said he would not be joining the show due to time restraints involving several big projects, on top of the fact that he would not be interested in joining anyways: "It’s kind of unlikely. In fact, I’m kind of strapped time-wise doing Avengers 2, and Mission: Impossible 5 is rearing its head, and then they want to do another Bourne movie. It’s unlikely I can find the time right now. And that’s all right. It’s just really high-class problems — pretty awesome to have. Even if I really wanted to do it, which I don’t, I couldn’t."

This isn't exactly a confirmation from Paramount regarding his return to the franchise, but it sure sounds like he's very confident he's returning. I sure hope he does return, I loved his character in Ghost Protocol. Until then, Jeremy's going to be pretty busy with Avengers: Age of Ultron, Bourne 5, and Kill the Messenger. Renner also has an upcoming guest role on FX's Louie, as well as doing the narration for last month's The World Wars miniseries on the History Channel.

Avengers: Age of Ultron will be coming to theaters May 1, 2015. The unnamed Bourne 5 will be released during the summer of 2015. Mission: Impossible 5 is scheduled to be released Christmas Day in 2015.

Sources: Slashfilm and Yahoo

Breaking Dawn Director Bill Condon has been tapped to bring Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast to life

Last year the news broke out that Disney's Beauty and the Beast would be following in the footsteps of Oz the Great and Powerful, Alice in Wonderland, and this year's Maleficent in getting a live-action remake. That project is now officially moving forward with a director finally attached. Variety is reporting that Bill Condon - best known nowadays for directing Twilight: Breaking Dawn pt. 1 & 2 - has been picked by Disney to helm the live-action remake.

The original Disney animated Beauty and the Beast - which was itself an adaptation of a French fairy tale - is one of the few animated features to have the honor of being nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and is widely regarded as one of the best animated Disney films of all time. So loved, in fact, that it spawned several straight-to-DVD sequels, as well as a multitude of various memorabilia over the years.

While some people's reactions might be of disdain due to hatred of the Twilight series, one should also remember that Bill is the man responsible for the Oscar-winning Dreamgirls, as well as Gods and Monsters before that. If Disney keeps this live adaptation as a musical, then Bill is an even better choice as he is the one who wrote the screenplay for Chicago. In other words, he has experience with musicals, so if Disney decides to go down that route again, then Bill Condon is the perfect guy for the job.

I have to admit though, I personally had mixed emotions about a live adaptation of such a beloved classic when I first heard it was going to happen. Still, I honestly would love to see how a live-action Beauty and the Beast would work onscreen. Part of me hopes they keep the 'musical' aspect of it, but at the same time I wouldn't mind a different take on the classic story.

As of right now there is no release date for the live-action Beauty and the Beast.



Sources: Screen Rant and Variety

'Sinister' Director Scott Derrickson in talks to helm Marvel's Dr. Strange

For a long time now, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has been attempting to bring his own passion project Dr. Strange to the big screen. Now it looks like it will finally happen, as Sinister and Exorcism of Emily Rose director Scott Derrickson is in early discussions to helm the project for a Phase 3 release.

In the comics, Dr. Stephen Strange is a former doctor who gets into an accident and loses his ability to perform surgery due to the loss of the nerves in his hands. As a result, he goes on a search across the globe for any and every cure that can help him regain the feeling in his hands. Ultimately his search brings him to someone called The Ancient One who specializes in the occult. Strange travels to meet The Ancient One in the hopes that he can cure his hands, but The Ancient One refuses. Instead he offers to teach Stephen mysticism. It isn't until Stephen sees just what The Ancient One is capable of doing that he agrees to be his student. Stephen tutors under The Ancient One for several years before returning to the United States.

Due to its dark and mystic nature, Dr. Strange will be different to what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is used to, even more so than Guardians of the Galaxy.  Scott Derrickson is best known for two popular horror flicks: The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and his most recent one, Sinister. Dr. Strange is right up his alley in terms of the tone of the story. I have no doubt that he is the perfect man for the job.

As of right now there is no release date for Dr. Strange; however, there are two dates - July 8, 2016 and May 5, 2017 -  held by Marvel that currently have no film set to be released, so the general consensus is that Dr. Strange will fill one of these two dates.

Once Scott officially signs on for Dr. Strange (and hopefully he does), then the search will begin for who will portray the title character.



Source: Variety

Will Smith set to star in untitled NFL film about concussions

According to Variety, Will Smith is set to star in an as of yet untitled film about concussions in the National Football League (NFL). Based on a GQ magazine article titled "Game Brain" written by Jeanne Marie Laskas, the film will be just one of a few productions surrounding the issue of concussions and its impact on players in the NFL. Scott Free Productions, Sony Pictures and The Shuman Company will be producing the film. Giannina Facio, Ridley Scott, and Michael Schaeffer will be in charge of production for Scott Free, while David Wolthoff and Larry Shuman will be in charge of production for The Shuman Company. Peter Landesman will be in the director's chair, as well as write the script.

As mentioned above, "Game Brain" was written by Jeanne Marie Laskas and told the story of Dr. Bennett Omalu (who will be portrayed by Will Smith). Dr. Omalu was the forensic neuropathologist who first made the connection between football players and concussions, and brought his disturbing findings to the public.

On top of this new film about the NFL, there will be others tackling the same subject. Parkes/MacDonald Productions will be adapting the book "League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle of Truth" and actor Isaiah Washington will be starring in the indie drama Game Time Decision.

Until this new project comes out, Will Smith will appear in Focus, produced by Warner Bros., with co-star Margot Robbie.



Source: Variety

Lucasfilm announces two more additions to the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII

A few weeks ago, director J. J. Abrams finally confirmed what was thought to be the entire cast of the seventh installment of the Star Wars franchise. Since then, Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm recently came back and announced there would be two more female characters added. Those final two spots have officially been fulfilled.

One of the two spots has been fulfilled by Supporting Actress Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o. Last seen in 12 Years a Slave, as well as Non-Stop, Lupita has long been apart of the multitude of Star Wars rumors floating around. The second, and final, spot in the cast of Episode VII was given to Game of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie.

In a press release regarding the casting of both Lupita and Gwendoline, Lucasfilm stated: "Lupita Nyong’o joins the recently announced cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. This year, her breakthrough performance in 12 Years a Slave earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Gwendoline Christie, currently starring in the hit television series Game of Thrones as Brienne of Tarth, has also been cast in the production. She can next be seen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.

'I could not be more excited about Lupita and Gwendoline joining the cast of Episode VII,' says Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. 'It’s thrilling to see this extraordinarily talented ensemble taking shape.'"

Lupita and Gwendoline will be joining the rest of the cast of Episode VII, which include: Star Wars alumni Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels (C3PO) Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Kenny Baker (R2D2), as well as newcomers Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac. Also joining them will be Max von Sydow, John Boyega, and Daisy Ridley.

Other than the original Star Wars characters, we still don't know who will be playing what character. Now that the film has finally begun filming, hopefully that news will come soon enough.


Star Wars: Episode VII will be released on December 18th, 2015.



Sources: Screen Rant , Lucasfilm

X-Men: Days of Future Past

In the not-too-distant future, mutants are being hunted down and destroyed by robots called Sentinels. Created by a scientist named Bolivar Trask, these Sentinels are able to adapt to any powers/abilities the mutant species has, rendering them almost invincible if a large group of them attack. After years of war between humanity and mutants, only a handful of mutants are left to survive. These few - which include Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine, Kitty Pride, Colossus, among others - are left to constantly be on the run and use the combination of all their powers to stay alive. After running away for so long, their final hope rests in Kitty Pride's ability to send someone's consciousness back in time to stop the creation of the Sentinels. Since the trip back in time is dangerous, Wolverine is the only mutant able to survive the trip. Wolverine is tasked to find the shapeshifter Mystique before she assassinates Bolivar Trask and ignites the war between humans and mutants, and to bring the disbanded X-Men back together.

Most, if not all, of the recent reviews I've read have said that X-Men: Days of Future Past (DoFP) is the best X-Men film to date. I'm not quite sure I would go that far, yet it did manage to exceed my expectations. It's not that I was expecting the film to tank; on the contrary, I was hoping director Bryan Singer would succeed in making an engaging X-Men film that would bring the franchise back around and get back to what made the original trilogy so good. It was great to see a few of my favorite mutants from previous films back on the big screen. I also loved the scenes with Quicksilver. There's one scene involving him, Wolverine and Professor X where they are breaking Magneto out of prison for assassinating President John F. Kennedy that is visually a really neat sequence because it gave the audience a small taste of what Quicksilver can do with his powers. It's been rumored that Quicksilver will be back in X-Men: Apocalypse. I hope so, I would love to see more of him and his powers.

Despite really enjoying this latest installment in the franchise, however, I'm still inclined to believe that X2 is the best in the X-Men franchise. X2 had a great blend of action and drama, and a way for us to get to know each of the characters without making it seem like anything was rushed or characters were underdeveloped.

My biggest issues involved the story itself and how the continuity errors were "fixed". Bryan Singer promised fans that this latest installment would fix problems from the previous installments. While X-Men: DoFP did fix quite a bit, there were still some things that were either left unfixed from earlier films (or at least it seemed to be unfixed),  as well as problems created by the new timeline due to the events of DoFP. I will say though, that the ending - without giving too much away - did seem like it was trying to make a completely clean slate and create an entirely new timeline for future installments. I hope this is the case, because if there is anything that is still canon from the original trilogy or from the prequels, then there could be some problems.

Another thing I had trouble with was how some of the mutants were treated. In the future timeline, the audience met a couple new mutants, including Bishop, Sunspot, Warpath and Blink; yet there wasn't enough time to flesh out their characters so it felt like they were wasted. I'm hoping we will see them again for upcoming installments.

Overall, Days of Future Past was a lot of fun, and I'm really happy that the franchise seems to be back on track to become great again. I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen when X-Men: Apocalypse comes out May 27, 2016.

Josh Brolin has been officially cast as Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy

In light of recent bad news from Marvel regarding the departure of Edgar Wright from Ant-Man, a bit of good news has surfaced surrounding the character Thanos (also known as The Mad Titan) - specifically on who will be playing him. Latino Review first reported that Josh Brolin will be portraying The Mad Titan, and that rumor has officially been confirmed by Variety.

There's been no confirmation yet on whether the character will be computer generated (CGI) with a bit of voice work, or if he will be motion capture (also referred to as mo-cap). Depending on how long Brolin's been attached, there is also a possibility that Marvel has decided to go the 'traditional' route and provide makeup and a bit of prosthetics for Thanos.

Since Marvel has a reputation for thinking things through to future films (made evident by their announcement they have films planned out until 2028) to create an entire universe, it's highly likely that Josh Brolin has been attached for quite some time and the news is just now being released.

Thanos will have a small role in this year's Guardians of the Galaxy, but will have a bigger role - as the main villain most likely - in Avengers 3. It's unclear whether he will show up in at least the end credits of Avengers 2, if at all.

Josh Brolin being cast as Thanos has me even more excited for Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as the upcoming Avengers 2 and 3. He's a great actor, I have no doubt he can do the role justice. I'm looking forward to seeing what Marvel does with GotG. The same goes for Avengers 2 and Avengers 3.

Sources: Screen Rant , Latino Review , Variety