Matthew Vaughn opts to return and direct sequel to 'X-men: First Class'

Marvel and 20th Century Fox had to have been pleased with how X-men: First Class turned out. While the superhero film didn't exactly do gangbusters at the box office, it was successful enough, and it got people talking about the X-men movies again in ways that didn't include words like "Ratner", "bullshit", and "refund". Even better, it gave the X-men franchise a chance at a bright future again, and people almost immediately started dreaming up scenarios for possible sequels. There was just one major question: Would Matthew Vaughn return to direct?

DVD Deal of the Day: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' the Complete Series for $72.99

I can admit to being wrong, and through seven seasons of listening to people fawn all over Buffy The Vampire Slayer, it remained a show that I never wanted to give a chance. How interesting could it be, watching some high school chick kill bloodsuckers week in and week out? Sounds like it'd get pretty dull really fast, which is why they had to resort to gimmicks like all singing episodes and stuff. Pfft! Boy was I an idiot. The first episode of Buffy that I ever saw? The very last episode where they fight to shut down the Hellmouth once and for all. It's been arguably my favorite show ever since then, and I've watched the entire run at least three times over.

For today only you can get the complete Buffy the Vampire Slayer series on DVD for only $72.99. That's 64% off the regular retail price. This deal won't last long so get yours now just by going here!

Tom Hiddleston replaces Michael Fassbender in Jim Jarmusch's vampire flick, 'Only Lovers Left Alive'

It seems like once every seven or eight months we get an update on the next film from the...unusual indie auteur, Jim Jarmusch. All we've really known about it over the course of nearly two years is that it would be some sort of love story between vampires, a genre I could do with less of but expect Jarmusch to put a unique spin on. Attached nearly since the beginning have been Jarmusch regular Tilda Swinton, along with Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska, with John Hurt coming aboard some time after that I believe in what is described as a major role.

Blake Lively out, Rooney Mara in for Steven Soderbergh's 'Side Effects'

It's amazing to me that the casting of someone as talented as Blake Lively can cause a film to lose all it's financial support, but that's exactly what happened with Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh's upcoming drama centered on the use of pharmaceuticals. As you might recall, a couple of weeks ago Lively joined the cast of the Scott Z. Burns scripted film along with Channing Tatum and Jude Law. In that time, Megan Ellison yanked funding due to being unhappy with Lively in the lead. Seriously? Yeah, seriously. So who is apparently good enough to replace her and ensure the film even gets made? Red hot Rooney Mara, that's who.

Trailer Time: 'Blind', produced by Luc Besson

It generally pays to follow anything Luc Besson puts his name to. While he's mostly slowed down on the directorial work over the last few years, he remains a prolific force as a writer and producer, which is how we got such great films as District B13, Taken, and Tell No One. He seems to have a particular fondness for backing the earliest efforts of up and coming filmmakers, such as Xavier Gens and Olivier Megaton. He's at it again, and this time he's backing little known French director Xavier Palud's upcoming crime pic, Blind(aka À l'aveugle).

The film centers on a game of cat and mouse between a veteran homicide detective and his prime suspect in a murder investigation, a seemingly harmless but mysterious blind man. Lambert Wilson(The Matrix Reloaded, Babylon AD) stars alongside Jacques Gamblin. Looks like a pretty stylish thriller, and possibly a step up from Palud's underrated 2006 film, Them.

March looks to be the timeframe for a French release of Blind, and it's unlikely we'll see it here in the States. Then again, Besson was a producer on the great foreign film, Tell No One just a few years ago, and it was successful enough over here that it's currently being remade(whomp whomp). So who knows? Maybe we'll get it after all? Check out the trailer for Blind below...[24fps]

Is there a new member to the 'Man of Steel' cast?

It's a crap shoot trusting IMDB cast listings, so it's best to take any news originating from there with a healthy dose of salt. In this case, the rumor is that a young actor by the name of Robert Gerdisch may have been cast as Whitney Fordham in Man of Steel. There's even an image of the actor alongside director Zack Snyder, so it's possible this is legit. Then again this could all just be a ploy by the actor's people to get the kid some heat.

Vin Diesel reveals another image from the set of 'Riddick'

It's hard to ignore the passion Vin Diesel has for his cult favorite Riddick series. While the second film, The Chronicles of Riddick, didn't exactly reach the creative heights of Pitch Black, it became a cult favorite as well and spawned an awesome video game as well as animated spinoffs. So it's no wonder he wants to keep the momentum going, even mostly at his own expense. What's cool is that he seems to have the same level of involvement in these as he does the Fast and the Furious franchise.

Diesel has been generously keeping his fans up to date on the production of  Riddick, the third film in the series, which has the violent antihero betrayed and left for dead on a desolate planet, where he's attacked by the native creatures as well as bounty hunters looking to finish him off.  Series director David Twohy is back behind the camera, and the film thankfully is looking to make the most of it's hard R-rating.

Another image from the set has been released, giving us yet another look at how Diesel will appear as Riddick in this installment. No word on when it'll be released, but Universal may want to try and hold on to it for a plum spot early next year. We shall see!

Sundance Review: 'The Raid', directed by Gareth Evans

After four days of dramatic festival films at Sundance, there was really only one way to wrap up the entire experience: with a straight shot to the heart of pure adrenaline. The Raid is a film that's been on everybody's lips since Toronto last year, with some proclaiming it to be the greatest action movie of the last decade. Talk like that is best taken with a heavy dose of cynicism. It's easy to get excited during film festivals over movies that probably aren't that great. However over the course of the months in between, the praise for The Raid never died down. In fact, it only got louder, more deafening, and more certain. And now you can add one more voice to the growing chorus.

Joe Carnahan to write and direct 'Death Wish' remake

Is there any movie out there that defines an entire genre in the way Death Wish does? Even if you never saw any of the five films starring Charles Bronson, you know exactly what they're about and their influence on a number of similar movies over nearly forty years.MGM has been wanting to make a remake of Death Wish for years, at one point with Sylvester Stallone possibly in the starring role. Now it looks like it could finally happening, and they've set the red hot Joe Carnahan to write and direct it.

Tyler Perry casts Eugene Levy, Denise Richards in 'Madea's Witness Protection'

 
It's hard to argue with Tyler Perry's success as a businessman. As bad as I think his movies are, and ultimately detrimental to African-American cinema in a certain way, Perry has molded himself a little corner of the industry that is consistently lucrative, putting out small budget flicks that always earn in the dozens of millions of dollars. I will never knock his ability to make money, and knowing how to make movies his audience wants to see.

Perry doesn't appear to be taking much of a break. In fact, he seems to be doing more than ever, already having Good Deeds on the verge of release, and The Marriage Counselor not too far behind it. That doesn't even include his inexplicable starring role in I, Alex Cross(should've been Idris Elba!!!!!). But with all that, Perry knows where his bread is buttered, and that is his cross dressing role as the smart mouthed granny, Madea. Perry is piecing together the cast for Madea's Witness Protection, and THR reports he's added Eugene Levy, Denise Richards, and Lil Romeo...er, Romeo Miller.