“No Cape. No Tights. No face”

Leave it to those two mad geniuses Neveldine/Taylor to come up with the best tag line for a movie, at least so far this year, probably in many years. In a summer movie season destined to be chock full of super heroes, many of the tights wearing variety (the Cape won’t show up until next year), they’ve drawn the line. ‘Here there be none of those’, but the kicker is surely, “…no face”.

Columbia unleashed not one but two brand new tv spots during the Super Bowl, both with a bit of footage we hadn’t seen before.  I have to say I’m starting to ‘warm’ to this tale of Nicolas Cage destined to live out a fiery eternity on the back of a motorcycle.

Take a look at the clips courtesy of Latino Review (via HeyUGuys). Both are short. The 2^nd one is shorter than the ad that plays in front of it. I figure they just took their paid for/allotted time and divided it up.

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#2Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance opens in the US and the UK on February 17

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If I see Neveldine/Taylor’s latest opus, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, it will be for one reason and one reason only: Ciaran Hinds is playing The Devil. Actually, make that two reasons: Idris Elba is playing a character called Moreau that appears to be one of The Devil’s minions.  I’m in. Ciaran Hinds and Idris Elba could be playing the Katzenjammer Kids, if they’re doing it in the same film, I’m there.

Of course, this is Nicolas Cage’s movie. Cage reprises the role of Johnny Blaze from 2007’s Ghost Rider. This time Blaze is hiding out in Eastern Europe, where he is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.

The pics below are the first to include Hinds’ Devil as well as better looks at Idris and Johnny Wentworth, not to mention those mad geniuses Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor at work. Thanks to French site Cinecomics, (with a nod to ComicBookMovie for the tipoff), we have some shots of Cage’s transformation into the Ghost Rider, using motion capture technology. 

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens February 17 in the US and the UK. It also stars Violante Placido, Christopher Lambert and Anthony Head. Enjoy the pics!  (Can’t wait to find out what the Druid prayer circle has to do with anything.)

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Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor make movies for the video game generation. Something of a contradiction, they’re slackers with a  healthy work ethic (and apparently no fear. At least that can be said of Neveldine. He’s  the one always hanging off the back of a motorcycle or a truck or swinging from a wire, camera in hand in order to get the shot. Why aren’t you doing it Taylor? What’re you a pussy?) It continues to amaze me that studios, backers, producers, what have you, keep throwing money at them to make another movie, but then I remember while it may not be high art, there is a segment of the population that finds the movies Neveldine/Taylor make entertaining and they earn their keep.

You think Gamer was a bomb? Hell no it wasn’t. It may not have played well in the theaters, but it killed on dvd.

Now we have Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Frankly, if a sequel to 2009’s Ghost Rider had to be made, these are just the two lunatics to do it.  Surprisingly, the first trailer, while not exactly great, didn’t suck. The more that’s been shown has steadily improved. I can actually see myself sitting through this and enjoying it.  Take a look at this short ‘making of’ featurette. I don’t know about vengeance, but the spirit of mayhem is infectious.

Yes, Idris, he is nuts. And I’m sure he’s laughing all the way to the bank…minus insurance premiums.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance with Nicholas Cage, Idris Elba and Ciaran Hinds roars into theaters across the planet on February 17, in 3D, of course.

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Some pretty things to look at without thinking too much. Good for a Monday morning…A little high-brow, a little low brow and something in between… 

Well, to start with, we have a poster for Dennis Quaid in Beneath the Darkness, which was supposed to come out in theaters this months. Evidently, Imagine Entertainment pulled it and it’s now going to straight to dvd and blu-ray.  Quaid’s been enjoying a bit of a resurgence lately, with Footloose and Soul Surfer in 2011 and Playing the Field and The Words in ’12 alone, so I’m surprised they aren’t taking the gamble with this. Not even in January. It must be realllllly bad…

The rural bliss of small town life has been celebrated as part of the American dream, but sometimes a small town is the perfect place to hide one’s secrets, one’s mistakes, one’s sins. And once discovered, it doesn’t take long for the American dream to become the American nightmare. On February 28th, Image Entertainment unleashes the small-town shocker Beaneath the Darkness on Blu-ray™ and DVD. Starring Golden Globe™ nominee Dennis Quaid in a rare villainous turn and coming off a recent national theatrical release, this gripping psychological thriller entwines cold-blooded murder, sinister secrets and modern hauntings on Maple Street. .

 Directed by Martin Guigui (My X-Girlfriend’s Wedding Reception, National Lampoon’s Cattle Call) and written by the late Bruce Wilkinson, Beneath the Darkness is a taut thriller pitting high school kids against a psychotic killer in a community where adults blindly refuse to see the ominous dangers right before their eyes.

If nothing else, Yimou Zhang's The Flowers of War has had some really beautiful, suitable-for-framing posters. (Given the current trend in movie advertising art, or the lack thereof, making most of them bland photo-shopped messes,  that's an achievement.) This latest, the official US version, is no exception.  

The Flowers of War stars Christian Bale in China's official Academy Award entry, as a Westerner who finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety. Grossing $83 in just 17 days, making it China's sixth top earner of all time, The Flowers of War will also screen, out of competition, at next month's Berlinale.

The new French poster for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance features a perturbed looking Nicholas Cage, which I suppose is only appropriate given that he’s…dead? A Ghost? The 2^nd Ghost Rider movie, which Idris Elba (that’s Golden Globe winner, Idris Elba – see how I did that?  They’re only relevant when people I want to win actually do) insists is not a sequel, sees Johnny Blaze (Cage) hiding out in Eastern Europe, where he is called upon to stop the devil (Ciaran Hinds), who is trying to take human form.

Idris plays Moreau and all I really know about him is that he rides a motorcycle, wears black leather and looks badass. Does anything else matter? No, it doesn’t. The movie also stars Christopher Lambert, Anthony Head, Johnny Whitworth and Violante Placido. It opens February 17 in the US, Canada and the UK.

Finally (for this post), we have a poster for a new movie. God Bless America was written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait,  who believe it or not actually directed  a couple more films (no, I didn’t see them either) after 1991’s almost universally hated Shakes the Clown.  

God Bless America, which premiered as a Midnight Madness selection at last fall's Toronto International Film Festival , stars Joel Murray and Tara Lynn Barr as two citizens who, one day, decide that the reality TV culture could be cured with some violence. As with Shakes the Clown, there’s a lot of anger and humor being mixed here. This time I’ve heard that it pays off. (That’s certainly a concept I can get behind.) Murray and Barr allegedly have more of a father/daughter thing going than a May/December Bonnie and Clyde, even if this poster almost makes GBA look like an action film, but I’m sure the producers are doing whatever it takes to generate some interest. The movie will premiere on VOD on April 6, then open in limited release on May 11.

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The Wrap is reporting that Joel Edgerton, who will next be seen in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, has definitely signed on for Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal's as yet unnamed film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Tom Hardy, Edgerton’s Warrior costar, along with Idris Elba, Chris Pratt and Guy Pearce are already on board. Still in talks (although its looking good, as opposed to that Clive Owen Oldboy news) are Mark Strong, Jessica Chastain and Edgar Ramirez (Carlos, Domino).

Be still my heart.

Okay, so we’re talking about a film directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Near Dark), written by Bigelow and the cowriter (with John Logan) of The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal, with that cast? Since it already has a release date of December 19, 2012 (before a single frame has been shot), this film has moved into my top five most anticipated films of the year.

The film centers on the Navy SEALs' (Remember SEAL Team 6?) mission to capture and kill Osama bin Laden, and the battles that resulted in the death of the terrorist leader on his compound in early May.

Although the producers have been criticized by some Republican politicians, including Rep. Peter King (R-New York) who has said that the Office of the Inspector General at Defense is investigating whether Bigelow and Boal received classified information regarding bin Laden's death; the White House has denied the allegations. The film has been in development since 2008, indeed there are several ‘bin Laden based’ projects in various stages of development involving the likes of Oliver Stone and George Clooney. 

Sony Pictures is distributing Bigelow’s film. "With the death of Osama bin Laden, this film could not be more relevant. Kathryn and Mark have an outstanding perspective on the team that was hunting the most wanted man in the world," Co-Chair Amy Pascal said in a statement released after bin Laden's death.

That’s all well and good. Just give me a decent movie with Edgerton, Hardy, Strong, Elba, Ramirez and Pearce and I’ll buy a ticket. I’ll buy ten tickets.

Okay, now who wants pics?

We have three new stills and a poster from those two wild and crazy guys, Neveldine/Taylor for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Ya know…there are a lot of best/worst/biggest disappointment lists out there right now and I just can't help thinking that this movie might show up on one them this time next year. Can you guess which one I'm thinking of? This thing just looks so over-the-top nutty (in the trademark style of the dynamic duo who brought you the wacky fun of the Crank movies with Jason Statham). If that’s the wave they rode in on, GR:SoV could be a lot of fun. BUT these two were also responsible for draining any soul out of the high-concept Gerard Butler vehicle Gamer (which I still managed to enjoy to an extent, but you don't want to hear about that now.) If we get THAT Neveldine/Taylor, all bets are off.Take a look at the fiery new stills. What do you think?

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is the sequel to 2007's inexplicably popular Ghost Rider and Nicolas Cage again plays Johnny Blaze. I'm only interested because Idris Elba is playing someone called Moreau. In the trailer he's wearing black leather and riding a motorcycle. *thud* I have to say that’s reeling me in. Plus I really would like to know what’s up with the accent he’s using.

This time out, as Johnny Blaze lays low in Eastern Europe, he is called upon to stop the devil (played by Ciaran Hinds. How the HELL did that happen?) who is trying to take human form. (But it's CIARAN HINDS!) Violante Placido, who was so good in Anton Corbijn's The American with George Clooney, replaces Eva Mendes, who (perhaps wisely) turned down the option to return, as “the girl in the movie”.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens in the US and Canada on February 17 and in the UK on 22 February