2008’s Taken turned middle aged Liam Neeson into an action hero.  After the film became a hit, it probably doesn’t surprise anyone that they’ve made a sequel.  In the appropriately title Taken 2, Neeson returns as CIA agent Bryan Mills. This time out, instead of having to rescue his daughter (again played by Maggie Grace) she's the one who has to rescue him when folks connected to the villains in the first film try to exact their revenge. 

The synopsis contains a sort of spoiler. Apparently Neeson’s character reunited with Famke Janssen’s after the first movie:

In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter.

Neeson told EW that the sequel will pick up one year after the events of the first film, and that it’s "a very clever sequel with the usual thrills and spills, but the ante is upped quite a bit in this one."

Check out the images below, courtesy of EW. I think we can be assured of getting what has since become trademark Neeson badassery.  Again, Taken 2 opens in the US and the UK on October 5 (probably right around the time that Joe Carnahan re-releases The Grey.)

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The big Battleship movie doesn’t open here in the US for another week but it got the red carpet treatment last night at LA’s Nokia Theater. Director Peter Berg as well as stars Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Hamish Linklater, Stephen Bishop and Liam Neeson all showed up to support the film. Decker has been on promotional hyperdrive lately, touring the world with Battleship as well as opening What to Expect When You’re Expecting (due  in theaters on the same day as Battleship).  RiRi alternated flirting with the cameras and looking pissed that they were taking her picture in her barely there backless dress.  Neeson, Kitsch and Skarsgard just brought the sexy.

Connie Britton showed up for a mini-“Friday Night Lights” reunion with Kitsch, Jesse Plemmons and show-creator (and director of the film of the same name that also starred Britton) Berg.

Battleship, based on the Milton Bradley board game that’s been manufactured since 1931 (some of the artillery in the movie is shaped like the game’s pegs), has a script by Jon and Erich Hoeber (Red, Whiteout). It has already opened everywhere but North and South America to the tune of $200 million. The onslaught continues on this continent on May 18. Enjoy the pics!

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This is hilarious. By now we’re familiar with the posters for Peter Berg’s Battleship. A lot of them are battleships in silhouette with big hulking alien mecca looming on the horizon.  Battleship is ostensibly based on the Hasbro board game we all played as kids. Actually the movie and the game really only have the name in common. It’s not like the movie features two god-like giants sitting at their respective boards and toying with the humans and ships on the high seas like something out of Clash of the Titans.  

Taking the ridiculous idea of turning games into movies (coming soon to a theater near you, Candyland the Movie! I’m not kidding), the genius minds at Heltarez (via our friends at HeyUGuys) have created a poster for Hungry Hungry Hippos the Movie that spoofs the posters for Battleship. I’ll give odds that Taylor Kitsch will safe the earth from the giant alien mecca, but could he withstand the onslaught of Hungry Hungry Hippos??

Battleship, already playing in the UK, opens in the US on May 18.

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The stars of Peter Berg’s Battleship have been travelling the globe doing photocalls this past week in promotion of their movie. To celebrate, we've got some international posters to share, plus the first clip has dropped and as is probably indicative of the rest of the film, it’s full of mayhem, noise and explosions.

Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic-scaled action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Inspired byHasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancee; Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper’s older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty OfficerRaikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.

Seriously dude? Flaming fireball, mechanical, razor-sharp wheels of death are hurtling at your base and all you can manage is a calm, “oh shit” without even an exclamation point?

I’d be screaming “WTF IS THAT?!?!”, but maybe that’s just me.

Now, I can’t say that I’m necessarily all in for this one, but in the absence (thank you sweet baby jeebus) of more mindless dreck like a new Transformers movie this summer, there is a place for a big, loud, showy action flick. Sure it’s mostly CGI, but the parts that aren’t are filled with the likes of Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard and Liam Neeson. The film deserves a bit of a benefit of the doubt mostly though, due to its director. Peter Berg is capable of eliciting some fine performances from his actors and he’s capable of subtlety and nuance. I don’t really expect either of those things in Battleship, but perhaps the sledge-hammer will have a little lighter touch. In any case, it could be a fun movie to escape the heat with and sit in the dark on a hot summer day and munch popcorn.

Battleship, which also stars Brooklyn Decker, Peter MacNichol, Jesse Plemmons and Rihanna, opens in the UK on 11thApril (just five more days for them- how is that fair?) and in the US and Canada on May 18.

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source: YahooMovies via ComingSoon

Wrath of the Titans had a red carpet premiere at the BFI Imax in London last night, March 29 and I could pretty much cut and paste the copy from the New York premiere post that I did. Liam Neeson still looks scruffy, but with panache.  Toby Kebbell looks like an animatronic puppet they’ve trotted out for the occasion. Don't get me wrong, I’m a fan of his work, but c’mon Toby! This is a red carpet premiere for a movie you’re in! Stop acting like you’re going to the dentist for a root canal! I remember the Rocknrolla premiere in 2008. You looked excited then. Less than four years later (and not a lot of hits, let’s be honest) and you’re already jaded to the point of ennui? Actually I did find a few of him clowning with some barely dressed, sword-wielding Titanettes.

Sam Worthington, to whom putting on a suit is anathema, looked good as did his adorable girlfriend. (Excuse me, but do his hands look ENORMOUS or what?). You’ll forgive me if I’m a little disappointed that Ralph Fiennes was once again a no-show.

Enjoy the pics! Wrath of the Titans is in theaters today.  Are you planning to go?

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Photo credit: WENN

Wrath of the Titans opens tomorrow March 30 and despite some mixed reviews, I think it looks like fun, particularly since Ralph Fiennes is back as Hades and appears to be having a good time himself. One of the selling points of the film for Fiennes as well as Liam Neeson (Zeus) was that they would get another opportunity to work together. (“He’s one of my dearest, oldest friends, and it was terrific working with him again,” said Neeson. “When we did ‘Clash of the Titans’ we found it hard to act with each other. So I would look at Ralph’s forehead, and he would look at my forehead. Because sometimes when we made eye contact, it would get quite silly. But we were more restrained this time, and we had a lot more deeper, darker issues to act, so we didn’t laugh as much.”) This might be hard to believe for casual observers as Fiennes has a tendency to come off as very serious, and there is always the risk that he could take his God of the Underworld into the realm of over-the-top, ultra-theatrical, scenery-chewing ham.

From what I’ve seen in clips and trailers though, it doesn’t appear that Fiennes has done that at all. While I don’t think it’s possible for Fiennes to give a bad performance nor to give it anything less than 100%, he knows this isn’t Shakespeare and yet Hades is believable as a vengeful, feuding brother; the brother just happens to be Zeus.  In this clip from Reelz Channel, he talks about his character and the making of the film.

We also get a bit of Toby Kebbell looking a lot more animated than he did at the New York premiere the other night, if the pics from the event can be believed. In the clip he talks about the motivations of his character Agenor.

A Chat with Hades Himself, Ralph Fiennes by ReelzChannel

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus-the demigod son of Zeus-is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus' godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans' strength grows stronger as Zeus' remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon's demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

Wrath of the Titans in 2D, 3D and IMAX opens everywhere tomorrow.

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Jonathan Liebesman’s Wrath of the Titans had its world premiere last night in New York at the AMC Lincoln Square. The director and a few of his stars turned out for the occasion including Liam Neeson, looking scruffy yet still somehow suavely elegant in a distinctly Liam Neeson kind of way, Sam Worthington (who is growing on me), who held tight to his girlfriend Crystal Humphries (love the rainbow extensions and the fact that she looks like a real person and not a Barbie doll). Toby Kebbell showed up…I think. That looked like him in his nice three piece suit, but it did not look like there was “anyone home” if you get my drift. It’s not as if they didn’t realize they were having their pictures taken.

Wrath of the Titans opens Friday March 30 everywhere! (I’ll probably see this since the rest of the planet will still be trying to get into The Hunger Games. Plus…you know…Edgar Ramirez….and Ralph Fiennes…)

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus-the demigod son of Zeus-is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus' godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans' strength grows stronger as Zeus' remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon's demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

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A new behind the scenes featurette for Peter Berg’s Battleship gives us a better idea of who the aliens are and where they come from, still without giving a lot away. Pretty neat trick.

The featurette (obviously made for the UK market since it gives the release date as April) focuses on how the aliens in the film find out about Earth and why they come here.

Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic-scaled action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Inspired by Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancee; Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper’s older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.

Battleship, which stars Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Peter MacNichol, Jesse Plemmons and Rihanna, opens in the UK on 11^th April and in the US and Canada on May 18.

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