Tom Cruise is nothing if not committed. No matter what he does, whether it’s rappelling off of the Burj Khalifa or playing an overweight, balding Hollywood mogul who’s a closet rapper. He went full on Stacee Jaxx for his cover shoot for W Magazine’s June Music Issue. (And looked damn good doing it. This guy is turning 50 on July 3rd. Me thinks there’s a very ugly portrait locked somewhere in Tom Cruise’s attic.) Stacee Jaxx is of course the character that Cruise plays in the upcoming Rock of Ages, the film version of the hit broadway musical, directed by Adam Shankman and costarring Alec Baldwin, Julianne Hough, Catherine Zeta Jones, Russell Brand, Malin Ackerman, Paul Giamatti, Mary J. Blige, Will Forte and Bryan Cranston.
He talked to W’s Lynn Hirschberg about his inspirations (Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin), his desire to jump off of buildings and his sexy scenes with Malin Ackerman.
I love this quote from the story in which Hirschberg gives her impression of Cruise’s Rock of Ages character: “While everyone else in Rock of Ages is either ridiculous or playing their part with a wink (Alec Baldwin in a wig!), Cruise seems to actually be living in Stacee’s leather pants. He is alone inside another, much more interesting movie; there is a melancholic undertow to Stacee Jaxx—he’s only truly alive when he’s onstage, and he knows that his time there is nearly over.”
Cruise said of the character: “Stacee Jaxx had to be real,” he said during the shoot. “I didn’t want to imitate all these other rock stars. He had to be unique. If the audience doesn’t immediately buy into his absolute greatness, there’s no movie journey. Without that, you have nothing.”
But this is the best. I will see the movie for Cruise’s Stacee Jaxx, but I might have seen it just for this: “After working for weeks on Stacee’s technical skills, I was thinking about the character, and I said, “You know what? I need a monkey.” Adam said, “What the fuck are you talking about?” And I said, “I’m serious—I need a monkey” [laughs]. When Stacee’s not onstage, he’s kind of sad. And I thought, This guy has to have a monkey that’s his best friend. Adam found this baboon. He sent me the baboon’s audition tape, and I said, “The baboon’s name has to be Hey Man” [laughs]. Stacee Jaxx doesn’t work without Hey Man.”
I feel like that sometimes. I think we all need a monkey, don’t you? Rock of Ages opens June 15 in the US and the UK. Enjoy the pics! You can watch the latest trailer for the film here. Oh and here's an audio only sneak preview of Tom Cruise singing Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me":
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It’s time for another super exciting posters post! First up, Men in Black III which stars Will Smith as J and Tommy Lee Jones as K with Josh Brolin along for the ride as a younger version of same.
We’ve seen some pretty impressive stuff from the the Barry Sonnenfeld directed threequel, including the superfantastic futuristic-but-used-in-the-psychedelic-60’s flying unicycles that are pictured on this brand new poster.
In the third installment of the series Agents J (Smith) and K (Jones) are back… in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner. But when K’s life and the fate of the planet are put at stake,Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discoversthat there are secrets to the universe that K never told him — secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K (Brolin) to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind.
Men in Black III opens May 25 in the US, Canada and the UK.
Next up, a new poster for The Words, the film we told you about back in January with Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons and Olivia Wilde.
The Words revolves around Rory (Cooper), a struggling writer who claims another man’s long lost work as his own. Caught up in a dangerous conspiracy, the price he must pay is more than he could have ever imagined.
The trouble starts when Dora, Rory’s wife (Saldana) comes across “a valise” in an antiques shop. The valise contains a “lost masterwork” of a “Hemingway-esque writer” played by Jeremy Irons.
The Words is both written and directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal. The supporting cast includes Ben Barnes, John Hannah, J.K. Simmons, Michael McKean, Zeljko Ivanek and Ron Rifkin. We now have a US release date of September 21. Still no word on the UK.
After we brought you thirteen new character posters the other day, here’s a new one-sheet for Simon West’s The Expendables 2 with Sylvester Stallone front and center. I’ve seen the trailer twice this weekend on the big screen. This one will be just as much fun as the first!
The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal… Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way….
The Expendables 2 opens August 17 in the US and the UK.
Here’s a first poster for House at the End of the Street with Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue. The doesn’t do much except make sure you know that Jennifer Lawrence is in the movie. I saw this trailer on the big screen this weekend as well. Still not impressed.
Newly divorced Sarah and her daughter Elissa find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret.They find themselves living next door to a house where a young girl murdered her parents…
House At The End Of The Street starring Lawrence, Shue, Max Thieriot (Chloe,My Soul to Take) and Gil Bellows, moves into theaters September 21.
And finally, we have an international poster for Rock of Ages with Tom Cruise as ‘rock God’ Stacee Jaxx. All of the other characters are present and accounted for as well. Personally, I think Alec Baldwin alone will be worth the price of a ticket.
Directed by Adam Shankman (Hairspray) and based on the Tony Award nominated Broadway musical, Rock of Ages is set in 1987and follows a fresh off the bus sweet-young-thing who comes to LA with stars in her eyes and big '80s hair (Julianne Hough). There, she meets a nice guy with ambitions of his own (Diego Boneta). When they meet, it's love at first sight, though their romance will face a series of challenges as they are seduced by the sex-drugs and rocknroll way of life personified by superstar Stacee Jaxx (Cruise), who meanwhile is falling for music journalist Malin Akerman.
The cast features Baldwin, Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand, Mary J. Blige and Catherine Zeta Jones. It also features Will Forte, Bryan Cranston and Constantine Maroulis. Rock of Ages opens June 15 in the Us and the UK.
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There are two big films new on dvd this week and two you may have never heard of. Regardless, this is one of the best things about dvd, catching up on what you missed.
First up, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, with Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Paula Patton. We spent a lot of time talking about this one prior to its theatrical release so I’m sure you know what it’s about. This was easily the best of the series, and it was the first film that I can remember ever recommending anyone spend the bucks to see in IMAX. I’m just not sure how well it’s going to play on the small screen.
As Cruise's Ethan Hunt goes rogue across Eastern Europe and the Middle East — accompanied by a team that includes a wisecracking tech expert (Pegg), a sexy super-agent (Patton) and a ‘data analyst’ (Renner) — director Brad Bird (in his live-action debut) has put together one breathtaking action sequence after another, always making sure that they advance the main plot. What we end up with is an action movie that's smart, tense, witty and sincere.
Special Features:
-51 minutes of "Impossible Missions," which can be watched either as individual making-of featurettes ("The Sandstorm," "Dubai Car Crash") or as one long documentary.
Another film we devoted a lot of “ink” to is Steve McQueen’s Shame with that game-changing performance by Michael Fassbender. There are a lot of reasons to watch Shame, most of which don’t even involve the infamous Fassbender body parts. Shame isn’t about sex. It’s about pain and one man’s personal form of self-medication. Like a lot of people, he becomes addicted to his “painkiller”.
Fassbender’s Brandon is a single, successful New Yorker who tries to compensate for the emptiness inside by compulsively pursuing impersonal sexual encounters. Although Shame has been pigeon-holed as a movie about sex addiction, but that's not entirely apt. Brandon avoids all emotional entanglements including the cries for help from younger sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan). Shame is much less about sex and more about a deeply damaged person trying to lose himself in the anonymity of the city and endless variety of random sexual encounters it offers. Fassbender’s performance is raw and powerful and well worth watching. We know how I feel about his lack of an Academy Award nomination for his efforts. I won’t belabor the point here.)
Special Features:
-The included featurettes all feel as if they are essentially extended promos for the movie, all running about several minutes each. Although individually they leave something to be desired, as a whole, they add up to something insightful and informative. “Fox Movie Channel presents: In Character with Michael Fassbender” is the best of the lot, as Fassbender provides the audience some revealing tidbits about his preparation for the role and his process on set.
-The featurette “A Shared Vision” explores the creative partnership of McQueen and Fassbender, which has now spanned two films, and may find them becoming the next great actor-director pairing.
-The Story of Shame stands out, as it includes the Oscar-nominated Mulligan discussing working as a creative team with Fassbender and McQueen.
Here’s a great “making of” video narrated by one of the producers, Ian Canning:
The Divide is a happy little film we mentioned before its December opening (after which it promptly disappeared) concerning the survivors of a nuclear attack who are grouped together for days in the basement of their apartment building, where fear and dwindling supplies wear away at their dynamic.
The two tag lines – • To survive the end of the world you must first survive each other. • The lucky ones died in the blast – probably tell us more than that brief synopsis.
Storyline: A group of nine tenants (including Michael Biehn, Rosanna Arquette, Milo Ventimiglia and Lauren German) in a New York high-rise barricade themselves in the basement to survive a nuclear attack, slowly descending into madness when help never comes.
Special Features:
-commentary by the director and actors Biehn, Ventimiglia and Michael Eklund.
7 Below is asupernatural thriller that plays like The Ring meets The Grudge about a group of strangers who must ride out a storm while stranded in a foreboding house where they encounter an evil presence.
In the midst of a hurricane in 1910, a 10 year-old boy named Sean brutally murdered his mother, father, aunt and two little sisters. Now, Adam (Matt Barr) his brother Isaac (Luke Goss) along with four strangers, McCormick (Val Kilmer) and his wife Brooklyn (Bonnie Somerville), a young Doctor (Christian Baha) and a local girl (Rebecca Da Costa) find themselves trapped in the same home where the murders occurred one hundred years later, after a tour bus accident has left them stranded. Their host, a mysterious loner named Jack (Ving Rhames), has his own personal reasons for wanting the group to remain in his home. As the storm rages outside, strange and horrifying things begin to happen inside! This cinematic thrill ride will keep you on the edge of your seat from the stunning opening to the shocking conclusion!
Unfortunately, no bonus features of note on either the DVD or Blu-ray.
Here’s something new and different. The Tribeca Film Festival opens tomorrow, Wednesday April 17, but three of the fest's entries will be available for attendees and non-attendees alike starting toda via VOD. Those movies are: Death of a Superhero, a melancholy coming-of-age drama about a teenage cancer patient (Thomas Brodie-Sangster – Love, Actually) who is just coming to terms with his own mortality when he falls in love with a rebellious classmate (Aisling Loftus); The Giant Mechanical Man, a low-key romantic comedy that we’ve talked about, with Chris Messina as a starving artist who connects with a directionless sad sack (Jenna Fischer); and Sleepless Night, a French thriller about a well-meaning cop (Tomer Sisley) who makes a bad choice and ends up on the run from the police and the mob while trying to retrieve his kidnapped son from a drug dealer.
None of these are filler, they're quality films, representing the variety of genres and styles that Tribeca is known for. And if enough home viewers take advantage of this opportunity, this may well be the future of festivals, opening them up to people who can't travel to New York or other locations. Woo hoo!
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Warner Brothers has sent us their schedule of releases for the next few months, looking forward to a summer of fun at the box office. Considering that they’ve got four of the most highly anticipated movies of the year on their slate, they should be having a lot of fun.
Starting in just four weeks with Dark Shadows and Johnny Depp, they then roll through June to Rock of Ages with Tom Cruise, and hope that Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer become the boys of summer in Magic Mike. The big gun in the arsenal is of course The Dark Knight Rises with Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in July. After that, just for laughs, there’s the Campaign in August with Will Ferrell and Zach Galiafinakis.
DARK SHADOWS (Gothic Comedy) May 11*
CHERNOBYL DIARIES (Horror Thriller) May 25
ROCK OF AGES (Rock Musical) June 15 *
MAGIC MIKE (Dramatic Comedy) June 29
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Action Thriller) July 20*
THE CAMPAIGN (Comedy) August 10
THE APPARITION (Supernatural Thriller) August 24
*In theaters and IMAX
To celebrate, they've sent us a few new images for these flicks, including a couple from The Dark Knight Rises that weren't included in the last batch. Enjoy!
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The second trailer for Rock of Ages has appeared online and we finally get to hear a little bit of Tom Cruise as he belts out Bon Jovi’s "Livin' on a Prayer". He certainly looks the part (not bad for a 48 year old that’s for damn sure) and he appears to be having a blast.
Directed by Adam Shankman (Hairspray) and based on the Tony Award nominated Broadway musical, it’s set in 1987and follows a fresh off the bus sweet-young-thing who comes to LA with stars in her eyes and big '80s hair. There, she meets a nice guy with ambitions of his own (Diego Boneta). When they meet, it's love at first sight, though their romance will face a series of challenges as they are seduced by the sex-drugs and rocknroll way of life personified by superstar Stacee Jaxx (Cruise), who meanwhile is falling for music journalist Malin Akerman.
The cast features Alec Baldwin (who could easily steal Tom Cruise’s thunder), Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand, Mary J. Blige, Catherine Zeta Jones and Julianne Hough playing the doe-eyed ingénue. It also features Will Forte, Bryan Cranston and Constantine Maroulis.
Rock of Ages includes the music of iconic bands such as Journey, Def Leppard, Foreigner, Jefferson Starship, Twisted Sister and Poison. The nostalgia, at least for me and probably my generation, is winning over the cheese factor so far. Perhaps because I lived through it, the big hair, spandex, padded shoulders and garish colors don’t cross the line into parody. The Bourbon Room is obviously The Whiskey, Catherine Zeta Jones and her band of manicured over-privileged housewives is obviously Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), but Stacee Jaxx could be any number of hard-partying rock icons. Probably a little bit of Axl Rose, a little bit of Bret Michaels, a soupcon of Vince Neill, a dash of Tommy Lee, and a dollop of David Lee Roth would be my guess.
Gotta love the monkey, especially since it’s doing the spanking. *cough*
Rock of Ages opens June 1 in the US and 8th June in the UK. More to follow I’m sure.
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While some studios are still in the thrall of awards-season desserts, Warner Brothers is giving us some amuse bouche from their 2012 menu. Kicking off the 2012 movie season, Warner Bros. has released some new images from horror thriller The Apparition with Ashley Greene, Sylvester Stallone's action thriller Bullet To The Head, the musical Rock Of Ages, and the latest Nicholas Sparks based, four hankie tearjerker, The Lucky One, starring Zac Efron. A little something for everyone?
The Apparition is about a couple Kelly (Ashley Greene) and Ben (Sebastian Stan) who discover they are being haunted by a presence that was accidentally conjured during a university parapsychology experiment. The horrifying apparition feeds on their fear and torments them no matter where they try to run. Their last hope is an expert in the supernatural (Tom Felton), but even with his help they may already be too late to save themselves from this terrifying force… Written, produced and directed by Todd Lincoln (who has nothing else to recommend him. I have no idea what that indicates), The Apparition also stars Julianna Guill, Rick Gomez, Anna Clark and Luke Pasqualino. It opens August 24
The Lucky One stars Zac Efron as USMC Sgt Logan Thibault who returns from his 3rd tour of duy in Iraq with the one thing he credits with keeping him alive- a photograph of he doesn’t know. He learns her name (Beth played by Taylor Schilling) and where she lives. He shows up on her doorstep and takes a job at her family’s kennel. A romance blossoms, giving Logan hope that Beth could be more than just his good luck charm. It also stars Blythe Danner, Adam Lefevre, Jay R. Ferguson and Riley Thomas Stewart and is directed by Scott Hicks (Shine). The Lucky One (not to be confused with The Lucky Ones from 2008 also having to do with returning soldiers (plural this time) and starring Rachel McAdams, who is in that other Nicholas Sparks movie for 2012, The Vow) opens in theaters on April 20.
Rock of Ages tells the story of small town girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and city boy Drew (Diego Boneta), who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rock 'n' roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Journey, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake and more. It stars Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman, Mary J. Blige, Bryan Cranston, Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise as aging rock legend Stacee Jax. Rock of Ages opens on June 1. Russell Brand appears to be playing some variation of himself, but I love Alec Baldwin’s wig.
Bullet To The Head, directed by Walter Hill (The Warriors, 48 Hrs. The Driver), stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater and Sung Kang is based on a graphic novel and tells the story of a New Orleans hitman (Stallone) and a New York City cop (Momoa – I think) who form an alliance to bring down the killers of their respective partners. It has an April 13 release date. We showed you the first image last week of Momoa trying to split Stallone like a cord of wood. In this one, Sly has a big gun and is obviously trying to outdo my Hawaiian Volcano in the tatts department.
The Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol World Tour rolled into New York last night, beginning the final leg of the media blitzkrieg at the Ziegfeld Theater (where else) on Monday December 19. Tom Cruise, looked very dapper indeed in a suit that matched wife Katie Holmes’ dress (love the pocket square). In the pic at the top, Katie looks like she lost a tooth but I chose it because I love the way ole Tommy is looking at her. (Call me crazy, but I think they look happy. ) Costars Simon Pegg, Michael Nyqvist, Anil Kapoor and Josh Holloway all joined director Brad Bird on the red carpet.
Of course, no one is having as much fun on this press junket as Paula Patton. With or without hubs Robin Thicke (who she clearly missed the past couple of weeks), Paula was all smiles, giggles and girlish tics.
Then there’s our newest crush, Jeremy Renner (love the pinstripes!), who practically steals the movie out from under one of the world’s biggest stars. If he’s been hand-picked to take over this franchise (eventually), just as he’s Matt Damon’s successor in the Bourne series, then I think it will be in good hands.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is out in IMAX now. It opens in regular theaters tomorrow December 21. Next stop LA tonight! (More pics tomorrow!)
Paramount Pictures has released a new clip from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol called, “Getting On a Train”, in which Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner try to, appropriately enough, get on a train…while it’s moving.
I'm not sure why Tom Cruise still feels like he has so much to prove, but it is amazing to me that not only is he still doing his own stunts, but he keeps trying to top himself in terms of how complicated they are and how dangerous they look. Jeremy Renner's character, Brandt was written specifically so that Renner could take over the franchise from Cruise…someday. Who knows when that will be. If it depends on how successful MI4 becomes, then it won’t be anytime soon. This thing is only currently playing on a limited number of IMAX screens and is already considered a hit.
The film is directed by Brad Bird, known primarily for The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, in his live action debut. The plot of this one see the IMF shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his new team to 'go rogue' to clear their organization's name.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is now open in IMAX theaters before its wide release December 21. Along with Cruise and Renner it stars another great international cast including, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Tom Wilkinson, Anil Kapoor, Josh Holloway, Lea Seydoux, Michael Nyqvist and Vladimir Mashkov.
