The Falcon gets the call for Avengers: Age of Ultron

After the success of his appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie has joined the cast for the big one.

He will reprise his role as The Falcon in Joss Whedon’s upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron, due to hit screens next year.

The story goes that he had to wait a while before learning the news, and had spent some time bugging his good friend Chris Evans (Captain America) to tell home whether he was in or not. Well, eventually the call came and all’s good.

The Falcon was definitely one of the main highlights for me of the altogether excellent Captain America sequel earlier this year, and I’m thrilled to see him back for the main event!

The Avengers: Age of Ultron has a UK release date of 24th April 2015, and a US release date of 1st May 2015.

 

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Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie joins cast of Star Wars VII

So the word is that Gwendoline Christie is the newest addition to the cast of the new Star Wars movie.

No doubt that this will be welcome news to the millions of fans out there of HBO’s Game of Thrones. English Actress Christie plays Brienne of Tarth, seen most recently on the hit TV show battling The Hound during the last episode of Season 04.

At a towering 6′ 3″ in height, Christie certainly has the stature that in my opinion could suit any number of character types in the upcoming space extravaganza. I for one will be really interested in learning what role she has actually landed.

Star Wars Episode VII, directed by J.J.Abrams and starring John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson and Lupita Nyong’o, as well as returning stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, has a tentative Australian release date for 18th December 2015.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Marvel have just announced that the Captain America sequel will be officially titled Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

It has a US release date of the 4th April 2014, with no dates yet for Australia, Canada or the UK.

For those not familiar with this Captain America story arc, The Winter Soldier is a Russian assassin from WWII who is kept in cryogenic stasis when not on missions, hence hasn't aged since the end of the war. His real identity is somewhat more interesting…

The other rumour currently doing the rounds is that of Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) being cast as Falcon in the upcoming movie. Back in 1969, when the Falcon was introduced as one of the world's first black superheroes, he became Cap's closest ally.

Currently Chris Evans is the only confirmed star to sign on.

Keep posted for more details as they emerge.

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Game of Thrones Season 3, official release date and new cast members

San Diego's Comic Con has come up trumps yet again, this time with the new season of Game of Thrones.

Not only did they have a great panel turn up, including George RR Martin himself, but we now have an official release date and a whole slew of casting announcements.

First up, its been officially confirmed that Season 3 will air on HBO on March 31st 2013. Not too much of a surprise considering last season premiered on April 1st, but great news all the same.

Secondly, a huge list of casting announcements. I think I'll have to split this over a couple of blog posts to make sure I cover everyone.

This first set is easy, since HBO have been kind enough to make a little announcement trailer…

Mackenzie Crook, Paul Kaye and Diana Rigg!? Exciting times!

Stay posted for my next post with the remainder of the new characters for Season 3, and don't worry, there are still a few gems left to announce..l

 

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First pic of Ben Whishaw as Q in Skyfall

Fans of the BBC's The Hour would have been rightly excited when the announcement was made a little while back that Ben Whishaw had even cast to star alongside Daniel Craig as Q in Sam Mendes' upcoming Bond installment Skyfall.

Albeit a massive departure from the Q we're used to seeing in Bond movies, with the iconic Desmond Llewelyn filling the role for so many years, to be followed briefly (and somewhat less successfully in my opinion) by John Cleese in the Pierce Brosnan Bond era, Whishaw is a fine acting talent, and I for one am looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the role.

Well now we catch a glimpse of what the new Q will look like. Not much to go on, but they're clearly tapping into the current computer-geek chic look that's so popular.

What do you think? Will he be a hit?

Skyfall has a release date in the UK of the 26th October 2012, a release date of the 9th November for Canada and the US, and a release date of the 22nd November 2012 in Australia.

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Matt Damon in Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium

In 2009 Neill Blomkamp's low-budget sci-fi movie District 9 was a real surprise hit, and put the South African director on the map.

Since then, Blomkamp as been pretty quiet, although news is starting to appear on his new movie Elysium. Apparently there has been a lot of secrecy surrounding his new project, but images of its star – none other than Matt Damon – have begun appearing.

The story, according to IMDb goes, “In the year 2159 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium.

That doesn't stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.”

Elysium also stars Jodie Foster as Secretary Rhodes, as well as William Fichtner and Blomkamp favourite Sharlto Copley.

Elysium as a release date of the 1st March 2013 in the UK and the US, with a release date of 7th March 2013 for Australia. No dates have yet been released for Canada.

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Casting begins on Game of Thrones Season 3 with The Blackfish

Season 2 has only just finished, but with the third season slated for a Spring 2013 release on HBO, filming for the new season won't be too far off. And of course, in true George RR Martin style, a new season means a host of new characters.

Script reading began on June 27th, so for the next few months we're going to be inundated with news and rumours on new characters and of course the actors who'll be playing them. And already we have our first confirmation.

Scottish actor Clive Russell will play Ser Brynden 'The Blackfish' Tully, the uncle of Catelyn Stark. Russell will be well known to fans of British TV drama, with appearances in Waking the Dead, Silent Witness and Cracker to name but a few. In Hollywood he has appeared in Sherlock Holmes and The Wolfman.

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Gary Oldman signs up for Robocop remake

Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 classic Robocop will long remain etched in the memory of all Gen-X’ers as one of the movies of our childhood.

So I’m a little concerned about the decision to do a remake.

On the other and, I must confess that I am looking forward to the remake of another movie from my youth, the upcoming Total Recall. So I guess I should give this one a chance.

Also, with Gary Oldman having just signed on, the prospect starts to look a lot brighter. The veteran British star can always be relied upon to bring a bit of class to a movie. In this one he will apparently play Norton, the scientist who creates Robocop.

The other star currently signed up is up-and-coming Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman, best known for his role as Stephen Holder in the US remake of the Danish crime drama The Killing.

Relatively unknown Brazilian director Jose Padilha is set to direct.

Robocop has a tentative release date for the US and UK of the 9th August 2013.

 

The Expendables 2, trailer and release dates

If ever a movie epitomised what The All Action No Plot Movie Blog stood for, then 2010’s The Expendables was that movie!

Well, now it’s back, with the appropriately named The Expendables 2. Even the title harks back to those action flicks of the 80’s and 90’s.

Apart from the mindless action, gunfights and explosions the one thing that made the original stand out from the crowd was it’s cast. Well, believe it or not they’ve just made the cast list for the sequel even better…

The closing credits in the trailer say it all. “Stallone, Statham, Li, Lundgren, Norris, Crews, Couture, Hemsworth”. Then the next page continues with “also Van Damme, with Willis and Schwarzenegger”.

Yep, you did read that alright. And yes, that is Norris as in Chuck Norris.

Check out the scene with Schwarzenegger and Willis in the Smart car. Classic!

The Expendables 2 has a release date of the 17th August 2012 for Canada, the US and the UK, and a release date of the 30th August 2012 for Australia.

Benedict Cumberbatch to play the villain in Star Trek sequel

Although Benedict Cumberbatch has already been confirmed for the villain in the as yet untitled Star Trek sequel, the latest rumor according to Collider and Trekmovie actually names what villain he’ll play.

If you don’t want the spoiler, read no further than this…

Ok, so you’ve made it thus far. So, now for the spoiler – Cumberbatch is rumored to be playing the legendary Khan (yes as in from the original Star Trek movie The Wrath of Khan). Impressed?

Thoughts? Good casting choice? Cumberbatch is an excellent actor whose star is certainly on the rise.

J.J.Abrams will direct once again, and all the original cast are all due to return, including Leonard Nimoy as ‘old’ Spock.

Again, according to Collider, it’s “on schedule to finish up shoots in Northern California, having wrapped in Southern California and on stages.”

Star Trek 2 has been loosely pencilled in for a release date of May 17th 2013 in the US and UK. So a bit to go yet.