There should be more thrillers like Safe House: smart, engaging movies made for adults. With a propulsive score and breakneck pacing to match, the movie tears through a series of double-crosses, shootouts, and narrow escapes usually reserved for summer blockbusters. Lucky for us, it looks like summer’s come early this year.

Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is a low-level CIA babysitter for a safe house in South Africa. He’s paid his dues for a year, and now he wants nothing more than to move to Paris with his girlfriend and take on a position with more responsibilities. When agent-turned-traitor Tobin Frost (Washington) appears after years off the grid, Weston gets an unexpected house guest. But Frost has information that men are willing to kill for, so the safe house is compromised and Weston’s the only one who can get Frost to the nearest extraction point. But not only is he dodging bullets from trained mercenaries, he also has to contend with Frost himself, a master manipulator super-agent who has his own plans for escape.

Safe House is a great example of how a fresh vision can elevate a tried-and-true concept. Espinosa takes a familiar story and deftly applies his signature to it: the blown-out color palette seems to mirror Weston’s heightened experiences, and the disjointed editing – transitions oftentimes bleed audio from one sequence into visuals from the next – reflect both Weston’s increasingly taxed mental state and Frost’s commanding ability to slip through the proverbial cracks. The South African setting also sets the film apart from others in the genre, with a nice set piece at a crowded football (soccer) stadium and an action-heavy shootout in a tiny shanty town. For Espinosa’s American filmmaking debut, working with a comparatively huge budget and acting superstars for the first time, Safe House is quite an accomplishment.

Washington delivers yet another strong performance, devoting himself to his character so much that he actually endured a brief session of waterboard torture during filming. He’s always been a captivating person to watch, and his natural charisma shines through even in a “bad guy” role. Reynolds is good, too; naive but always believable, he carries the film dramatically and holds his own during some ferocious fight scenes. Vera Farmiga and Brendan Gleeson both have fine supporting turns, and it seems Farmiga is carving out a nice little niche for herself as the authoritative woman on the other end of the phone (she played a similar role in last year’s Source Code).

The script, by first-time screenwriter and former Us Weekly editor David Guggenheim, tears along at an incredible pace, quickly setting up the action and leaving the exposition to be revealed further down the line. It’s a conventional premise, but he sprinkles in just enough unique moments to give the film a life of its own. The action beats are fun to watch, and the film’s denouement touches on some meaningful points about government transparency. Safe House is the type of movie I hope for when I go to the movies: well-acted, stylish entertainment that gives me something to chew on besides popcorn. Until next time…

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For a project that was once slated to be a buddy comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, 2 Guns has come a long way. Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur is now directing, and though Mark Wahlberg has been attached for a long time, it looks like an even bigger star will be teaming up with him.

Deadline reports that Denzel Washington is in talks to star. Washington next appears in Safe House this weekend and recently wrapped filming on Flight, Robert Zemeckis’ return to live action filmmaking for Paramount.

2 Guns is based on a comic book written by Steven Grant. From the comic’s official website:

In the vein of Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job, Two Guns is a pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it’s a great way to score – considering it’s a cover for mob money. They’ll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn’t know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn’t know is that Steadman’s got his own secret and isn’t who he appears to be… Classic two gun safe-robbing action delivered with wit and charm from the writer-creator of Whisper!

I actually read the first issue of the comic a few years ago, and to be honest, it seemed pretty run-of-the-mill. I’m mixed about a movie version, though: Denzel and Wahlberg could make for an explosive combination, but Kormakur didn’t impress me at all with Contraband. What do you all think? Does 2 Guns sound good to you, especially with this cast?

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Universal Studios has released the official trailer for Daniel Espinosa’s spy thriller Safe House. From the looks of the trailer, this is going to be quite the twisted dark thrill ride we’ve desperately needed, with the Award winning Denzel Washington and charismatic Ryan Reynolds as our guides.

With CIA cover-ups, a deadly escort mission, an extremely solid cast, and an everything-isn’t-as-it-seems vibe, what’s not to like? Safe House also has a killer supporting cast including Vera Farmiga, Robert Patrick, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Cunningham, and Sam Shepard among others.

Check out the trailer below:

When a CIA-operated safe house is targeted by a group of bad guys, the facility’s house-sitter is tasked with the dangerous job of moving the criminal who is being hidden there to another secure location.

It’s great to Washington back as a silently psychotic bad guy/good guy/anti-hero that he executed so well in Training Day, but honestly it’s a relief to see him in a modern day action film not involving trains! He’s just one of those actors that gets completely lost in his character, often giving us a intensely memorable performance, and it looks like his character in Safe House is no exception. Reynolds’ role is thankfully far away from his typical “funny guy” and, dare I say it, charming “superhero” (last summer’s Green Lantern, but don’t get me started on that), and brings him back to the occasional gritty thriller territory. Reynolds’ character is your typical “wrong place at the wrong time” type of hero, a role that he’s done before, with the outrageous Smokin’ Aces and the unfortunately underrated Buried being his most recent roles of that archetype.

From the looks of the trailer, Washington and Reynolds have an explosive chemistry that really escalates the amount of tension towards the end of the trailer, something we can expect in intensely high doses in the film. I’m glad that these type of spy thrillers still exist, because honestly, when we have the CIA as a plot device nowadays, it ends up turning into to a wannabe Bourne movie and they’re becoming unnecessarily repetitive. If you’re looking for a comeback of the gritty, tension and twist-filled spy thriller, look no further than Safe House.

Safe House hits theatres on February 10, 2012.

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After more than a decade directing performance capture movies such as The Polar Express and Beowulf, Robert Zemeckis will return to live-action with Flight for Universal.

Denzel Washington is leading the film, which…

“…tells the redemption story of “Whip” (Washington), a commercial airline pilot who pulls off a heroic feat of flying in a damaged plane, saving 98 lives on a flight carrying 106 people. While the world begs to embrace him as a true American Hero, the everyman struggles with this label as he is forced to hold up to the scrutiny of an investigation that brings into question his behavior the night before the doomed flight.”

The film is set to shoot next month in Atlanta, so more names will be added to the cast soon. John Gatins (Real Steel) wrote the script, and a release date will probably be set for sometime in late 2012

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20th Century Fox has announced that Tony Scott’s Unstoppable which starred Denzel Washington and Chris Pine will become available on DVD and Blu-ray on February 15th.

The movie managed to take $146 million at the worldwide box office, which is a decent amount for a $100 million movie but a bit lower than your typical Denzel flick (Book of Eli made $157 million and DeJa Vu made $180 million). Unstoppable also had great reviews and currently stands at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it might be worth checking out if you haven’t already.

Check out the specifications below:

UNSTOPPABLE Blu-ray Extras:

Disc One:

- Derailed: Anatomy of a Scene
- Hanging Off the Train: Stunt Work ?
- On the Rails with the Director and Cast
- The Fastest Track: Unleashing Unstoppable
- Director Commentary Track
- Tracking the Story: Unstoppable Script Development

Disc Two:
- Digital Copy

UNSTOPPABLE DVD Extras:

- Director Commentary Track
- Tracking the Story: Unstoppable Script Development

Unstoppable will be available to pre-order on January 19th.

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Director Tony Scott returns to the world of high speed pursuits in Unstoppable, his fifth collaboration with star Denzel Washington. Inspired by true events, the film follows an out-of-control train as it tears through the Pennsylvania countryside and the two mismatched railroad employees who take it upon themselves to stop it.

I must admit: while Tony Scott’s filmography is fairly populist and mostly enjoyable to me, I’m beginning to tire of his frenetic style and predictable storylines. Never has this been more apparent than in Unstoppable, a movie that – by the very nature of its plot – almost demands that you sit on the edge of your seat but never actually does anything to earn that demand.

Most of the reason I didn’t particularly care for the film is due to the lackluster script by Mark Bomback. It’s exactly the type of movie you think it’s going to be, and the movie takes absolutely no risks in telling this story. Every character is a walking cliche, from the hard working but under-appreciated Connie Hooper (Dawson) to her buffoonish boss (Dunn), and the movie somehow manages to make the main characters almost totally uninteresting. There are the standard family issues – Washington’s Frank Barnes is losing touch with his teenage daughters, Pine’s Will Colson has a strained relationship with his wife and son – but there is so little time spent building those relationships that we don’t particularly care if the issues are resolved.

Sometimes a movie can be so mediocre that it angers me more than a truly awful film. I feel bad ragging on a movie like this because A) I’m not a screenwriter, nor do I know to what degree the studio altered the script and B) it’s actually a competent movie and I’m sure a lot of people will like it. It’s comfort food for your eyes on the big screen, with serviceable performances from everyone involved but nothing fresh about the presentation. Many of Scott’s films tell stories that have been told before, but usually he brings something new to the table that at least makes it interesting (Top Gun‘s dogfighting sequences, for example). In Unstoppable, even the action is predictable and without consequence. (Small spoiler alert – even the one railroad worker we think dies in an action scene is revealed to have miraculously survived in a cheesy end-credits explanation scene.)

Nearly everything about this movie seems uninspired or too on the nose, even down to Scott’s fetishistic portrayal of machines as villains and the John Henry-esque human spirit triumphing over it. This film also had trouble gaining speed (so to speak) in preproduction; Washington dropped in and out of involvement and rampant budget cuts came down from the studio, and those problems seemed to translate into the final product. There’s no life in this film, and everything is frustratingly average. The only patch of brightness belongs to Ethan Suplee, who sells the guilt of causing this whole thing with ease but – again – doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

I was thoroughly unimpressed with Unstoppable, but what did you think about it? Did the Apollo 13 ending seem endearing to you or more like an inadequate imitation? Sound off in the comment section. And shouldn’t this movie have been called Stoppable? Until next time…

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Last week it was reported that Ryan Reynolds, Shia LaBeouf, Taylor Kitsch, Chris Pine, Sam Worthington, Garrett Hedlund, Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, Chris Hemsworth and Jake Gyllenhaal (all the upcoming actors on the planet, basically) where in talks to star alongside Denzel Washington in Safe House.

The actors mentioned above were after the role of a young CIA agent who must transport a dangerous criminal (Washington) to safety after both are attacked at a safe house. Well according to Deadline Ryan Reynolds is now in negotiations for the role and is trying to fit it into his schedule which includes Green Lantern promotion and the filming of 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool spin-off.

Reynolds is becoming one of the busiest working actors around, and even though he has two potential superhero franchises in the pipeline he still has time to battle his fellow actors for roles.

One of the main attractions of Safe House is Daniel Espinosa, a Swedish director whose latest film Snabba Cash became the talk of the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. He was in talks to direct X-Men: First Class at one point and Benicio Del Toro and Leonardo DiCaprio are keen to get him to direct their upcoming movies.

No word on when Safe House will begin filming, although it will have to be when both Denzel and Reynolds are free.

Here’s the trailer for Snabba Cash so you can see what all the buzz is about:

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Speaking of Tony Scott, here’s the first trailer for his new film Unstoppable. Denzel Washington and Chris Pine star in the real life story of a runaway train towing toxic chemicals and the engineers responsible for preventing a massive catastrophe. Hit the jump to see the trailer, and let us know what you think about it in the comments section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC6QM8y0ejo

Unstoppable also stars Rosario Dawson and will be released in November.

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Everyone seems a bit worn out with all of the remakes, sequels, reboots, and general lack of originality coming out of Hollywood these days. (Chris Nolan’s Inception looks to shatter that notion when it comes out next week.) But there is one project based on an original idea that caused a bidding war among the major studios – a spec script by Us Weekly editor (?!) David Guggenheim called Safe House.

Denzel Washington is in talks to star as the film’s bad guy, marking a return to the actor’s villainous history in movies like Training Day and American Gangster. More after the jump.

The script, supposedly written by Guggenheim in three months, is a hot property and Universal emerged from the bidding war victorious. The L.A. Times provided a good summary of the film back in February:

[Safe House is] a story of a young U.S. intelligence agent in charge of a safe house in a tumultuous part of South America. Soon after a prisoner is brought in, the house is attacked, and the agent and the prisoner must go on the run across the treacherous Latin landscape — think “Collateral” and ‘The Bourne Identity” with a Che Guevara twist.

I’m thinking it sounds more like 16 Blocks meets The Rundown, but I haven’t read the script. Daniel Espinosa (Snabba Cash) is set to direct, and it seems like he might have the possibility of steering it in a few different tonal directions, so we’ll have to wait and see how this one ends up. Even though it sounds a bit derivative, I’m still glad to see original projects squeaking through the cracks of Hollywood; I hope this does well at the box office to encourage studios to take more chances.

Other minor tidbits from the story:

• David Guggenheim is the brother of Marc and Eric; Marc wrote the upcoming film adaptations of The Green Lantern and The Flash, while Eric wrote 2004′s Kurt Russell hockey flick Miracle and currently works on the show “Parenthood.”
• Deadline mentions that Star Trek‘s Chris Pine tested for the role of the young CIA agent, setting up a potential reunion between Pine and Washington – they recently worked together on Tony Scott’s upcoming action movie Unstoppable. Rumor has it, though, that the studio won’t reconnect the two actors on this project.

What do you think? Are you excited about the possibility of Denzel Washington returning to a villainous role?

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I did not expect much from The Book of Eli. I mean, Denzel Washington’s star is much dimmer than his Training Days and I’ve seen enough post-apocalyptic movies to fill a catalog of world ending scenarios. But the Hughes brothers surprised me. Eli is an ordinary take on a “war ends the world” scenario, but with extra-ordinary goals. It has more to say than your average action flick and I enjoyed it.

So it’s 40 or so years in the post-apocalyptic future. Nuclear war has left almost everyone dead and the rest hungry, thirsty, and scared. The United States is a future version of the old west with small towns, saloons, revolvers, and people fighting for water and food.

Like those in The Road, some people have even resorted to cannibalism–you can tell them by their hand ‘shakes.’ Eating people gives you the shakes, it would appear. Puzzled and intrigued, I did some quick research on this and no published science studies have tested the longterm effects of eating human meat, but common causes of shaky hands are: hyperthyroidism, Parkinson’s disease, senile tremors, and Xanex withdrawal. I don’t think human meat is like Xanex, but they do say anxiety can be a cause. I can think of little to feel more anxious about than eating your fellow man. Perhaps that’s it.

Eli (Denzel Washington) is a man on a mission. He has a book he must take out west and protect, though he doesn’t quite know where or why; he’s just following the ‘signs.’ In an early scene, some street ruffians try to rob him. Big mistake. All are dead on the ground in less than a minute and Eli, he barely breaks a sweat. His abilities seem almost supernatural. I certainly wouldn’t mess with him.

Carnegie (Gary Oldman) is a corrupt town leader who’s been hunting down the ‘book’ for decades. Oldman is one of my favorite villains and does not disappoint as Carnegie, whose smile thinly veils a familiar lust for power and control. Along with Eli, he is one of only a few old enough to remember the world as it was and how to read. When his biker brutes bring him copies of Oprah Magazine and The Da Vinci Code he nearly snaps at their incompetence. He’s a wise man in a dumb age.

Anyone can guess where the plot is heading, and Eli travels down that familiar bad vs good road, but with a few big surprises that I do not intend to spoil. This movie reveals what this special book of Eli’s is, yes, but it’s more about what the book represents. I have to credit screenwriter Gary Whitta for a story that has a few big “holy shit” moments in it. His writing, brought to life by the directing of the Hughes brothers, has M. Night Shamalan style twists, but doesn’t rest entirely on its ‘gotcha’ moments, like a Shyamalan film might.

The cinematography in Eli ranges from acceptable to amazing. We see many postcard moments as he walks through the ruins of the western United States, and a lot of slow motion shots of people walking down the road. The Hughes brothers are at their best during the action scenes though, which are often reminiscent of Children of Men, and that’s a good thing. One scene in particular has Carnegie shooting up a house where Eli and Solara (Mila Kunis) are hiding. Instead of the usual close-up shots of the bad guys followed by close-up shots of the good guys, the camera runs straight into the danger. The audience hops through windows and into bullet fire, even running under an exploding car to get the best angle. It’s brief, but one of the coolest shoot-offs I’ve seen.

My only big complaint is that there is more product placement in The Book of Eli than most non-post-apocalyptic films. Puma, GMC, and KFC all get their logos displayed. The best placement goes to Busch though. Somehow a lone Busch beer truck with a prestine blue and gold logo made it through the nuclear apocalypse and 40 years of rain, dirt, and grime without a single chip of paint missing. It also happens to be perfectly located in the one spot Eli stops and stares at for several minutes. Sadly though, even Star Trek had Budweiser and Nokia ads in it. If Star Trek isn’t safe, what movie is?

The Book of Eli seems to straddle the line between mindless violence and grander ideas. In the end, I enjoyed the mindless violence, the crazy plot twists, and I liked the message, which stops short of preaching. Denzel needed a role like this. I’m glad he tried something new and decided to kick some ass.

Score: 4 out of 5

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