Rapper/actor/producer Common was at the Sundance Film Festival with his newest film LUV, and in an interview with Movieline, he revealed that he’s joined Louis Letterier’s magician heist thriller Now You See Me. “I’m about to film this movie called ‘Now You See Me,’ which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Isla Fisher and Michael Caine and Mark Ruffalo - I’d say it’s an action movie, about these magicians. It’s dope.” This is one of my most anticipated movies of 2013 – read on for the full synopsis.

Collider got the synopsis from the American Film Market late last year, but this one slipped through the cracks for us. Described as “The Prestige meets The Town as a team of FBI agents hunts down a group of illusionists who perform miracle heists during their shows and shower the booty on their audiences,” this movie sounds amazing. Here’s the full breakdown from Collider (and click over there to see an early poster for the movie):

The Four Horsemen, a magic super-group led by the charismatic ATLAS (Jesse Eisenberg), perform a pair of high-tech magic shows, first astonishing audiences by robbing a bank on another continent, and then exposing a white-collar criminal and funneling his millions into the audience members’ bank accounts.

FBI Special Agent DYLAN (Mark Ruffalo) is determined to make the magicians pay for their crimes—and to stop them before they pull off what promises to be an even more audacious heist. But he’s forced to partner with ALMA (Melanie Laurent), an Interpol detective about whom he is instantly suspicious. Out of desperation he turns to THADDEUS (Morgan Freeman), a famed magic debunker, who claims the bank heist was accomplished using disguises and video trickery. One thing Dylan and Alma agree on is that the Horsemen must have an outside point person, and that finding him (or her) is key to ending the magicians’ crime spree. Could it be Thaddeus? Or Alma? Or could it really be…magic?

As pressure mounts and the world awaits the Horsemen’s spectacular final trick, Dylan and Alma race to find an answer. But it soon becomes painfully clear that staying one step ahead of these masters of illusion is beyond the skills of any one man—or woman.

Even though Letterier was critically reviled for Clash of the Titans, I still love what he did with the second Transporter movie, so I’ll give him a free pass when it comes to a cool concept with great actors like this. How about you? Are you excited for Now You See Me?

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Anarchy ensues on the streets of Gotham City, at least that’s what we get out of the recent batch of videos coming from the set of The Dark Knight Rises, now filming in New York. Three videos showing different takes from what looks like an important scene in the movie found their way onto YouTube and thanks to IGN, we have them here for you. As always, if you want to go into The Dark Knight Rises spoiler-free, I recommend you skip this.

In the last video we see Batman going up against Bane in the middle of the street, surrounded by people beating the crap out of each other. SPOILER, if you ask me, it doesn’t seem like he’s winning that fight. Also, with so many extras on the set, this looks really expensive, not to mention they are filming on Wall Street no less. This could end up costing easily $250 million when done. But considering The Dark Knight made over $1 billion in box office receipts worldwide, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. spared no expenses on this one.

There’s also a video showing some photos of Batman and Bane from the set:

Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine and Liam Neeson. Set to open July 20th 2012, The Dark Knight Rises is easily one of the most highly anticipated movies of next year and videos like this only serve to send the hype meter into overdrive.

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SHH has received word from “a trustworthy source” that the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises will be attached to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 when it is released next weekend. Not only that, Warner Bros. will also be releasing a teaser poster in the near future.

The site says the teaser trailer is a minute and 33 seconds long and will play in 3D theaters, 2D theaters and IMAX 3D screens. Trailers are usually released during the week, around Wednesday, but so far there has been no confirmation as to when the teaser will appear online.

The Dark Knight Rises is set for release on July 20th, 2012 and is currently filming. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman will reprise their roles alongside Anne Hathaway (Catwoman), Tom Hardy (Bane), Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

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As well as introducing Tom Hardy (Bane), Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway (Catwoman) Christopher Nolan has also got to fit in substantial roles for returning cast members Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine in The Dark Knight Rises.

Morgan Freeman recently spoke about working with Nolan on his third and final Batman film, and said the director has some “really good stuff” planned for Lucius Fox.

From ComingSoon:

CS: What are you most excited about for “The Dark Knight Rises,” for you and the film?
Freeman: The most exciting thing about it is watching the openings, I’m telling you. Doing it, it’s fun to work with Chris Nolan. He’s really a terrific writer, a terrific director. One of those highlights of your career.

CS: Is there interesting stuff planned for you as Lucius Fox in the film?
Freeman: Oh, yeah – really good stuff!

Towards the end of The Dark Knight Batman asked Lucius Fox to find the Joker using a signal tracking device that required spying on the entire city. Fox reluctantly agreed to help, but said he would resign from Wayne Enterprises immediately afterward. Freeman hasn’t revealed any details on what Lucius gets up to in the next film, but he’ll probably return to Wayne Enterprises (that’s if he even left in the first place).

The Dark Knight Rises is set for release on July 20th, 2012 and filming is set to begin in Pittsburgh later this year.

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If you’re a Morgan Freeman fan, chances are pretty good you’re familiar with the actor’s work as Alex Cross, the detective protagonist from James Patterson’s novels. Freeman portrayed the character twice on the big screen: first in 1997′s Kiss The Girls, and again in 2001′s Along Came A Spider. And though it’s been ten years since a Cross story has been adapted for film, it looks like we might be getting another dose of the detective pretty soon.

In August of 2010, reports surfaced that pegged actor Idris Elba (“The Wire”, RockNRolla) to be the heir to the Alex Cross throne, taking over the character from Freeman while director David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway) took the reins of the project. Great, right? Now, Deadline says that specific incarnation has fallen through and Tyler Perry (Madea Goes to Jail) will be now starring in the franchise reboot. And that’s not the worst of it: Twohy is no longer directing. He’ll be replaced by xXx and The Mummy 3 director Rob Cohen. The movie is currently searching for a distributor.

Any goodwill I had for this project (which probably shouldn’t be rebooted in the first place – just come up with an original character!) – has vanished with these announcements. Perhaps I’m the only one, though: what do you think? Are you a fan of the Alex Cross character? Sound off in the comments section below.

Follow us on Twitter: @benpears and @Filmonic

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Collider reports that Summit Entertainment has re-hired Jon and Erich Hoeber to write the screenplay for a Red sequel. The duo also wrote the upcoming Battleship movie and Sam Worthington’s Man on a Ledge.

Red was released back in October and made $164 million worldwide, which isn’t a whole lot compared to most movies, but with a budget of $58 million it made a nice profit for the studio. The movie is also Summit’s most successfull non-Twilight movie so you can see where the incentive comes from to make another.

A sequel would really only work if Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and the rest of the main cast return, which is unknown at this point. The fact that Summit are working on the script doesn’t mean we are definitely getting a sequel, but if things work out we may end up getting one.

Director Robert Schwentke was considered to direct The Wolverine for 20th Century Fox following the success of Red, and he is currently waiting to see what’s happening with Ryan Reynolds before moving ahead with cop comedy R.I.P.D., so he may be free to return.

Would you be interested in a Red sequel? If so, which outrageous weapon should Helen Mirren wield next?

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Update: Amazon has made Red available to pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray.

Summit Entertainment has announced that they will be releasing Red on DVD and Blu-ray on January 25th.

The movie was released back in October and follows the story of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a former black-ops CIA agent, who is now living a quiet life. That is, until the day a hi-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him. With his identity compromised and the life of the woman he cares for endangered, Frank reassembles his old team (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren) in a last ditch effort to survive.

Red, directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan and The Time Traveler’s Wife), managed $150 million at the worldwide box office on a $60 million budget which, combined with positive reviews, means Summit officially has a hit.

The DVD and Blu-ray features include:

- Audio commentary with retired CIA field officer Robert Baer
- Deleted and extended scenes
- Access: RED – Activate a variety of “scene-specific” features including interviews with cast members, real-life CIA expert commentary, animated documentary shorts on controversial CIA operations and more

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If you’ve seen the trailer for Red, you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. There’s no deception with this marketing campaign: if you’re the type of person who digs movies in which bullets and bazookas are fired at the same time and collide in the middle (causing a massive explosion, naturally), chances are you’ll probably like this movie.

Based on the comic by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, Red tells the story of Frank Moses (Willis), a lonely, retired CIA black ops agent. He calls the agency just to speak with the cute customer service rep Sarah (Parker), and the two have a blossoming friendship over the phone. But when a team of agents breaks into Moses’ apartment to kill him, he knows that Sarah’s life is in danger, too. In order to stay alive, he has to “[get] the band back together” by reassembling his old (hiYO!) team: Joe (Freeman), an 80-year-old rascal; Marvin (Malkovich), made insane by years of government testing; and Victoria (Mirren), a woman who can’t force herself to fully retire. Hunted by up-and-coming agent Cooper (Karl Urban), the gang gets caught up in the remnants of a operation they worked on thirty years prior.

This movie is utterly inconsequential, but that’s exactly what it’s aiming for. The writing provides plenty of opportunities to let loose and have some fun, with almost all of the leads playing variations of characters they’ve depicted on screen before. Freeman and Willis fell right back into their natural chemistry from Lucky Number Slevin, almost as if they never left that film’s set. Malkovich was perfectly crazy, striking just the right balance of slapstick and insanity. And as the action comedy equivalent of Betty White, it was surprisingly exhilarating to see Helen Mirren (notable for playing traditional, serious roles) brazenly fire automatic weapons until all of the cartridges were spent. And Mary-Louise Parker played the “Cameron Diaz in Knight and Day” part with such effortless charm and humor that I was instantly enamored with her.

The supporting cast is really a joy to watch, with hugely entertaining performances from the always-reliable Brian Cox and Richard Dreyfuss. Even Ernest Borgnine has a small role, sure to raise the enjoyment of the older audience this film caters to. But the break-out to me was easily Karl Urban (who played Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek) as Cooper, standing out in an office fight scene with Willis that cements him as one of the next big blockbuster stars. [He's already been signed to play Judge Dredd in a reboot of that franchise.] Cooper’s casual indifference when executing orders was effectively chilling, and his go-getter attitude seems to mirror Urban’s own rise to movie stardom.

Perhaps my biggest surprise was with the assured confidence of the film itself, handled notably well by director Robert Schwentke. His filmography thus far (Flightplan, The Time Traveler’s Wife) didn’t seem to indicate he could pull off this type of tone, but he did an admirable job portraying the action, thankfully avoiding the quick-cut mantra of action films of the past decade. (It’s so refreshing to see an action movie that doesn’t give you a headache.) There are a couple of excellent sequences, one involving a car crash and Willis (predictably) being a total badass, and one involving the destruction of a house reminiscent of The Rocketeer and The Book of Eli.

Red is pure, self-assured escapism. It’ll surely become a staple of cable networks in the next few years, but there’s nothing wrong with that – especially when the movie is as fun as this one. The cast practically oozes enthusiasm, and their excitement seems to complement the ridiculous nature of this movie. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out if you’re a fan of the action comedy genre; Red continues this year’s trend of “team up” action flicks, but this one falls more on the The A-Team side than The Expendables side. Until next time…

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Hollywood has always had an obsession with casting young, good looking actors and actresses in movies so they can capture the teen demographic. However Bradley Cooper getting his abs out in The A-Team and Zoe Saldana firing guns in her underwear in The Losers is nothing compared to Dame Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman kicking ass in Red.

A second trailer for the film was revealed today at Comic-Con, and you can watch it below;

Red, directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan and The Time Traveler’s Wife) is the story of Frank Moses (Willis), a former black-ops CIA agent, who is now living a quiet life. That is, until the day a hi-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him. With his identity compromised and the life of the woman he cares for endangered, Frank reassembles his old team (Freeman, Malkovich and Mirren) in a last ditch effort to survive.

The film also includes Brian Cox as a former Cold War spy and nemesis of Willis, Richard Dreyfuss as a wealthy man who builds a fortune out of lucrative government contracts, and Julian McMahon as the Vice President with a dark side who is at the center of a conspiracy.

Red will be released by Summit Entertainment on October 15th.

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Helen Mirren firing a 50-caliber machine gun, Morgan Freeman getting frisky looking at ladies bottoms, John Malkovich getting all paranoid thinking that everyone is out to kill him, and Bruce Willis having a brutal fight in an office with Karl Urban.

I present to you the teaser trailer for Red!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EREb0EZHHE

Red, directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan and The Time Traveler’s Wife) is the story of Frank Moses (Willis), a former black-ops CIA agent, who is now living a quiet life. That is, until the day a hi-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him. With his identity compromised and the life of the woman he cares for endangered, Frank reassembles his old team (Freeman, Malkovich and Mirren) in a last ditch effort to survive.

The film also includes Brian Cox as a former Cold War spy and nemesis of Willis, Richard Dreyfuss as a wealthy man who builds a fortune out of lucrative government contracts, and Julian McMahon as the Vice President with a dark side who is at the center of a conspiracy.

Summit Entertainment has set an October 15th release date for Red. It’s good to see they are putting their revenue from Twilight into good use.

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