Machete fans, rejoice: Robert Rodriguez has got a sequel to the Danny Trejo “Mexploitation” flick in the works, and it’s called Machete Kills. Better news – or worse, depending on your tolerance for these kinds of things – is that there’s also talk of a third movie to round out the trilogy. For more on Machete Kills, hit the jump.

Rodriguez created the original fake trailer for his 2007 joint venture with Quentin Tarantino, Grindhouse, and the concept was met with such an enthusiastic response that he co-directed a feature film based around the character back in 2010. Deadline has the latest development, with Rodriguez saying, “Machete is truly a super hero and Machete Kills will be bigger and more ambitious than the first time.”

Production is scheduled for April, and this plot sounds even more ludicrous than the first.

The new film finds Machete recruited by the U.S. Government for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man. Machete must battle his way through Mexico to take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space. Machete takes on an army in an effort to dismantle a plan for global anarchy.

Personally, I think Hobo With A Shotgun is the most effective of this new wave of exploitation movies, but I’m always down to see Trejo in the role he was born to play. Plus, this seems to be a perfect lead-in to the ridiculously titled Machete Kills Again…in Space, which, according to Rodriguez, will feature “a light-saber machete, space babes…it’ll be kind of like Moonraker!” What do you think? Are you interested in seeing more of Machete on the big screen?

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William Monahan, who won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for The Departed, has been brought in to re-write the script for Sin City 2 according to Heat Vision.

Since Sin City was released in 2005 directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller have been talking about making a sequel every year. In 2008 they were apparently “close to beginning production”, then they were planning to shoot in 2009, and last year we heard the script was being re-written. The latest update came in July when Rodriguez said “it could shoot as early as later this year”, and it looks like they’re aiming for that by getting a script ready with the help of Monahan.

Rodriguez confirmed one of the stories being used in the sequel is “A Dame to Kill For,” another is called “The Long Bad Night,” and the third is being kept under wraps for now. At present no actors are confirmed to return, but the Dame to Kill For story features Marv (Mickey Rourke) and Nancy (Jessica Alba).

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Since Sin City was released in 2005 directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller have been talking about making a sequel every year. In 2008 they were apparently “close to beginning production”, then they were planning to shoot in 2009, and last year we heard the script was being re-written.

Well Robert Rodriguez gave another update at the San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, and he said “it could shoot as early as later this year.”

From CinemaBlend:

“If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen this year,” Rodriguez just told the assembled Comic Con crowd of Sin City 2, which he says is still in the script process but promises he and Miller are as close to making it as they’ve ever been. He’s basing it on three separate stories by Frank Miller, who co-directed the first movie and whose graphic novel inspired the original. One of the stories is called “A Dame to Kill For,” another is called “The Long Bad Night,” and the third is being kept under wraps for now.

At present no actors are confirmed to return, but the Dame to Kill For story features Marv (Mickey Rourke) and Nancy (Jessica Alba).

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For those who are fans of fantasy/action flicks that deal with heaven and hell, yours truly could sum up Drive Angry 3D with one sentence. The 104 minute presentation is the blending of the stories and characters from The Prophecy and Constantine, with a splash of Robert Rodriguez’s signature action sequences found in Desperado and/or Machete. For these said fans, the only other aspect you’ll need to know is that horror director Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine) is a suitable choice to helm this B-movie satire.

Now for everyone else out there, here’s what you’re getting in this blood-soaked, cheesy dialogue R-rated tale. That just goes with it.

John Milton (Nicholas Cage climbing out of debt) is dressed like Johnny Cash and drives a classic muscle car. He’s hot on the trail of a wanted cult leader named Jonah King (Billy Burke). Jonah has committed horrible crimes against Milton’s kin, all in the name of bringing hell on earth. As John inches across southern states, he comes across a strikingly gorgeous waitress in Piper (Amber Heard). Besides the good looks, this girl has an attitude, and is ready to throw down with anyone who fails to respect her. Milton chooses Piper to accompany him on his journey to track down Jonah. Since she has nothing else going for, she feels there’s no harm in letting him tag along in her badass muscle car.

While the mismatched duo stop-off at a dive motel, Jonah decides to come looking for Milton and brings his cult followers along. Milton is all but ready and easily takes out the entire lynch mob. However, he takes a few bullets but his injuries do not seem to slow him down. Piper begins to see more instances like this and wonders why Milton never goes into much detail about his past. And how is he still breathing. All he really gives her – and the audience – is that he “escaped from prison.” Things get stranger, as a well dressed man is literally sniffing out their trail. Simply going by The Accountant (William Fichtner), he desperately wants to find Milton and “bring him back.” Although our presentable Accountant isn’t big on dialogue, he’ll be happy to tell the people he runs into, when he’ll be seeing them next.

Eventually, all three parties come together – each with their own agenda – and a bloody, revved-up war takes place. Complete with decapitations, gunfire, numerous car chases and plenty of naked women.

Let it be known, that this reviewer went into this screening not having a clue what this flick was about. Seemed like it was just going to be just another revenge tale with a jaded anti-hero who knows how to drive and blow crap up. To a certain extent it is. But with the added good and evil supernatural angle tossed in, the story becomes more intriguing. Slowly all three characters’ (Jonah, Milton, Accountant) backgrounds are reveled. The pacing of this revelation is handled exceptionally well. Which is the hook that will keep the audience engaged during all the shenanigans that resemble something out of a dark comic book.

Knowing that the flick was doing all the “cheesy” one-liners and gratuitous violence on purpose (I hope), it still doesn’t make up for the lack of innovation in a few action sequences, and how it failed to execute simple movie mechanics. Especially in the continuity department. Amber Heard – who gave a rockin’ performance – is constantly getting her beautiful booty kicked all over the place. Yet that face of her never carries a scratch for more than a minute. Meanwhile, Nic Cage is getting blasted through the face and plenty of make-up is applied to “sell” the injury. Call it a pet-peeve, but it does not make sense when the invincible are showing more scars than the mortals. All this shows is laziness in certain departments.

And people will cite the unbelievable because of this. Like how Cage can manage to kill five people while still pleasuring a woman and swigging some whiskey. In this case, try not to look at this as a fault. The flick is having fun people and our good director is winking at you the entire time when these scenarios play out. If you think about though, they actually make sense for some of the characters are not depicted as mere mortals as already mentioned. Granted though, during the climatic portion of the script – where the story and dialogue try to summarize what is going on – the flick begins to loose control and it definitely isn’t a concise or clear rationale. One will “get it” but it will be after you walk out of the theater and think about it. Which is an act you shouldn’t have to do. Even though the flick struggles only a couple times, it is at the part where a director should never allow it to struggle…The ending.

Overall, Drive Angry 3D is mainly for a niche group of people that have been entertained by the above mentioned titles found in the first paragraph. For the rest of the world who needs substance and rationale, this will drive you to anger by the third act. The 3D serves a purpose, but it doesn’t make or break the flick. Those looking for some interesting characters and mindless violence involving automobiles and some killer shotguns, take this baby for a test drive.  You may end up “buying” it.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

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Earlier this year 20th Century Fox were courting Robert Rodriguez to direct their Deadpool spin-off. The director said he thought the script “was really good”, but with Spy Kids 4 filming and Sin City 2 lined up he may not have time to fit it in.

Now a new name has emerged for the director’s chair, and it’s one that hasn’t directed a movie before.

From 24 Frames:

But sources familiar with the project say a new name has emerged for the director’s chair, and it’s an unconventional one: Adam Berg, a heretofore little-known Swedish commercial and video director.

Berg has never directed a feature before, but he gained plenty of acclaim with “Carousel,” a stylish short.

Berg’s work is admired both by those making “Deadpool” as well as by Reynolds, making him a top contender to land the job, say sources. The movie still has to overcome obstacles before it moves forward. But if it does, it will feature one big star — and a director who may well find himself on the way to becoming one.

Having a newcomer is risky, but Berg has certainly got something. Check out his The Dark Knight/The Town themed short below:

Once a director is signed Deadpool will have a greater chance of actually happening, but Ryan Reynolds has a lot of movies lined up, including a Green Lantern sequel, so it will all be a matter of scheduling (and whether Warner Bros. will allow Reynolds to star in a rival comic book movie for a rival studio).

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One can only expect so much from a film called Predators. But sometimes having tempered expectations is the best way to experience a movie, and a genre sequel like this certainly benefits from that approach. Predators is easily an improvement over the sub-par entries in the series since the original and is unquestionably the best film involving Predators since McTiernan and Schwarzenegger stomped through Mexico back in 1987.

Producer Robert Rodriguez’s guiding hand can be felt all over this film, shot beautifully in a mixture of locations including Hawaii, on stages at Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas, and the surrounding Texas landscape. The production designers were able to capture an alien environment that truly separates itself from the lush jungles of McTiernan’s original movie. It’s a shame that director Nimrod Antal isn’t getting much recognition for this film, since I think it’s a competent and entertaining entry into the franchise, but it would appear that Fox is content with using Rodriguez’s name as a selling point. That’s a fair tactic, considering the history of this project; Rodriguez actually wrote a script back in the mid-1990s which was abandoned by the studio, who eventually returned to it in 2009 and decided to move forward with it. Rewritten by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch, Predators feels very much like a Rodriguez movie in that it looks way more expensive than it actually cost.

The ensemble cast hearkens back to the original film, and is rounded out by some actors one might not expect in a film like this. Adrien Brody plays the lead character of Royce, a gruff soldier who is a polar opposite of Brody’s vulnerable con man in 2009′s The Brothers Bloom. While I’d argue Brody never truly gets comfortable in this role, he (like the film as a whole) is not particularly exhilarating to watch but is competent in his execution. Recent science fiction maven Alice Braga (I Am Legend, Repo Men) plays one of the most independent women in an action film in the past few years, embodying Isabelle – her sniper character – with a sense of confidence and ability that easily rises above damsel in distress status. The rest of the supporting cast is rounded out by solid character actors: Walton Goggins, Danny Trejo, Topher Grace, even an Apocalypse Now-inspired cameo by Laurence Fishburne.

By now some of you are surely wondering about the Predators themselves: how do they fare here? The scope of the extraterrestrial hunters has been expanded to dog-like creatures as well as multiple races of Predator, allowing for some non-human conflict to accentuate the horrifying scenario in which the humans are placed. If you signed up for brutal violence, you shouldn’t be disappointed: an alien-on-alien beheading and a removal of someone’s spinal column are grisly highlights in the film. There is an interesting twist involving the multiple races of Predator, pitting one against the other and mixing human interaction in as well. They are still, as Arnold once called them, “ugly motherf*cker[s],” but the designs have been slightly updated for the new millennium (although not so much as to anger hardcore fans of the series).

The Blu-ray special features are pretty extensive, spotlighted by a really cool “making of” featurette detailing the production process and giving an inside look at the sets, both on location in Hawaii and at Troublemaker Studios. The coolest parts revealed how Antal and his director of photography were able to shoot the actors tumbling over the edge of a waterfall in Hawaii: the camera was on a bungee cord pointing down at the water and as actors plunged out into space, the camera followed them down as they hurtled 80 feet down and crashed into twelve feet of water. Some of the actors seemed to do their own stunts, but even if they were stunt men, the footage was definitely worth seeing and was a great insight as to how they accomplished such an impressive shot. Along with the typical special features you’d expect to find (commentary, deleted and extended scenes, etc.), there are also six motion comics detailing the backstories of many of the major characters, which are voiced by the actual cast members from the film. I didn’t find them particularly enthralling, but if you’re into that kind of thing, you’ll probably enjoy them.

Overall, you could do a lot worse than Predators if you’re looking for a decent sci-fi action film. There is some impressive cinematography (a slick sword battle shot from above comes to mind), and definitely enough action to keep you involved in the story. The pacing moves quickly and rarely gives you time to concentrate on any negative aspects of the story. This is definitely a spiritual sequel to the McTiernan movie and will almost certainly spawn direct sequels of its own, but this film was enough to get me interested in the direction of the franchise. Sign me up for the next entry. Until next time…

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Robert Rodriguez said earlier this year that due to the box office success of Predators ($125 million worldwide on a $40 million budget) 20th Century Fox were looking to make a sequel and the next step would be to have writers come in and pitch their ideas.

The set up suggests Adrien Brody would be required, and the actor is looking forward to the prospect.

From MTV:

“I think it’s done well enough to justify [a sequel] for sure,” star Adrien Brody told MTV News. “I think the goal initially was to make a film that is worthy of [a franchise],” Brody said. “The film is even structured that way… to kick in for another one. I’d be excited. I’d be excited to do it. I think that was part of the allure.”

Brody also spoke about a planned cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger that didn’t end up in the movie:

“I was hoping he would be in this film,” Brody said. “It would have been great. I really was hoping.” As you may have guessed, Schwarzenegger was a bit busy being governor of California, so that never happened.

“There was a version we were going to do that had a different ending that it really would have been fitting for Schwarzenegger to be there,” Brody said. “It would have been like him passing the gauntlet to my character… and the bravery of my character proven. That would have been just epic.”

It would have been, yes. Maybe Schwarzenegger will be free for the sequel?

As for now, Predators will be released on October 19th and you can now pre-order it from Amazon on:

DVD | Blu-ray

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If you aren’t watching “Community,” you’re missing out. The NBC comedy, starring Joel McHale as smooth-talking ex-lawyer Jeff Winger, is one of the funniest shows on TV and a must-watch for pop culture junkies. McHale, also the host of “The Soup” on the E! Network, has been tiptoeing his way into feature films over the past couple of years.

Now, Variety reports the up-and-coming actor has joined Jessica Alba in Robert Rodriguez’s reboot of his own Spy Kids franchise, titled Spy Kids: All the Time in the World.

In the fourth entry in the franchise, McHale is set to play a “spy-hunting reporter married to Alba’s character.” Alba joined the project a while back, based (presumably) on her positive working relationship with Rodriguez – she starred in Sin City back in 2005 and recently worked with him again on Machete. In this film, she’ll play a reactivated former spy who is the stepmother of the new Spy Kids.

I’m glad to see McHale further establish himself in the feature film world, and I’m sure this movie will easily be a lot of fun for the audiences it’s aiming to please.

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World will hit theaters on August 19th, 2011.

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The Hollywood Reporter has news that Jessica Alba is in negotiations to star in Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World for director Robert Rodriguez. The director hired Alba for Sin City and Machete, which will be released next month, so I think we can now call Jessica Alba one of his regulars.

Details on her role from THR:

The new movie centers on Alba as a retired spy who has been reactivated. The actress, mother of a toddler in real life, will be playing the mother of a baby and two preteen stepchildren.

The actors cast in the preteen roles will be the new Spy Kids.

Other roles seeking to be filled include Alba’s husband, a slightly nerdy investigative reporter (might I suggest Borys Kit?), and the villain, known as the Time Keeper, whose goal it is to stop time.

The site also mentions that Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara (the original Spy Kids) will return in supporting roles along with Antonio Banderas.

Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (which has a budget of less than $30 million) will begin filming next month in Austin.

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Update: Amazon has now made Predators available to pre-order:

- DVD
- Blu-ray

20th Century Fox has announced that Predators will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 19th and the discs will include exclusive motion comics that reveal the Predator’s backstory, presented by producer Robert Rodriguez (among other features).

Predators hasn’t exactly set the box office alight, but with a budget of around $40 million it didn’t need to. The film has taken $115 million worldwide which means any future takings from DVD and Blu-ray will make Fox consider green-lighting a sequel, which they have been talking to Robert Rodriguez about.

Here are the specs and cover art from IGN:

Predators Blu-ray special features include:

• Commentary by Producer Robert Rodriguez and Director Nimrod Antal
• Motion Comics
  • “Moments of Extraction” – Robert Rodriguez presents exclusive prequel vignettes voiced by the cast of Predators. Witness the secret adventures that turned our world’s most ruthless killers into the ultimate Predator prey.
    • Noland Intro (part 1)
    • Isabelle
    • Cuchillo
    • Hanzo
    • Mombasa
    • Noland Ending (part 2)
  • Crucified
• Evolution of the Species: Predators Reborn
  • Bloodline
  • De-Cloaking the Invisible: Alien Terrain
  • Intelligent Design: The Hunting Camp
  • Predators as Prey
  • Yuatja Transformed
  • Rite of Passage
• The Chosen Featurette
• Fox Movie Channel presents Making a Scene
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
  • Dead Man’s Parachute
  • Cuchillo and Isabelle
  • Team “Orientated” Group
  • Third Most Wanted
  • Cuchillo Unleashes
  • “Why Are You Here?”
  • “They’re Smarter Than That”
  • Stans and Isabelle Naked
  • “They’re Still Coming”
• BD-Live Extras
  • Exclusive Predator Features
• Live Lookup – Powered by IMDB

Predators DVD special features include:

• Commentary by Producer Robert Rodriguez and Director Nimrod Antal
• De-Cloaking the Invisible: Alien Terrain
• Motion Comics
  • “Moments of Extraction” – Robert Rodriguez presents exclusive prequel vignettes voiced by the cast of Predators. Witness the secret adventures that turned our world’s most ruthless killers into the ultimate Predator prey.
    • Noland Intro (part 1)
    • Isabelle
    • Mombasa
  • Crucified

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