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Last we heard, just over a year ago, the English-language remake of The Raid was still a going concern. Screen Gems were behind it, The Expendables 3's Patrick Hughes was directing, and Taylor Kitsch and Frank Grillo were in talks to star. This morning, however, it's less Iko Uwais and more Pete Tong, since both Hughes and Screen Gems have abandoned the project. Only production company XYZ Films remains attached. The Tracking Board's sources don't quite address exectly what's caused this collapse. They speculate that continual delays have forced the Aussie Hughes to move on to a more going concern, that of Sydney-To-Hobart Yacht Race disaster drama The Storm Warning - but quite what chilled the collective feet of Screen Gems remains to be seen. Brad Ingelsby (Out Of The Furnace, Run All Night) and Eric and John Hueber (Red) have all contributed to multiple drafts of the screenplay, as has original Raid director Gareth Evans, who still seems to be attache

Gambit may not pay off for actor. By Brandon Wolfe The Wrap has reported that Channing Tatum is planning to exit 20th Century Fox’s X-Men spin-off Gambit , which was scheduled to begin production this fall for a planned release on October 7, 2016 . No reason has been given for this sudden development, but a source claims that Tatum’s reps are still in discussions with the studio to try and rectify the situation. If Tatum does walk away from Gambit , it will be a major turnaround, as the film was something of a pet project for the actor, one he took to Comic Con earlier this month to promote. Director Rupert Wyatt will have precious little time to find a new leading man or risk the project falling apart. I guess they could always give Taylor Kitsch another spin, in the slim hopes that True Detective has taken some of the tarnish off his star. Discuss this story with fellow SJF fans on Facebook . On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms , and follow author Brandon Wolfe at

It’s time for this season to stop being a flat circle. Review by Brandon Wolfe It would seem that rumors of Ray Velcoro’s death were greatly exaggerated, which is something the Internet tends to do. The truly rumpled detective, it turns out, was blasted twice at close range with “rubber buckshot,” leaving him with light bruising and some cracked ribs, but otherwise no worse for wear. This is, of course, patently ridiculous. Whatever the form of ammunition, the blasts we saw Velcoro absorb would have almost certainly been fatal, or at the very least would have resulted in devastating bodily injury. Also, if the mysterious parties who killed Ben Caspere, among others, were as ruthless as we’ve been led to think, then why would they cut Velcoro a break like that? The net result of his shooting stands as a really cheap cliffhanger ending and a crushing blow to the show’s own internal logic. For what is thought of as a high-caliber prestige show – or what was once thought of in those ter

The series is back, but without all its key ingredients. Review by Brandon Wolfe Anthology series seem to work at cross purposes with the modern appeal of television. For bygone shows like The Twilight Zone , the format made perfect sense on an episodic basis, allowing for the telling of a different mindbending tale each week, but for most viewers today, TV characters are seen as buddies to spend a few years checking in on, to watch grow and evolve. We become attached to these fictional people and enjoy spending 30-60 minutes of our week in their company. Their lives become extensions of our own. It’s one of the unique traits of television over films and books, that experience of observing characters on a weekly basis over an extended period of time. The anthology format is antithetical to this. By reshuffling the deck, that sense of intimacy and familiarity is lost. This is the approach that HBO’s True Detective has opted to take in its second season. Gone are detectives Rust Co

Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch glaring, throwing punches and engaging in shoving matches. Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle is nowhere to be seen, regrettably. See all the posters after the Jump... True Detective's new season as Sunday, June 21 Please Leave A Comment-

HBO’s noir series returns June 21. By Brandon Wolfe The teaser for Season 2 of HBO’s True Detective has dropped and is suitably intense and serious-looking. The wordless, minute-long teaser doesn’t provide any hints of plot, just glimpses of new cast members Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch glaring, throwing punches and engaging in shoving matches. Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle is nowhere to be seen, regrettably. The teaser also reveals the premiere date of True Detective 's new season as Sunday, June 21, far earlier than had been previous anticipated. Discuss this story with fellow SJF fans on Facebook . On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms , and follow author Brandon Wolfe at @BrandonTheWolfe .

The cast for the second season of True Detective is several steps closer to completion. Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn are confirmed (and Taylor Kitsch said recently that his deal is done), and now the show has added yet more names, with Kelly Reilly, Michael Irby, Abigail Spencer and Leven Rambin all reportedly signing on. Set in California locales, and once more written by Nic Pizzolatto, the new season sees Farrell as Velcoro, a compromised detective whose allegiances are torn between his masters in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him. Vaughn will play Frank Semyon, a career criminal in danger of losing his empire when his move into legitimate enterprise is upended by the murder of a business partner. Rachel McAdams is reported to be close to a deal to play police detective Ani Bezzerides. Irby is playing Elvis Ilinca, McAdams’ police partner, but the other new arrivals’ roles are shrouded in secrecy for now. Justin Lin is set to direct the first two

They've been rumored for a while now – and Farrell essentially let the cat out of the bag at the weekend – but HBO has made it official, announcing that Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn will star in the second season of the hit crime anthology drama True Detective . Set in several California locales, and once more written by Nic Pizzolatto, the new season sees Farrell as play Velcoro, a compromised detective whose allegiances are torn between his masters in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him. Vaughn will play Frank Semyon, a career criminal in danger of losing his empire when his move into legitimate enterprise is upended by the murder of a business partner. The season will run as eight hour-long episodes and is scheduled to start shooting this autumn in California. Justin Lin , who has also been rumored as attached, was confirmed in the same press release by the cable channel as directing the first two episodes. No information was provided about other p

The film will launch a stand-alone franchise with the " 22 Jump Street " star tackling the role last played by Taylor Kitsch . Channing Tatum has signed on to star in an X-Men spinoff centered on the character Gambit , THR has confirmed. News that the 22 Jump Street star would tackle the role last played by Taylor Kitsch broke when X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner revealed the move to Total Film on the red carpet in London Monday night, where the current X-Men movie, Days of Future Past , was premiering. Multiple sources say that Tatum will get a stand-alone spinoff, with his version of Gambit being introduced in X-Men: Apocalypse . The stand-alone film is still in development, however, and no director has been attached. When asked what kind of an actor she was looking at to play Gambit, Shuler Donner said, "It's Channing." Asked to elaborate on what makes Tatum right for the role, Shuler Donner said, "Well you know, he's a rogue --

HBO's next guaranteed awards favorite movie " The Normal Heart " will make you cry — now there's a trailer to prove it. Based on Larry Kramer's acclaimed play, " Glee " and " American Horror Story " creator Ryan Murphy helmed " The Normal Heart ," a look at the early days of the HIV-AIDS crisis in 1980s New York City. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, Taylor Kitsch, Matt Bomer , and Jim Parsons. Ruffalo plays Ned Weeks, a man who set out to get answers for why the government was ignoring the rapidly spreading HIV-AIDS virus in the gay community, and Bomer plays Felix Turner, a reporter who becomes Ned's lover. At the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour in January, Bomer revealed that the play was his first introduction to the onset of HIV-AIDS: "I read it in the closet of my drama room when I was 14 years old... and the irony of that is not lost on me." Bomer also lost 40 pounds for the role, a f

From recent interviews and press conferences, it's clear that Channing Tatum is a big X-Men fan. In particular, he loves Gambit , the charming Cajun card-thrower who starred in the comics, the '90s animated TV series and, unfortunately, X-Men Origins: Wolverine , where he was mangled by a throwaway role for Taylor Kitsch . Now, in our new X-Men: Days Of Future Past issue, we learned from X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner that a Tatum-led Gambit movie may be closer than you'd think. "I'm dying to do a Gambit movie with Channing Tatum ," Shuler Donner reveals. "That doesn't have to be a great big movie. It's a thief in New Orleans, it's a whole different story. He's on board, and I have to get the studio on board. How can anyone resist Channing? He's such a sweetheart." At a White House Down press conference last year, Tatum said, “I would like to play Gambit. Gambit’s my favourite. I’m from New Orleans, around that area

Lone Survivor Review By Nicolas Souza When you ask the average person to associate one word to the military, you get answers like courage, duty, honor, and bravery. When I reflect on the time I spent serving my country the one word that stands out most is brotherhood. The men and women I served with became an extended family to me. I still stay in touch with some, and remain very close to a few. Brotherhood is the underlying theme that has been behind the intense action of military films in recent years. Lone Survivor is no different. As a disclaimer I must say, this movie is extremely intense. I honestly cannot recall the last time I felt so transported to where the characters on the screen were. Be warned before going to experience this movie, it is not for the faint of heart. Beyond the story of military brotherhood, Lone Survivor is the telling of the failed Operation Ring Wings, where a squad of Navy SEALs is sent to scout a remote village and confirm the location of a Tal

Lone Survivor Review  By: MattInRC Director Peter Berg brings the horrors and grittiness of the War in Afghanistan into powerful focus with his film Lone Survivor . For many of us, The War in Afghanistan - in direct response to the events of 9/11 - seemed so distant and unfathomable that its reasons for existing in the first place seemed without logic. Yet, it was a war with a deeply personal tone for those who waged it, as I suppose most wars are. Peter Berg's Lone Survivor doesn't exist merely as patriotic testosterone-fueled rage, instead serving as a forceful and gritty reminder that wars are neither glorious nor ever 'successful.' Based on the doomed 2005 mission expressed in Marcus Luttrell's 2009 non-fiction book of the same name, Survivor tells the story of 4 real-life Navy SEALs that are sent to eliminate Tablian leader Ahmad Shah. The Texas-born Luttrell ( Mark Wahlberg ) loves his team - including his commander Lt. Michael Murphy (

Win Tickets To An Advance For Screening For LONE SURVIVOR on Tuesday, January 7 @ 7:00PM in San Francisco. LONE SURVIVOR  is a 2013 American war film written and directed by Peter Berg , and starring Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster , and Eric Bana . It is based on the 2007 nonfiction book of the same name by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson. The film depicts events of the failed United States Navy SEALs mission Operation Red Wings during the War in Afghanistan, in which four SEAL teammates were tasked to capture or kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. Berg first learned of the book in 2007 while filming Hancock , and he later pursued the film rights by meeting with Luttrell to discuss a film adaptation. After bidding against Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks, Universal Studios won the film rights in August 2007, with Berg attached as writer and director. Berg however could not get support or funding for the project until after f

Win Tickets To An Advance For Screening For LONE SURVIVOR on Tuesday, January 7 @ 7:00PM at Manchester Stadium in Fresno. LONE SURVIVOR  is a 2013 American war film written and directed by Peter Berg , and starring Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster , and Eric Bana . It is based on the 2007 nonfiction book of the same name by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson. The film depicts events of the failed United States Navy SEALs mission Operation Red Wings during the War in Afghanistan, in which four SEAL teammates were tasked to capture or kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. Berg first learned of the book in 2007 while filming Hancock , and he later pursued the film rights by meeting with Luttrell to discuss a film adaptation. After bidding against Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks, Universal Studios won the film rights in August 2007, with Berg attached as writer and director. Berg however could not get support or funding for the projec

Win Tickets To An Advance For Screening For LONE SURVIVOR on Tuesday, January 7 @ 7:00PM at the Century Downtown in Sacramento. LONE SURVIVOR  is a 2013 American war film written and directed by Peter Berg , and starring Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster , and Eric Bana . It is based on the 2007 nonfiction book of the same name by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson. The film depicts events of the failed United States Navy SEALs mission Operation Red Wings during the War in Afghanistan, in which four SEAL teammates were tasked to capture or kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. Berg first learned of the book in 2007 while filming Hancock , and he later pursued the film rights by meeting with Luttrell to discuss a film adaptation. After bidding against Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks, Universal Studios won the film rights in August 2007, with Berg attached as writer and director. Berg however could not get support or funding fo

Here are new images from the film Lone Survivor . The film written and directed by Peter Berg . It is based on the real events and book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell and will star Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Eric Bana, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, and Alexander Ludwig . It is set to have a limited release on December 27, 2013 and have a wide release on January 10, 2014 Based on SEAL Team 10's failed mission: Operation Red Wings on June 28, 2005, to capture or kill a notorious Taliban leader. See all the images after the Jump... Please Leave A Comment-