End of Week Recap: 'Avengers' Assemble, Javier Bardem, Don Johnson Play Bad Guys and Henry Cavill, Olivia Munn Shirtless on Set

 

 

 

Taken 2 revealed its release date, plot and lead villain this week. This second time around, Liam Neeson and Famke Janssen are on family vacation in Istanbul when they’re kidnapped by Rade Serbedzija and a band of kidnappers. Undaunted, of course, Neeson solicits help from his lovely daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and proceeds to dispatch the bad guys one by one.

 

Last week we found out who the latest Bond Girl would be – French actress Berenice Marlohe. But like scoops of ice cream, when it comes to Bond Girls, two are better than one and thus the search has begun for a second Bond beauty with word coming out of China that Tang Wei (Shaolin Brothers) is the leading candidate. Fan Bingbing (Shaolin, Shinjuku Incident), Li Bingbing (The Forbidden Kingdom), Shu Qi (Transporter)  and Josie Ho (Contagion) are also mentioned. Apparently producers are intent on making the second Bond Girl an Asian, having interviewed over 100 actresses.

 

In other Bond news, Javier Bardem has signed on to play the lead villain. Last week, Bardem joined the cast of Despicable Me 2 as the lead villain in that movie. It seems mainstream Hollywood is type-casting this guy thanks to his awesome portrayal as Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men.

 

American Reunion debuted a red-band teaser trailer yesterday featuring Jason Biggs’ Jim experiencing the same ole masturbating woes.

 

The guy who threw a hot dog at Tiger Woods says he was inspired by the movie Drive to do something, "epic." I’m not even going to try to explain this, just click the link.

 

The Lone Ranger is back on track and scheduled to begin filming in February with a $215 million budget. Anything over that amount will come out of Jerry Bruckheimer’s pockets and, let’s face it, he’s got some deeeeeep pockets.

 

Jim Carrey has been offered a role opposite Steve Carell in the comedy Burt Wonderstone, a story about a Vegas magician (Carell) whose partner dies in a risky stunt. He must find his spark again and fend off a rival street magician (Carrey, fingers crossed).

 

Don Johnson has signed on to be the latest bad guy in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Johnson joins an impressive cast of bad guys – Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell.

 

Michael Douglas and Matt Damon will co-star in an HBO movie about Liberace and his lover.

 

Hugh Jackman talked about the temptation of doing two versions of The Wolverine, but realistically thinks that the theatrical version will end up being PG-13. This doesn’t discount the chance that the DVD could contain an unrated version similar to what Live Free and Die Hard did.

 

Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr has been sentenced to one year in jail and 90 lashes for appearing without a hijab headscarf in My Tehran for Sale.

 

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that he has decided to kill Qwikster. Netflix will remain one company.

 

Orlando Bloom says he’s open to returning to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise in the fifth movie.

 

What we reported as being a rumor in the last recap has become fact. Toy Story writers Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow are currently writing the script for a Farmville movie.

 

Kim Kardashian is apparently, "blown away and wants to do" a Bollywood movie. While promoting the opening of a Millions of Milkshakes in India, the chain’s founder Shareez Hasan disclosed that he sparked Kardashian’s interest by sending her some of Shah Rukh Khan’s films. Cue the E! special Kim Conquers Calcutta.

 

Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures have surpassed $1 billion domestically for 2011.

 

Sandra Bullock is in talks to play Clint Eastwood’s daughter in baseball drama Trouble with the Curve.

 

Lifetime unveiled plans to remake the tear-jerker Steel Magnolias – with an all-black cast.

 

Esquire magazine has named Rihanna as the Sexiest Woman Alive. She joins previous “winners” beginning chronologically from 2005 – Angelina Jolie, Jessica Biel, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron, Halle Berry, Kate Beckinsale and Minka Kelly. Umm… yeah.

James Cameron says non-linear storytelling will allow for Sigourney Weaver to return for Avatar sequels.

 

Hilary Swank and Jean-Claude Van Damme were reportedly paid “six figures” to attend the 35^th birthday party of Chechan leader and human rights violator Ramzan Kadyrov. Swank has said that she didn’t know about Kadyrov’s atrocities which include murder, torture and kidnapping. Today, Swank expressed her regrets and said she would be donating the money to charities. Eva Mendes, Kevin Costner and Shakira all turned down offers.

 

Sixteen zombie actors were injured on the set of Resident Evil 5.

 

Jailed Austin Powers henchman is accused of killing his cellmate.

 

A Harry Potter actor made Slytherin House proud after being charged with looting, possession of stolen merchandise, 15 marijuana plants and a homemade bomb.

 

Seth McFarlane says he secretly wishes Family Guy would end so that he can pursue TV reboots for Flintstones and Star Trek.

 

Hugh Jackman revealed in an interview with Rachel Ray that he peed himself on stage during a performance of Beauty and the Beast.

 

Thor 2 has been bumped out of the summer 2013 blockbuster season and pushed to November 15, 2013. The sequel also announced that Monster director Patty Jenkins will direct the movie.

 

Comedian Chris Tucker faces foreclosure on his mansion as well as owing $11.5 million in back taxes. The Rush Hour/Friday actor was still joking around saying, "That’s the last time I let Wesley Snipes do my taxes."

 

In other actors losing property news, Val Kilmer has sold most of his New Mexico ranch for $18.5 million. Kilmer, whom Joel Schumacher named the best Batman earlier this week, will star in Francis Ford Coppola’s 3D horror movie Twixt.

 

Eli Roth is hosting a contest where the winner will receive his wisdom teeth. That was not a typo. Here’s the details.

 

 

 

Another week, another set of pics of Henry Cavill on the set of Superman. This time, shirtless.

 

 

Speaking of shirtless celebs, Olivia Munn was spotted on the set of Magic Mike.

 

 

Keanu Reeves and Chloe Moretz re-create a scene from Taxi Driver. Check out the rest of the gallery which include Emily Blunt, Kate Bosworth, Christina Hendricks, Ben Kingsley and others re-create scenes from classic Scorsese flicks.

 

 

South Park pumpkins

 

 

Dress your baby up like Wilson the Volleyball from Cast Away.

 

 

Bart Simpson offers up some low budget, do-it-yourself costume ideas.

 

 

In case Twi-hards hadn’t heard, November will feature Twilight Tuesdays, where one movie from each film will be shown each Tuesday, leading up to the release of Breaking Dawn - Part 1. Get your tickets for Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse here.

 

 

A teaser look at The Three Stooges movie was revealed today, featuring Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos and Will Sasso as Larry, Moe and Curly.

 

 

Mini-Spiderman takes on Storm Troopers, courtesy of 9GAG

 

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted a pic from the set of The Expendables 2 with Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis.

 

 

 

 

New poster art for Haywire starring MMA fighter Gina Carano debuted along with new poster art for the Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy comedy Tower Heist. Click images for larger versions.

 

 

 

Check out these two new character banners for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Click the images for larger versions.

 

 

 

Four new character posters for The Muppets arrived, although they were released as a single image.

 

 

A trio of animated movies received new posters – Arthur Christmas, Puss in Boots IMAX and Happy Feet Two. Click images for larger versions.

 

 

Here’s the full French banner for the Breaking Dawn – Part 1 from last week. Click for larger version.

 

 

The upcoming 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace debuted today and looks like someone was testing out their Photoshop skills.

 

 

How do you cram 18 actors onto one poster? The new New Year’s Eve poster shows you how.

 

 

 

 

 

Batman Meets The Riddler

 

 

 Here’s the pun-filled Cat Premiere for Puss in Boots featuring Antonio Banderas.

 

 

John Carpenter’s The Thing gets the musical treatment. Caution for general horror gruesomeness and a classy Sinatra F-bomb midway through.

 

 

The Simpsons: Night…. of the Living Dead parody trailer.

 

 

Samuel L. Jackson started tweeting this week and had a few thoughts about the social media website.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Pine and Tom Hardy play a pair of CIA agents who waste a bunch of government time and money to woo Reese Witherspoon in This Means War.

 

 

The final trailer for The Muppets reminds us why we love The Muppets.

 

 

Act of Valor starring a cast of real-life Navy SEALS released its first trailer.

 

 

Emily Browning is a Sleeping Beauty – in lingerie, in the debut trailer for this sexually charged drama.

 

 

And finally, if you haven’t seen it already (or just want to check it out for the umpteenth time), here’s the first trailer for The Avengers, which registered a record-shattering 10 million downloads on iTunes in its first 24 hours of release. In addition, here’s a viral GIF image of former Hulk Edward Norton’s reaction after watching this trailer .