Introspective masculinity, women on top, cross-dressing PSAs, gay undertones — the James Bond franchise has come a long way in 50 years, most notably during the current era built around Daniel Craig’s serious Blond Bond with the icy blue eyes. Behind the scenes, producers Barbara Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson set the record straight on recent Idris Elba-as-Bond rumors and pointed to the post-9/11 shift that spurred them to take Bond from the slick reign of Pierce Brosnan to the morally-complex brand of progressive contemporary heroism embodied in this week’s Skyfall.
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Speculation is mounting in the U.K. over who will take over the reins as 007 post-Daniel Craig. Bond girl Naomie Harris delivered a bit of a news flash, saying that the next 007 may be Idris Elba. If so, the star of The Wire and films Prometheus and Thor would become the first non-Caucasian James Bond in his eternal 50 years.
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Total Film has the first look at Idris Elba in Guillermo del Toro's alien invasion flick Pacific Rim, for which he built -- and destroyed -- replica sets, kaiju style. Elba stars alongside Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi in the mecha-epic, which pits robot-piloting humans in battle against interplanetary monsters.
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I'm not watching these four new clips (and a bonus featurette) from Prometheus, which I can watch in its entirety when it opens in nine days. You are on your own. But while I presume we can probably piece together roughly 64 percent of the film from these and other previously released clips, commercials, teasers and trailers, can anyone really blame Fox for emulating Marvel's Avengers strategy of keeping the glimpses coming all the way to opening day — especially as positive but not gushing reviews trickle out for their R-rated tentpole? If the buzz fits, wear it.
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When you're not going to win on points, you may as well try to shoot the moon — that seems to be the thought process behind Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the sequel to Marvel's 2007 Ghost Rider. Realizing that their stunt rider who turns into a flaming skeleton-monster character and their star who turns in what are less performances than performance art were unlikely to result in a film that could be thought of as good in any traditional sense, the studios have aimed instead to make something that embraces its own lunacy.
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With Thor poised to kick-off the next chapter in Marvel's superhero empire this week, the film's stars and creatives found themselves looking to the future at a press conference Sunday in Los Angeles. Though actors Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston were loath to drop details on the currently-filming Avengers, they gave a teaser of what to expect when their godly alter egos collide with human superheroes like Iron Man and Hulk in the Joss Whedon-helmed 2012 pic.
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