Arnold Schwarzenegger warned us he'd be back, but the ex-Governator's big action comeback as a small-town border sheriff in The Last Stand fizzled over the weekend with a tenth-place box office finish. Shame, because The Last Stand also marks a milestone for director Kim Jee-Woon, who makes his English-language debut with the tongue-in-cheek contemporary Western after building an eclectic resume in his native Korea including the horror pic A Tale of Two Sisters, the Eastern-Western The Good, The Bad, And The Weird, and the crossover thriller I Saw The Devil. Movieline spoke with Kim (via interpreter) about dipping his toes into Hollywood and his plans to put a Korean twist on Inrang, his upcoming adaptation of the anime Jin-Roh: Wolf Brigade.
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The box office has spoken! Jessica Chastain scored the top two weekend spots over Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Last Stand) and the double-whammy of Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe (Broken City) as the Guillermo del Toro-produced fantasy horror Mama scored a #1 debut with $28.1 million and Zero Dark Thirty stepped into second place. (Oscar rival Jennifer Lawrence didn't come out so bad herself as Silver Linings Playbook expanded to #3 in wide release the same weekend she tenderly slammed her fellow Best Actress contenders on Saturday Night Live.) More power to the ladies! But where, oh where, did Arnold land in his big action comeback?
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“Welcome to Sommerton!” growls Arnold Schwarzenegger in his comeback flick, the ultra-bloody shoot-em-up The Last Stand. As Arnie catchphrases go, it's no “Hasta la vista, baby” — hell, it's not even a “Consider this a divorce” — but it's been 10 years since the Terminator starred in a movie and we'll take what we can get.
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Oh, that Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even taking on the infamous Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA), the ex-Governator did things the Arnold way. From pimping his action movie comeback The Last Stand to delighting the internetz with handwritten (via iPad) quips and quotes ("It's not a tumor! — Arnold") to taking the briefest of political detours as he set fanboy hearts a'flutter, Schwarzenegger proved he's still got what it takes to charm the fickle masses. (We'll see if they vote this weekend where it really counts: At the box office.)
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Forgetting for a second how amazeballs rich the man is, poor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not only is he reentering celebrity life on the heels of an absolutely humiliating personal scandal (not to mention a hit and miss tenure as California Governor), he hasn't actually starred properly in a film since 2003's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
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He was the governor. Next year, he'll be the sheriff. In The Last Stand, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the sheriff of a small town on the Mexican border that must stop a heavily armed drug kingpin and his henchmen after the extreme baddie breaks out of prison and makes a run for Mexico. If you're wondering how an extremely muscular dude with an Austrian accent ends up the sheriff of a podunk North-of-the-Border town, Schwarzenegger's character has a back story: He's a former Los Angeles cop who departed the force after a bungled police operation left his partner crippled. (I start to speak with an Austrian accent after I spend more than two weeks in L.A., too.) more »
Darren Bousman (Repo! The Genetic Opera) has directed three Saw movies -- a fact which the trailer for next month's horror pic 11-11-11 makes a point to tell you. That pedigree, plus a handful of vaguely comprehensible images, shadowy scenes, a static shot of a statue, and (unintentionally) cheesy voice over tell you everything you need to know about the movie! Well, except for its plot. And who's in it. And why anyone should care. Watch the teaser and stick around for more Buzz Break.
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