During last night’s Superbowl we were treated to a teaser trailer for the upcoming Avengers movie, featuring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and Samuel L. Jackson. This is the second trailer for the much-anticipated superhero film, which is out on May 4th. The first trailer made the move look more like a clusterf*ck than a coordinated Justice League. (I’m aware that they’re different comics/superheroes.)

They seem to have nailed down the plot in order to come with this more cohesive trailer featuring more scenes of crap getting blown up. This trailer makes the film look more interesting than it did before, but it also has a unreal video game feel that seems all too familiar and overdone. How many movies have we seen with cars exploding and rolling down the street in a wave?

Some thoughts:
They’re very cleverly focusing on all the key parts of the film: the special effects, the individual superheroes played by well known actors, their work as a team, and the pithy one-liners. My favorite part is at :50 when Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is told by baddie Loki (Tom Hiddleston) that “We have an army” and he quips “We have a Hulk.” We then get to see Mark Ruffalo flying through the air as the most badass Hulk I’ve ever seen. Scarlet Johannson is sexy as Black Widow in that tight catsuit, but I like how they’re balancing out the talent in the film and not trying to push her as the star.

The Avengers could be a huge moneymaker for Disney and Marvel or it could be a spectacular flop. Rumor has it that it cost over $250 million to make. Look at what happened with Green Lantern. Warner Brothers really took a bath on that one. Superhero films are no longer the safest bet.

There’s news that Andrew Garfield as Spiderman is going to make a cameo as cross promotion for the new Spidey film, out this July. Can they make the movie work with this many stars? We’ll see.

Photos via Allmoviephoto

Samuel L Jackson has had an incredibly successful career in Hollywood, and he credits much of it to staying completely sober for the last seventeen years. In 1991 he overdosed on crack cocaine, which led to him being taken to rehab “kicking and screaming.” And although it normally takes a person hitting rock bottom and wanting to go to rehab to be successful, it worked for Jackson. He said he was so tired of everything, and luckily it worked.

By 1990, though, that drug fog had all but enveloped him. He was working as an understudy to a stage actor called Charles Dutton in a Broadway play called The Piano Lesson and found himself doing more and more crack cocaine just to ‘drown out’ Dutton’s voice, which was echoing in his head even in his sleep. When Dutton was nominated for a Tony award for his performance, Jackson went on an almighty binge that culminated in his wife discovering him unconscious on their kitchen floor. I read somewhere that he had to be dragged into rehab ‘kicking and screaming’. In most cases, that means the cure doesn’t take.

‘Yeah, all the experts say that you’ve got to surrender,’ he says, nodding, ‘but fortunately I was tired. I had reached that place where I could honestly say to myself: I’ve tried everything else, may as well give this a shot. The irony is I never got to taste Cristal. Back then, Moët was my champagne of choice. Now I get sent crates of Cristal and I ain’t never tasted the stuff. Ain’t that a bitch?’

Joking aside, does he ever feel like having a drink, maybe raising a glass of champagne or two to his own extraordinary success? ‘Hell yeah, there are days when I feel like that, but I don’t do it. I ain’t the kind of guy who can have one drink. I never could. That’s what I have to remember. I never had one drink in my whole life. When I bought a six-pack, I didn’t drink a couple of beers and put the rest in the fridge for later in the week. I drank the lot, then went out and bought another one. I was compulsive.’

Does he think that, in some way, that compulsion now drives his work? ‘Yeah, I guess so. I read six to eight scripts a week. I want to get up every day and act. The work defines me now.’

[From the Guardian]

Jackson says that he still goes to the same AA meeting when he’s in New York. He also notes that everyone in rehab discouraged him from taking his role in “Jungle Fever” because of all the triggers, like holding pipes and lighters. He told them he’d never pick up the habit again because he didn’t want to have to see those people again.

It sounds like he’s come through a lot and worked hard for his success. Completely abstaining from drugs and alcohol is an incredible accomplishment. Samuel is an amazingly gifted actor and is still seen as one of the coolest guys in Hollywood. He should be really proud of all he’s overcome and all he’s accomplished.

Here’s Samuel L Jackson with director Frank Miller, Eva Mendes, and Scarlett Johansson at the French premiere of his movie ‘The Spirit’ on Tuesday. Images thanks to WENN.

Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac were friends long before they starred in Soul Men together. Bernie Mac passed away in August, just after the movie was finished, so Jackson is having to promote the movie alone. Samuel is finding it difficult to make the rounds without his friend, but he has alot of great memories about him, too.

“We used to talk about blowing up and being famous and doing all this stuff and all of that,” said Jackson. “Then, when he got famous, he was here in L.A., and I never saw him because he was too busy doing his TV show every day. I didn’t go by and bother him, but I would run into him at functions, and we got to get together.”

The end of “Soul Men” features a dedication to Mac and Isaac Hayes—”two real soul men.” The singer, who died in August after suffering a stroke, appears in the film as himself. Among the footage is Mac cracking up extras with an impromptu standup routine and an interview with Mac discussing his career in which the comedian says he cherishes “each doggone moment” of his life.

[From Breitbart]

Bernie Mac had one of the most positive outlooks on life I’d ever seen. Just as amazing, I never heard a single negative comment about him from anyone who knew or worked with him. It was quite the opposite, in fact, people raved about working with him. That’s rare in Hollywood. I wasn’t a huge fan but I certainly appreciated the joy he always seemed to have for life. He certainly had profound effects on the people who knew him.

“I haven’t quite processed that Bernie is gone,” said “Soul Men” director Malcolm D. Lee. “I see the movie. I know in my head that he is gone, but it will probably hit me most at the premiere when everyone is around. Right now, I have just been concentrating on making the best film possible on top of that paying homage to him and Isaac (Hayes) at the end of the movie. When it’s all finished and said and done, and I get it out to the public, I think that’s when I will realize he is gone.”

[From Breitbart]

Every time I see an TV ad for Soul Men, and how animated and vibrant Bernie Mac is, for a minute, I don’t remember he’s gone, either. Jackson is keeping his memory alive and laughing in interviews, though, and that’s the best tribute a friend can give.

Soul Men is out in the US today. Here’s the trailer. It looks really funny.

And here are stills from the film, thanks to Allmoviephoto.

A guy got to see “Snakes on a Plane,” the film that we’ve all been hyping due to its literal title and the fact that Samuel L. Jackson kicks ass. (It also doesn’t hurt that filmmakers listened to the blogs, encouraged us, and are said to have incorporated our wishes into the film. This is unlike most marketers who e-mail me all obvious asking for coverage, or network executives who try to block “proprietary” content from the web where they’re getting the best free advertising ever.)

The reviewer may have been influenced by his coveted status as the first guy who gets to comment on the film, but he seems totally believable to me and he has a good reputation on “Ain’t it Cool News,” which is a well-known movie review and industry news site.

He says that “Snakes on a Plane” is so good that it’s reminiscent of Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” It’s trashy fun that’s pulled off with style!

Samuel L. Jackson is believable in a role which could otherwise seem over-the-top or beneath him. He says that line we’ve all been clamouring for, that was added after blogger behest.

It’s Snakes on a Motherf***ing Plane! They didn’t change the title of the film, and it’s closer to “The Birds” than “Anaconda.” I can’t wait to see it.

Some of the online community is sick of “Snakes on a Plane” already and says that it’s “so last month” and is bound to suck. It may have been a victim of its overpopularity and is experiencing a lull in buzz now that it’s been covered so thoroughly. It comes out August 18, 2006, and we’ll have to see how it does at the box office and if other reviewers agree that it really kicks ass.