Michael Madsen Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Could this be the spoof savior? The one that makes us forget about the wretched influx of crappily made spoofs?

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Chevy Chase, Burt Reynolds, Vinnie Jones, Michael Madsen, and "Stuttering" John Melendez have signed on to spoof spoofs with Not Another Not Another Movie. The brainchild of David Murphy, the comedy will star Chase as the head of struggling studio who leaves the gig to his ex-con brother (Madsen). Then, "their equally inept gangster friend (Jones) takes over and assigns a production assistant (David Leo Schultz) to direct a spoof of spoof movies." Burt comes in as "an actor playing the director of the chaotic film within the film."

Oh, but there's more -- the film will be full of cameos that have actors playing themselves spoofing previous roles like Richard Tyson as the villain in Kindergarten Cop and Wolfgang Bodison as the marine on trial in A Few Good Men. James Duval also stars, so maybe we'll see him spoofing Frank the Bunny.

The optimist in me is thinking about all the comic possibilities with Chase, Reynolds, and the rest. But the cynic in me, bred through years of utterly disappointing spoofs, isn't holding her breath. How about you?

It's only because Mark Young's upcoming The Killing Jar sounds like a nifty cross between hostage thriller and monster movie that I think this piece is worthy of note -- but there's also the fact that the film now has guys like Michael Madsen, Harold Perrineau, and Danny Trejo attached. And anyone who loves action / horror / B-movies in general has to be somewhat intrigued by that particular ensemble.

Mr. Young, who last year gave us the half-decent Tooth and Nail as part of the After Dark Horrorfest, will direct his own screenplay. The title is indeed The Killing Jar, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, it's about "a stranger armed with a shotgun who takes seven patrons hostage at a remote roadside diner. As the body count rises, the survivors discover that one of the hostages might be more dangerous than their captor." Count me in for this one. Any guesses, folks? One of the hostages is ... a werewolf! An alien! Bruce Wayne! I have no idea, but based on the flick's title, I'm guessing it's something icky and biological.

Production on The Killing Jar is presently underway in North Carolina. According to the IMDb, Kevin Gage, Lew Temple, and Lindsey Axelsson (yowza) are also on board. Needless to say (only because nobody would ever ask), this project is not a remake of this flick.

Hell Ride is a deliberate, calculated throwback, referencing and recycling the cheapie bike-sploitation flicks of the '60s and early '70s as a band of burly brothers roar, rage and ride their way through the American Southwest on a rampage of revenge. Written by, directed by and starring Larry Bishop, Hell Ride thrums and roars with attitude; problem is, the drive shaft components of plot and character and logic just aren't there, meaning that even when Bishop hits the throttle, the roar and rattle can't hide the fact nothing's really happening.

Hell Ride revolves around a cycle gang known as The Victors, led by Pistolero (Bishop), with the tuxedo-shirt clad The Gent (Michael Madsen) riding on his right and recent inductee Comanche (Eric Balfour) an up-and-coming lieutenant in the organization, on his left. The Victors are trying to take care of business -- although what business it is they're in is never quite explained -- and the only thing interfering with that is Pistolero's obsession with righting the wrong done decades ago to Cherokee Kisum (Julia Jones), slain on the 4th of July in 1976. The Gent and Comanche are rubbed the wrong way by Pistolero's campaign of retribution, especially with the Six-Six-Six'ers and their kill-crazy leader Billy Wings (Vinnie Jones) edging in on Victors turf. ...

We can't report on the production of every low-budget horror flick out there (mostly because it would make for some really boring stories), but Variety just tossed out a news blip on something called The Bleeding -- and this flick has too juicy a cast to ignore. According to Variety, the flick seems to be a standard enough tale of "an ex-Army Ranger searching for the killer of his parents who discovers a family of vampires in a former chemical weapons factory-turned-nightclub," which tells me it's probably based on a true story.

The first thing that struck me a little funny was the name of the production company: Indifferent Entertainment. Well, geeee. If you guys are so damn indifferent about your entertainment, why should any of US give a wet slap? Why not Apathetic Productions or Neutral Films?

That's just a little warm-up humor to get you prepared for this ensemble. Ready? Gathered together for a movie called The Bleeding will be: Vinnie Jones, Michael Madsen, DMX, Armand Assante, William McNamara, Michael Matthias, Rachelle Leah, Kat Von D, and Pittsburgh Slim. Heck, I don't even know all these people and it still sounds like The Bleeding will have one helluva wrap party.

The writer is first-timer Lance Lane. The director is veteran stuntman Charles Picerni. One of the producers is Frank Capra III. And it's called The Bleeding. Woo! Production begins in North Carolina next month.

If you're anything like me (lord held you), then you just can't resist a movie in which an inordinately large and aggravated animal decides to chew on a bunch of random stupid people. Doesn't matter how many "OMG it's hilarious!" comments I may see on the IMDb boards, nor does it deter me if every genre-friendly film critic stands up and screams "Dude, it's crap!"

If it's a movie about pissed-off animals eating dumb people, I've got 87 minutes to spare.

So a few months back I noticed a strange little label on a few of the more recent "nature sprinting amok" flicks: It was a little black and red skull logo with the phrase "Maneater Series" stuck on there. Oooh, a mystery! What's this "maneater series" of which this DVD case speaks? Where do they come from? Are there other films in the series? Does anyone besides me actually care?

OK, so as far as a very small amount of IMDb / Google research indicates, it looks like there are to be six Maneater Series titles in total. (Or maybe seven.) The suspects? Production company RHI Entertainment, cable network The Sci-Fi Channel, and DVD distributor Genius Products. Let's examine the flicks...

If you stretch your memory back, you might remember that Cinematical mentioned an indie snow flick last year, which was going to star Michael Madsen. Yes, ear-chopper extraordinaire. The Mikey Hilb film, called Deep Winter, is a buddy sports film about a skier and snowboarder who want to ski a dangerous peak in Alaska, and Madsen plays a bad-ass helicopter guide. I always thought that people who ski those ultra-dangerous slopes were crazy, so I'm not too shocked that they have added a little Madsen madness to the list.

Now the film has been shot and has a nifty trailer which you can check out. It seems to have all the bits that make a classic winter sports film -- the naysayers, life-long dedication, snow, avalanches, the pushing coach, gorgeous mountain shots and a little sexy lip action to boot. Personally, I'm digging it for the darkness to the non-snow scenes. The indie feel to those shots really seems to strengthen the tone -- instead of a bunch of snow bunnies, bright colors and typical mainstream hi-jinx. The cast is also pretty solid, beyond the creepy Mr. Madsen. There's Kellan Lutz, who is starring in the upcoming Prom Night remake, and Eric Lively, who played the creepy voyeuristic perv Mark on The L Word. Topping that off, there's also Luke Goss and Robert Carradine. I wonder if we'll get some screen time with Madsen and Carradine together -- a Sin City meets Lizzie McGuire faceoff!

Yup, that's right. "Delayed." Yesterday, I told you about a little interview which featured Michael Madsen claiming that Sin City 2 might not be moving forward as planned due to the box office failures of Grindhouse. While we're not entirely sure that Grindhouse played a part in this whole ordeal, Frank Miller told Rotten Tomatoes that the film has been officially delayed as both men gear up to take on separate projects before re-visiting the Sin City universe. Miller says, "Sin City 2 is still likely to happen, just not right away. The script is written and Robert [Rodriguez] and I are raring to go, but it looks like I'm going to be doing The Spirit first and Robert's going to be doing Barbarella first." Maybe it's just me, but "likely to happen" isn't the greatest confidence booster in the world. Was Miller holding a Magic 8-Ball when he was asked that question? "All signs point to This Sucks!"

Seeing as both films still need to cast, to shoot and to promote, I can't imagine Sin City 2 happening for at least six to eight months, at least. But with Miller looking to break in as a solo feature director, who knows if he'll even be interested in co-directing again with Rodriguez. Not to mention the Weinstein boys are probably going to take a long hard look at the franchise in the meantime and decide whether or not it's worth the money. Also in the article, Miller said that he was so stoked after watching U2 3D in Cannes that "plans to do my own 3D film are forming in my head." Does that mean The Spirit will be in 3D? Probably not, but I wouldn't be surprised if he moves in that direction once Sin City 2 inevitably sinks to the bottom of development hell. Tis' a real shame. At least we have Miller's next graphic novel to look forward to -- Batman vs. Al Qaeda. Seriously. That's what it's called. Perhaps Uwe Boll can adapt? Whaddya think?

Drug abuse is a terrible thing, kids. It land you in jail, ruin your reputation and turn you from a busy character actor into an uninsurable pariah. Case in point: Crazy Tom Sizemore just got fired from pre-production on a flick called The I Scream Man -- and if you can't hold on to a job in a movie with that sort of title, then you're definitely living life a little too hard. I know his drug problems are entirely of his own creation, but I really do feel for the guy. He went from working with Michael Mann, Oliver Stone and Steven Spielberg -- to a public dismissal on The I Scream Man. Ouch.

According to STYD.com, Mr. Sizemore was fired from the upcoming horror flick and replaced by sometimes co-worker Michael Madsen. The reason for his dismissal? Another visit from the "drugs and jail time" fairy. It might sound like I'm cruelly mocking the guy, but the truth is I feel really rotten for Mr. Sizemore. Here's hoping he can right the ship, toss that monkey off his back and mount a small comeback of sorts. In the meantime, J.T. Mollner's The I Scream Man will go into production this summer with Madsen, Dee Wallace, Haylie Duff, Fred Ward, Judd Nelson and the entertainingly bizarre Crispin Glover as ... The Ice Cream Man. (Yes, it's a horror movie.)

Directed by Oliver Assayas (Clean, Demonlover), the Cannes midnight selection Boarding Gate tells the story of Sandra (Asia Argento) -- a confused young woman trying to figure out her relationship with Miles (Michael Madsen), a financier who's fallen into a run of bad luck. Sandra and Miles used to be lovers, but that's over; Miles also used to hire Sandra to service visiting clients and turn their pillow talk into business intelligence; that's over, too -- but they still have plenty to talk about. ...

People much smarter than I are very fond of Assayas's work -- most especially Demonlover, a movie that elicited love-it-or-hate-it reactions from critics and viewers. Like Demonlover, Boarding Gate takes place in a hinky, kinky realm, a world of secrets and lies where big business, espionage, sex and emotional connection all combine. In Boarding Gate, though, there's one problem; the film has no motor to drive it. Sandra gets into trouble, sure -- and gets in deep -- but neither Assayas's script nor Argento's performance give us any reason to care if Sandra makes it though in one piece; the fact that Argento's character swings between seductive pouting and go-away petulance doesn't help. Argento may be an attractive mammal -- the film certainly thinks so, as it never skips a chance to show us her stripping down -- but as an actual actress, she's a washout. Not to be crass, but if Argento's line readings and character were as well-developed and fully-rounded as her breasts, I've no doubt Boarding Gate would have been a better film.