Russell Mulcahy Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I demand that people pay attention to this. I know that Russell Mulcahy isn't exactly a hot property these days, but still. Mulcahy has been reliably churning out B-movies for more than two decades now. Recently he even managed to make the Resident Evil franchise rebound a little from the unwatchable second film. He's got a movie with the year's coolest title in the pipeline, Give 'Em Hell, Malone. And before all that, of course, came Highlander. Come on, people. Highlander. (Yes, yes, I know, also Highlander 2: The Quickening. Shut up.)

Mulcahy has signed up for an Australian shark movie called Bait, which will shoot on the Gold Coast this summer, and will be in 3-D. Yes, yes, I know: Jaws 3-D. Shut up. We haven't had a good shark movie since Deep Blue Sea ten years ago (Open Water, though awesome, does not count), and I'm hankering to see one. And since I'm assuming the long-in-the-works adaptation of Steve Alten's sci-fi-tinged Meg (think Jurassic Park in the water) will never emerge from development hell, this Bait thing might be our best chance.

Oh, and the plot: a bunch of people get trapped in a supermarket... with sharks.* I'll take it! More details as they emerge! (In the meantime, Mulcahy's Give 'Em Hell, Malone appears to lack a U.S. distributor, but will probably see the light of day sooner or later.)

*Crucial detail: it's a flooded supermarket. Otherwise -- oh, never mind.

They say the jobs dry up for women once they get a little older, and the same can definitely be said for action stars -- especially when they want more cred (unless we're talking Sly Stallone). I cheered for Jean Claude Van Damme when he wanted to take his career in a new direction after the mass appeal of JCVD, and rued the thought of him returning to Universal Soldier, but I imagine there aren't many cinematic opportunities for an aged Muscles from Brussels. But he's still got the action.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Van Damme is teaming up with Vinnie Jones for a new action flick called Weapon. The pair will play rival assassins who form an uneasy alliance "to take down the head of a drug cartel, backed by the DEA." Jones is the master sharpshooter while Van Damme is the man who is skilled with a thigh muscle knife. Russell Mulcahy -- the man behind the first two Highlanders, a bunch of vids from Billy Joel and Duran Duran, plus recent flicks like Resident Evil: Extinction -- will direct.

The film will jump into production this August in Vancouver, and hopefully it's more than good-for-video B-fare. Jean Claude has had his messes, but JCVD was wonderful, and he definitely showed that he has a little more to him than most of his gigs relay. Then again, the snarky side of me just put "My Lovin'" into my head.

Is JCVD never gonna get it?

After getting the chance to run through the world of heists and intrigue in The Brothers Bloom (wonderfully, I might add), Adrien Brody is getting into the underworld delivery business. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Mr. Brody is going to be pursued by cops and crime bosses alike when he stars in a new action flick called The Courier.

As the story goes, Brody will play "a daredevil courier trying to deliver a briefcase to an underworld figure who can't be found." Is he a daredevil for the ways he delivers packages, or a daredevil for taking on work from crime bosses? That remains to be seen. But the writing duo of Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (who helped out on both the 3:10 to Yuma and Wanted scripts) have written the screenplay and Russell Mulcahy is directing.

This means teaming one of my favorite actors with the director of the only film I ever walked out of (Ricochet). Since I was only 14 at the time, I'm prepared to give Mulcahy another chance, although The Scorpion King 2 and Resident Evil: Extinction make me a little nervous. But if the director of Heathers can also helm Hudson Hawk, anything is possible.

You've gotta wonder what happens when you get bitten and are given the blood lust. Being a vampire must be hard, between the lack of sun, figuring out the new powers, and having to hunt for your food all the time since there's no all-night butchers or buy-by-the-pint blood banks. It's not all vixens and Anne Rice-like eroticism (before she got all churchy). Variety reports that Russell Mulcahy, the director of Resident Evil: Extinction, will head a feature adaptation of Steven-Elliot Altman's Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires.

The book focuses on a guy who is turned into a vampire when he and his lover are attacked in New York City. She dies, and he spends his new life as a vamp trying to ignore his blood instincts through Zen meditation. He becomes a part of "The Ministry," an underground group warring with the vampires -- who are also willing to kill him if he messes up. Basically, it's Angel on the big screen with some more Zen love and not as many years under the protagonist's belt.

The adaptation is being written by Altman himself, so fans can expect a film full of the writer's intention. And, since violent games are all the rage, a video game for the movie is also being created. But who will lead the feature once it slips into production? Will Brad Pitt revisit the troubled yearning for blood? Will David Boreanaz bring his inner vamp to the big screen?

Poor Alice. She keeps waking up wet, naked and alone. When last we saw her, she was escaping from a top-secret medical research facility with four other survivors of a nuclear "accident" that destroyed the fictional Raccoon City. Actually, an evil scientist employed by the multinational Umbrella Corporation allowed the group to leave so he could activate a secret program implanted in dear Alice.

Watching Resident Evil: Extinction, the third installment in a series inspired by the video game, made me wish that I had a secret program implanted in me that would allow me to watch the movie in fast forward mode. Whereas the first installment in the series had a pleasant degree of kooky, claustrophobic atmosphere, and the second (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) had the virtue of non-stop action sequences -- even if the action was often silly and indecipherable visually -- Extinction has no such saving grace.

The first two films also had the benefit of lovely supporting distractions, in the persons of sexy fighting femme butt-kickers Michelle Rodriguez (in the first) and Sienna Guillory (in the second). Alas, Extinction completely wastes Ali Larter, who is reduced to striding around purposefully and acting compassionate as the leader of a group of survivors. This ain't Heroes, folks. Milla Jovovich previously appeared to revel in her unlikely role as Alice, a supremely efficient killing machine, but here she pouts and frowns and labors under the weight of tons of pancake makeup affixed to her face, to what purpose or intent I do not know.

Sony Pictures has launched the official site for Resident Evil: Extinction. This time around: Alice, our genetically enhanced heroine (Milla Jovovich) is lost in the wastelands of Nevada while fending off the evil plans of the Umbrella Corporation. Joining Jovovich as fellow plague survivors are Heroes' Ali Larter and R&B singer Ashanti. Also returning are Oded Fehr as Carlos Oliviera and Mike Epps as L.J. Last month we had gotten word of a new R trailer for the film and another gallery of photos released to the web. The arrival of a web site might not seem like such a big deal, especially in the current climate of viral fever, but there's plenty of cool content. There are wallpapers, screen savers, and loads of media gallerie, as well as a pretty decent online game -- but be warned; it's armed with one of those age-verification login pages.

Resident Evil: Extinction was directed by Russell Mulcahy; according to this piece over at Movies Online, Paul W.S. Anderson's script has reportedly taken elements from the RE: Code Veronica. Anderson has written his share of video game flicks, including all three of the Resident Evil flicks, and directing the first one back in 2002. There had been some debate over whether Extinction was going to be the last film in the series, but Sony refers to the film as "the third and final installment", so I guess it really is the end for Alice -- I can only hope she will go out in style. Extinction hits theaters September 21st.

[via ComingSoon.net]