xxx Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Whatever you may think of Vin Diesel as an actor, you have to admire his dedication to his franchises. I mean, who else but Diesel would hang in for another round of extreme adventure sports and espionage? About a year ago we got the news that Diesel was reuniting with Rob Cohen for another installment of the xXx franchise, but according to The Hollywood Reporter there has been a small personnel change, and now Ericson Core (Invincible) will be stepping in to direct since Cohen is off to work on his period actioner Medieval.

Diesel likes to be in control of his franchises and xXx was no exception. Apparently, the muscly actor had to give Core his blessing before the DP/ Director could get to work, although I'm sure their previous working relationship on Fast and Furious probably helped. According to reports, the film will be called xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, and focus on Cage's return to the 'agency' after an eight-year absence. Now, if you remember, Cage was reported as dead in the second film, but Richard Wilkes (who wrote the original movie) will have to think of something, I guess.

Now I'll admit that I've seen both xXx films (I even went to the theater for the first one) and other than a marginally clever joke about the 'death of Bond' and some truly craptastic dialog, I don't remember much about it (and when it comes to Ice Cube's installment in the franchise, I think I'd probably be better off if I didn't remember that one, too). So I guess on the upside we can take solace in the fact the latest installment couldn't be worse than last time, or can it?

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage begins shooting early next year.

Tattoos in the movies have a storied history, from the simple, classic LOVE/HATE knuckle tattoos in The Night of the Hunter to the slick and sexy additions to Angelina Jolie's existing body art in last summer's Wanted. Recent movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Eastern Promises have used tattoos to great effect; in Button, Captain Mike's homemade tattoos both referred to his life on the sea as a sailor, which in that era was the most visible tattoo population, and his own father's discouragement of his hopes of becoming an artist. Instead, he brings his art with him everywhere he goes. And Eastern Promises based its tattoos (hello, Viggo in his undies sipping a shot of vodka getting tattooed) on the heavily researched Russian tattoos and their different signifiers in the gangster underworld.

Unfortunately, most recent movies have the tendency to slap some crappy tribal on a character to make him or her seem more bad-ass, which, given the context of tattoos in the movies, is kind of understandable. But what's not is just how freaking terrible they are! Here are my personal picks of the worst ink spilled onscreen, plus a bonus mention for the most gorgeous tattoos in a movie, both in design and story use.

Just what you needed at the end of a long day: more stuff (and things) to look at:

-- Is anyone else getting sick of these celeb-stacked Vote videos? Election day is when? Really? I haven't heard a peep about it. (See below)



-- So remember that totally awesome Ghostbusters video game that was supposed to come and then didn't? (Watch the trailer over here) Well the good news is Atari has bought the right to publish not only the Ghostbusters game, but also The Chronicles of Riddick ... so you can spend hours pretending to be a bald Vin Diesel wearing blacked-out swim goggles. [Variety]

-- And speaking of Vin Diesel (who's currently trying to revive his acting career by going back and starring in sequels to all his older movies), Collider tells us that the new xXx film will be called xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, and Rob Marshall Cohen is currently eying a summer 2010 release.

-- A new batch of images from Sherlock Holmes have made their way online (via The Bad & Ugly), and yep, Downey Jr. and Jude Law are still wearing those hats. Until one of them is photographed beating the living crap out of a villain, I think we're about done looking at these boring set pics. Whaddya think?

-- IESB spoke to Brandon Routh recently about whether he'd be down for a darker version of Superman in the sequel. Here's what the dude has to say about which villain he'd like to square off against: " I know that DC is working on a Brainiac storyline that they are excited about and I think combining the two and have that flow between the comics and the movie would be a nice thing. I honestly think there are a lot of interesting things you can do with Brainiac. Controlling people, controlling technology, a lot of cool things."

-- Fans of Twilight will be happy to know that starting tomorrow you can pre-order your Twilight movie ticket over at Fandango. Oh, but that's totally not all -- with each ticket purchased, you'll also get a free download of "Bella's Lullaby (Remix).

Check out these bits of casting, and a few actor's wishes for this Monday:

• Mario Van Peebles is whipping up an action thriller called Kerosene Cowboys, and the cast is about to be set. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Cam Gigandet, Shane West, and Rachael Leigh Cook are in negotiations to star in the flick that follows "hard-living pilots of an elite Navy attack squadron." Gigandet will be a "hot-shot pilot," West will play the nemesis who used to be his best friend, and Cook will wrap things up as a journalist who dates Gigandet. At the very least, it looks like a welcome vacation from some of Cook's recent work (from The House of Yes to Blind Ambition ... my, how they fall).
• Vin Diesel is all about the returns lately. First came the latest Fast and Furious pic, and now more triple-X. Variety reports that both Diesel and director Rob Cohen have signed on for another XXX pic, this one titled: XXX: The Return of Xander Cage. While it's not the most unique title out there, at least it's showcasing the plus points -- the return of Mr. Vin.
• Meanwhile, Adam Arkin is taking on the world of Coen. Variety reports that the Life actor has grabbed a role in A Serious Man. There is no word on who he's playing.
• Having just recorded "Another Way to Die" for Quantum of Solace, MTV reports that Alicia Keys would like to be a Bond Girl. Methinks this is something that would work best as a Bond girl/song mixture -- the sexy, iconic Bond girl having the pipes to also belt out the theme song. But no matter what happens, she has this positive report about the film: "it's damn good."

After the jump: De Niro and Pacino ... as women?

About a month ago Erik informed us that director Rob Cohen was preparing a movie called Rage and Fury, a film that would somehow "feature" the legendary yet still-deceased Bruce Lee. The word "feature" just kinda lingered there vaguely, and we were offered precious little additional news with which to slake our curiosity/incredulity. But in response to a script review posted over at Latino Review, Mr. Cohen has stepped forward to politely volunteer some new information...

They're going to be digitally re-creating Bruce Lee for this movie. Yes, from scratch. Like Gollum and Dobby and Aeon Flux.

Frankly I think it's nasty. I hate it when I see dead actors digitally resurrected for insurance commercials, and I sure as snot think it's kind of gross to do the same thing for a feature film. But then again, I may be asking for too much common sense from the man who directed XXX, Stealth, Daylight and The Skulls -- plus the guy already directed Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, which means that Rob Cohen is a man single-mindedly obsessed with bringing Bruce Lee back to life. Heck, maybe he could program his digital Bruce to make out with him!

For his follow-up, Rob Cohen plans to direct a musical featuring Gene Kelly, River Phoenix, Natalie Wood, Phil Hartman, Madeline Kahn and Heather O'Rourke. Think that joke's in bad taste? So do I.