Ryan Reynolds Wraps The Hitman's Bodyguard 2, And He Looks Terrible

Ryan Reynolds Wraps The Hitman's Bodyguard 2, And He Looks Terrible

Ryan Reynolds is still getting his ass kicked as bodyguard Michael Bryce. He's back for The Hitman's Bodyguard sequel -- called The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard -- which also stars Samuel L. Jackson as Darius Kincaid and Salma Hayek as Sonia Kincaid. It looks like Reynolds' Bryce might have a smaller role than the Kincaids, considering Ry-guy has already wrapped his role while the others continue filming:

Oof. When you and your husband are looking A+ sharp and your bodyguard friend looks like THAT. Something must happen, once again, to Michael Bryce to get him so roughed up in the sequel.

Ryan Reynolds already showed a photo of bloodied Bryce last month, as the first photo from the movie's set, so it sounds like he just stays messed up through his entire arc in the sequel? Bad sign.

The photographer tagged is Sam Speranza, who had this note to share on Ryan Reynolds wrapping, while Sam Jackson and Salma Hayek continue:

Yesterday was a wrap for the incredible Ryan Reynolds and I have to say it’s one of the best actors and professionals I’ve ever met. Apart from being a wonderful human being and always part of the team. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to photograph you! Now the adventure continues with the other two fabulous persons by your side!

Samuel L. Jackson shared the same photo with his own note on Ryan Reynolds:

The Homie Ryan Reynolds wrapped last night! Already miss my dude. Me & Salma Hayek will soldier on... till reshoots!!!#hitmanswifesbodyguard#goodworkwithgoodpeopleaintworkatall

So the journey continues with Salma and Sam. That makes sense, in a way, since Jackson's Darius should be the hitman of the title, with Sonia as the wife. But is Bryce not her bodyguard for the whole movie?

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard follows bodyguard Ryan Reynolds' Michael Bryce, who’s enlisted by Samuel L. Jackson's Darius and Salma Hayek's Sonia Kincaid to join them on a mission along the Amalfi Coast. Patrick Hughes is returning as director, with a script by Tom O’Connor. According to Variety, Frank Grillo is reported to play an Interpol agent who needs the trio's help to prevent a cyber attack in Europe. The rest of the supporting cast is very impressive, including Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman, with Richard E. Grant reprising his role as Bryce's drug-addicted corporate client Mr. Seifert.

Here's the logline of the sequel, per Deadline:

Set on the Amalfi coast, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard follows the mismatched, high-octane trio who are unwillingly pulled onto the side of the good guys as they battle to save Europe from a vengeful and powerful zealot with a dangerously over-developed sense of national pride.

Salma Hayek has been sharing her own photos from production, including this one -- which also seems to show Ryan Reynolds' character looking roughed-up and in no condition to be grocery shopping:

Salma Hayek looks amazing, as usual. She's 52, did you know that? Enough about Paul Rudd looking young for 50. It was Hayek's dream to return to the role of Sonia after the first movie. When doing press for The Hitman's Bodyguard, the main trio all said any sequel would have to follow the Kincaids. As Ryan Reynolds told Moviefone:

I want to see a movie between Darius Kincaid and Salma Hayek's character Sonia. That's all I want to see. That's the only sequel that should be made from this film.

Salma Hayek was all the way down for that idea:

I want to, because I didn't get enough of Sonia. I am in love with this character. I want to be in her skin again. I felt so free! It was so liberating.

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard started filming in early March in Europe, and apparently it will continue on from here without Detective Pikachu himself. The first movie made $176.5 million worldwide off a reported $30 million budget, per Box Office Mojo, so hopes are high for the sequel to continue the profits. Critics weren't huge on the first movie, but fans seemed to like it a bit more, giving it a 67% RT audience score vs. 42% from critics. CinemaScore's polled moviegoers gave it a B+.

There's no word yet on a release date for The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, but stay tuned. In the meantime, keep up with all new releases with our 2019 movie release date schedule.

Ford V Ferrari Trailer: Watch Christian Bale And Matt Damon Race Behind The Wheel

Ford V Ferrari Trailer: Watch Christian Bale And Matt Damon Race Behind The Wheel

We're only just now getting into the summer movie movie season, but that means it's now time to take a look forward to the end of the calendar year and the films on the way. The awards season films are beginning to make themselves known and one has to assume that Ford V Ferrari is looking to be an early front runner.

The first trailer for the Matt Damon/Christian Bale vehicle (see what I did there), is here and from first glances this one looks like it could be pretty good, with a pair of performances from strong actors and exactly the sort of underdog story that audiences tend to enjoy. Check out the trailer below.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans race is a test of endurance for both automobile and driver that, in the 1960s, was basically owned by Ferrari. Ford V Ferrari will follow the attempt by the American Ford Motor Company to build a car, and find a driver, capable of overthrowing the champion. Matt Damon plays car designer Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale is Ken Miles, the slightly hot-headed driver brought on board to handle the new car.

The movie looks to be hitting the Oscar bait Yahtzee, as it has a pair of Academy Award winning lead actors and an Academy Award nominated director (though not actually for directing) in James Mangold. It's also a movie based on a true story about overcoming the odds. We're sure to get at least one of those every awards season. It's also got a prime, mid-November release date.

While Ford V Ferrari may seem factory made to win awards, that doesn't mean the movie won't work on its own and overall the trailer does make the film look interesting. It's not overly dramatic and serious, as so many awards season movies can get. That can also help the movie find an audience, something that doesn't always happen with these end of the year films, no matter how many awards they rack up.

It's been a few years since we've gotten ourselves a good racing movie, unless you want to count Cars 3. While racing isn't necessarily something every audience member is going to be a huge fan of, it's an easy thing for them to understand, and it has built in drama that will make for an exciting climax.

Also, the trailer takes the easy way out by using The Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter" as background music, but there's a reason this is millionth film to do that, the song works.

If Ford V Ferrari does become a major Best Picture contender, it could make history. As the movie is a Fox production, that means it's now technically a Disney movie, which means the Mouse may have just bought itself a win in an Oscar category it has never taken home.

Why Dark Phoenix Reshot Its Original Ending, According To Simon Kinberg

Why Dark Phoenix Reshot Its Original Ending, According To Simon Kinberg

The following story will not contain spoilers for Dark Phoenix**. However, we will discuss the story a bit, so on the off chance you want to go into next week’s release knowing absolutely nothing, stop reading right now.**

Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) seems destined to interact with the Phoenix force. It happens in comics, in one of Marvel’s most popular comic storylines. It happened in the initial run of X-Men movies, captured in The Last Stand. And now that the timeline has been reset via X-Men: Days of Futures Past, it’s about to happen to the version of Jean that we met in X-Men: Apocalypse.

Longtime X-Men writer and producer Simon Kinberg steps into the director’s chair for Dark Phoenix, which opens everywhere on June 7. And in a recent chat with EW, he dropped a terrific tease of an alternate ending to his debut film that he ended up reshooting, mentioning only that it took place in outer space. (This isn’t so far-fetched, as trailers have shown us that the X-Men are on a space mission when Jean interacts with the Phoenix in this film.)

As a rabid fan of the X-Men characters, I was curious about this original ending, though when I asked Kinberg about it during a recent press event in London for Dark Phoenix, he candidly told me why he thought the space finale had to be changed. He told CinemaBlend:

That was a version that was when it was sort of the less-grounded version of the movie. … It wasn’t a version of the movie where the X-Men and the family are -- we weren’t as focused on them coming together at the end of the movie. It was really more entirely Jean, and what it lacked was this sort of emotional closure. Thinking of this movie as the sort of culmination of all of the X-Men movies, where these strangers have become this sort of surrogate family, and then in this movie they get challenged like they’ve never been challenged before, it felt like at the end of the movie, it would be much more satisfying for the audience to both see Jean have extraordinary power… but also see the X-Men come back together as a family and perform. I sort of wanted to do both.

How they come together, we will leave it for you to learn by checking out Dark Phoenix. But it can be shared that one of the most exciting elements of the new film is the fact that we see the X-Men working together as a team for one of the few times in franchise history (for real, this group is usually so fractured and ostracized), so it makes sense why Simon Kinberg made the decisions that he made.

In Dark Phoenix, the X-Men must figure out a way to contain one of their own after Jean (Sophie Turner) encounters an alien force that greatly amplifies her natural mutation.

The movie co-stars X-Men alums James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult, while giving more screen time to Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Dark Phoenix is being viewed as the culmination of this X-Men saga, so see where the story goes on June 7.

Halloween’s Danny McBride Was Scared John Carpenter Would Laugh In His Face When Pitching The Sequel

Halloween’s Danny McBride Was Scared John Carpenter Would Laugh In His Face When Pitching The Sequel

Picture having the opportunity to meet your greatest cinematic idol - in particular the director of your favorite film of all time. Now imagine that meeting being the opportunity for you to pitch said creator on a new film to continue the classic's legacy. That's exactly the scenario in which Halloween co-writer Danny McBride found himself in the making of the recent horror blockbuster, and while his concept eventually won out, he was seriously afraid of John Carpenter treating him like a young punk. McBride recently offered his account of the encounter, saying,

I don’t think in my head I ever thought we’d actually be able to make the film, so it became very real when we started walking up the front steps of John Carpenter’s office. I think I turned to David [Gordon Green], and it was just this panic moment of realization of like, 'We’re about to meet John Carpenter, and one of our heroes of filmmaking could quite possibly laugh in our face.' And John just kind of said, ‘Alright, let’s hear it,’ and just wanted us to get down to business.

You could imagine the pressure on Danny McBride and Halloween co-writer/director David Gordon Green, as they were walking into a meeting with the man who created the epic horror that is Michael Myers. With a reputation for not suffering fools, John Carpenter can be intimidating to those who don't know what they're doing. Lucky for them, and the rest of the world, they knew exactly what they were doing.

As David Gordon Green explained to Vice during a paired interview with his fellow filmmaker, he and Danny McBride had a clear vision in mind when it came to the Halloween sequel they wanted to make. This was shown in their decision to ignore every single sequel in the series, as they wanted to be the only sequel to John Carpenter's 1978 original. Such a choice not only gave audiences something new and fresh to look forward to, it gave the series a new lease on life; one that Carpenter clearly appreciated, given his ultimate involvement with the project as a producer and composer. Considering his history with the franchise only extended to writing Halloween II and producing Halloween III: Season of the Witch, it's not a huge shocker that he was okay with the bulk of everything else being junked.

All it took to win over John Carpenter for Halloween's 2018 sequel was two things: a chance to indulge in his passion for music, via the film's score, and the opportunity to set the franchise's history straight. Danny McBride and David Gordon Green gave him both opportunities, and the rest is now noteworthy cinema history.

Whether any potential follow ups past this point will have that much luck remains unknown. But for now we at least have two Halloween films that John Carpenter personally approves of - both now available on home video for your personal enjoyment.

Us Ending: What Happens And What It Means

Us Ending: What Happens And What It Means

Warning: Spoilers for Us are in play. If you haven't seen the film yet, you're going to want to bookmark this piece and come back after you've seen the film.

Everyone expected writer/director Jordan Peele's follow up to Get Out to be just as twisted, and just as deep, as his Academy Award-winning opus. But I don't think anyone would have expected just how hard Us decided to go when it comes to its end product. Like any good puzzle maker, Peele leaves a lot of clues and easter eggs throughout this film for the audience to put together. And the picture it reveals is something truly Biblical in scope.

Needless to say, if you haven't seen Us, you totally have to. Not only because it's a fantastic film that'll have you talking for days, but because what we're about to go into isn't going to make a lot of sense without that knowledge. So if you're planning on seeing the film, go do that now or whenever it's possible. Then come back, and dive into the deeper waters of the film's symbolism, as we're about to do now.

What Happens At The End Of Us

By time Us is ready to wrap up its narrative, we see Lupita Nyong'o's Adelaide, as well as her doppleganger Red (also Nyong'o), squaring off in an underground bunker. This confrontation comes after Red kidnaps Adelaide's son, Jason, and takes him into the bunker through an entrance in the maze that the two met at in 1986. Finding her way back underground, Adelaide is eventually given the entire story behind Red and the Tethered's existence.

As it turns out, the Tethered were an experiment in creating replicas of every human being in the surface world. An experiment that succeeded in physical copies, but as Red explains, fails in recapturing the souls of those copied. The project was eventually ditched, with the Tethered left to languish underground in their society of half-formed clones.

Eventually, this makes way for a sentiment of insurrection, with the Tethered world planning to surface and take their place in the sun. And leading the way is Red, the only clone with actual speech who's “different” from the rest. After this exposition is delivered, the two parties get into a fight, with Adelaide being the winner. Killing Red, she rescues Jason, and brings him back to the surface.

But as it turns out, Adelaide wasn't actually who she said she was. As it turns out, she was a Tethered who escaped, switching places with the real Adelaide back in 1986. So in actuality, Red was living Adelaide's life from that point forward, and vice versa. The only person that knows this besides her is Jason, who looks at his mother in horror before putting his mask back on. The film ends with a wide shot of the Tethered holding hands across America, with the news media covering the event through helicopter coverage. This is all pretty deep, but what does it mean exactly?

What It Means

Us feels like it's a film tackling that old socio-political saw best known as “the Haves, and the Have Nots.” In this case, everyone on the surface is a Have, while the Tethered are most definitely Have Nots. After decades of being confined underground, and being forced to live their lives unattended, uncared for, and impoverished, the Tethered are ready to mount an offensive and overthrow their surface-dwelling counterparts.

Now while we see a lot of the Tethered killing their surface-world counterparts, that doesn't look like it was their initial intent. We see beds made, with fresh jumpsuits and shoes in the underground bunker, so it feels like the initial plan would have been to simply supplant the surface world with their own numbers. But of course, there was resistance, it didn't work, and then the murders started.

Putting all of this together, Us is a story of revolt between the Haves and Have Nots, with the Have Nots trying to seize what they feel is rightfully there's. After being denied proper lives for so long, they hatch a plan to get into the mainstream and take over, all thanks to Adelaide being “special,” thus offering them a leader that could get the job done. If Red and Adelaide never switched, this may have never happened.

But looking deeper, Us also feels like a story of the political approaches and policies of the 1980s gone wrong; and their repercussions coming home to roost in the modern day. The entire story is one, big loop that spans from 1986 to the present day, with those created to be lesser than eventually taking over in one, apocalyptic gesture of dominance.

At the heart of it all though is a sentiment that any one of us is just a thin line away from being a Have or a Have Not. While we're all unique, it's the circumstances we're raised in that make us one or the other. Red was tired of being a person of the underground, so she switched places with Adelaide, and it wasn't too hard for her to fit in. As the film says through rather pointed, but understated dialogue, they're Americans. Looking through the hints scattered throughout Us, it's not hard to see this point being expertly sewn together throughout this slow burn narrative.

The Clues

Sifting through all the details that Jordan Peele slipped into Us, it's clear to see what's at work during the unfolding of the story. Even the detail that this film takes place between 1986 and 2019 is vital, as it's a 33 year story. Palindromes are a big symbol in the story that Peele is trying to tell, and there's a pretty huge one that recurs throughout: 11:11. In particular, there's a Bible verse that's attached to this numerical coincidence, Jeremiah 11:11, which says the following:

Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.

Now if that doesn't sound like a biblical reckoning, I don't know what does. The Tethered are that great evil, and judging by the gigantic red wall that's crossing the country, there is definitely no escape from them. But that's only the beginning, as the symbolism gets really political when you run back to the film's opening. A sequence where we're shown a TV spot for the “Hands Across America” initiative.

Meant to be a fundraiser to combat homelessness and hunger, the massive human chain of people holding hands raised money and awareness for those two causes that took up a lot of political real estate in the 80's. So much so that, as shown in another easter egg at the beginning of the film, they had already spawned a movie that spoke to the subject, with even more of a sci-fi/horror flavor.

Stashed right in frame, next to a copy of The Goonies, is a VHS of the cult classic C.H.U.D., a film that involved toxic waste storage mutating New York City's homeless population into cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers. While the Tethered resurfacing in Us is more of a political statement, the creatures in C.H.U.D. were surfacing to feed on the surface world; but either way, the statement was that if we ignored the homeless problem long enough, it would come home to roost eventually.

Combining these clues gives you a story that, basically, tells us that if we keep ignoring our problems and disregarding our differences, they're going to come back to haunt us. And if we're not careful, that visitation will result in a reversal most foul. We can either be our greatest friends, or our worst enemies; and in the end, the decision is left to Us.

What other clues to the ultimate message did you spot in Us? Head to the comments section and clue us in! Get it?

Captain Marvel Has Already Hit A Box Office Milestone

Captain Marvel Has Already Hit A Box Office Milestone

Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to pump out the hits, as every single blockbuster has been a critical and financial success. This includes the newest installation, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's 90's origin story Captain Marvel. Brie Larson finally made her Marvel debut as Carol Danvers, in a capsulated story that had connections to the greater MCU, including Guardians of the Galaxy. And it's making a ton of money at the box office.

Prior to its release, it wasn't clear how much of a hit Captain Marvel would be. Audiences hadn't met the title character yet, and there was some backlash and online trolling directed toward Brie Larson. But that hasn't stopped the blockbuster from raking in the cash, as it recently broke $500 million at the global box office. And it's not even a week old.

This box office update comes to us from Variety, and shows how Captain Marvel is going higher, further, faster than the film's haters predicted. Captain Marvel's success was far from guaranteed in the time before it finally arrived in theaters, although moviegoers are clearly shelling out cash to meet the ultra powerful protagonist.

Captain Marvel is the first time a brand new character has gotten their own MCU blockbuster in years, as both Spider-Man and Black Panther appeared in Captain America: Civil War before getting their respective solo movies. And while Hope became a superhero in Ant-Man and The Wasp, fans knew and loved her from the first movie.

Pre-sales for Captain Marvel no doubt helped its strong box office performance, as the hardcore Marvel fandom ran to theaters to see the penultimate installment of the MCU's Phase Three. In fact, it was among Marvel's strongest in regards to pre-sales, so its domestic opening weekend was winning before it began. The international markets have been particularly kind to Carol Danvers, as the movie has made $325.6 million in its first week in theaters across the world.

Ahead of the film's release, Captain Marvel star Brie Larson came under fire for comments she made about diversity in the press. With the film industry's focus on inclusion both in front of and behind the camera, Larson lamented that most film critics were white men. This comment proved to be the catalyst for some serious trolling, as haters took to the film's Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes pages, and sent audiences scores plummeting.

But the haters who claimed they were boycotting Captain Marvel don't seem to have made much of a difference, given how quickly the film has ascended to the $500 million mark. It should be fascinating to see how much more money the blockbuster makes for Marvel Studios, and how Brie Larson's signature character becomes a larger presence in the greater MCU.

Captain Marvel is in theaters now, and the title character will pop back up in Avengers: Endgame on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Having Adorable Dog Co-Stars Can Be A Struggle According To A Dog’s Journey Cast

Having Adorable Dog Co-Stars Can Be A Struggle According To A Dog’s Journey Cast

Do you ever just look across the way, make eye contact with a woofer and time just stops? What were you doing with your day again? Suddenly nothing matters, you just have to pet the dog in front of you. Now imagine that energy on the set of a movie.

It’s the ruff stuff Henry Lau and Kathryn Prescott had to deal with while working on A Dog’s Journey. When I recently interviewed the pair for CinemaBlend, they told me of this unique struggle. Here’s what Lau had to say:

That was actually the most difficult thing working with the dogs because they were just so adorable. We’d be acting, running through lines and a dog would just be looking up at you and we were just like ‘don’t pet him, don’t pet him, don’t pet him, focus, focus, don’t pet him.’

As far as workplace difficulties go, many of us would gladly trade this one for our own. This is an adorable insight into working with doggos on a movie from the 29-year-old actor. During the recent A Dog’s Journey press day, Henry Lau and Kathryn Prescott elaborated about the dynamic the dog actors brought to set. In their words:

Henry: There’s this big, big dog (called Duke in the movie) and he was just the king on set.

Kathyrn: Yeah, he was very happy to be there and giant, so it was known when Gary was walking on set.

It looks like the cast established some connections to the canine talent! Kathryn Prescott, who plays the film’s central character CJ, continued to gush about them:

I loved Phil as well who played Big Dog. I thought he gave one of the standout dog performances of the film. He’s a rescue aswell and he’d only been trained I think eight days to do all his paw stuff and all the tricks that he did. I think he knocked it out of the park.

Does the Oscars have a Best Supporting Dog Actor award? Maybe it should! Phil could go head-to-head with the pair of Belgian Malinois that Halle Berry trained with for John Wick 3. You can watch the fresh faced actors from the Dog’s Purpose sequel vouch for them in our exclusive interview below:

Kathryn Prescott and Henry Lau play childhood besties CJ and Trent, who each adopt from a litter puppies as children. CJ’s pup is the dog who has been reincarnated for over 60 years in A Dog’s Purpose, namely as Bailey to Dennis Quaid’s Ethan. The film tracks their relationship as they grow up into teens and then adults and as Bailey lives different lifetimes as CJ’s sworn protector.

Both actors are relative newcomers to the big screen. Kathryn found her breakout role as the titular character in the MTV drama Finding Carter for two seasons. Henry is a former K-pop star from the group Super Junior-m, who has recently pursued a career in acting.

A Dog’s Journey opens this weekend alongside John Wick 3 and The Sun is Also A Star. Judging from Thursday night numbers, John Wick will be the top dog. The last film in the franchise based on W. Bruce Cameron’s doggo novels was a box office success, as it made $205 million worldwide on a $22 million budget. We’ll see how A Dog’s Journey does amidst May’s packed movie season.