Paul Rudd And 10 Other Marvel And DC Stars Who Show 50 Is The New 25

Paul Rudd And 10 Other Marvel And DC Stars Who Show 50 Is The New 25

Believe it or not, Paul Rudd is turning 50 this Saturday, April 6. And Robert Downey Jr. is turning 54 on Thursday, April 4. Fifty used to be considered the start of the golden years -- aka getting "old" -- but now it's the start of a golden age for action heroes. Marvel and DC stars are the biggest superheroes in our universe, and many of the lead stars are still saving the world into their 50s and well beyond. Rudd may still look the same age he was when he made Clueless but Marvel's Ant-Man now part of that exclusive 50-plus club.

There are so many amazing active action stars north of 50 -- Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Harrison Ford, Linda Hamilton, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis (plus most of the other Expendables) -- it would take forever to list them all. That's a great problem to have in a world still so obsessed with youth. But this list just focuses on 10 past or present Marvel/DC stars who, like Paul Rudd, make turning 50 look like just the start of a superhero's journey.

Robert Downey Jr., 54, Marvel's Iron Man

In 2019, it doesn't get much cooler than Robert Downey Jr., giving hope to everyone who has yet to reach their mid-50s. RDJ is considered the godfather of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which started with the 2008 film Iron Man. That was more than 10 years ago, when RDJ was a young lad in his early 40s. Now that he's 54 (well, 53 until tomorrow, 4/4/19), he's still the lead voice of the MCU heading into Avengers: Endgame (open April 26). Tony Stark is one of the heroes who will do "whatever it takes" to change Thanos' Decimation from Avengers: Infinity War. RDJ pulled a career 180 thanks to Marvel, and now he's a very well paid superhero and a fan favorite around the world. Ask the mid-1990s if they ever saw THAT coming.

Halle Berry, 52, Marvel's X-Men, DC's Catwoman

Halle Berry joined Marvel's X-Men in 2000 and she hasn't really aged a day, unless it's to look better now. She returned as Storm in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Back in 2004, she also ventured into the DC world as Catwoman, which was not a huge success anywhere but the Razzie Awards, but that's OK. Along the way she also picked up an Oscar for Monster's Ball, played Jinx in 007's Die Another Day, and recently joined the Kingsman franchise for The Golden Circle. She is now gearing up for John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (open May 17) after cold calling director Chad Stahelski and saying she wanted to be in the movie. Gimme a role. So they did, and she not only plays a badass assassin, she has her own two dogs who kick ass as her sidekicks. She showed off her amazing fight training for the role, including training the dogs. As she wrote after wrapping John Wick 3, "This film reinforces that AGE is nothing but an insignificant number!" The main star of that franchise would probably agree (see below).

Josh Brolin, 51, Marvel's Thanos, Marvel's Cable

Josh Brolin was 2018's unexpected sex symbol as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. I can't say I get the whole "daddy" thing, but good for Josh Brolin for still getting it into his 50s, even as a giant purple villain. Brolin has two active Marvel roles, and both are muscled-up beasts. He had an intense diet and exercise routine to play Cable in Deadpool 2, which came out last year when he was freshly 50. Thanos is the man to beat in Avengers: Endgame, which is already the biggest movie of 2019. And Brolin is currently filming a different kind of action movie in Dune, posting a shirtless photo to reveal his work as a weapons master. The guy looks like he'd kick your ass with a glance, and it's especially impressive knowing he's also the same guy from The Goonies. He wasn't even 20 when he made that movie -- his first -- in 1985 and he's at least twice that man today.

Robin Wright, 52, DC's Antiope

A lot of us first got to know Robin Wright as the beautiful object of someone else's affections -- as Buttercup in The Princess Bride in 1987 and as the ill-fated Jenny of 1994's Forrest Gump. Now she's best known for playing ruthless leaders, including Amazon Army General Antiope, Diana Prince's aunt, in DC's Wonder Woman. She'll also be back for the sequel Wonder Woman 1984, which comes out in 2020. Antiope trained Wonder Woman and showed herself to be a tough mentor in the 2017 movie. Wright also led the House of Cards cast and crew through the debacle of Kevin Spacey's exit, and the final season was all about her character, Claire Underwood. It's great to see Robin Wright getting strong leadership roles as she enters her 50s -- proving herself not only still beautiful, but also more powerful than ever in the second half of her century.

Will Smith, 50, DC's Deadshot

Will Smith is one of the many action heroes, like Tom Cruise, who have just kept on doing their usual action roles into their 50s. Why not? If it ain't broke (too badly)... Unlike Cruise, though, Smith has embraced the superhero experience. He joined the DCEU as Deadshot for 2016's Suicide Squad, but before that he played vigilante superhero John Hancock in an original story with Hancock. Smith first shot to fame with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but he got his action credentials going with Bad Boys in 1995, followed by Independence Day and Men in Black. Now it's 2019 and he's currently filming Bad Boys for Life, the third film in the franchise, for release in 2020 when he'll be 51 and co-star Martin Lawrence will be 54. Sadly, he won't be returning as Deadshot for The Suicide Squad. Instead, Idris Elba (46) is taking on the role for James Gunn's movie. But Smith has plenty of other films in the works, including Ang Lee's sci-fi film Gemini Man, and of course we'll see him soon as the new Genie in Aladdin.

Samuel L. Jackson, 70, Marvel's Nick Fury

If 50 is the new 25, Sam Jackson is basically 45 at this point. Scratch that, he's 35 -- half his current age. The guy is everywhere! We would all be so lucky to have his stamina at 30, never mind 70. The man never stops. He's currently Nick Fury, de-aged for Captain Marvel, but back to his modern one-eyed self for the end of Avengers: Infinity War and whatever he does in Avengers: Endgame, not to mention his return for Spider-Man: Far From Home. That just for Marvel, he also had Glass earlier this year, as the title supervillain Mr. Glass, plus John Shaft II in Shaft. He'll also be back for the sequel to The Hitman's Bodyguard. He's a hoot on the press tours of his movies, and while you can never quite trust everything he tells you, he always makes it interesting. He is living his best life, and if there's such a thing as #70Goals, it's this badass motherf*cker.

Keanu Reeves, 54, DC's Constantine

Granted, it's been several years since Keanu Reeves played DC's John Constantine in the 2005 film Constantine, but now that he's 54, Keanu is an even more popular action hero than ever. He's had multiple iconic action roles over the years -- from Speed to The Matrix -- and he's still kicking ass as John Wick. His first John Wick film came out in 2014 and Chapter 2 arrived in 2017. John Wick 3 is coming out this May, and it's meant to be the biggest one yet. Keanu even shoots guns while on horseback on the streets of New York City. And, yeah, that's really him on that horse. Keanu is still so youthful in appearance and action, it's a running joke that he might be immortal. He's even reuniting with his Bill & Ted co-star Alex Winter for Bill & Ted 3, like no time has passed since the '80s.

Hugh Jackman, 50, Marvel's Wolverine

Hugh Jackman actually aged himself up to play Wolverine in Logan. He shot to fame as the character in 2000's X-Men, getting and staying famously ripped through X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Origins - Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and X-Men: Apocalypse. Wolverine wasn't big on aging and neither is Hugh Jackman, it seems. Ryan Reynolds is desperate to re-team with Wolverine in a future Deadpool movie, and while that may not pan out, I could definitely see the two starring in another action film together. Jackman seems to just be getting started as an action hero -- while also singing/dancing in The Greatest Showman and earning acclaim as a dramatic lead. I wouldn't be shocked if we see him still kicking ass on screen 10 years from now, not looking very different from today.

Nicole Kidman, 51, DC's Atlanna

Nicole Kidman played Arthur Curry's mother in Aquaman, and while Moms don't always get to have badass action scenes, not all moms are this queen. Atlanna got to save the day in one epic scene that was shot in one take. That wasn't her first DC role -- she played Dr. Chase Meridian in Batman Forever, but her job in that one was mostly to fall in love with the hero and be saved. This time, at age 51, she got to be the superhero who saves. She's another star, like Samuel L. Jackson, who appears to have a dozen projects going at any time. She was in The Upside, Destroyer, Boy Erased, and Aquaman last year, with The Godfinch and the Fox News film Fair and Balanced this year -- plus Big Little Lies Season 2 on HBO. From Emmy-award winning roles to billion dollar superhero films, Kidman makes it look pretty easy.

Patrick Stewart, 78, Marvel's Professor X

Patrick Stewart was already 60 by the time he joined Marvel's X-Men in 2000. He was a thespian with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but later in life he found himself the lead of two major franchises -- Star Trek as Jean-Luc Picard, and X-Men as Charles Xavier. He finished his run as Professor X with Logan, but instead of slowing down, he signed on to return as Picard for his own TV show on CBS All Access. William Shatner recently said he couldn't believe Stewart was doing that, saying a TV series is debilitating enough for a 25-year-old -- since you're working 14-18 hours a day -- but to do it in your late 70s? Stewart himself called it "an unexpected but delightful surprise" to find himself "excited and invigorated" to return to the role. He's ready to engage all over again.

The list of action stars still kicking butt well past 50 goes on and on -- from Vin Diesel to Don Cheadle and Mark Ruffalo, the Marvel list alone could fill books. It's inspiring to think that you can have a rough patch in your 30s but be a superhero in your 50s like Robert Downey Jr., or start as a high school girl's rom-com crush in your 20s and then possibly leap up Thanos' butt in your 50s like Paul Rudd. #LifeGoals

Here's to all of these stars and more still saving the day into their 90s, like Marvel's biggest hero, Stan Lee. Excelsior!

John Singleton Will Be Buried Near 2 Fast 2 Furious Co-Worker Paul Walker

John Singleton Will Be Buried Near 2 Fast 2 Furious Co-Worker Paul Walker

John Singleton, the filmmaker famously behind Oscar nominated drama Boyz n the Hood died last week after suffering a “major stroke”. The 51-year-old writer/director/producer was placed on life support for almost two weeks before his passing on April 29. After a private funeral on Monday, Singleton’s final resting place will be in the same Hollywood cemetery as Paul Walker, who he worked with in 2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious.

The 2 Fast 2 Furious director will be buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park where Paul Walker’s grave has resided since his 2013 passing. Star Wars’ Carrie Fisher, Green Mile actor Michael Clarke Duncan and rapper Nipsey Hussle are also buried at Forest Lawn.

On Monday, some of his past collaborators including Ice Cube from Boyz n the Hood, Ludacris from the Fast and Furious films and Taraji P. Henson from Baby Boy attended his funeral, per NY Daily News. The filmmaker was certainly impacting Hollywood at the time of his recent passing. Boyz n the Hood is now a classic urban drama set in Singleton’s hometown of South Central Los Angeles was written and directed by him and earned acclaim for Best Screenplay from the Academy.

Baby Boy was an early film of Taraji P. Henson’s who helped place the actress on the map. The actress has since gone on to earn an Oscar nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and memorably starred in Empire and Hidden Figures. Singleton also helmed Rosewood and Shaft before taking on the Fast and Furious sequel.

A sequel to Shaft starring Samuel L. Jackson is coming this summer and the Fast and Furious franchise is going strong at eight films and an upcoming spinoff titled Hobbs and Shaw starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Most recently, Singleton was a creator on the FX series Snowfall soon to premiere its third season in July.

On John Singleton’s death certificate it notes acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and hypertension as the causes of his death. He suffered the stroke on April 17 and was in a coma for days and living off life support before his family made the decision to put him off support on April 28.

Paul Walker died in a car accident at the age of 40 in the midst of filming Furious 7. The filmmakers paid homage to the actor and his iconic character in the franchise by enlisting his brothers to help digitally place him into a scene that had him saying goodbye to his co-stars and fans by riding off into the sunset.

Following the recent small, intimate funeral not open to the media or public, Singleton’s family is planning a larger memorial service for the late filmmaker in the next few weeks.

Avengers: Endgame’s Runtime Revealed, And It’s Long

Avengers: Endgame’s Runtime Revealed, And It’s Long

Avengers: Infinity War was already an epic long superhero movie with a run time of two hours and 29 minutes. However, almost as soon as attention shifted toward the fourth Avengers film, it seemed we were in for an even longer experience. The Russo Brothers said the movie could be three hours or more and rumors continued to circulate that the film was clocking in at Titanic levels of length. Now, it appears that we have final confirmation that Avengers: Endgame will, in fact, just barely break the three hour mark, with an official run time of three hours and two minutes.

The run time was briefly posted by AMC Theaters before being taken down, but Fandango has now posted the exact same length, and with those two reliable sources, we can pretty much call this one a done deal.

The three hour and two minute run time is all the more important because, since we're talking about a Marvel movie, every minute counts. The full run of credits is included in that length, and if this were any other movie fans would likely cut out and save themselves eight or ten minutes by skipping the credits, but with Marvel we all know we'll be hanging around until the very end to see if there's a final scene at the end of all the credits.

Marvel has gotten in the habit of running multiple scenes once the credits start, interspersed throughout. Quite often, the important bits that tease future films now come earlier than the end, but with Avengers: Infinity War the Captain Marvel tease came at the very end, so there's every reason to expect that a scene that either sets up Spider-Man: Far From Home or teases where the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be going in Phase Four will be the very last thing we see.

A three hour run time is no joke. That's a seriously long time to sit and watch a movie. On the one hand, you want to make sure you're properly supplied for such an event, you don't want to get hungry and be distracted by your stomach for the bottom half of the film. On the other hand, you certainly don't want to be called away to the bathroom in the middle of the movie, so you might want to take it easy on the fluids.

Three hour movies are not uncommon but back in the day they used to all include intermissions. I saw the road show version of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight which included an intermission, and I thought it was actually quite nice to have. I wouldn't be against seeing something like that happen in Avengers: Endgame but that's pretty unlikely. We're all going to need to power through this thing together.

Gemini Man Trailer Has Will Smith Fighting Will Smith

Gemini Man Trailer Has Will Smith Fighting Will Smith

One of the most intriguing under-the-radar movies of 2019 is Ang Lee’s Gemini Man. The film from the Academy Award-winning director of Life of Pi stars Will Smith as an over-the-hill hitman who is forced to face off with a clone of his younger self. The first footage from the sci-fi film impressed CinemaCon audiences with its de-aging technology and now we have a full trailer of Will Smith fighting Will Smith. Check it out:

The first thing that must be mentioned upon viewing this trailer is how amazing and impressive the de-aging on Will Smith looks. Despite the fact that he is a CG creation, the clone of Will Smith’s Henry Brogan looks nearly indistinguishable from the flesh and blood actor that we saw on film and TV screens in the '90s.

What makes this really stand out is that he is blending in perfectly to real environments with other actors; he’s not just surrounded by CGI. If the execution weren’t perfect, he’d stand out like a sore thumb, venturing into uncanny valley territory. For a film where Will Smith’s younger clone is one of the main characters, this absolutely had to look great, and based on this first trailer, Ang Lee and his team appear to have pulled it off.

There's also some good action in the Gemini Man trailer, with hand-to-hand combat, gun battles and plenty of explosions. I also really liked how the clone launched a dirt bike at his progenitor. Other than maybe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee isn’t really known as an action director, but he looks to have crafted some interesting set pieces here.

It won’t be all action though, as the film appears to have a major emotional and psychological element as well, and it is clear that Will Smith’s role as an aging hitman is one with a lot of pathos. In the trailer, we hear that the clone is Henry Brogan without the pain, and we see some of that pain, a weariness and melancholy etched on Will Smith’s face. One of the questions I’ll have going in to this movie is what is the cause of all that pain.

That’s not the only question, though. I’m also quite curious about the world this film is set in because it doesn’t appear to quite take place in the modern world as we know it. How far is this in the future, what role does Will Smith’s hitman play in this world and why is his clone being sent after him are all mysteries that I’m excited to see explored. And what’s the deal with that cave of skulls the two Will Smiths are fighting in?

Alongside the double-helping of Will Smith, Gemini Man has a great cast that includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Benedict Wong. Gemini Man also stars Clive Owen as Clay Verris, a nefarious looking character who seems to have some unknown agenda. It feels like we don’t see Clive Owen in big movies enough, so it’s great to see him here.

In addition to the aforementioned de-aging, Gemini Man will also be Ang Lee’s second film, after Billy Lynn’s Halftime Walk, to employ high frame rate technology. The film is being made in 3D at 120 frames per second in 4K resolution, according to THR. The public hasn’t embraced high frame rate films yet, as evidenced by Billy Lynn and the reception to The Hobbit’s 48fps, but it will be interesting to see if this kind of blockbuster can give the format a boost, provided audiences can find a theater that can display it the way it was meant to be seen.

Gemini Man opens in theaters on October 4. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all the movies headed to theaters this summer season and the rest of the year.

Robert Pattinson Says Christopher Nolan's New Movie Is Wildly Long

Robert Pattinson Says Christopher Nolan's New Movie Is Wildly Long

You never know what you’re going to get next with Christopher Nolan. One moment, he’s helming one of the biggest pre-Avengers comic book series with his Dark Knight Trilogy, and the next he’s experimenting in the realms of sci-fi and historical narrative. Back to his old tricks again, Nolan is currently working on a rather enigmatic film that, per his usual process, is being kept tightly under wraps. Details are scarce, but according to one of the film’s actors, Twilight veteran Robert Pattinson, it’s going to be a pretty long sit. And when he says long, it’s about three movies’ worth of length.

This detail casually came out during a recent interview, as he spoke about working on Christopher Nolan’s latest mystery film, and what it means to him as an actor. Robert Pattinson’s remarks were as follows:

As an actor, the only bit of control is whether or not you're doing a movie. Working with these important directors makes you feel more secure in the choices you're making. Like, I'm doing a big movie with Christopher Nolan after this. It's the craziest thing I've seen in years. It's the length of three movies.

The length of three movies sounds pretty intimidating, no matter how you slice it. On the more conservative side of things, per guidelines over what qualifies as a feature length film, you’re looking at three 80-minute Christopher Nolan films strung together, which roughly adds up to a four hour film. While that sort of undertaking has been done before, it’s not exactly a common occurrence in the modern world of filmmaking.

Though, for the sake of audience’s physical comfort, let’s hope that the length is closer to Nolan’s shortest film and not his longest, as 2014’s Interstellar holds that particular record at two hours and 49 minutes. Three movies of that run time wouldn’t feel like a movie anymore, it’d feel closer to a David Lynch TV series, and theater seats just aren’t comfortable enough to sit that long.

However, if you were to take the Nolan standard of film length, with his shortest film being his directorial debut Following, the result would still be in the same ballpark. Clocking in at 69 minutes, Christopher Nolan might have a roughly three and a half hour film lined up for confirmed stars Robert Pattinson, John David Washington, and Elizabeth Debicki to work their way through.

Other than this particular claim from Robert Pattinson’s interview with AZ Central, as well as some interesting stories -- like how he had to read the script in a locked room in the name of privacy -- we don’t know all that much about this untitled Christopher Nolan film. Some reports, such as a recent THR article, have pegged this new film as dealing with the time continuum; while other debunked reports had the film likened to “North By Northwest meets Inception.”

Maybe somewhere in-between lies the truth, both in the realm of the film’s story and its running time, but we probably won’t know until whatever point Christopher Nolan decides to share more details with the world. Let’s hope that if it does run as long as this outrageous claim suggests, it’ll at least come with an intermission to let folks stretch and tend to their bodily needs.

The as of yet untitled Christopher Nolan movie is set to blow minds when it opens on July 17th, 2020. In the meantime, Robert Pattinson can currently be seen in High Life, which is in limited release at this very moment.

Ouch, Hellboy Had A Massive Drop In Second Weekend At Box Office

Ouch, Hellboy Had A Massive Drop In Second Weekend At Box Office

Hellboy is a movie with problems. Those problems started with a slew of negative reviews making the film one of the most critically lambasted of the year. If the movie was hoping to be a success with fans, more than critics, it didn't have much luck there either, as it opened in third place and wasn't even the highest grossing new release of the weekend.

If Hellboy was looking to then fix things with some positive word of mouth, it's come up short there as well, as the film saw a serious box office drop of nearly 68% which almost saw it fall out of the top 10 during only its second weekend.

Hellboy finished its second weekend at the box office with just short of $4 million, a 67.8% drop compared to its opening weekend gross. That put the film behind Jordan Peele's Us, which finished its fifth weekend at the box office with $4.2 million.

A two-thirds drop in box office isn't an unreasonable drop, many films see their box office numbers fall by that much or more from their first to second weekend. However, Hellboy's problems are that it didn't start out in the best position. In addition, the movies that opened against Hellboy last weekend have shown much more remarkable staying power, making Hellboy look that much worse by comparison.

The comedy Little, which ended up beating Hellboy last weekend, only saw its fortunes fall by 45%, giving it the number five spot. Even more impressive, Laika's Missing Link which actually opened in ninth place last weekend, only saw it's box office fall by 26%, resulting in it actually gaining a slot and finishing its second weekend in eighth place

Part of the reason that these films saw such low box office drops, Captain Marvel jumped up two spots in the top 10 and actually made more money this weekend than it did the previous weekend, is that there was no major tentpole release to suck all the air, and money, out of the room. The box office was won by The Curse of La Llorona with only $26 million.

But then, a weekend like this, where movies that have been out for a while still had strong weekends shows just how badly things are going for Hellboy as it wasn't able to benefit from the same situation as every other movie at the multiplex. Nobody was even morbidly curious to see how the movie turned out when there was nothing else to see at the theater.

With Avengers: Endgame hitting this weekend we can pretty much write off Hellboy from a box office perspective. It will fall out of the 10 next weekend and will have to hope that it finds new life as a digital rental or perhaps on streaming services.

Early Detective Pikachu Reviews Are In, Here's How It's Doing On Rotten Tomatoes

Early Detective Pikachu Reviews Are In, Here's How It's Doing On Rotten Tomatoes

Pokemon is about to make its debut for a mass audience when the first live-action film in the franchise, Detective Pikachu, debuts next week. A handful of critics have already seen the movie, and their reviews are now online. So far, the new film is doing pretty well, while the movie only has 32 reviews as of this writing, the majority of them are positive, as Rotten Tomatoes currently has the film with a solid 75% positive score.

The movie has actually seen something of a boost in the last few hours. When Detective Pikachu first had enough reviews posted on Rotten Tomatoes to calculate a score, it had a 67% score after 21 reviews. Since then, 11 additional reviews have come in, and they've clearly been more positive.

Having said that, the movie has an average rating of 6.26 out of 10, which means that while most of the reviews may think the movie is good, they're not necessarily glowing.

While most seem to be in agreement that Detective Pikachu as a character is adorable as hell, and that the digital effects are impressive, It seems the story might be a bit disjointed and convoluted.

It's certainly going to be interesting to see just how Detective Pikachu does at the box office. The size and passion of the Pokemon fan base cannot be understated. Pokemon is a huge brand globally and it seems to be almost a certainty that overseas this movie is going to do serious business.

Domestically, things might be a little different. If you're not an expert on the hundreds of types of Pokemon that exist, will Detective Pikachu still work? Some of the critics seem to indicate thew answer is no, and as such there's a segment of the potential audience for whom lukewarm reviews might be enough to keep them home.

Still, Ryan Reynolds is incredibly popular and while Pikachiu might not be Deadpool, trailers indicate Reynolds is bringing a very similar style of (more family friendly) humor that could bring in a larger audience.

For those that have been waiting their entire lives for a live-action Pokemon movie, however, this film is almost certainly "critic proof." The only question is just how big that fan base is. Box office estimates currently have the movie looking at a domestic opening weekend of $82 million. In absolute numbers, that's a solid effort, even if it still might mean coming in second to the third weekend of Avengers: Endgame, which is currently still a possibility.

Certainly, there are going to be a lot more critics that are going to be seeing Detective Pikachu before it hits theaters next Friday, and considering how the Rotten Tomatoes score jumped significantly with only 11 reviews, it has the potential to do the same, and in either direction, after many more people file their opinions.

Detective Pikachu hits theaters May 10.