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We chat to legendary producer Mario Kassar about the return of Carolco, its forthcoming sci-fi film Bot, Hollywood studios, and more...

First Blood. Total Recall. Terminator 2. For a generation versed in the major action films of the 80s and 90s, the Carolco brand holds a special place in the memory. Its distinctive logo became a byword for bold, often brash movies starring some of the biggest names of the day - not least Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Founded by producers Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar in the 1970s, Carolco went from indie outsider to a company with the size and clout of a Hollywood major; the studio became famous - and infamous in some quarters - for its headline-grabbing deals. (Legend has it that, when Arnie signed up to make Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he was given a $17m private jet.)

At the height of its powers, Carolco was making smaller-scale,...

If you love heart-pounding, non-stop action, you’re gonna love No Tears For The Dead!

From Jeong-beom Lee, the creator of the internationally-acclaimed action thriller The Man From Nowhere, comes the amazing box office hit No Tears For The Dead, debuting on Blu-ray and DVD February 17 from Cj Entertainment. A hit man traumatized from accidentally killing a young girl during a job is given the mission to eliminate her mother and begins the ultimate fight to save her life. The film’s all-star cast includes superstar Jang Dong-gun (Friend, Warrior’s Way), Kim Min-hee (Helpless, Very Ordinary Couple), Brian Tee (The Wolverine, upcoming: Jurassic World), Kim Hee-won (The Man from Nowhere, My Way) and Kim Joon-seong (Innocent Blood, Man-choo).

The New York Times said of No Tears For The Dead:

“this is the kind of sleek, precisely constructed genre work that’s gone missing from American summer movie”

and...

Victoria, BC. It's early May on Vancouver Island and rain has temporarily trapped Kevin Rankin in a makeshift press tent just inland at Island View Beach Regional Park. With several of his co-stars in rotation being interviewed, Rankin ends up sitting next to the heat lamp, which means sitting next to me for what turns out to be an in-depth conversation about both his work on Fox's "Broadchurch" and his eclectic and varied career. With his turns as rascally and resilient Herc on "Friday Night Lights" and gloriously unprepared-for-authority Ra Lucien on "Undeclared," Rankin has the rare honor of having been part of multiple shows that earned the Firewall & Iceberg Podcast Summer ReWatch treatment. [Three, if you include "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," though his one-episode appearance came after the season featured in the podcast.] Rankin has also had runs on shows including "Breaking Bad," "Six Feet Under," "Big Love" and "Justified," when he wasn't terrorizing the President in "White House Down" or assisting Matthew McConaughey to his Oscar in "Dallas Buyers Club.

I’m honestly not sure what Alexandre Aja’s “Horns” was doing at Comic Con over the weekend, since what are the chances anyone lining up for those panels are going to see this movie when it finally arrives on DVD/VOD, or wherever it ends up opening in limited release? I’m guessing it’s because Radcliffe is still tops with the nerd crowd thanks to his “Harry Potter” days, but the movie, well, it doesn’t exactly look like something Joe Blow Comic Fan will be lining up to see. I think it looks pretty good myself. It’s certainly got that “out there” vibe going for it. It’s very off-beat, which is likely why Radcliffe chose it after his wizardin’ days. Daniel Radcliffe stars in this twisted new thriller, based on the best-selling book by Joe Hill. Blamed for the murder of his girlfriend, Ignatius Perrish...

I still have no idea why a movie about a psychotic nurse was shot in 3D. If anything, forcing the “3D” into the film’s title is just going to date it 10 years from now. Hell, it’s already taken the movie 2 years to finally get released, so maybe it’s already dated, back in the glory days when you could slap “3D” into your title and charge a few dollars more from Joe Blow Moviegoer. Anyways, check out the first TV spot and a trio of new images for “The Day” director Doug Aarniokoski’s “Nurse 3D.” Talk about making you not want to go to the hospital! Or does it make you want to go to the hospital even more? I guess it’ll depend on how frisky you like your nurse. Nurse 3D is a thriller/horror film directed by Doug Aarniokoski and written by David Loughery starring Paz de la Huerta,...

Adam Wingard’s “You’re Next” is one of the better reviewed horror titles to come along in a while. Apparently everyone who has seen it, and knows their horror, thinks it’s the bee’s knees. I guess we’ll find out if Joe Blow out there appreciates it when the film opens later this month. Until then, check out 9 new posters for the movie, which spells out the film’s title. Give me a “Y”, give me a “O”, and so on and so forth. (What, you didn’t think I was going to do that for every letter in the title, did you?) One of the smartest and most terrifying films in years, You’Re Next reinvents the genre by putting a fresh twist on home-invasion horror. When a gang of masked, ax-wielding murderers descend upon the Davison family reunion, the hapless victims seem trapped…until an...

The end of a sexy era is chronicled in Richard Wolstencroft’s intimate documentary The Last Days of Joe Blow. Michael Tierney was a struggling Hollywood filmmaker and actor who transformed himself into the male adult film star “Joe Blow,” living the good life until the Internet killed his industry and his profession.

Tierney, the nephew of iconic tough guy actor Lawrence Tierney (Reservoir Dogs, Prizzi’s Honor), wrote, directed and starred in the indie film Evicted before moving into adult films “looking for adventure,” as he says in the trailer above. Tierney further intimates that his career choice led him into some dark territory that he decides to ultimately abandon — if he can truly leave that lifestyle.

The Last Days of Joe Blow recently had its World Premiere at the 16th annual Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 8 and will be making the festival rounds before its full release.

“Ender’s Game” stars Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford would like you to know that the official teaser trailer for director Gavin Hood’s “Ender’s Game” doesn’t drop until next week on May 7th via Google Hangout, but for those of you who can’t wait that long, they have about 10 seconds of actual footage from the trailer for you to see today. So, get to seein’ it already. Yes, it’s another preview teaser for the teaser trailer. Welcome to the brave new world of Hollywood movie marketing, folks. “Ender’s Game”, of course, is the hotly anticipated movie based on Orson Scott Card’s classic book. It’ll be interest to see how much interest it gets from the general public. I know fans of the book (myself included) will be there on opening day, but what of Joe Blow America who would rather watch shitty reality TV shows than,...

Just when you thought Seth Grahame-Smith’s wacky, zombified take on Jane Austen’s English romance “Pride and Prejudice” was dead, someone goes and resurrects the bloody thing. Again. Panorama Media has officially announced that they are joining the long-in-development (but no actor or director really wants to actually make it, it seems) adaptation of Grahame-Smith’s novel “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”, with plans to produce, finance and handle foreign sales for the film — if it ever actually gets made, that is. Natalie Portman remains one of the film’s producers, and honestly, if she actually wants to get this thing made, she would attach herself as its star, too. The fact that she isn’t doing that makes you wonder how much a “producer” actually does besides sell his/her name to a movie so the PR folks could easier sell it to you, Joe Blow moviegoer, who...

Each Wednesday, I find myself tweeting the sentence, "Tonight's #Svu explores every parent's worst nightmare." I've gotta hand it to the writers: it really is a skill, coming up with something more disturbing every week. The nightmare on tonight's episode, "Vanity's Bonfire," posed questions ranging from deep to deeply titillating. What will a mother do to protect her child -- even if the child is a killer? What will a father do to prevent his mistress from leaking their sex tapes? And how much of a bonus does NYPD have to pay the detective tasked with photographing dad's erect penis?

Recap: A young couple watches their two-year-old daughter, Tessa, frolic in a Brooklyn playground. While Dad is texting, someone takes Tessa! The panicked parents run through the playground screaming her name, in a scene that easily makes the list of Every Mother's Top 10 Worst Nightmares.

Our detectives question the requisite lurking sex offender,...

Movie fanboys are dying to see RZA’s “The Man with the Iron Fists”, but whether Joe Blow Moviegoer is also interested is entirely open to debate. The film looks like such a curious piece of moviemaking, I can’t tell if this thing is going to kill at the box office or sink like, well, Dave Bautista’s character Brass Body. We shall find out when the film opens next month. Until then, get a look at three fighting clips from “The Man with the Iron Fists”. I get the feeling all this fighting is a very good indication of what to expect from the movie. Lots and lots of fighting, is what I’m trying to say. Since his arrival in China’s Jungle Village, the town’s blacksmith (RZA) has been forced by radical tribal factions to create elaborate tools of destruction. When the clans’ brewing war boils over,...

Cause the leading man role in the movie version of the racing game franchise is yours if you want it. Or so says Interwebs scuttlebutt courtesy of Zap2it. Apparently someone out there still thinks former “Friday Night Lights” star turned big budget movie bomb specialist Taylor Kitsch (“John Carter”, “Battleship”, and now “Savages”, yikes) still has what it takes to make Joe Blow Moviegoer spend a night at the movies. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the guy, I think he’s good … as the best friend of the leading man in an action movie. The same report now has Kitsch’s camp mulling over the offer. Because, apparently, the chance to play the lead in a Dreamworks film after three bombs in a roll is something they have to “think” over first. Riiiiiiiight. If an offer has been made, he’s taking the gig. If an offer hasn’t been made,...

You’d think with Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” already tracking as well as it currently is, with awareness amount movie geeks and just plain ol Joe Blow on the street as high as it could possibly get, that Warner Bros. might be coasting on the way to the film’s July 20th, 2012 opening. Well you’d be wrong. Check out this latest billboard for “The Dark Knight Rises”. Now That is some clever advertising. Whoever came up with this idea definitely earned their paycheck for the week… “The Dark Knight Rises” stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine. It rises, perhaps for the last time (or until the studio finds a way to reboot it, I mean) a month from now. Click to enlarge to get a better look...