The Fast and Furious franchise seems to be following in the footsteps of the comic book world with characters that never really die even though it appears as if they did. Michelle Rodriguez who seemingly died in Fast and Furious and then appeared in the post credits scene in Fast Five, is officially signed on to reprise her role in the tentatively titled Fast and Furious 6. Rodriguez will also return to reprise her role in Machete Kills, the sequel to Robert Rodriguez’s Machete.

Rodriguez, who made a brief return in Fast Five, reunites with Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson. Gina Carano and possibly Luke Evans and Rihanna will join them. Justin Lin returns to the director’s chair once more to take on the sixth installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, which is said to take place in Europe with Dwayne Johnson still in hot pursuit of Paul Walker and Vin Diesel.

In a strange bit of casting news, it’s being reported that none other than Mel Gibson has entered into “serious discussions” for a role in the upcoming sequel to 2010’s Machete, which will be titled Machete Kills.

Nothing is know about who Gibson might play, only that it would a supporting role.

Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez appeared Yesterday at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival to give updates on several of his forthcoming projects, including the formation of his own studio for producing CGI-animated feature films called Quickdraw Animation. He also announced that he will be filming sequels to two of his previous hit movies this year.

Machete Kills, which we first announced here, will go into production in April and the long-delayed Sin City 2 is expected to film later this summer. In addition to those films Rodriguez also said that his animated Heavy Metal film finally has a finished script and is moving into the storyboard phase of pre-production, along with a family feature the director is hesitant to reveal the title because it would give away the concept.

The Geeks Of Doom Round Up hits into episode numero five, and Andy takes a look at the trailer for Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, and starring Steve Carell. For our music selection this week, Greg remembers Whitney Houston, and in tribute plays a cover version of “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

Later, we look at George Lucas‘ view on whether Han Shot First or Greedo Shot First, and mention the recent announcement of the upcoming Machete sequel. And as always, we close out with a preview of what to expect on The Drill Down and Social Blend podcasts.

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The other day we reported that Robert Rodriguez was working on a sequel to his 2010 action splatterfest Machete called Machete Kills that would reunite the director with his longtime collaborator and Machete leading man Danny Trejo, and that he was planning to begin filming pretty soon.

Today we are bring you your first look at a promotional poster for Machete Kills that will premiere at the European Film Market this week.

You can check it out here below.

Looks like the wrong Mexican is about to fucked with again.

It was nearly two years ago when fiercely independent filmmaker Robert Rodriguez turned his fake Grindhouse trailer Machete into a full-blown feature film top-loaded with gratuitous female nudity, gleefully gory comic book action, and an absurd all-star cast including Robert DeNiro, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan, and Cheech Marin. The entire concept of Machete was built around legendary tough guy character actor Danny Trejo, who reprised the title role that has elevated him to the status of an action icon in Rodriguez’s 2010 B-movie epic that grossed $44 million globally from a $10.5 million budget and did excellent business on DVD and Blu-ray.

Robert Rodriguez announced yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 that he is launching a new production company called Quick Draw. This company will work alongside Troublemaker to get his projects made. Troublemaker is his production company working within the studio system and Quick Draw will be his outlet for self-financed projects working outside the standard Hollywood system.

His first two projects coming from Quick Draw will be Sin City 2 and Machete 2. In a roundtable interview, Rodriguez shared that he really felt the need to finance and own his own projects after the Disney/Miramax split where neither the Weinsteins nor he himself owned his films. At this point the scripts for both films are nearly complete. Once he’s happy with the stories he’ll go right into production through Quick Draw, no waiting for money from Hollywood.

A very special added bonus is set to be released with the new Call of Duty: Black Ops expansion pack, called Escalation.

One of the maps that will come with the expansion is called “Call of the Dead” and is inspired by the man who’s pretty much single-handedly responsible for the zombie sub-genre, George A. Romero, who’s also part of the game itself. In it you’ll be able to take on an army of the undead, which Call of Duty has become known for in their games and extra DLC packs, but it’s WHO you get to play as that makes this particular expansion so amusing.

You can see a very grindhouse-inspired trailer for the Black Ops expansion by clicking on over to the other side now!

The digital deal of the day is over at Amazon today is the Robert Rodriguez film Machete, which is available for rental for only $.99.

This deal is valid only for today, Tuesday, March 8, 2011, until midnight PST. Once you activate the rental through Amazon’s Video On Demand service, you’ll have access to the movie for 48 hours. If you’re interested in purchasing the digital version, the cost is $14.99.

Also, if you’d like to own a physical copy of the movie, the Blu-ray/Digital Combo Pack is available for $22.49 while the DVD is $15.99. Both editions are part of Amazon’s “Buy This DVD and Watch it Instantly” program — you get the film as a FREE digital rental you can watch immediately when your purchase the physical copy.

Machete
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Steven Seagal, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan
20th Century Fox
Release Date: September 3, 2010

Keep your cheesy horror flicks and interchangeable kiddy crap. I’m wrapping up my movie going summer basking in the glory of the mightiness of Machete, a movie that by all accounts should not even exist. It started out as an idea for a movie Robert Rodriguez intended to build around the unique talent and looks of his frequent collaborator Danny Trejo, a reformed ex-con who got into acting in 1985 with a small part in the underrated action classic Runaway Train with Jon Voight and Eric Roberts. Trejo is a guy who has lived more lives than cats typically are born with and has always survived to tell the tale, usually on his face. He’s also got that awesome chest tattoo of a rather sexy woman that always seems to make its way into Trejo’s movies. Even if he’s in a scene that doesn’t require him to bare his chest somehow, someway, that tat is making a cameo appearance. Trejo has appeared in most of Robert Rodriguez’s films since 1995’s Desperado, a quasi-remake/sequel to the director’s ultra low-budget 1992 debut El Mariachi. During filming Rodriguez was inspired to create a lead role in a future action epic for Trejo to play, and thus the seed of Machete was prematurely ejaculated, and the waiting began.