The Nice Guys
Director: Shane Black
Screenwriter: Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, Kim Basinger
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated R |116 Minutes
Release Date: May 20, 2016

“Before we deal with the crime of the century, let’s get rid of the fucking rotting corpse.”

30 years ago, Shane Black sold his first screenplay to producer Joel Silver. An action flick about a strait-laced detective forced to team with an unhinged cop, Lethal Weapon was a huge success, spawning multiple sequels. Black’s storytelling set a new standard for action comedies and redefined the “buddy film” genre. He was one of the highest paid screenwriters in Hollywood, writing movies like The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero, and The Long Kiss Goodnight before disappearing in the late ’90s.

Black resurfaced in 2005 with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, his directorial debut. A neo-noir buddy comedy, the film follows a thief impersonating an actor and a private eye as they attempt to solve a murder. In 2013, he returned with Iron Man 3, a Marvel comic book movie that doubles as one of Black’s signature action-comedies. A snarky superhero and his by-the-books sidekick have to rescue the President of the United States from a terrorist who isn’t a terrorist at all, but rather an actor portraying one. Oh, and it’s set at Christmastime, too. It’s the most Shane Black thing ever, until The Nice Guys that is.

A new trailer has been released by Warner Brothers Pictures for The Nice Guys, the new movie from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3 director Shane Black starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.

The movie is set in Los Angeles in the ’70s, and follows a private eye and an enforcer working together to find a missing girl. Also starring is Kim Basinger, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, and Ty Simpkins.

You can check out the new trailer and read a synopsis below.

With the sequel opening yesterday, Screen Junkies made an obvious choice this week with an Honest Trailer of the Magic Mike, directed by Oscar winner, Steven “Soda Burger.” It was inevitable that women would want to see Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey and other model-esque actors strut their stuff on the “dance floor.” What’s interesting is that it’s actually a really good movie with plenty of eye candy for all, an interesting story loosely based on Tatum’s pre-acting career. Narrator Jon Bailey spends much of the trailer discussing the uneasiness men (including himself) have watching this film for a variety of complicated reasons.

Watch the Honest Trailer below.

Magic Mike XXL
Director: Gregory Jacobs
Screenwriter: Reid Carolin, Channing Tatum
Cinematographer: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodriguez, Gabriel Iglesias, Jada Pinkett-Smith
Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated R | 115 Minutes
Release Date: July 1, 2015

“Are you ready to be worshipped?”

Magic Mike XXL is something of a cinematic anomaly. What makes Gregory Jacobs‘ film so unique is that it works as bro-centric male fantasy and erotic female wish fulfillment. It’s the movie both Entourage and Fifty Shades of Grey aspire to, but are woefully unequipped to be.

Written by Reid Carolin and Channing Tatum, Magic Mike XXL picks up three years after the end of Magic Mike. After leaving the stripper spotlight to start his own business, “Magic” Mike Lane (Tatum) has traded one grind for another. The custom furniture business isn’t exactly booming, and the girl he thought was the one wasn’t.

Meanwhile, the remaining Kings of Tampa are planning one last blow-out performance, but they need the legendary Magic Mike as their headliner. Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Adam Rodriguez, and Kevin Nash, along with their emcee (Gabriel Iglesias), recruit Mike for one last ride: a road trip to a Myrtle Beach stripper convention where they’ll drown in a tsunami of dollars.

MGM has found their primary villain for the upcoming remake of The Magnificent Seven, which already features a great cast consisting of Denzel Washington (Glory, American Gangster), Ethan Hawke (Before Sunset, Boyhood), Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World), Vincent D’Onofrio (Men In Black, Daredevil), Wagner Moura (Elysium, Elite Squad), Haley Bennett (Marley & Me, The Equalizer), and Matt Bomer (White Collar, Magic Mike).

The studio has chosen Peter Sarsgaard to be the film’s biggest bad guy, a robber baron named Bartholomew Bogue. But while they’ve found their primary antagonist, the movie is also losing a villain. Game of Thrones and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice star Jason Momoa was also recently reported to be in negotiations for a role, but now it’s being said that the actor is no longer attached to the project. Whether his duties playing Aquaman conflicted with the shooting schedule, he simply decided he didn’t want the role, or something else caused the departure is not known for sure at the moment.

The first trailer for Magic Mike XXL isn’t a music video; although it might as well be marketed as one with all the dance moves and perfectly timed sound cues.

With Magic Mike director Steven Soderbergh retiring, Gregory Jacobs now takes the helm, which sees Channing Tatum‘s character, Magic Mike, hit the road for a final farewell tour. Hit the jump to check out the first sweaty trailer for Magic Mike XXL.

Just weeks after his 2012 film Magic Mike hit theaters, Channing Tatum confirmed that a sequel was in the works, with plans to make the follow-up bigger.

With a Magic Mike XXL trailer expected later today, the hunky G.I. JOE actor posted an image of the film’s first poster to this Twitter account yesterday. The poster shows off a shirtless Tatum and his six-pack ads, but centers on his crotch area, where he points to the words “COMING” – coming to theaters, that is.

Along with Tatum returning as the titular stripper, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodriguez, and Gabriel Iglesias will all be reprising their roles, with franchise newcomers Jada Pinkett Smith, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Glover, and Amber Heard signing on for the ride this time around. Matthew McConaughey, who, in the first film, played a former stripper who owned the Florida club where Mike works, will sit out this dance.

The Digital Wire returns and is packing more DVD and Blu-ray announcements than usual. This week we’ve got a brain pan-searing cornucopia of summer blockbusters and offbeat indie flicks as well as a mammoth box set guaranteed to bring joy into the life of that Doctor Who fan close to your heart.

Below you’ll find info on several future home video releases complete with technical specs, release dates, and links to pre-order at Amazon. We would greatly appreciate it if you use those links to order because a small percentage of each order helps keep this website running at max power. The cover art for certain titles has yet to be finalized.

Superman Unbound
Blu-ray Multipack | DVD | Instant Video
Directed by James Tucker
Starring Matt Bomer, Stana Katic, Molly C. Quinn, John Noble
Release Date: May 7, 2013

First and foremost, I’m not a huge Superman fan. I prefer my heroes a bit more…mortal, you know? That said, I am sometimes forced to reassess a character based on who is writing the storyline, script, what have you. Animated superhero shows have a certain appeal to me, regardless of the main characters. Watching the Super Friends on Saturday morning is probably one of my favorite childhood memories and I find any excuse to try to relive that excitement. And the chance to watch and discuss Superman Unbound was way too cool to pass up. Now on to the review…

DC Entertainment does love to change up the voice actors quite a bit, don’t they? This incarnation of the Man of Steel is voiced by none other than White Collar star Matt Bomer. This became a very distracting issue for me, just to let you know. I kept envisioning Big Blue as an art thief in New York and not the Kryptonian hero of Metropolis. But maybe that’s just me.

The very best films of 2012 accurately depicted the fragility of mankind and of its spirit. These are not new topics meant to provoke awe. Every year, cinema depicts the most inconceivable of situations and pits characters in them to fend for their lives. In 2012, the best of cinema took an intense foray into pain and suffering but with an unerring intent to discern what it was that permitted or encouraged particular characters to endure certain tragedies.

What was discovered in these elite films was the profoundest reverence for togetherness and dependability. The police, being dragged around the uninhabited fields of Anatolia searching for a dead body, still managed to cooperate with two murderers in Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. If it was not for a fast-thinking scout master who gathered Camp Ivanhoe’s finest boy scouts to search for two young lovers who fled the coop in Moonrise Kingdom, they would forever be stranded on their own magical island (is that really a bad thing?). Instead of two souls aimlessly suffering existence alone in The Master, they endure together and astonishingly discover what each one so desperately needs in the other: a sense of worth. The father and daughter in Beasts of the Southern Wild would not survive the aftermath of the storm if it were not for their true, illustrious relationship. And the octogenarian couple in Amour is the only proof we need to know that it takes two people, solidified in an unbreakable relationship, to stand firm, face life and to stare the inevitable square in the eyes.

The following are my picks for the 30 best films of 2012.