Immortals
Netflix | Amazon | Google Play | SEN | Vudu | Xbox | YouTube
DVD | DVD
Directed by Tarsem Singh
Starring Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff, Luke Evans, Mickey Rourke, John Hurt
Relativity Media
Originally Released: November 11, 2011

Coupled with delightful visuals and unreal effects, Immortals is a fantasy, with a reasonable cast and a good dash of battle gore. While it takes the lead from the likes of 300, Troy, and Clash Of The Titans; it also unfortunately butchers the original mythology upon which it is ostensibly based, taking the phrase "loosely based" to new levels of bullshittery.

Immortals follows the legend of Theseus (Henry Cavill), the founder-hero from Greek mythology, responsible for the formation and consolidation of Athens – and eventually Greece as a power in the ancient world. Centuries after the war of the Immortals, evil King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) seeks the Epirus Bow, the only weapon that could possibly free the evil Titans, antagonists of the Gods.

A Hero’s Journey, Immortals depicts Theseus’ rise to prominence, a reluctant mortal who would stand by the sides of Gods – and eventually fight in their names. In a blood-soaked battle that would determine the conceptualization of "souls" in Greek culture, the stakes are high – and may spell doom not only for the mortals, but for Immortal Gods as well.

Ever since Sin City: A Dame To Kill For went into production, director Robert Rodriguez has continued to expand his mighty impressive ensemble cast on a weekly basis. Last week Eva Green signed on to play Ava Lord, the titular dame at the center of the action, and today we have word that the movie’s main villain has been cast. Stacy Keach, the veteran character actor with a career that spans more than five decades in film, theater, and television, has joined A Dame to Kill For as the crime boss Wallenquist, described by Sin City creator Frank Miller as “the one man who can’t be redeemed in Sin City. He is pure evil.”

Now this movie has become a must-see as far as this writer is concerned. Keach has long been one of my favorite actors and he has an acting resume that even the biggest male movie star in Hollywood wishes they had. He got his start in the late 1950s on the syndicated comedy series How to Marry a Millionaire, but it took nearly ten years for him to make the leap to feature film acting. Keach was one of the most in-demand actors of the 1970s with roles in movies like Brewster McCloud, The New Centurions, John Huston’s brilliant boxing drama Fat City, the cult classic action-comedy The Dion Brothers, and the Jim Thompson adaptation The Killer Inside Me. Fans of the Cheech and Chong movies will recognize him as the doping duo’s police nemesis Sgt. Stedanko in Up in Smoke and Nice Dreams.

Director Robert Rodriguez has found his dame that someone is bound to kill for as production on the long-in-development Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is now fully underway. Despite early reports that had both Angelina Jolie and Rachel Weisz both in contention for the role of Ava Lord, described by co-director/Sin City creator Frank Miller as “every man’s most glorious dreams come true, she’s also every man’s darkest nightmares,” French actress Eva Green has won the coveted part.

The casting of Green does come as an unexpected surprise – as the best surprises usually tend to be – but she has always been a talented and alluring actress adept at portraying multi-dimensional characters both beautiful and haunted in films such as Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, Ridley Scott’s underrated 2005 Crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven, and especially in Casino Royale, where she played Vesper Lynd to Daniel Craig in his first (and best until Skyfall was released) time playing James Bond. Recently Green appeared in Tim Burton’s film version of the 1960s Gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows and is set to appear later this summer in 300: Rise of an Empire. She also played the devious Morgan on the short-lived Starz series Camelot.

Robert Rodriguez has been promising a sequel to Sin City, the 2005 over-the-top noir comic adaptation he co-directed with its creator Frank Miller, since the original became a smash hit in theaters and on home video. Up until a few months ago there had not been much movement on the project outside of unfulfilled promises and expectations, but production on the upcoming Sin City: A Dame to Kill For – a sequel that will be a combination of previously published comic stories and all-new material conceived by Miller – has been going on at Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas for a while now.

Every week seems to bring exciting news on the casting front with original stars Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, and Jaime King reprising their roles alongside new cast members Josh Brolin (playing Dwight, Clive Owen‘s character from the original), Jamie Chung (stepping in for Devon Aoki as the deadly sword-wielding Miho), Dennis Haysbert (replacing the late Michael Clarke Duncan as brutal underworld enforcer Manute), Ray Liotta, Juno Temple, Christopher Meloni, and most interesting of all, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Planet Terror), Sin City: A Dame To Kill For is currently filming in Austin, Texas and will see Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, and Jaime King reprising their roles from the 2005 film, Sin City.

Joining the cast are Jamie Chung (Sucker Punch), Dennis Haysbert (The Unit, 24), and Josh Brolin (Gangster Squad) stepping in to replace Devon Aoki, the late Michael Clarke Duncan, and Clive Owen respectively. Brolin isn’t necessarily “replacing” Owen, but rather the character Dwight McCarthy pre-facial reconstruction.

Now, The Playlist has received word that Ray Liotta (Killing Them Softly), Juno Temple (Killer Joe), and Jeremy Piven (Entourage) have joined the cast, alongside Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Christopher Meloni.