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Trailer Park–All the movies you’ll want to see in 2022

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Con Culture, Fantasy Realms, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, Superheroes, TV — Leave a comment

December 27, 2021

It’s that time of year again, time to take a look forward at what movies should be on your radar for 2022. We’re changing up this year’s preview by adding several trailers. Unlike in previous years, we have trailers for most of these movies. These are the genre films we think borg readers will want to know about to make their own checklists for the coming year. In all we pulled 60 movies from the hundreds of films that have been finalized or are in varying stages of final production and slated for next year’s movie calendar. Many of these will be more than familiar to you, as we’ve previewed some going back to 2019.

The biggest surprise is there aren’t a lot of surprises on the horizon, at least for big movies, like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Black Adam, Lightyear, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, Halloween Ends, Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion, a new Predator movie called Prey, and The Batman. Compare the below list to our 2021 list, 2020 list, 2019 list and even the 2018 list, 2017 list, 2016 list, 2015 list, or 2014 list, and you’ll see the studios continue moving genre content from the big screen to the small screen via streaming services. Hollywood hasn’t made its way back to full production mode yet since the pandemic risks aren’t over yet, and it’s beginning to look like TV will be the location most people watch their movies for the foreseeable future, if not permanently. What do the big movies have in common? They’re all sequels–and more remakes of movies, books, and TV shows are on the way.

First up, the top 15 movies expected in 2022 that don’t have an announced release date yet, followed by our annual month-by-month rundown of trailers. Grab your calendar and start making your plans–here are the movies you’ll want to see in 2022 (and some you might not!):

Havoc –Tom Hardy stars as a detective in a crime drama directed by Gareth Evans (Netflix)
Enola Holmes 2 – sequel, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill (Netflix)
Prey – the fifth movie in the Predator franchise will be a prequel, starring Amber Midthunder as a Comanche who must protect her tribe from the alien threat (Hulu)
Pinocchio – live-action version of the fairy tale stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket (Disney+)
The Amazing Maurice – animated young adult fantasy about a sentient cat, based on the 2001 book The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, starring Emilia Clarke, Hugh Laurie, David Thewlis (theatrical release)
Blonde – a biopic about Marilyn Monroe starring Ana de Armas, with Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale (Netflix)
Wendell and Wild – comedy duo Key and Peele create a stop-motion dark horror comedy (Netflix)
The Gray Man –the Russo brothers direct a film about a an ex-CIA agent, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas (Netflix)
The Adam Project – sci-fi movie stars Ryan Reynolds as a man who goes back in time to get his younger self for help (Netflix)
Spaceman – sci-fi movie stars Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan (Netflix)
The School for Good and Evil – long-delayed young adult fantasy with Charlize Theron (Netflix)
Slumberland – kids fantasy adventure starring Jason Momoa and Kyle Chandler (Netflix)
All Quiet on the Western Front – remake of novel adaptation, this time starring Daniel Bruhl (Netflix)
Blade of the 47 Ronin – sequel to 47 Ronin, starring Mark Dacascos (Netflix)
Deep Water – another Ben Affleck bad marriage “erotic psychological thriller,” with Ana de Armas (Hulu).

January

The 355 – Spy/thriller, starring Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Penelope Cruz, Sebastian Stan – January 7.

The Tender Bar – Coming of age story starring Ben Affleck and Christopher Lloyd (Amazon) – January 7.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania – Latest entry in the animated franchise (Amazon) – January 14.

Scream – Horror, the big reboot/sequel stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette – January 17.

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Tags: Aldis Hodge, all movie previews 2022, All Quiet on the Western Front, all the movies 2022, Amazon Prime, Ambulance movie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Aubrey Plaza, Avatar 2022, Babylon movie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Black Adam, Blade of 47 Ronin, Blonde movie Marilyn Monroe, Bob's Burgers: The Movie, Bullet Train movie, Cary Elwes, Channing Tatum, Chris Hemsworth, DC League of Superpets, Death on the Nile, Deep Water, Disney Plus, Distant movie, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Dog movie, Downton Abbey 2022, Dwayne Johnson, Enola Holmes 2, Escape from Spiderhead, Ethan Hawke, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Fantastic Beasts 2022, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Guy Ritchie, Halloween Ends, Hannah John-Kamen, Harry Potter 2022, Havoc Tom Hardy, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, Hulu, Jason Statham, Jordan Peele, Jurassic World Dominion, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Hart, Lightyear, Michael Keaton, Michelle Yeoh, Minions 2022, Moonfall, Morbius, most-anticipated films 2022, most-anticipated movies 2022, movie previews 2022, Netflix, Nope movie, Operation Fortune, Pierce Brosnan, Pinocchio live-action, Predator 2022, Prey movie Predator, Romancing the Stone, Rumble movie, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Shahi, Scream 2022, Slumberland, Sneakerella, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Spaceman, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, The 355, The Adam Project, The Amazing Maurice, The Batman movie, The Black Phone, The Flash movie, The Gray Man, The King's Daughter, The Lost City, The Man from Toronto, The Northman, The School for Good and Evil, The Tender Bar, Thor: Love and Thunder, Top Gun: Maverick, Trailer Park, Turning Red movie, Uncharted movie, Unwelcome movie, Wakanda Forever 2022, Wendell and Wild, Woody Harrelson

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Trailer Park–The “Mega-Sized Halloween and Superhero” Edition

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October 17, 2021

It’s one of those head-scratching things. Previews for horror movies in October for movies not arriving until around Valentine’s Day. And it happens every year. Valentine’s Day is a big time for horror, and two movies heading your way next year look like you’ll want to see them if not in the theater at least streaming once they arrive on home video. Also, this weekend is DC Fandome, an online streaming event like Disney’s annual D23 fan event (which arrives next month). If you’ve wondered where DC Comics movies have been, they’ve evidently been waiting for next year–even before the pandemic they’ve been lagging behind the Marvel movies. DC rolled out several teasers this weekend, many highlighting concept art as they make their way to their final stages of production. Each of the new movies has promise, and you’ll want to compare them to our single Marvel preview below.

Below check out trailers for two 2022 horror movies, a Marvel series coming soon, and five movies starring characters from the pages of DC Comics, beginning next year.

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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood–Tarantino’s next movie has actors playing actors, plus famous actors’ kids

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March 28, 2019

Quentin Tarantino‘s next film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, has so many reasons to give it your attention, where do we begin? As heavily advertised, the “retired director” is back as writer and director on his ninth film, and every one of his films gains critical and popular acclaim–from Reservoir Dogs to The Hateful Eight, they’re all notable for Tarantino’s unique brash and violent style. Emphasize that style element because he tends to hit the right mark when searching out throwback vibes for his fans, whether via Pam Grier and Samuel L. Jackson in the 1970s in Jackie Brown or reaching back through time with 1950s nostalgia with John Travolta and Uma Thurman in a retro diner in Pulp Fiction. So where will Tarantino turn for a film set in 1969? Something violent in an era of unique style. So the “Manson family” murders, of course.

The biggest risk for Tarantino (beyond being seen as exploiting a murder still in the national consciousness 50 years later) is casting some major actors, and some not-so-major actors, as actors from the past. The easier question to answer may be “Who isn’t in this movie?” In the leading role is Leonardo DiCaprio as a fictional character based on Burt Reynolds. Brad Pitt co-stars as a character based on Reynolds’ long-time stuntman, Hal Needham. Margot Robbie plays actress and Manson family victim Sharon Tate, who was married to Roman Polanski and pregnant at the time of her murder. Dakota Fanning plays Squeaky Fromme, Bruce Dern plays the rancher that allowed the Mansons to reside on his land where they are believed to have planned the murders, and Lena Dunham plays another Manson family member. Al Pacino plays a Hollywood agent, and from the Tarantino acting troupe, look for bit appearances by regulars Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen. As a sad footnote, this will be the last film appearance of Luke Perry, who portrays real-life TV Western star Wayne Maunder, who died just this past November.

But the real challenge is casting Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, Connie Stevens, and Mama Cass Elliot in the film–highly-recognizable icons. Those roles go to Homeland and Life’s Damian Lewis as McQueen, Empire and Inhumans’ Mike Moh as Lee, Dreama Walker (Gran Torino) as Stevens, and Rachel Redleaf as Cass. We only get a brief look at Redleaf and longer view of Moh as Lee (with a decent vocal impersonation) in the first trailer for the film–Lee had been working on a film with Sharon Tate. Tarantino also invited in a league of children of well-known actors for his film, like Andie MacDowell’s daughter Margaret Qualley (IO), Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s daughter Rumer Willis (Hawaii Five-O), Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke’s daughter Maya Hawke (Stranger Things), Kevin Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith (Supergirl), Clifton Collins, Jr. (Star Trek 2009) grandson of Western actor Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, and one more relative, Tarantino’s wife, Daniella Pick (Pick Up, Exit).

Along with real-world characters, Tarantino pulled in some familiar actors from the late 1960s and 1970s, including Nicholas Hammond, known for role as Peter Parker in TV’s The Amazing Spider-Man, a regular face from the 1970s and 1980s: Martin Kove (The Karate Kid), and Brenda Vaccaro (Airport ’77, Capricorn One). And even frequent TV guest star Spencer Garrett is a ringer for any number of Disney film stars from the 1960s (and he’s the son of actress Kathleen Nolan (Magnum, p.i., The Incredible Hulk)). There are many more familiar actors in this one, including James Marsden (X-Men), Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild), Lorenza Izzo (The House With a Clock in Its Walls), Sydney Sweeney (The Handmaid’s Tale), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer favorite Danny Strong. (With so many extras listed as Playboy Bunnies, it’s probably fair to expect a cameo from someone playing Hugh Hefner, too).

In case you missed it, here is the first trailer for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood:

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Tags: Al Pacino, Andie MacDowell, Brad Pitt, Brenda Vaccaro, Bruce Dern, Bruce Lee, Bruce Willis, Burt Reynolds, Charles Manson, Clifton Collins, Columbia Pictures, Connie Stevens, Dakota Fanning, Damian Lewis, Daniella Pick, Danny Strong, Demi Moore, Dreama Walker, Emile Hirsch, Ethan Hawke, Hal Needham, Harley Quinn Smith, Hugh Hefner, James Marsden, Kevin Smith, Kurt Russell, Lena Dunham, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorenza Izzo, Luke Perry, Mama Cass Elliot, Manson family murders, Margaret Qualley, Margot Robbie, Martin Kove, Maya Hawke, Michael Madsen, Mike Moh, Nicholas Hammond, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Quentin Tarantino, Quentin Tarantino movies, Rachel Redleaf, Roman Polanski, Rumer Willis, Sharon Tate, Sony Pictures, Spencer Garrett, Squeaky Fromme, Steve McQueen, Sydney Sweeney, Tim Roth, Uma Thurman, Wayne Maunder

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Opening weekend review–The ultimate sci-fi fix: Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, a visionary sci-fi, space fantasy

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July 20, 2017

Review by C.J. Bunce

This weekend sci-fi and fantasy fans finally get to see French director Luc Besson’s singular vision decades in the planning as Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets arrives in theaters. An adaptation of the fifty-year-old, popular, French comic book series Valerian and Laureline, the film delivers in a magnificent, grandiose way only Besson could deliver. As with his sci-fi classic The Fifth Element, Besson–who also directed Lucy, The Professional, and La Femme Nikita–has added another genre-defining film to the list of must-see sci-fi movies. If there’s any criticism due, it may be that the film in places is too much like The Fifth Element, but where Valerian falls short, it makes up for it with wall to wall action and alien creations that look nothing like anything Hollywood has ever produced. It’s rounded out with spectacular production design by Hugues Tissandier (Lucy, Taken, The Transporter) and a riveting score by composer Alexandre Desplat (The Golden Compass, Argo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).

Best use of 3D cinematography in a movie to date? Check.
Best visual depiction of strange new worlds and new alien life in a film to date? Check.
Best hold-onto-your-seats spaceship rides through these strange new places? Check.

Credit Besson, WETA Digital, Industrial Light and Magic, and hundreds of other visual effects, special effects, make-up, costume and prop creators–Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets looks like nothing you’ve seen. Combine 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and The Fifth Element, and you’ll have an idea of Besson’s big screen epic filled with all sorts of wonderful images.

Valerian is a snapshot of a day in progress in the life of two cocky space pilots. The leads are two attractive, snarky and sassy, young and very modern, would-be lovers in a typical “will they or won’t they” set up–Valerian, played by Dane DeHaan (The Amazing Spider-man 2, True Blood), and Laureline, played by model-turned-actress Cara Delevingne (Suicide Squad, Anna Karenina). Besson peppers the landscape of the big action sequences with the bare threads of their relationship, showing us if their relationship has room to be anything else beyond mere partners. Beyond their through-line is a race to uncover the mystery behind an Avatar-inspired race of willowy peacelovers ravaged by war. How are they related to a vision seen by Valerian, and are these peaceful people really the good guys or the bad guys? But most of the time Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets is a non-stop rollercoaster ride as the leads assemble clues and rescue each other a time or two, as they try also to rescue a missing commander and uncover the mystery behind two unusual items in their possession: a rare magical pearl and a wide-eyed, pint-sized creature with extraordinary abilities.

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Luc Besson’s Valerian trailer provides glimpse of next age of sci-fi movie environments

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March 31, 2017

2001: A Space Odyssey. Star Wars. Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Blade Runner. The Fifth Element. Each one of these movies stretched our imaginations in new directions, providing us with new visions of what the future could look like. Luc Besson, the director who gave us the spectacular worlds of The Fifth Element, is back this summer with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. His latest trailer provides a look at some stunning cityscapes and space views, reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking world in Blade Runner and Besson’s own work on The Fifth Element.

Then there are the alien costumes and make-ups, the real and digitally-created characters. Again, only The Fifth Element had so much diversity in its creativity and vision. The only odd choice is the focus in the trailers on Valerian as “Based on the groundbreaking novel that inspired a generation.” This makes sense for a European trailer, but U.S. audiences will be puzzled seeing this statement learning about the graphic novel even the most diehard of comic book aficionados have never heard of. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is based on Valerian and Laureline, the French science fiction comic book series from the 1960s, created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières. Get an advance look at the original source material before the movie comes out here.

The 1967 comics and the 2017 movie.

In October 2015 we reported here at borg.com that director Luc Besson was looking for a few good outfits to feature in a dinner party scene to take place in a city of millions and a myriad of humanoid alien races. So he hosted a costume design contest. The diverse and futuristic winning designs from the contest can be found here.

Besson, who also directed La Femme Nikita, The Professional, and Lucy, made a long-lasting statement in sci-fi fashion with his characters from The Fifth Element. From Milla Jovovich’s body-taped Leeloo, to Bruce Willis’s orange-clad, understated everyman Korben Dallas, to the over-the-top Chris Tucker’s Ruby Rhod, from the striking opera singer Diva Plavalaguna (Maïwenn), to Gary Oldman’s creepy and villainous Zorg–the movie is a visual spectacle.

We now have the next trailer for Valerian, and it keeps looking better and better:

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Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Arün Filitt, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Dane DeHaan, Ethan Hawke, Jean-Claude Mézières, John Goodman, Luc Besson, Luc Besson costume design contest, Maïwenn, Pierre Christin, Rutger Hauer, Thierry Arbogast, Valerian 1967 comic, Valerian and Laureline, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Valerian movie trailer, Valerian official movie poster

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Training Day makes its way to the small screen in new CBS series

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February 3, 2017

Director Antoine Fuqua, who is pretty much an ace in the hole with great movies like Shooter, The Equalizer, and last year’s The Magnificent Seven, brings another one of his hit movies to television this month. This time Fuqua is in the executive producer role along with Jerry Bruckheimer for Training Day, a sequel series to the film, airing Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Central on CBS, starring Bill Paxton (Aliens, Apollo 13, Edge of Tomorrow, Twister, Weird Science) and newcomer Justin Cornwell, with Julie Benz (Angel) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Without a Trace). The series is directed by Danny Cannon (Gotham, CSI, Eleventh Hour).

Training Day was the 2001 surprise hit that garnered Denzel Washington an Oscar and Ethan Hawke one of his four Oscar nominations. It’s known for its gritty realism and its view of urban street life with a rookie (Hawke) in his first day in a new role with a veteran cop of questionable motives and actions (Washington). The series is far less gritty, fitting the modern police procedural framework with more humor and bordering a bit on the melodramatic.

For the series, which aired its first episode last night, we’re brought 15 years after the events in the movie with young do-gooder detective Kyle Craig, played by Cornwell, tasked by the squad’s deputy chief (Jean-Baptiste) to track the actions of an alleged crooked cop, Detective Frank Rourke, played by Paxton. Training Day’s first episode reveals this is just the latest in decades of L.A.P.D. shows going back to Dragnet. It’s plenty fun simply to watch an hour of Bill Paxton spouting those quirky words of wisdom his characters are known for. Episode one even throws in a Western stand-off complete with some background music straight out of an old Western TV show.

The plot of the series is swappable for any police procedural. The hook with the series is the title, which fit the movie better since the entire movie took place in one day, but Training Day could easily be a follow-up to Martin Scorcese’s Departed, another film about a rookie trying to get the goods on a bad cop. The change-up is in the title–who is training whom? The TV series updated the movie’s 1979 Monte Carlo with an even earlier muscle car for the series taking place so many years later–you can envision a series 40 years from now still using 1970s cars as their street rides. Ultimately it will be enough for Paxton fans to see him driving around in that car in a seedy L.A. doing his shtick every week.

Here is a behind the scenes look and a preview for CBS’s Training Day:

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Tags: Antoine Fuqua, Bill Paxton, CBS, Danny Cannon, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Joaquim de Almeida, Julie Benz, Justin Cornwell, Katrina Law, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Training Day, Training Day series pilot review

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The borg.com Best of 2016–Top Picks and Best Movies

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December 27, 2016

What a year! The world’s a changing place and no less so than with the welcome onslaught of new movies, television shows, books, comics, and everything else that entertained us in 2016. All year long we tried to keep up with the best of what Hollywood had to offer and honed in on the genre content we thought was worth examining. We went back and looked at it all and pulled together our picks for our annual Best of the Best list. We watched all of nearly two dozen TV series, and enough of others to know we’d seen enough. We watched dozens of new movies, reviewed more than three dozen books (and read even more), and kept up with dozens of comic book titles. We witnessed the 75th anniversary of Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Archie, and Captain America, the 50th anniversary of Star Trek and Charles Schulz’s Great Pumpkin, Rocky turned 40, and it was the 30th anniversary of Aliens and Labyrinth. And the Cubs finally won the World Series.

Today we reveal the best genre content of 2016–with our top categories from movies and television Best Sci-Fi Fix, Best Fantasy Fix, Best Superhero Fix, Best Animated Fix, and Best Borg, followed by our Best in Movies picks. The big winner was Rogue One, taking 13 spots, followed by Doctor Strange with three. Come back later this week for our TV and print media picks, our special look at Kick-ass Heroines of 2016, followed by our annual borg.com Hall of Fame inductees.

Best Sci-Fi Fix – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Lucasfilm). Although the franchise is more space fantasy than science fiction, all the elements of the best sci-fi were crammed into Rogue One. Epic space battles, aliens, and loads of sci-fi technology. A compelling story. We’re wagering this film will be a classic we go back to for years to come, upsetting Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the third best of the eight films in the series. It’s everything a sci-fi fan could want.

Best Fantasy Fix – The Huntsman: Winter’s War (Universal Pictures). Like Rogue One it was a prequel that was also a sequel. Better than the original Snow White and the Huntsman, this early 2016 release provided a high-fantasy story rooted in the classic fairy tale, rewarding viewers midway with a surprise change-up. Three tough female leads, four brave (and funny) dwarves, two epic quests, a fairy tale romance, and elaborate costumes and sets made for a perfect fantasy film.

Best Superhero Fix – The Magnificent Seven (MGM/Columbia Pictures). When we first reviewed The Magnificent Seven we were surprised it had adapted the Yul Brynner version and Akira Kurosawa’s earlier Seven Samurai so well. We were even more surprised at how well the cast, and cast of characters, worked together to create a true ensemble piece. It rivaled every attempt by the studios to make a great superhero team-up, and, but for the Western garb and setting, it rates as the year’s best of the superhero genre. Runner-up, a close contender for the win was the second appearance of Evan Peters as Quicksilver doing his speedster business slow-motion style again in X-Men: Apocalypse.

Best Retro Fix – Stranger Things (Netflix). It’s a TV series that would have made a solid movie hit in 1982. So many series appear unexpectedly these days with a full season ready to stream immediately. Most demonstrate why they couldn’t cut it with the networks or a major cable channel. Not so with some of Netflix’s series, especially the surprise hit Stranger Things. With a nicely eerie soundtrack, title font, a Twin Peaks-meets Steven Spielberg coming of age film cul-de-sac for the setting, and John Carpenter meets Stephen King vibe, it’s no wonder Stranger Things was the #1 talked about series this year. Our favorite part, besides the young heroine of the show, was the attention to throwback clothes, toys, posters, and 1980s pop culture references. It’s a series we’ll revisit in the future, and look forward to in its second season.

Best Borg/Best Movie Villain – Darth Vader (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Darth Vader returned in his best scene of the franchise outside of The Empire Strikes Back in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It wasn’t James Earl Jones’s return to voice one of the best villains in the history of cinema that grabbed us, but the full-on rampage Vader takes to pursue the stolen Rebel plans in the film’s finale. Director (and lifelong Star Wars fan) Gareth Edwards gave fans exactly what they wanted, utilizing an impressive UK creature actor Spencer Wilding to do his bidding as the imposing Lord of the Sith. We also got a peek at what little of the man remained years after his battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi. We saw inside his cybernetic suit of armor via a scene featuring him floating in a bacta tank. Darth Vader remains one of the greatest borgs of all time.

Want to know who we picked for best in effects, soundtrack, and best sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, and horror movies of the year? Take a look after the cut…

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Luc Besson’s Valerian–Something new in sci-fi to get excited about

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November 11, 2016

Now in post-production, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is based on Valerian and Laureline, the French science fiction comic book series from the 1960s, created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières. Get an advance look at the original source material before the movie comes out here.

The 1967 comics and the 2017 movie.

In October 2015 we reported here at borg.com that director Luc Besson, best known for his outlandish style in the 1997 Bruce Willis/Milla Jovovich sci-fi classic The Fifth Element, was looking for a few good outfits to feature in a dinner party scene to take place in a city of millions and a myriad of humanoid alien races. So he hosted a costume design contest. The diverse and futuristic winning designs from the contest can be found here. Besson, who also directed La Femme Nikita, The Professional, and Lucy, made a long-lasting statement in sci-fi fashion with his characters from The Fifth Element. From Milla Jovovich’s body-taped Leeloo, to Bruce Willis’s orange-clad, understated everyman Korben Dallas, to the over-the-top Chris Tucker’s Ruby Rhod, from the striking opera singer Diva Plavalaguna (Maïwenn), to Gary Oldman’s creepy and villainous Zorg–the movie is a visual spectacle.

Besson may be the only director to give Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner a challenge for the best-visualized future cities.

We now have the first trailer for Valerian, and it is everything we hoped it would be:

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Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Arün Filitt, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, costume designer, Dane DeHaan, Ethan Hawke, Jean-Claude Mézières, John Goodman, Luc Besson, Luc Besson costume design contest, Maïwenn, Pierre Christin, Rutger Hauer, Thierry Arbogast, Valerian 1967 comic, Valerian and Laureline, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Valerian official movie poster

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First look–All star cast in trailer for new Magnificent Seven remake

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April 21, 2016

Sony has finally released the first trailer for the remake of The Magnificent Seven, which we first previewed here at borg.com last May. Based on a reworked script by Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective) and John Lee Hancock (Snow White And The Huntsman) from the classic John Sturges film starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, the new version will be directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer, Shooter, King Arthur, Training Day).

The list of leading actors is promising: Denzel Washington (2 Guns, Unstoppable, The Manchurian Candidate, Training Day, Philadelphia, Much Ado About Nothing), Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World, Moneyball, Everwood), Vincent D’Onofrio (Men in Black, Jurassic World, Daredevil), Byung-hun Lee (Terminator Genisys, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, RED 2), Matt Bomer (White Collar, Tru Calling, Chuck), and Ethan Hawke (Gattaca, Dead Poet’s Society, White Fang, Alive, Training Day, Assault on Precinct 13) should come together to form an interesting ensemble cast.

The 1960 cast was as gritty as they come: Brynner and McQueen were joined by Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and Robert Vaughn with Brad Dexter and Horst Buchholz.

If you think a remake of one of the greatest Westerns of all time is a bad idea, recall that The Magnificent Seven itself was a remake of Akira Kurasawa’s equally superb The Seven Samurai from 1954, starring Takashi Shimura and Toshirô Mifune. We’d also count Washington, Bomer, Hawke, Lee, and Pratt among our favorite actors in Hollywood, so this is promising. Other actors slated for the remake include Peter Sarsgaard, Luke Grimes, and Haley Bennett (who is a ringer for Bryce Dallas Howard in the previews).

Check out this first trailer for The Magnificent Seven:

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All the Movies You’ll Want to See in 2016

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December 22, 2015

Our annual “All the Movies You’ll Want to See…” series has been one of the most viewed of all of our entries at borg.com each year. So this year we again scoured Hollywood and its publicity machine for as many genre films coming out in 2016 as have been disclosed. Usually we select the 24 that look like the biggest hits, but we’re going all out for 2016. The result is a whopping 48 movies, many you’ll probably want to see in the theater or catch on video. We bet you’ll find a bunch below you’ve never heard of. Bookmark this now for your 2016 calendar!

Most coming out in the second half of 2016 don’t even have posters released yet, but many do. We’ve included descriptions and key cast so you can start planning accordingly.

What do we think will be the biggest hits of the year? How about Star Wars: Rogue One? Or Star Trek Beyond? You’ve heard endlessly about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but 2016 will also see Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, and X-Men: Apocalypse. There’s even a handful of Westerns, with The Hateful 8, Jane Got a Gun, and another remake of The Magnificent Seven heading our way.