httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiaXZiIJOQ

What you may need to know

1. Ten years ago he was on the ropes. Now Sly Stallone is a movie star again. He’s celebrating this by starring in a cop thriller that makes The Expendables (2010) look like The Usual Suspects (1995).

2. That said, Bullet To The Head is the first movie in a decade directed by cult hero Walter Hill, the genius behind everything from The Driver (1978), The Warriors (1979), The Long Riders (1980) and Southern Comfort (1981)  to 48 Hours (1982) , Streets Of Fire (1984) and (more recently) the pilot for Deadwood. So we’re there.

3  .Famous last words at ’30.

4. Cascading torrent of cop movie cliches between ’40 – ’50.

5. Hilarious ill-matched cop buddy movie racism at 1’00

6. Has-been one-time movie star in brief supporting role at 1’15. So sad.

7. All-time classic cop buddy movie cliche punctuated with hilarious ‘Stallone is OLD’ gag at 1’30.

8. Randomers flying through the air at 2’14.

9. We haven’t been this excited about a Stallone flick since Cobra (1986).

10. Remember the time Sly appeared in a Woody Allen movie? And no, we don’t mean Antz (1998)

Release date (Ireland): January 2013

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXq2xzSzphE

1. Lawless is written by Nick Cave, and directed by John Hillcoat, who gave us out-back western The Proposition (2005).

2. How bad-ass is this movie? It’s got Shia LaBeouf in it, and it STILL manages to be bad-ass.

3. This year’s celluloid style icon? Guy Pearce at 1’08.

4. Five additional points for gangsta Gary Oldman at 1’30.

5. Tom Hardy in a cardie. That is all.

Release date (Ireland): September 7

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2hP4eNJ2cE

What you may need to know

1. We are making it our mission to keep you up to date with all future Straight-To-DVD movies featuring Nicolas Cage and/or 50 Cent. Thankfully, Frozen Ground features both. Although Fiddy isn’t in the trailer.

2. This appears to be an unfinished trailer, like they couldn’t even be bothered.

3. With this, The Raven (2012) and the forthcoming Paperboy (2012)  John Cusack appears to be entering his serial killer movie phase; next, he plays Richard Nixon.

4. Based on ‘actual events’ and directed by Scott Walker (not the reclusive avant-garde pop genius), Frozen Ground also features Hank from Breaking Bad. We love Hank.

5. Vanessa Hudgens has made a graceful move from wholesome teen ingenues (the High School Musical trilogy) to more mature roles, such as a dancing prostitute in Sucker Punch (2012) and now an Alaskan stripper/serial killer bait.

6. A million years ago, Cage and Cusack starred in the magnificent Con Air (1997). These days, Cage is holding out for an offer to appear in Expendables 3.

Release Date (Ireland): DVD shelves by Xmas (our estimate)

What you may need to know

1. Do you hate trailers that give away the ENTIRE movie? Then you’ll hate this.

2. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 was a global disaster on an unprecedented scale; the suffering and devastation experienced can only be truly expressed through the ordeals of rich white people.

3. Ewan McGregor is no stranger to disaster movies, having starred in three Star Wars prequels. Badum tish!

4. Using a song by U2 to signify the power of the human spirit is ever-so fifteen years ago. These days, visiting rock stars get deeply confused when they name check Bono on stage at Dublin gigs and nobody (and we mean NOBODY) responds. We’ve seen this happen twice in the past few months.

5. Mild reservations aside, this looks kinda awesome.

Release date (Ireland): January 2013

pic

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LksGNgOgLsY

What you may need to know

1. Back in the day, Spike Lee was one of cinema’s foremost and prolific provocateurs.

2. In recent years he’s been finding it harder to get movies financed, while still producing stunning documentaries like his epic post-Katrina joint When The Levee Breaks (2006) and bastketball epic Kobe Doin’ Work (2009) – watch the latter here.

3. Red Hook Summer is a companion piece (of sorts) to Lee’s seminal Do The Right Thing (1989)- Lee even makes an appearance as Mookie.

4. RHS stars Clarke Peters, AKA from Lester from The Wire and Albert from Treme. The best Spike Lee (mini) movie you’ve never seen: We Wuz Robbed (2002)

5. Spike’s next movie is a remake of Korean extreme cinema classic Oldboy (2003), starring Josh Brolin, which sounds like a REALLY bad idea, but hey, it was meant to be Steven Spielberg and Will Smith.

6. On an unrelated note: Tony Scott RIP. We’ll always have True Romance (1993) and The Last Boy Scout (1991).

Release Date: TBC (out now in U.S.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTB-gbC4gkY

What you may need to know

1. We missed you Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s in The Expendables 2 (2012), which is out now, and culminates in an extended scene of airport carnage involving Arnold, Sly Stallone, Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris, that puts the Rwandan genocide to shame.

2. The Last Stand is 64 year-old Arnold’s first starring vehicle since he left political office, and his first leading role since Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003). He’s got a bit of a pumped-up Clint Eastwood vibe about him these days.

3. It’s directed by Kim Jee-Woon, the Korean madman behind the stunning I Saw The Devil (2010), A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003) and The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008). In the same way Hollywood snapped up all the cool Hong-Kong directors twenty years ago, they’ve belatedly twigged that New Korean Cinema is where it’s at.

4. The supporting cast includes Swedish chef Peter Stormare (always good value) as the bad guy, Jackass Johnny Knoxville as Arnold’s annoying wise-cracking deputy, and one bona fide screen legend: 86 year-old king of the character actors Harry Dean Stanton. He was in Cool Hand Luke (1967) AND The Avengers (2012).

5. Arnold’s back. He’s already shot another flick, The Tomb (2013), with Stallone, and is talking up a sequel to Twins (1988). We’d prefer Hercules In New York (1969), Part 2.

Release date (Ireland): January 2012

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KVvJ594Ne4

What you may need to know:

1. My Brothers is directed by Paul Fraser, a regular collaborator with Shane Meadows – he wrote and/or co-wrote Twenty Four Seven (1997), A Room For Romeo Brass (1999), Once Upon A Times In The Midlands (2002), Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) and Somers Town (2008).

2. Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody did the music with old mucker Jacknife Lee.

3. The cast includes Kate Ashfield from Shaun Of The Dead (2004) and Sarah Greene from theatrical sensation Alice In Funderland.

4. Meta Moment at ’50: Charlie Casanova (2010) director Terry McMahon plays Charlie.

5. Bachelor’s Walk Flashback: Super 8 Don Wycherly at 1’38.

Release Date (Ireland): Tomorrow

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZb50HiBCo

What you may need to know:

1. The trailer’s a bit icky.

2. Antivirus is the feature debut of one Brandon Cronenberg. Surname sound familiar?

3. Basically, David Cronenberg‘s son has gone and made exactly the type of movie that everyone’s been after his Dad to do for years. How positively Cronenbergian.

4. The vibe: it’s Rabid (1977) meets THX1138 (1971).

3. Yay! It’s Malcolm McDowell!

Release date (Ireland):  TBC

Thanks Baz

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdJPvXLemVs

What you may need to know

1. Clint Eastwood doesn’t step in front of the camera all that often these days. This is his first acting gig since Gran Torino (2008), and the first movie he’s been in that he hasn’t directed since In The Line Of Fire (1993). Clint is 83, and it should probably be noted that he could still kick your ass.

2. Amy Adams is the go-to gal for great American filmmakers right now; she’s in the next P.T. Anderson movie, the next David O. Russell movie and the next Spike Jonze movie – oh, and she’s the new Lois Lane.

3. Justin Timberlake is DETERMINED to rock this whole movie star thing. He should do more comedy.

4. Fact: this movie would automatically be better if Clint had an orangutan sidekick.

5. That said, enjoy 170 Great Clint Eastwood Quotes.

Release date (Ireland): November