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Exclusive: Prison Break and Legends Of Tomorrow star Dominic Purcell is replacing the late Ray Stevenson in Paramount and Republic Pictures’ movie Cassino In Ischia, which is now back underway in Italy.

Production came to an abrupt halt in late May after lead actor Stevenson suffered sudden illness and was rushed to hospital where he passed away aged 58.

Purcell takes on the role of Nic Cassino, a former action star who is knocked off his perch by the next generation of action heroes. In an attempt to revive his career, he travels to Italy to make the first ever “Neo-Realist” action film with a down on his luck Italian director. When unresolved family struggles resurface, he is forced to reconcile all he left behind on his road to fame.

Pic is being produced by Martin Scorsese collaborator Barbara DeFina, whose credits with the filmmaker include Silence, Casino, Cape Fear, The Color Of Money,...

Unicorn Wars: "It’s Bambi meets Apocalypse Now in this provocative and strangely beautiful horror comedy from acclaimed filmmaker and illustrator Alberto Vazquez (Birdboy: The Forgotten Children), who uses its outrageous candy-colored premise to explore religious zealotry, the tortured legacies of military fascism, and the depths of the soul.

For ages, teddy bears have been locked in an ancestral war against their sworn enemy, the unicorns, with the promise that victory will complete the prophecy and usher in a new era. Aggressive, confident teddy bear Bluet and his sensitive, withdrawn brother Tubby could not be more different. As the rigors and humiliation of teddy bear bootcamp turn to the psychedelic horrors of a combat tour in the Magic Forest, their complicated history and increasingly strained relationship will come to determine the fate of the entire war."

Director/Writer/Art Director: Alberto Vázquez Executive Producers: Chelo Loureiro, Iván Miñambres, Nicolas Schmerkin...

Yellow Veil Pictures announced today they have boarded world sales on Blackout, Larry Fessenden’s werewolf horror film that’s currently in post-production, and have released the first teaser poster. The film wrapped principal photography in the fall in New York’s Hudson Valley and will hit the festival circuit later this year.

Blackout marks the second pairing of Glass Eye Pix, the New York production shingle headed by Fessenden, and Yellow Veil Pictures, having previously collaborated successfully on world sales for Fessenden’s 2019 Depraved, which was released by IFC Midnight in the US to great acclaim.

The film follows a fine-arts painter convinced he is a werewolf wreaking havoc on a small American town every full moon. It is the latest addition to Fessenden’s own Monsterverse, along with his breakout feature, the vampire-themed Independent Spirit Award-Winning feature Habit (1995) and 2019’s Frankenstein riff, Depraved.

Winner of the 1997 Someone to Watch Spirit Award,...

Exclusive: Tommy Lee Jones is being set to star alongside Jamie Foxx in Amazon’s The Burial, with Maggie Betts directing. Jones plays a lead role that was going to be filled by his The Fugitive co-star Harrison Ford, until he had to drop out. Doug Wright penned the screenplay.

Amazon Studios, Bobby Shriver Inc. and Double Nickel Entertainment are producing with Foxx the upcoming drama based on The New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr. Producers are Bobby Shriver and Double Nickel’s Adam Richman & Jenette Kahn. Datari Turner is also producing. The film is based on a true story: After a bankrupt funeral home owner decides to sue a rival businessman over a handshake deal gone wrong, the owner hires a flamboyant attorney to handle the case.

Betts wrote and directed Novitiate, which won the Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Director at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. She also received...

Jamie Foxx will produce and star in Amazon Studios’ “The Burial,” centered on the legal battle over a funeral home chain during the 1990s.

“The Burial” is based on Jonathan Harr’s 1999 article in the New Yorker about the contractual dispute case brought against funeral home executive Ray Loewen by Mississippi businessman Jeremiah O’Keefe, who hired the flamboyant attorney Willie Gary. The jury awarded O’Keefe a total of $500 million, an amount which would bankrupt Loewen’s company.

“Novitiate” helmer Maggie Betts has been signed to direct from a script by Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright. Production companies are Amazon Studios, Bobby Shriver Inc. and Double Nickel Entertainment. Producers are Bobby Shriver, Double Nickel’s Adam Richman and Jenette Kahn along with Datari Turner.

Foxx won a best actor Oscar for “Ray” and was nominated in the supporting actor category for “Collateral.” He also starred in the legal drama “Just Mercy...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Jamie Foxx is set to produce and star in Amazon’s The Burial, with Maggie Betts on board to direct. Foxx joins the two-handed drama and will star opposite a legendary role currently being cast. Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright penned the screenplay.

Amazon Studios, Bobby Shriver Inc. and Double Nickel Entertainment are producing the upcoming off-kilter drama based on the New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr. Producers are Bobby Shriver and Double Nickel’s Adam Richman & Jenette Kahn. Datari Turner is also producing.

Based on a true story, after a bankrupt funeral home owner decides to sue a rival businessman over a handshake deal gone wrong, the owner hires a flamboyant attorney to handle the case.

Foxx recently won at the NAACP Image Awards and received a SAG Award nomination for Just Mercy. He can currently be seen in Netflix’s Project Power, and will next...

A relatively modest, low-key tale about global refugee issues that are usually portrayed in a higher dramatic key, “The Flood” makes a somewhat underwhelming first impression. But it gradually overcomes that to arrive at a potent (if still quiet) cumulative impact, bolstered by strong performances from leads Ivanno Jeremiah and Lena Headey. A nonstarter on theatrical home turf nearly a year ago, the feature should do better in home formats, with Samuel Goldwyn launching release to Stateside VOD platforms on May 1.

Helen Kingston’s screenplay initially seems too arid and schematic, as Headey’s grimly impersonal English immigration officer Wendy interviews newly-arrived asylum seeker Haile (Jeremiah). He says he can’t return to his native Eritrea because, “They will kill me.” But the flashbacks detailing his flight feel too sketchy as explanation, with gaps larger than our imaginations can easily fill in.

Under considerable pressure from her superior not to...

First film under deal will be Flycatcher.

Freshly minted Truth Media Ventures (Tmv) founded by producers Joe Newcomb (Dallas Buyers Club), Warren Ostergard (The Bag Man), and Zachary Reeves (Aftermath) have partnered with Nicolas Chartier and Jonathan Deckter of Voltage Pictures on a slate of films.

The new fund-based independent production company will finance and produce film and television with worldwide commercial appeal. Voltage Pictures will oversee all productions and handle worldwide sales and distribution.

The first title under the partnership will be Flycatcher from writer-director Phil Volken. Tmv, Voltage Pictures and Producer Capital Fund will jointly produce the film...

Exclusive: Musical comedy finds its star. Christian Mercuri to introduce project to international buyers in Toronto.

Double Trouble executive producer Christian Mercuri’s company Capstone Group has been brought on to handle international rights and will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.

Newcomer Calli Taylor has been chosen to headline the musical comedy following an intensive worldwide search. Scott Clayton’s Oceanside Media is producing the feature, while TinRes Entertainment is fully financing.

Written and to be directed by David Grovic, Double Trouble centres on a charismatic young girl with high hopes of becoming a top-billing star and the obstacles she encounters while trying to get a start in the entertainment industry.

Principal photography is scheduled to begin early next year on location in New York. Clayton serves as producer, while David Haring is on board as executive producer alongside Mercuri.

Grovic’s film credits include the crime thriller The Bag Man (pictured...

The stars of yesterday now are making three films a year you never knew existed until they show up on Netflix.^ Real Movie ^

In my prior life as a script reader, I certainly read a lot of bad scripts, but at times, an even more common occurrence was a script that seemed to do a great many things right, but somehow fell just short of being something you wanted to champion as a movie. As draining as the terrible scripts were, there’s something pure about clear-cut bad. It takes little effort to explain why they’re unfit.

The real challenges were the scripts that had kind of a decent premise, kind of an okay twist or two, and a lead character who wasn’t bad so much as he or she was just… there. The raw materials are there for what Could be a script. They just happen to be assembled in the least compelling way...

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John Cusack has made 17 films in four years. We've found the ones that have gone all-but straight to DVD and watched them...

John Cusack is a bit of a Hollywood oddity. There’s no pattern to the type of movie he will choose to do, so he’s always kept us on our toes. Sure, he’ll make a dumb action movie, but that will often afford him the chance to make a few smaller gambles later on. Up until the last few years he’s played the system very well, but recently his ethic appears to have, um, waned? A little?

Since the heady days of Say Anything and Sixteen Candles he’s come to represent a sort of slightly weird-looking, awkwardly charming, offbeat everyman that men aged 18-49 can look at and go 'me'” - which is fine. There’s a place for that, as...

St. Louis-area Movie Geeks (and TV Geeks, and Comic Book Geeks, and Gaming Geeks and Music Geeks and Cosplay Geeks, and Fiction Geeks) rejoice! There’s a new Pop Culture convention coming to town!

2015 brings in one of the Newest and Largest two day event shows in St. Louis with Gateway Geek Fest. The event is sponsored by Tm (ToyMan) Productions who also host ToyMan Toys, Comics & Con. The event runs August 28-30 and will be held at Machinist Hall 12365 St. Charles Rock Road Bridgeton, Mo with some ancillary events at the Laquinta Hotel (formerly the Wingate) 13615 Riverport Rd Maryland Hts.

With over 150 tables filled with Vendors offering items such as Comics, Illustrations, Pop Culture, Steampunk merchandise, Character Clothing, TV/Movie Memorabilia (posters – autographs), Action Figures Collectibles and Much More. Gateway Geek Fest will be held at Machinist Hall 12365 St. Charles Rock Road Bridgeton, Mo

There will be Cosplayers...

He’s either a glorious eccentric or a complete pain in the arse depending on who you talk to. So what’s the truth? The cult actor talks about why he fell out with the makers of Back to the Future, his obsession with the Czech Republic and his new film, The Carrier

It’s about 9am in Los Angeles when I speak to Crispin Glover, but it quickly becomes apparent that time doesn’t mean that much to the man, nor place neither. He expresses surprise at my reference to it being morning – “Oh, right!” – and, when I ask about La, he quickly switches the subject to the Czech Republic, where he has a second home, or, as he puts it, “a chateau”.

It seems an unusual place for a New York-born, La-raised actor-director to take up residence, and I casually wonder if he has family there. This then...

He’s either a glorious eccentric or a complete pain in the arse depending on who you talk to. So what’s the truth? The cult actor talks about why he fell out with the makers of Back to the Future, his obsession with the Czech Republic and his new film, The Carrier

It’s about 9am in Los Angeles when I speak to Crispin Glover, but it quickly becomes apparent that time doesn’t mean that much to the man, nor place neither. He expresses surprise at my reference to it being morning – “Oh, right!” – and, when I ask about La, he quickly switches the subject to the Czech Republic, where he has a second home, or, as he puts it, “a chateau”.

It seems an unusual place for a New York-born, La-raised actor-director to take up residence, and I casually wonder if he has family there. This then...

The great thing about being Robert De Niro is that any project you want to make will eventually get off the ground, even if based on your star power alone. Such is the case with The Comedian, an Art Linson-scribed drama that De Niro has been trying to make for years, first with Martin Scorsese then with Sean Penn. Now, the two-time Oscar winner is finally moving ahead with the project, having secured Donnie Brasco helmer Mike Newell to sit behind the camera.

De Niro will portray an accomplished insult comic, possibly inspired by Don Rickles. Linson previously penned Hollywood satire What Just Happened (which De Niro starred in), and he’ll also be producing here. Interestingly enough, the stand-up material was written by Jeffrey Ross, best known for his digs during Comedy Central and Friars Club celebrity roasts.

2015 is proving to be an unusually fruitful year for the veteran actor,...

“Hot Tub Time Machine 2” should have been both a flop and a disaster, but it ended up being neither. Based on a simple conceit spelled out in the title, and with a very no-stars-lead cast, “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” should have been as throw away as it sounds, but Steve Pink's movie turned out to be quite the endearing, funny and bawdy little comedy. For the sequel, thespian John Cusack has not returned, perhaps too busy starring in recent classics like “Drive Hard,” “The Bag Man,” “The Prince” and “Reclaim.” But the original cast of Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke and Chevy Chase, are back this time joined by Adam Scott, Gillian Jacob, Thomas Lennon, Christian Slater, Collette Wolfe and “Mad Men” star Jessica Paré who, how shall we put it, elevated her game in the original. Here’s the all-important synopsis: When Lou (Rob Corddry) finds himself in trouble,...

The internet has democratized information, which means you can't scare anyone with urban horror stories - like the one about an adoption agency that re-adopts kids for a ransom price. Fortunately, there are movies like Reclaim that come along ready to scare the bejesus out of any would-be parent thinking of adoption. Beware . your Third World child might just be bait to allow John Cusack to capture and torture you! Cusack, who still deserves his own Taken, is probably paying some gambling debts by appearing in films like this, The Prince and The Bag Man. Here, he's a mysterious loner who gets too close to a married couple played by Ryan Phillipe and Rachel Lefevre on their vacation. Suddenly, the child is gone! Maybe the cops could help. Or maybe the adoption agent (Academy award nominee Jacki Weaver) is in on it...and there is no adoption agency! Adoptception! It's...

Nicolas Cage and John Cusack have been less than discerning with their film gigs in recent years, picking a lot of modestly budgeted thrillers that get poor reviews and barely go theatrical. How many remember the likes of "The Bag Man," "Drive Hard," "The Frozen Ground," "The Factory," "Seeking Justice," "Stolen," "Trespass," "Rage," or "The Numbers Station"?

Today comes trailers for two more. First up is "Left Behind," the film version of the popular book series by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins which deals with what would happen if the Christian Rapture and Apocalypse took place today. The focus here though isn't on wider society, but rather a family lead by Cage's pilot character.

The second is for Cusack's "Reclaim" which co-stars Ryan Phillippe, Rachelle Lefevre, Jacki Weaver and Luis Guzman. That follows an American couple who travel to Puerto Rico to finalize an adoption, only to learn it was a scam.

Holy crap, there's another Hot Tub Time Machine. Above is the red band trailer (Cover Your Eyes, Children) for Hot Tub Time Machine 2 , which gets festive for audiences this Christmas. The weirdest element of this trailer? Continuity! This looks like it picks up directly after the first film where (Spoiler Alert For Hot Tub Time Machine) Nick (Craig Robinson) and Lou (Rob Corddry) exploited time travel to become rich. Because this is a dopey sequel, John Cusack and Lizzy Caplan are nowhere to be found . one could argue that Cusack was sort of slumming it with the first film, though Hot Tub Time Machine, in many ways, has more integrity than this year's The Bag Man . His High Fidelity collaborator Steve Pink had no qualms about returning from the first film to direct the sequel, however, which is again written by Josh Heald. Really, Cusack and Caplan are the...

• Robert De Niro (The Bag Man) will star opposite Robert Pattinson (The Rover) in Olivier Assayas (Paris, je t’aime) upcoming indie action flick, Idol’s Eye. While plot details are being kept firmly under wraps, the film is being described as a “sophisticated heist/action thriller” and is set to begin principal photography in October in Chicago and Toronto.

• Johnny Depp (Black Mass) is reportedly in negotiations to star as Harry Houdini in Lionsgate/Summit’s upcoming film, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero. Directed by Red 2′s Dean Parisot and based on...

You would think with all things Marvel on his plate, Joss Whedon wouldn't have time for much else, but you'd be wrong. Last year he dropped the indie Shakespearean tale "Much Ado About Nothing," and now he's headed into the Tribeca Film Festival as the writer and executive producer of the metaphysical romance "In Your Eyes." And today we have a little treat for you from the film. Produced by Kai Cole and Michael Roiff and directed by Brin Hill, the film stars Zoe Kazan, Michael Stahl-David, Nikki Reed, Mark Feuerstein, Steve Harris and Jennifer Grey in the tale that follows a sheltered East Coast housewife and an ex-con and waitress in New Mexico who all connect in ways they couldn't imagine. Weaving the movie together is composer Tony Morales ("Hatfields & McCoys," "The Bag Man"), and below you can listen to his evocative "Break Up" from the soundtrack, helping to power this unique film.

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues"

What's It About? Can Ron Burgundy and his team up their game to take on the 24-hour news cycle? Will they take a bite out of the Big Apple or choke? Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate return for more unclassy antics.

Why We're In: Anyone who's watched a Will Ferrell/Adam McKay film knows that the alternate and extended scenes are endlessly watchable. That goes double for "Anchorman 2," which was initially released as a PG-13 film and later upgraded to a "super-sized R."

Exclusive: Watch a scene from "Super-Sized R-Rated" Version of "Anchorman 2" (Video)

Rt 2 win #Anchorman2 on BluRay + NewsTeam mustache & autographed Sex Panther cologne! Rules: http://t.co/9EW8jlbjZe pic.twitter.com/N2YxpZygZT

- moviefone (@moviefone) March 31, 2014

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week

"Once"

What's It About? A...

What to Watch is back in two-week form this time around, hitting the most important Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming offerings from both March 25th and April 1st. No April Fool’s Day jokes here. We’re above that. Sorta. What you will find is one of the best movies of last year, a fantastic comedy series, a foreign film you really should see, and further proof that John Cusack is merely slipping into straight-to-dvd oblivion like that damn horse in “The Neverending Story”. Pick one of the six. What the Hell, pick two.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Photo credit: Paramount

“The Wolf of Wall Street”

One of the best films of 2013 is here in a mildly disappointing Blu-ray given the rumors of four or even Six hour cuts reportedly in the works for release someday. Consequently, this practically movie-only release has the feel of a placeholder, something to put...

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues I still plan on watching this, but I don't think I'll be watching all three versions that come on the Blu-ray release, which means I'm torn between the PG-13 theatrical version or the R-rated, super extended version. Considering people don't seem to be over the moon for the R-rated version and seemed, at least, accepting of the PG-13 version, that just might be the way I go. Do you have a suggestionc

47 Ronin I actually think I'll check this one out too. It deserves a look at least... rightc I mean, how bad can it really bec

The Invisible Woman Of today's releases this is the only one I've seen and The Invisible Woman isn't bad at all. In fact, I'd say it's quite good, with a great performance from Felicity Jones and a much better directorial effort for Ralph Fiennes, whose Coriolanus didn't impress me.

Though he's a actor of many genres, veteran performer Crispin Glover doesn't like to be defined by any single one of them. He's known worldwide, of course, for playing George McFly in Back to the Future, the villainous Thin Man in Charlie's Angels and more recently the Knave of Hearts in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. But whenever he has the opportunity, Glover, who turns 50 next month, marches to the beat of his own drummer. In fact, the film that Glover has declared as his greatest piece of work is a film that probably most people will never get a chance to see because it was shot independently and has never been distributed on video. Co-directed by Glover and David Brothers, the 2007 psychological horror thriller It is Fine! Everything is Fine. has to date only been seen at its Sundance Film Festival premiere, and after that, at Glover's touring...

The Bag Man

Written by David Grovic and Paul Conway

Directed by David Grovic

USA, 2014

There was a time when seeing the involvement of either John Cusack or Robert De Niro would lend a hefty amount of prestige to any project, so the idea of both men appearing in the same film, circa the mid-1990s, perhaps, would portend a particularly exciting picture indeed. Sadly, we’re a long way from the mid-1990s, yet the new film The Bag Man, which stars both Cusack and De Niro, does inspire a moderate level of intrigue regarding these A-Listers. Specifically, it’s almost impossible to not wonder why, exactly, either man signed onto this middling, claustrophobically minded project. Even now, even after both of these generational icons have starred in a number of would-be direct-to-dvd cheapies, you have to wonder if they need the money this badly.

To its credit, The Bag Man...

It’s been two decades since Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction crashed the zeitgeist and sent screenwriters everywhere rushing to their keyboards to create quirky criminals with the gift of gab. The best ones (In Bruges, Suicide Kings, Go) quickly form their own identity, but far too many seem content trying to mash together dark comedy and sharp violence and then calling it a day. Barely a month goes by without some new Tarantino-esque crime thriller hitting screens, and while it’s slowed down a bit recently the flow hasn’t stopped. Exhibit C for 2014… The Bag Man. Jack (John Cusack) is hired by a crime boss named Dragna (Robert De Niro) to acquire a particular bag and then wait at a motel for pick-up and payoff. The most important part of the task? Do not, under any circumstances, look in the bag. Jack struggles to resist the urge, but the waiting game is complicated by a...

Our resident VOD expert tells you what's new to rent and own this week on the various streaming services such as cable Movies On Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, and, of course, Netflix. Cable Movies On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical exclusives for rent, priced from $3-$10, in 24- or 48-hour periods The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Ya action sequel; Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Woody Harrelson; premieres 3/7; rated PG-13) After the Dark (sci-fi; Bonnie Wright, Rhys Wakefield, Daryl Sabara; rated R) The Bag Man (thriller; Robert De Niro, John Cusack, Rebecca Da Costa; pre-dvd title; rated R) Oldboy (Spike Lee-directed action remake; Josh Brolin, Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto...

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While everyone's talking about the Oscars, there were actual movies screening in theaters this weekend too, and they weren't all ones with golden dreams tonight. Sony Pictures Classics released Indian import "The Lunchbox" -- which many felt the country should have submitted to the Oscars (they submitted "The Good Road" instead, which did not get nominated) -- in 4 theaters in La and NY. The result was a very strong $51,325 -- averaging $17,108 per theater.  Directed by Ritesh Batra, the acclaimed film stars  Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Also debuting to strong numbers was a film that was indeed included among this year's Oscar nominees (and the last to finally find theatrical release): Gkids's "Ernest & Celestine," which is up for best animated feature. On a single screen, the French import grossed $15,611, which bodes well as it expands in the coming week. Cinedigm released David Grovic's "The Bag Man" in 2 theaters.

Happy Oscar Sunday everyone! While wait for the show to start later on this evening, it’s time for the weekly box office report. Leading the way this weekend was a new film for a change, as Liam Neeson’s thriller Non-Stop debuted at number one with an estimated $30 million. At number two we had the debut of the religious flick Son of God, which took in an estimated $26.5 million, and down at number 14 we had the re-release of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues in a special R rated edition. That movie grabbed an extra $1.3 million from fans. Among the limited release openings, we had a wide range of indie titles that failed to make much of a mark, including The Bag Man, Ernest & Celestine, The Lunchbox, and Stalingrad. They didn’t embarrass themselves, but none look to be a crossover hit or anything of that sort. Liam Neeson continues...

The Bag Man, the all new crime thriller starring John Cusack, Rebecca Da Costa, Robert De Niro, and Crispin Glover opens in theaters today, and in support of the film I talked to star Crispin Glover about what attracted him to the role, his own films, and the appeal of touring to promote a film. Check it out below.

The Bag Man is a taut crime thriller that follows the story of Jack (John Cusack), a tough guy with chronic bad luck but human touches. Hired by Dragna (Robert De Niro), a legendary crime boss to complete a simple but unusual task, the plot centers around the anticipated arrival of Dragna who has summoned Jack and a host of shady characters to a remote location for unknown reasons. Over the course of a long and violently eventful night awaiting Dragna’s arrival, Jack’s path crosses that of Rivka (Rebecca Da Costa...

A wan little neo-noir whose intricacies inspire more tedium than suspense, The Bag Man is a good example of how to waste a solid cast. It opens promisingly enough, inside a private airplane, as mob boss Dragna (Robert De Niro, making good use of Jeremy Renner’s hair from American Hustle) instructs a minion named Jack (John Cusack) to pick up a mysterious bag and deliver it to him in a motel, in exchange for a boatload of money. Their back-and-forth isn’t exactly witty, but it’s at least intriguing: “Can I ask you a question: Why don’t you just hire Fed Ex?” Jack asks. “'Cause I’m hiring you, Jack,” says Dragna. Again and again they go over it, the simplicity of the task belying the mysteriousness of the demand. At one point, Dragna uses two pieces of bloody steak on his plate (Jack and Dragna), a...

The first sign there is something seriously wrong with “The Bag Man” is the poster. In the same size font, we see the names of the film’s three stars: John Cusack, Rebecca Da Costa, and Robert De Niro. Equal billing for Cusack, De Niro, and … Da Costa? Who is Rebecca De Costa? Why is her name given equal status? And for that matter, why does De Niro look like Bernie Madoff playing Robert Evans, or vice versa? And why does Cusack look more like Richard Nixon here than he did playing Nixon in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”? And what to make of the writing underneath the title “The Bag Man”? It reads: “The Cat’S In The Bag,” followed by “Inspired By The Story ‘The Cat’ By Marie-louise Von Franz”? What the hell is happening here?! The movie itself is equally confounding and wildly off-putting. It is, I think,...

Crispin Glover stars in the crime thriller The Bag Man with John Cusack, Robert De Niro and Rebecca Da Costa. In the film, directed by David Grovic, Glover plays a motel receptionist with an unnerving quality about him, who befriends the motel's criminal guest, played by Cusack.

Crispin Glover On 'The Bag Man'

For Glover, The Bag Man was something of a diamond in the rough. Following his turn as the Knave of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, Glover received numerous offers for parts – but not many of the variety that Glover was looking for at this point in his career. “The year that I got this I hadn’t acted in a couple of years. I was in Alice in Wonderland, which was the largest grossing film I’ve ever been in. I expected a lot of offers, and I did get a lot of offers,” Glover told Uinterview exclusively.

There was no one quite like Crispin Glover when he broke out onto the scene in 1986's award-winning "River's Edge" -- and the same rings true today. Glover has over the years played a list of characters almost as odd as the public persona he's cultivated since first appearing on "The David Letterman Show" in 1987 wearing platform shoes and a wig. He played a geeky dad in "Back to the Future," a silent and perverted assassin the "Charlie's Angels" movies, a loathsome monster in "Beowulf," a mouse-loving social misfit in "Willard," and in this month's "The Bag Man," Glover steals scenes from John Cusack as Ned, a mysterious wheel-chair bound motel receptionist. When he's not acting, Glover makes and tours his own films, and publishes his own books through his publishing company, Volcanic Eruptions. Indiewire spoke with Glover about "Bag Man" (out in select theaters this Friday), cultivating his public persona,...

This weekend, Liam Neeson attempts to save his fellow passengers from a hijacked plane in "Non-Stop," the life story of Jesus comes to the big screen in "Son of God," and many more new releases make their way to select theaters.

"Non-Stop" stars Liam Neeson as an air marshal caught in a game of cat-and-mouse with a hijacker during a transatlantic flight. After receiving threatening text messages, the marshal springs into action to find the person responsible for holding the passengers hostage 10,000 feet in the air. Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave"), and Michelle Dockery ("Downtown Abbey") star in supporting roles.

From the makers of hit "The Bible" mini-series comes the inspirational "Son of God." The biblical film brings the biographical story of Jesus, from his humble birth through his teachings, crucifixion, and ultimate resurrection, to the big screen.

Also in theaters this weekend: Nominated for Best Animated Feature,...

Crispin Glover, best known for his role as George McFly in the original Back to the Future, creates another memorable character — a creepy receptionist at a motel where many illegal activities seem to be going down — in The Bag Man. The film, a crime thriller directed by David Grovic, also stars John Cusack and Robert De Niro.

Amazingly, Glover conceded to having a difficult time finding the right roles for himself over the past few years. “There was something that I was getting offered that I really didn’t like, and it happened like at least four projects in a row and they were good money, too,” Glover told Uinterview exclusively. “[In recent years] I’ve had to [turn work down] for various reasons and, like I say, it’s not that I’ve wanted to, but I’ve had to be relatively selective, especially compared to the previous decade.”...

In David Grovic’s The Bag Man, John Cusack plays the title character, a courier for an underworld figure named Dragna (a genuinely terrific Robert De Niro), who’s charged with fetching a mysterious bag and staying put in a fleabag motel until the silver-suited and -haired criminal overlord can come to pick up the goods. It’s the type of movie that has no business being good and not just because the constituent parts feel, well, worn out — the motel that the movie takes place in bears an eerily resemblance to the one Cusack spent most of the forgettable 2003 thriller […]...

In David Grovic’s The Bag Man, John Cusack plays the title character, a courier for an underworld figure named Dragna (a genuinely terrific Robert De Niro), who’s charged with fetching a mysterious bag and staying put in a fleabag motel until the silver-suited and -haired criminal overlord can come to pick up the goods. It’s the type of movie that has no business being good and not just because the constituent parts feel, well, worn out — the motel that the movie takes place in bears an eerily resemblance to the one Cusack spent most of the forgettable 2003 thriller […]...

New Release

The Bag Man

R, 1 Hr., 48 Mins.

A third-rate Blood Simple wannabe starring John Cusack as a cursed tough guy tasked with retrieving a mysterious satchel and outsmarting a menagerie of deadly oddballs. The only one having any fun in this dead-on-arrival noir is Robert De Niro as the film’s sadistic pompadoured puppet master. C —Chris Nashawaty

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Kids for Cash

PG-13, 1 Hr., 42 Mins.

Robert May’s harrowing documentary recounts a disgraceful scandal involving a tough-talking Pennsylvania judge who allegedly took kickbacks for sentencing kids to Dickensian juvenile-detention centers. In the end justice is served, but the...

Two things are made abundantly clear by The Bag Man: Hollywood has completely forgotten how to best utilize John Cusack, and Robert De Niro can still be entertainingly menacing if given peculiar material to work with.

Alas, listening to De Niro's criminal bigwig Dragna casually describe how he was motivated to take up his underworld profession by an episode of Full House isn't enough to salvage David Grovic's dreary directorial debut.

An opaquely plotted thriller with murky visuals to match, the film concerns disheveled hired gun Jack (Cusack), who's ordered by Dragna to retrieve a mysterious bag (which he can't look inside of) and deliver it to him at a Louisiana motel, where everyone from the weirdo wheelchair-bound manager (Crispin Glover) to an eye-pa...

Some people can have versatile personalities that drive them to commit unforeseen acts that initially seem perplexing, but make perfect sense when their context is finally revealed. That’s certainly true in writer-director David Grovic’s new crime thriller, ‘The Bag Man,’ which opens on Friday in theaters. Not only do the main characters all have something to hide as they set out on their suspenseful and secretive tasks, but the supporting characters also have secrets to protect that shockingly alter the film’s course of events. The resourceful and ever adaptable actor, Crispin Glover, gave one of the more enthralling supporting performances in the drama, as a motel manager who’s suspicious of [ Read More ]

The post Interview: Crispin Glover Talks The Bag Man appeared first on Shockya.com.

I have only myself to blame. After checking out the trailer for The Bag Man (previously Motel) and noting the presence of John Cusack and Robert De Niro, two actors who have done terrific work in the past (I mean, De Niro has two Oscars on his mantelpiece, for chrissake), I started to get a little excited for this indie crime thriller. Perhaps it would maintain a cool, neo-noir vibe, or at least give Cusack and De Niro a chance to craft nasty, interesting characters. Alas, that quantum of expectation simply made it all the more agonizing for me to sit through one of the laziest, dopiest thrillers I’ve seen in years.

The film starts off with a boring set-up, as criminal Jack (Cusack) gets an assignment from his big-shot boss Dragna (De Niro): pick up a bag and hold it at a seedy motel until Dragna arrives.

Hitting select theaters this Friday is a new movie starring John Cusack and Robert De Niro called, "The Bag Man." If you click on the above play button what you'll be treated to is a HitFix exclusive clip of Cusack in the film. So that you're warned, there might be a four letter word or two present, making it semi-nsfw. To set the stage a little, the movie is a crime thriller directed by David Grovic and inspired by the story "The Cat" by Marie-Louise von Franz. Outside of De Niro and Cusack, the movie features Rebecca Da Costa, Crispin Glover, Sticky Fingaz, Dominic Purcell and Martin Kelbba. And, while it is a crime thriller, not everything in it is played perfectly straight, as is readily apparent in the clip. The official synopsis reads as follows: "'The Bag Man' is a taut crime thriller that follows the story...

Check out the second poster for "The Bag Man" starring John Cusack, Rebecca Da Costa, Robert De Niro and Dominic Purcell. The film is based on the original screenplay "Motel" by James Russo, now scripted by David Grovic and Paul Conway. Grovich also directs the crime thriller which tells the story of Jack (Cusack), a tough guy with chronic bad luck but human touches. Hired by Dragna (De Niro), a legendary crime boss to complete a simple but unusual task, the plot centers around the anticipated arrival of Dragna who has summoned Jacjand a host of shady characters to a remote location for unknown reasons. Over the course of a long and violently eventful night awaiting Dragna's arrival, Jack's path crosses that of Rivk (Da Costa), a stunningly beautiful woman whose life becomes physically and emotionally entangled with Jack’s. When Dragna finally arrives on the scene there are sudden and extreme consequences for all.

The cat is finally out of the bag. Cinedigm has released the second official trailer from the taut new crime thriller The Bag Man, starring John Cusack, Rebecca Da Costa, Robert De Niro, and Crispin Glover. The film opens in theaters February 28, 2014.

The Bag Man follows the story of Jack (John Cusack), a tough guy with chronic bad luck but human touches. Hired by Dragna (Robert De Niro), a legendary crime boss to complete a simple but unusual task, the plot centers around the anticipated arrival of Dragna who has summoned Jack and a host of shady characters to a remote location for unknown reasons.

Over the course of a long and violently eventful night awaiting Dragna’s arrival, Jack’s path crosses that of Rivka (Rebecca Da Costa), a stunningly beautiful woman whose life becomes physically and emotionally entangled with Jack’s. When Dragna finally arrives on the scene...

The second trailer for "The Bag Man" is in, and I must say, I'm impressed. The crime thriller from director David Grovic, whom I'm sure we'll be seeing more of, stars John Cusack, Rebecca Da Costa, Robert De Niro and Crispin Glover. We've also got some character posters and images from the film. "The Bag Man" follows Jack (John Cusack), a tough guy with chronic bad luck but human touches. Hired by Dragna (De Niro), a legendary crime boss to complete a simple but unusual task, the plot centers around the anticipated arrival of Dragna who has summoned Jack and a host of shady characters to a remote location for unknown reasons. Over the course of a long and violently eventful night awaiting Dragna's arrival, Jack's path crosses that of Rivka (Da Costa), a stunningly beautiful woman whose life becomes physically and emotionally entangled with Jack’s. When Dragna finally...

Willard and Back To The Future star Crispin Glover will host Fango’s free screening of the all-star crime thriller The Bag Man on Monday, February 24 at 7 p.m. This special showing will be held at New York City’s Cinema Village http://www.cinemavillage.com/chc/cv/ (22 East 12th Street, off University Place). Joining Glover at the screening will […]...

Universal has released a second trailer for "The Bag Man" -- the upcoming John Cusack and Robert DeNiro crime thriller slated for release at the end of the month. Set in a seedy motel, the film centers on John Cusack's character, a criminal hired by Robert DeNiro's character to retrieve a mysterious bag. At just a minute and thirty seconds, the trailer features a montage of fight scenes rather than a narrative recount of the film. As if the femme fatale stripper character played by Rebecca Da Costa wasn't enough of a clue, a voiceover provided by DeNiro's character makes for an eerie aural backdrop that demonstrates the film's clear noir aspirations. "Y'know something I don't like surprises," says DeNiro's character. "I mean don't get me wrong, I appreciate the unexpected. But I don't like surprises." Check out the trailer here:...

ComingSoon.net has your exclusive first at 11 character posters for The Bag Man , starring John Cusack, Rebecca Da Costa, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Crispin Glover and Sticky Fingaz. Cinedigm will release the film in select theaters on February 28. David Grovic's directorial debut, the R-rated The Bag Man is a taut crime thriller that follows the story of Jack (John Cusack), a tough guy with chronic bad luck but human touches. Hired by Dragna (Robert De Niro), a legendary crime boss to complete a simple but unusual task, the plot centers around the anticipated arrival of Dragna who has summoned Jack and a host of shady characters to a remote location for unknown reasons. Over the course of a long and violently eventful night awaiting Dragna's arrival, Jack's path...