Red is a movie that’s better than it should be and yet isn’t as good as it could be.  The jokes could be funnier, the action could be more exhilarating, the pacing could be quicker, but the film is still a success.  And yet with stronger direction and a more polished script, Red could have been one of the better films of the year thanks to its strong cast.  Not only do they play off each other well, but Mary Louise-Parker, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, and Helen Mirren all give terrific performances.  Red gets the job done, but there’s frustration in seeing it come up as only passable.

While I’ve already posted my exclusive video interviews with Bruce Willis and Karl Urban, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and Mary Louise Parker for their new movie Red, while attending the New York City press junket for the Summit Entertainment movie, I was also able to participate in press conferences with all the actors.  Even though press conferences are not as intimate as roundtable interviews, I found all the interviews for Red quite informative.  Of course it helps that Red is made up of an all-star cast and they have plenty of things to talk about.

Some of the highlights were Helen Mirren revealing she based her character on Martha Stewart and she has a crush on Bruce Willis – which is one of the reasons she agreed to be in Red. Later on, during Willis’s press conference, he was told how Mirren felt.  It was a funny response.  Mary Louise Parker talked about how much she loved John Malkovich and told some good behind the scenes stories.  And Willis and Urban had a lot of fun answering the press questions. If you’re a fan of any of these actors, you’ll enjoy watching the interviews:

At the New York City press junket for Red, I got to participate in a press conference with Ernest Borgnine.  While it was great to be able to talk with Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, the chance to hear Borgnine reminisce about his decades in the movie business was also extremely cool.  Also, with Borgnine being 93 years old, I’m well aware this might have been my last chance to interview him.

During the press conference, Borgnine talked about how he first got into the “picture” business, making such films as Marty and From Here to Eternity, working with Frank Sinatra, what really went on behind the scenes of McHale’s Navy, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch what he had to say:

Opening this weekend is the really fun movie Red. Featuring an all-star cast that’s more impressive than The Expendables, Red stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, and Ernest Borgnine. Based on the graphic novel Red (Retired Extremely Dangerous), the movie is about a group of retired black ops agents that get back together to try and figure out why some former agents are getting killed.

While almost the entire cast is a retired C.I.A. agent, Mary-Louise Parker plays the sort of love interest of Bruce Willis. I say sort of…because she works at the agency that mails Willis his government checks and at the beginning of the film they’ve never met. Anyway, I was recently in NYC for the press junket and I was able to sit down with Miss Parker.  During the interview we talked about whether or not she knew Red would be such a fun movie, acting on TV versus movies, what movie making is really like, and I asked how much longer could Weeds last.  Hit the jump to see what she had to say:

Opening on October 15 is the really fun movie Red. Featuring an all-star cast that’s more impressive than The Expendables, Red stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, and Ernest Borgnine. Based on the graphic novel Red (Retired Extremely Dangerous), the movie is about a group of retired black ops agents that get back together to try and figure out why some former agents are getting killed.

I was recently in NYC for the press junket and I was able to sit down with Helen Mirren.  During the interview we talked about whether or not her fans are ready to watch her fire a 50 caliber machine gun (I think they are), are there any challenges working in different movie genres, what was it like with the rest of the cast, and she gave me an update on how Arthur was going with Russell Brand.  Hit the jump to see what she had to say and make sure to see Red this weekend:

Opening on October 15 is a really fun movie called Red.  Featuring an all-star cast that’s more impressive than The Expendables, Red stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, and Ernest Borgnine.  Based on the graphic novel Red (Retired Extremely Dangerous), the movie is about a group of retired black ops agents that get back together to try and figure out why some former agents are getting killed. You can watch some clips from Red here.

A few days ago I was in NYC for the press junket and I was able to sit down with Bruce Willis and Karl Urban.  During the very relaxed interview, Willis and Urban talked to me about making the movie, using fake names at Starbucks and on dressing room doors, filming on location, their fight scene, and Willis talked about why he wanted to make Rian Johnson’s Looper and Urban talked about Pete Travis’ Judge Dredd.

Finally, one last thing before watching…while my interview was supposed to end after three minutes, you’ll see Willis tell me to keep asking questions even though the person running the interview wanted it to stop.  I’ve never had a big movie star tell me to keep asking questions after my time was over.  For my first time getting to ask Bruce Willis some questions on camera…it was very cool.  Hit the jump to watch.

Summit Entertainment has released four clips from their upcoming action flick Red.  The cast alone is impressive: You’ve got Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Morgan Freeman as retired black ops agents out to clear their names before the agency kills them.  Also along for the ride are Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, and Ernest Borgnine.  I’m also digging the action and humor that’s been shown off in the trailers and clips.  Let’s hope that the film delivers.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  Red opens October 15th.

The first clip from Red has landed online.  Entitled “Restless” the 45-second excerpt from the film shows Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren discussing the trials and tribulations of life after retirement.  There is also a giant gun being used at one point which always makes for a good time.  Based upon what we’ve seen of the film thus far, I think it is fair to say that Helen Mirren’s hyper-violent character is single-handedly making a push for my box-office dollars.

Starring alongside Willis and Mirren is an ensemble cast including: Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfuss, Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban.  Directed by Robert Schwentke (Tattoo), the film is an adaptation of Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner’s comic-book series of the same name.  Red opens on October 15th.  To check out the clip, hit the jump.

As we approach the release of Summit’s spy comic adaptation Red, it continues to look like it’ll be the most fun we have in theaters in the month of October.  There’s a new international trailer (with plenty of footage not seen in the first domestic trailer), and the fantastic ensemble — Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, etc. — clearly had a blast with the material.  I’d be surprised if you can make it the whole 1:44 without a smile creeping across your face; if you’d like to try, check out the trailer after the jump.

Summit Entertainment has released almost a dozen new images from director Robert Schwentke’s Red.  Since we’ve been covering the film extensively the past few months, you probably know Red is based on the three issue comic book mini-series by writer Warren Ellis and artist Cully Hamner and it’s about a group of former CIA agents that are framed for assassination so they must get back together to clear their names.  Red stars Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Karl Urban, Helen Mirren, James Remar, Julian McMahon, Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Richard Dreyfuss.

I visited the set earlier this year and thought it looked great.  On top of that, the trailer is fantastic and I’ve heard the film is testing extremely well.  That’s probably why Summit was willing to do some additional filming this weekend to add a bit to the ending. Anyway, hit the jump for the new images.  Red opens October 15.

Red is the kind of film that can really benefit from Comic-Con.  The film doesn’t come out too long after the Con (October 15th) and can appeal to this crowd even though it’s not based off well-known source material.  The teaser trailer is a lot of fun and that’s how they kicked off the presentation.  As far as marketing goes, I think Summit Entertainment is doing solid work, but today the film had a chance to build serious buzz.

Stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban came out to greet the enthusiastic crowd along with graphic novel creators Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.  Hit the jump to find out what went down in Hall H today at the panel for Red.

In case you haven’t figured it out, Summit Entertainment is using the week before Comic-Con toraise awareness on their upcoming action film Red.  If you haven’t seen the awesome trailer, you should check it out, as Red looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I did a set visit a few months ago and thought it looked great.  Click here to read it.  Also, the other day I posted all my on set interviews, so click on the names to read/listen to what they had to say:  Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban.

Anyway, the studio has been releasing new character posters all week and we’ve previously posted Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman.  For the last poster article, Summit has sent over Karl Urban and Mary-Louise Parker.  Hit the jump to check them out:

In case you haven’t figured it out, Summit Entertainment is using the week before Comic-Con to kick the promotional machine into high gear on their upcoming action film Red.  If you haven’t seen the awesome trailer, you should check it out, as Red looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I did a set visit a few months ago and thought it looked great.  Click here to read it.  Also, yesterday I posted all my on set interviews, so click on the names to read/listen to what they had to say:  Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban.

Anyway, we’ve previously posted the Bruce Willis character poster, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich poster and today Summit has released the Morgan Freeman character poster.  Hit the jump to check it out:

In case you haven’t figured it out, Summit Entertainment is using the week before Comic-Con to kick the promotional machine into high gear on their upcoming action film Red.  If you haven’t seen the awesome trailer, you should check it out, as Red looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I did a set visit a few months ago and thought it looked great.  Click here to read it.  Also, earlier today I posted all my on set interviews, so click on the names to read/listen to what they had to say:  Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban.

Anyway, on Monday we posted the Bruce Willis character poster and yesterday it was Helen Mirren.  Today Summit has sent over the John Malkovich character poster, so hit the jump to check it out:

Back in April, when Red was shooting in New Orleans, I got to visit the set along with a few other online journalists (here’s my report).  While we were told in advance that we might not get to speak with Bruce Willis, as morning turned into afternoon and after finishing lunch, we were rushed back to set as we were told Willis would have some time to talk with us and we didn’t want to miss his window of availability.  The thing to know is, when you’re the star of the show and in almost every shot, you don’t have a lot of free time to talk to journalists.

While I’ve gotten to speak with a lot of actors, this was my first time getting to ask Bruce Willis some questions.  I’ll admit, as a fan of Bruce Willis for what feels like my entire life, it was extremely cool to be able to take part in this interview.

As you might imagine, we talked about how he got involved in the project, since this is a PG-13 film was there was any competition for who gets to drop the F bomb, filming in New Orleans and Toronto, and a lot more.  Also, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura joined him in the interview, so hit the jump to read or listen to what they had to say: