The first red-band trailer for the sequel Kick-Ass 2 debut this morning, and now Universal has released a batch of high-resolution images and the first poster for the film. Jeff Wadlow takes over from the first film’s director Matthew Vaughn this time around, and the story finds Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick-Ass and Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl inspiring a new wave of masked superheroes that join in their fight against evil.  On the flipside, Christopher Mintz-Plasse has now become a supervillain named The Mother Fucker and is assembling his own masked evil league.

Hit the jump to check out the images and poster.  The film also stars Morris Chestnut, John Leguizamo, Donald Faison, and Jim Carrey.  Kick-Ass 2 opens on August 16th.

Universal has released the first red-band trailer for director Jeff Wadlow‘s sequel Kick-Ass 2.  The trailer opens with a fight/dialogue scene between Aaron Johnson‘s Kick-Ass and Chloe Moretz‘s Hit Girl that brings us right back into the Kick-Ass world, and it sure does feel good to be back.  The plot appears to revolve around the preparations for a showdown between Kick-Ass/Hit Girl and Christopher Mintz-Plasse‘s newly minted “The Motherfucker,” as both sides are building up their own armies of heroes/villains.  Mintz-Plasse looks to have gone delectably full-evil in the follow-up, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how his character progresses throughout the film.  The CGI is pretty iffy in places, but the fight scenes and performances look great, with Jim Carrey essentially unrecognizable as Colonel Stars and Stripes.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, and Olga Kurkulina.  Kick-Ass 2 opens on August 16th.

The official synopses for a couple of upcoming Universal Pictures films have been released.  Director Peter Cornwell’s (The Haunting in Connecticut) supernatural thriller Mercy is based on the short story of the same name by Stephen King and stars Chandler Riggs (The Walking Dead) and Joel Courtney (Super 8) as two young boys who, after moving with their mother to take care of their dying grandmother at a decrepit farmhouse, encounter a dark spirit.  Shirley Knight, Frances O’Connor, Mark Duplass, and Dylan McDermott also star in this Jason Blum-produced (Paranormal Activity) thriller.

Additionally, we’ve got an official synopsis for the action-comedy Ride Along.  Directed by Tim Story (Fantastic Four), the film stars Kevin Hart as a fast-talking aspiring police officer who must team up with his girlfriend’s brother, a hot-tempered cop (Ice Cube), to prove that he’s worthy of being her husband.  The film also stars John Leguizamo, Jay Pharoah, and Laurence Fishbourne and opens on January 17, 2014.  Hit the jump to read the full synopses.

We’ve already seen countless photos and videos from the set of the in-production sequel Kick-Ass 2 (many courtesy of director Jeff Wadlow himself), but now the film’s official synopsis has been released, giving us a peek at the film’s plot.  When the sequel’s story picks up, the bravery of Aaron Johnson’s titular hero has inspired a wave of superheroes led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey).  When the group becomes the target of Red Mist’s (Christhoper Mintz-Plasee) fury—now going by the name of “The Mother F%&*^r”—only the incredibly deadly Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) can save them.

Hit the jump to read the full synopsis which includes some further details, and if you missed it check out Steve’s video interview with Moretz from last week’s New York Comic-Con.  The promising ensemble cast also includes Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, and Olga Kurkulina.  Kick-Ass 2 opens on June 28th, 2013.

With Nate Parker (Red Tails) reportedly exiting Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake due to scheduling conflicts (with Non-Stop, starring Liam Neeson), the director has turned to a familiar collaborator in James Ransone (Sinister).  Oldboy will mark the third time the duo have worked together, following Lee’s Inside Man and Red Hook Summer.   Currently filming, Oldboy also stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharlto Copely.  Variety reports that Ransone will play a doctor who works with Olsen’s character in the remake of Chan-wook Park’s revenge thriller, a story that centers on a man (Brolin) who escapes from a decade of imprisonment and goes in search of his kidnappers.  Ransone can next be seen in Broken City, along with Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg.

For news on John Leguizamo (The Lincoln Lawyer) joining Ice Cube and Kevin Hart in the action-comedy, Ride Along, hit the jump.

Kick-Ass 2 is indeed finally happening.  The first poster banner for the film has popped up on the pic’s official Facebook page, and though it’s not much, it’s a fine tease for fans that have been clamoring for the return of Hit Girl and Co.  Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Chloe Moretz are all confirmed to return and reprise their roles from Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book.

Hit the jump to take a look at the banner and to find out what we know about Kick-Ass 2 so far.

Get out your fishing rod because it’s time for some casting:

• John Leguizamo signed up for Kick-Ass 2 and will star opposite Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz in Ridley Scott‘s The Counselor.
• Demian Bichir will join Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock in The Heat, directed by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids).
• Christopher Smith will star with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini in the latest film from writer/director Nicole Holofcener (Please Give).

The second full trailer for Ice Age: Continental Drift has been released.  The fourth installment in the Ice Age franchise finds the kooky characters attempting to survive the breakup of Pangea, when Earth’s supercontinent begins to rift.  Though I’m not the biggest fan of the series, there are more than a few laughs to be found in this latest trailer.  The MVP of the franchise has always been John Leguizamo’s Sid the Sloth, and he shines in this latest clip.  We also get a glimpse of the film’s antagonists, a gang of pirates led by a prehistoric orangutan voiced by Peter Dinklage.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The voice-cast includes Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Wedge, John Leguizamo, Aziz Ansari, Nick Frost, Joy Behar, JB Smoove, Alan Tudyk, Heather Morris, Josh Gad, Kunal Nayyar, Alain Chabat, and hip/hop artist Nicki Minaj. Ice Age: Continental Drift opens in 3D on July 13th.

A new trailer for the fourth installment in the Ice Age franchise, Ice Age: Continental Drift, has gone online. In this adventure, Scrat accidentally triggers the breakup of Pangea and thus the splitting of the continents while pursuing that ever-elusive acorn (seriously, there are other acorns in the world, Scrat). This trailer highlights this entry’s newest inhabitants: the Gigantopithecus (an extinct genus of ape). I’m not the biggest fan of the series, but kids seem to love it and the movies make a great deal of money at the box office so I guess there’s an audience for the fourth entry.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The voice-cast includes Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Wedge, John Leguizamo, Aziz Ansari, Nick Frost, Joy Behar, JB Smoove, Alan Tudyk, Heather Morris, Josh Gad, Kunal Nayyar, Alain Chabat, and hip/hop artist Nicki Minaj. Ice Age: Continental Drift opens in 3D on July 13th.

Let me start by saying that I have not seen the entirety of the Ice Age movies.  I have seen small parts at a time but this was my first full experience with these characters.  I watched it with my 4-year old daughter as well, so I can offer some of her perspective (if it seems more mature than mine, I am sure it is simply an error in reading skills).

It had been a long time since I had seen a “new” animated Christmas special.  My daughter and I regularly watched animated holiday videos this season like Charlie Brown, Rudolph, and Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas (which I believe still holds up). Hit the jump for my review of Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas on DVD.

Brad Anderson is– in this humble critic’s opinion– one of our most underappreciated directors.  This is the guy that made my absolute favorite horror movie of the decade (Session 9, see it immediately if you’ve never caught it), the guy that pulled the best performance I’ve ever seen out of Christian Bale (The Machinist, a film I doubly appreciate for its inherent weirdness and its frequent pseudo-references to Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor), the guy that made… Next Stop Wonderland?  Well, everyone’s gotta stop somewhere.  Anderson’s most recent stop?  The Vanishing on 7th Street, which arrived to not a lot of critical acclaim last year.  Is the film as pedestrian and disappointing as you might’ve heard?  Does star Hayden Christensen turn in an Attack of The Clones-level performance?  Find out after the jump, folks…

The majority of Matthew McConaughey’s filmography for the last decade could be charitably described as “less-than-good” and uncharitably described as “an abomination”.  Even McConaughey seemed unengaged from the material in a way that seemed to say, “Yeah, these movies are crap, but I’ve got a million-dollar smile and unlike most men, I look even hotter when I’m sweaty so the ladies love me.  Enjoy Fool’s Gold.”  There’s a greasy charm to the majority of his performances and his rom-com “appeal” (I use that term loosely) has overshadowed his genuinely good work in more dramatic films like Lone Star and Frailty.

And yet it’s McConaughey’s smug huckster attitude that elevates The Lincoln Lawyer from a forgettable legal drama to a breezy, exciting thriller that’s ironically only slowed down when McConaughey lessens his bravado to take a swing at the story’s more dramatic beats.

Lionsgate has moved the Katherine Heigl-led comedy One for the Money from July 8 to June 3.  On the original July release date, One for the Money would have been one of three comedies opposite The Zookeeper and Horrible Bosses.  Variety suggests the switch is counterprogramming tactic; action tentpole X-Men: First Class is the only other film scheduled for June 3.

Heigl plays “a down-and-out woman who takes a last-ditch job working for her cousin’s bail bond business, and her biggest client turns out to be her high-school heartbreaker.”  Jason O’Mara, John Leguizamo, and Debbie Reynolds also star, directed by Julie Anne Robinson (The Last Song) from a script by Liz Brixius (Nurse Jackie).  One for the Money is based on the novel of the same name by Janet Evanovich; hit the jump for a synopsis.

Lionsgate has released a new trailer for The Lincoln Lawyer, an adaptation of the best selling novel by Michael Connelly.  Matthew McConaughey stars as Mickey Haller, “a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back of his Lincoln sedan.”  Ryan Phillippe, Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo, Michael Pena, and Bryan Cranston also star.  Brad Furman (The Take) directs from a script by John Romano (Nights in Rodanthe).  Check out the new trailer after the jump.

Magnet has released a new trailer for Vanishing on 7th Street, with enough footage not found in the first to be worth a look.  Directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist) follows a group of strangers who survived when “an unexplained blackout plunges the city of Detroit into total darkness, and by the time the sun rises, only a few people remain.”  Hayden Christensen (Takers), John Leguizamo (Gamer),  Thandie Newton (2012), and newcomer Jacob Latimore star.

Hit the jump for the trailer and official synopsis.