The Playlist

Liam Neeson To Star In One-Time Harrison Ford Project 'A Walk Among The Tombstones'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 17, 2012 1:00 PM
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3 Comments

News

It seems barely a week goes by without it being announced that Liam Neeson is attached to play some kind of badass. Ever since "Taken" renewed his stardom, he's been a busy bee, punching people (and wolves) in everything from "The A-Team" and "Clash Of The Titans" to "The Grey" and the upcoming "Non-Stop." Only this morning saw images of Neeson giving bad-guys the what for in "Taken 2," the sequel to the original smash. So ordinarily, we'd be forgiven for greeting the announcement of a new hardboiled crime thriller starring the Irish actor with a roll of the eyes.

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Review: Waterlogged 'Battleship' Is A Cynical, Nonsensical & Boring Blockbuster

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 17, 2012 11:00 AM
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17 Comments

Reviews

Expectations are a tricky thing with films. In an age where every teaser, trailer, teaser-for-a-trailer, poster and publicity still are pored over endlessly, many go into a film thinking they know what they'll think afterwards. This can lead to hopes being crushed, or sometimes, for a film that you'd previously dismissed turning out to be a pleasant surprise -- only last summer, we were dreading "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," only to discover that it was perhaps the best blockbuster of the season. Honestly, very little makes us happier than such a film: a picture that's been mis-marketed that turns out be an absolute treat, that is an entirely different beast to what you thought it was going to be.

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First Look: Liam Neeson Gets Badass Again In 'Taken 2'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 17, 2012 10:50 AM
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3 Comments

News

As it turns out, he still has a very particular set of skills. It's nearly four years since Liam Neeson action vehicle "Taken" became a surprise worldwide smash-hit: the Luc Besson-produced film made more than $200 million worldwide, which was particularly impressive given its meager $25 million budget, and it turned Neeson into an A-list star. It took some wrangling, but Besson and Fox finally got the star back for a sequel, and a first look at the film has debuted over at Entertainment Weekly.

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Jaume Collet-Serra To Direct Liam Neeson To Punch People On A Plane In 'Non-Stop'

By Joe Cunningham
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May 10, 2012 9:42 AM
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0 Comments

News

It may not have been everybody’s cup of tea, but Jaume Collet-Serra’s 2009 film "Orphan" was bold and bonkers enough that it made us sit up and pay a little more attention to the director, whose previous efforts had been a “House of Wax” remake and “Goal II: Living the Dream.” He followed “Orphan” with last year’s Liam Neeson vehicle/”Taken” cash-in “Unknown,” and it looks like Collet-Serra enjoyed being in the Neeson business.

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Liam Neeson & Olivia Wilde To Star In Paul Haggis' Romantic Drama 'Third Person'; Jude Law Rumored For Role As Well

By Simon Dang
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April 4, 2012 2:52 PM
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2 Comments

News

Lately, writer-director Paul Haggis has been developing a few gestating projects, and one of them looks like to have firmed up as his follow-up to the largely unsuccessful prison escape actioner "The Next Three Days," which starred Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks.

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Liam Neeson To Punch People, But In The Sky, In Dark Castle Thriller 'Non-Stop'

By Benjamin Wright
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April 4, 2012 10:44 AM
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5 Comments

News

When he’s not punching wolves with shards of glass taped to his hands in “The Grey,” rescuing his daughter with his “particular set of skills” in “Taken,” or locked in a brutal battle in “Wrath of the Titans,” we imagine that actor Liam Neeson is probably a nice guy. Though as you can see from the string of films we mentioned before, lately Hollywood likes to cast him in the sort of ass-kicking antihero roles that were usually reserved for Charles Bronson in the ‘70s. Though with January’s release of “The Grey” faring quite well both critically and financially, we can see why a Liam Neeson actioner is a sure bet. So that’s why there’s another one already in store, only this time, Neeson will have to brave some high altitudes.

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Review: 'Wrath Of The Titans' A Barely Memorable, Lifeless Sequel

By Gabe Toro
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March 28, 2012 7:26 AM
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9 Comments

Reviews

So a couple of years ago, they remade “Clash Of The Titans.” Do you remember that? No? Well, it was pretty successful. Box Office Mojo says it made about $500 million. There were some special effects. It was in 3D. Gods, monsters, that sort of thing. Seems like a can’t miss thing. Apparently Danny Huston was in it. Well, they’ve made a sequel, believe it or not. Does it match up to the last film? Not sure. It seems this has gone from a forgettable movie to a forgettable franchise.

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Lee Daniels Still Wants Liam Neeson To Play Lyndon B. Johnson, Only This Time In 'The Butler'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 16, 2012 1:41 PM
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1 Comment

News

It looks like Lee Daniels really wants to get the "Selma" gang back together. Last night it was reported that the director was gearing up the gestating "The Butler" that he first signed on to back in 2010 with a number of big names in the mix including Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Jackman, Mila Kunis, John Cusack and David Oyelowo. The connections here are numerous, but Oprah executive produced "Precious," Cusack and Oyelow both feature in Daniels' upcoming "The Paperboy" while Jackman and Oyelowo were both touted for roles in the civil rights drama "Selma" before it fell apart. Now one more name is entering the fray.

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Russell Crowe & Liam Neeson Circle Darren Aronofsky's Biblical Epic 'Noah'

By The Playlist
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February 1, 2012 11:21 PM
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20 Comments

News

First it was Christian Bale, but then he got preoccupied with two Terrence Malick films (not bad work if you can get it. Then the idea of Michael Fassbender was floated around, but as much as we love Fassy, we know in the eyes of studios he can’t float a $130 million dollar ambitious epic – not a quote unquote star yet. So it comes as not much of a surprise that director Darren Aronofsky is looking elsewhere to cast the lead of his ambitious biblical epic, “Noah.”

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Joe Carnahan To Write & Direct Remake Of 'Death Wish'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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January 30, 2012 9:04 AM
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1 Comment

News

Joe Carnahan must be feeling vindicated this morning. The writer/director broke out with 2002's terrific, muscular cop thriller "Narc," but hasn't had a lot of joy since: his 2006 sub-Guy Ritchie action-comedy "Smokin' Aces" wasn't beloved by many, while a director-for-hire gig on the would-be-tentpole "The A-Team" was tepidly received by audiences and critics alike. But from that, he reteamed with star Liam Neeson for a far more personal project, the existential killer-wolf survival tale "The Grey," and was validated in a big way when the positively-received film topped the box office this weekend with a strong $20 million haul. Presumably, this has given him the cache to make something bigger and better next time around, something even dearer to his heart, like dream projects "White Jazz" or "Killing Pablo."

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