Genre cinema is often a reflexive thing, it responds to society, and there is no more prevalent issue than the class divide between the 99% and the 1%. The Hunger Games dealt with it, The Dark Knight Rises touched on it, and this year's Snowpiercer is tackling it head on. Elysium continues this theme with the story of a space station where the privileged 'haves' get to live a life of opulence and premium medical care, while the lowly 'have-nots' see out their days on an over-crowded, dying Earth.
The first trailer for 300: Rise of an Empire, the sequel to Zack Snyder's 2006 smash hit, has landed on our shores and it is pretty spectacular.
White House Down has received a new, extended trailer, looking increasingly befitting of its 'Die Hard in the White House' label but that actually doesn't seem like such a bad thing.
If the individual embarrassment of seeing Schwarzenegger struggle through The Last Stand and Stallone mumble his way through Bullet to the Head wasn't enough for you; the first official poster for the prison-break actioner Escape Plan - starring the two once-upon-a-time action heavyweights - has surfaced.
The Raid is one of the undisputed masterworks of the action genre; a relentless roller coaster of broken bones and bullet holes. What makes The Raid work so well is that it felt dangerous. The fight choreography, the stunt work, it has a close-to-the-bone quality that makes every fight feel like it was physically demanding. People got hurt to make that move feel so brutal and authentic. That's refreshing in an increasingly sanitised genre.
Last year's greatest success story came in the form of a low-budget Indonesian action thriller by the name of The Raid. Directed by Welsh-born Gareth Evans, The Raid brought the unique fighting style pencak silat to the masses with a relentlessly breakneck story of one man versus a tower block of mercenaries. The plot is still to be confirmed, however, The Raid: Berendal (Indonesian for ‘thugs') picks up 2 hours after the first ends, and includes not only Rama (Iko Uwais) but a whole host of new antagonists; including one simply known as ‘Hammer Girl'.
21 Jump Street, the funniest movie of last year, is getting a sequel. For once, this feels like good news, as the new movie will transport Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's Jenko and Schmidt onto the College scene. A whole new environment, with all new pitfalls and distractions.
If you have as little care for the quality of the films you watch as the makers of Kill 'em All seem to have for human life, attention spans and their own movie, you might just enjoy this 'film'. Anyone else unfortunate enough to see it should pray they can imagine it as a spoof.
The Danny Trejo led sequel to 2010's action exploitation gore-fest Machete has yet another poster for Sofia Vergara as Madame Desdemona, a whip-toting and machine-gun brassiere wearing femme fatale who comes into play during Machete's battle to take down an eccentric arms dealer set on global destruction.
Arriving by the flame-striped truckload are this set of Transformers 4 images, showing off the numerous vehicles that'll get the CGI transformative treatment to digitally wow audiences in an attempt to distract from the vast chasm of hollowness that follows with every Michael Bay release.
