After about seven years during which promises of an imminent Sin City sequel started making co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller seem sort of like broke dads promising their kids a rollercoaster in the backyard, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is actually happening.  Or at least, it's more likely than it has ever been.  Today, Dimension Films officially announced an October 2, 2013 release date for the sequel, and also confirmed that stars Mickey Rourke and Jessica Alba are committed to return.

So apparently a sequel to Sin City is actually going into production this summer, after seven years of seemingly endless promises and well past the point at which it seemed it would never happen.  The official announcement for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was a week ago today, and with Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller set to direct again, there are plenty of questions, including, "Really?  No, really?  This is happening?"  Another is, of course, just who will return from the 2005 film.

It's been seven years since Sin City set a new standard for fidelity in adapting a comic book, with co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller basically using Miller's influential hyper-noir comics as storyboards for the audacious, green-screen intensive production.  Talk of a sequel taking on more of Miller's work began almost immediately, the directors have been promising that it will happen almost ceaseless for the better part of a decade with nothing to show for it.  But it's actually going to go down now.  Really.

Gods and Goddesses alike gathered at the world famous Playboy Mansion on Tuesday evening, March 6th to celebrate the Blu-ray and DVD release of Immortals, which went on sale earlier that day. In attendance from the movie was Immortals producer Craig J. Flores, as well as actor Corey Sevire who played Apollo in the film. Also making an appearance at the mansion Tuesday night was actors Bruce Boxleitner (Tron: Legacy), Johnny Whitworth (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), Stephen Bishop (Safe House), Chris Bauer (HBO’s True Blood), Theo Rossi and Dayton Callie (Sons of Anarchy), and Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire), as well as comedians Orlando Jones (Mad TV) and Tommy Davidson (In Living Color). Unfortunately our host, the great Hugh Hefner, did not make an appearance at the party or on the red carpet that evening.

IAR attended the red carpet gala and I had a chance to speak with Flores about producing the film. I began by asking him about his experience collaborating with visionary director Tarsem Singh. “I think Tarsem established within our first meeting that he had the movie inside his head and that he wanted to make it look Caravaggio paintings. He had it all down in his head and that is what you look for in a director to really just execute that vision seamlessly and he did.”

So you've got a forty-seven inch flatscreen television, complete with Blu-ray player and a surround sound system that truly does surround you with sound.  With all that, you're not looking for a staid costume drama, quietly observant character piece, or quirk-filled comedy.  You're looking for a movie with visuals that will scorch your retinas and a sound mix that will break windows while scaring every pet in your neighborhood.  Next week, that movie arrives, as the blockbuster action epic Immortals is set to bring the thunder on Tuesday, March 6th.

Opening in theaters on November 11th is the new 3D fantasy adventure film from visionary director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall), called Immortals. The movie features an impressive cast of young and veteran actors that includes Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), Freida Pinto (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2), Kellan Lutz (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1), Luke Evans (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Isabel Lucas (Red Dawn), Stephen Dorff (Blade), and John Hurt (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down and talk with director Tarsem Singh about his latest film Immortals, as well as his upcoming project Mirror Mirror (formally known as Untitled Snow White Project). The director spoke openly about Immortals, its compelling story, why 3D fits his directing style, and Mickey Rourke's intensity, as well as Mirror Mirror, why its not in 3D, and working with Oscar-winner Julia Roberts. 

The mythology of ancient Greece has endured and remained resonant for literally thousands of years, with figures both godly and mortal whose stories hit a resoundingly primal nerve.  In the new 3D action epic Immortals, hitting theaters this Friday, inimitable visual stylist Tarsem Singh creates a stunningly envisioned world in which the ancient gods must recruit a mortal hero in order to stop the power-mad machinations of King Hyperion, who is determined to obtain a legendary weapon that will allow him to free the imprisoned titans and wage in an all-out war against the gods.  To act as their human champion against Hyperion, the gods choose Theseus, a humble peasant whose village was ravaged by the tyrant, and Theseus' journey will take audiences through an immersive landscape like none ever before rendered onscreen.

Henry Cavill, who is currently filming the titular role as Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, stars as the courageous Theseus, going head-to-head with Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Iron Man 2) as the relentless King Hyperion.  Theseus is aided on his quest by Phaedra, an oracle portrayed by Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionare, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), while Luke Evans (The Three Musketeers, Clash of the Titans) and Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) bring some godly sex appeal to their respective roles as Zeus and Athena.

Along with Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell), all four actors were in attendance at the Los Angeles press conference promoting Immortals.  IAR Managing Editor Jami Philbrick sat down for roundtable interviews with all the major players, joined by entertainment journalists from all over the world.  The director and cast discussed the source material, 3D, ornate costumes, and the project's inherent physicality.

I am utterly powerless to articulate the full extent of my love for In Bruges, the 2008 directorial debut of playwright Martin McDonagh, so it is with no small amount of anticipation that I await the next feature from the writer-director.  McDonagh's sophomore effort, Seven Psychopaths, is currently in the midst of casting, and the personalities involved keep making an already promising project sound almost unspeakably cool.  This week, Mickey Rourke bowed out of Seven Psychopaths in a most inflammatory fashion, but according to Deadline, the ensemble now sees the addition of musical legend/occasional actor Tom Waits, the always-reliable Woody Harrelson, and erstwhile Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko.

Opening in theaters on November 11th is the new 3D fantasy adventure film from visionary director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall) called Immortals. The movie features an impressive cast of young and veteran actors that includes Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), Freida Pinto (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2), Kellan Lutz (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1), Luke Evans (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Isabel Lucas (Red Dawn), Stephen Dorff (Blade), and John Hurt (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). 

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down and talk with actor Stephen Dorff about his role in Immortals. The actor spoke openly about his new film, its similarities to Star Wars, its differences from other mythology genre movies, his character, 3D, and working with director Tarsem Singh. 

The epic 3D action event of the year, Immortals, arrives in theaters this Friday.  As directed by singular visual stylist Tarsem Singh (The Fall, Mirror Mirror), the film is an unprecedented aesthetic experience, featuring no shortage of show-stopping action sequences and immaculately composed imagery.  With a movie as special as Immortals, it would be a shame to find yourself in the theater this Friday, perhaps in the company of a date, looking and feeling like less than totally ready in standard-issue 3D glasses, which just don't look too cool and sometimes fit a bit uncomfortably.  Luckily, you can experience 3D in high style and total comfort, because Rogue 3D Eyewear is now on sale, just in time for Immortals.