Directors: Robert Rogriguez, Ethan Maniquis
Cast: Danny Trejo, Steven Seagal, Robert De Niro, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson, Jessica Alba
Certificate: 18
Trailer

Dirty Grindhouse fun or balls-out political commentary. You can't have both. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy bits of Machete, the feature spun off from the spoof trailer by blood-thirsty B-movie king Robert Rodriguez. As you'd expect, it's ridiculously stupid and unapologetically violent. A piece of trash and nothing more.

Adrien Brody is suing Giallo's producers to try and stop the film's cinematic release.

He's faced off against Predators, so a few studio folks won't scare him easily. Especially when they promised him payment and he never got it. Brody signed on to work with Italian legend Dario Argento with a "pay or play" agreement, which was disrupted slightly when it turned out the producers were lacking some serious cash. But new distribution deals found financial rescue, and the actor was offered the chance to refuse the use of his likeness in the film provided he deferred his $640k salary.

That salary hasn't turned up yet. Accusing the producers of lying about their cash claims, he's now refusing to let the movie use his likeness. He's suing for $3 million. A just cause or a petty strop?

While X-Men: First Class continues its constant feed of news, Fox are also looking at their other Marvel franchise: Fantastic Four. More specifically, they're looking at Mr Fantastic. And more specifically than that, they're looking at Adrien Brody.

Looking to restart the series after the last two movies, Fox are keen to find themselves someone talented for the role of Reed Richards, the boffin who goes all stretchy when Science Goes Wrong. Brody, who just worked on Fox's Predators and was in the recent Splice, is picking up a range of projects at the moment, so could easily be interested in a superhero outing (some would argue it's bound to happen sooner or later). Brody is also in competition with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, whose turn in the recent From Paris with Love got the actor onto the studio's shortlisht.

There's no word on a title yet, although "Fantastic Four Reborn" has apparently been ruled out. The only other detail floating about is that The Thing will be completely CGI this time (a shame, because the make-up on Michael Chiklis was actually quite good).

Alice Eve and Amber Heard have also been touted as contenders for Sue Storm, aka Mrs Fantastic, but it's hard to feel excited about the prospect of a whole new Fantastic Four franchise. On the one hand, I feel sorry for Ioan Gruffud. On the other, I'm still trying to wipe all traces of Rise of the Silver Surfer from my brain.

So we all thought it was a done deal, Robert Rodriguez and Deadpool. Despite the denials of the studio, and the fact that Rodriguez had only actually been sent the script. But now fresh rumours are doing the rounds and it looks like the Machete director is in whispered negotiations with Fox to helm Deadpool.

The script, by Zombieland's Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, would seem to be a great match for Rodriguez's blend of humour and bloody action, and with Predators doing a pretty good job at the box office, Fox are certainly warming to the director. Talks over the X-Men spin-off are still in early stages, but we're definitely past the "will you be my girlfriend?" stage of holding hands.

Don't expect an announcement just yet, though: Rodriguez still has his new Spy Kids movie firmly on the front burner, and Ryan Reynolds (the star most likely to play The Merc with the Mouth) has a comedy, The Change-Up, lined up now that Green Lantern has finished.

It looks like Deadpool (when it does finally happen) will be heading for a 2012 release. Until then, get your glands going by using such exciting words as "profit points", "budget", "negotiations" and "Danny Trejo cameo".

Hot on the heels of the brilliant sci-fi fan-trash Predators, we're already getting another glimpse at the next mental Robert Rodriguez movie. Remember Machete? The former Mexican Federale who carries big f*** off knives? Well, forget that first trailerwe had and its wily pop at Arizona's immigration headlines, this new trailer is what you really want.

Presuming what you want is explosions, knives, Danny Trejo and women, you've got it in bucket-loads. Hamming up his Grindhouse spoof to 11, Rodriguez is clearly cutting loose with his wild tale of the betrayed Mexican mercenary, double-crossed when the job of bumping off Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro) turns out to be a set-up.

As he's chased around the border by Jessica Alba's agent, Machete mans up for some payback. Joining him for revenge against drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal) are Michelle Rodriguez, recently incarcerated Lindsay Lohan, and - of course - his priest, played by Cheech Marin.

It's all hitting notes Rodriguez has played before, but with the look and feel of Desperado and El Mariachi running through the two-minute video, Machete is shaping up to be one hell of a ride. Whether that ride can last for two hours is another thing entirely.

Machete blows up UK cinemas on Friday 29th October. Check out the trailer at IGN, or read on for the full thing. Did we mention it had Danny Trejo in it?

Director: Nimrod Antal
Cast: Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Topher Grace
Certificate: 15
Trailers/Clips

"A slightly above-average actioner that tries to compensate for tissue-thin plot with ever-more-grisly death sequences and impressive special effects" - that was Variety back in 1987 on John McTiernan's original Predator. And it's a pretty accurate analysis. Undeveloped characters, non-existent story, over-the-top gore. Step in Robert Rodriguez and Nimrod Antal, ready to give modern audiences more of the same. The result is one heck of a reboot. Remake. Sequel. Thing.

Remember that feeling? That clammy, butt-clenching feeling you get when you watch alien creatures slicing and dicing humans like sweet potato? Predators' new trailer has got that in bucket loads. Yes, the latest glimpse at Nimrod Antal's take on the franchise started all those years ago by John McTiernan is absolutely without a doubt massively promising.

Guns? Check. Humans? Check. Mud? Check. Predators (plural)? Hell yes. With Robert Rodriguez keeping an eye on things, Antal's gone the whole hog with his energetic entry in the Predator universe, grouping together its kick-ass cast (Laurence Fishburne, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, the list continues) without any sign of annoying Alien vs Predator-style dialogue to set it all up.

Even better, Adrien Brody manages to convince as Royce, a mercenary who not only leads the group, but looks and sounds like a man. A butch manly man. If they can pull that off, then frankly, this really can't fail. Especially with the amount of blood on show in these mere 146 seconds. Enough jabbering - read on to experience the fear (and intense joy) for yourself. Oh, there's a cool new poster as well.

Predators is released on Thursday 8th July. The other videos (including that enticing sneak peek) are over here.