Vin Diesel

Groot has proven wildly popular in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks in no small part to the introduction of Baby Groot, and even though Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 doesn’t hit theaters for another four months, he’s already become everyone’s favorite character. And while such intensely beloved characters often work better in slightly smaller doses within an ensemble (like the Guardians movies), Vin Diesel, the number one source for breaking Vin Diesel news, seems to think a solo Groot spinoff is “inevitable.”

Vin Diesel quickly rose through the ranks of Hollywood after Steven Spielberg cast him in a small role in his war film Saving Private Ryan. But did you know Spielberg hired Diesel after admiring his work in a short film that Diesel himself wrote and directed? The film, titled Multi-Facial, was shot in three days for just $3,000, and starred Diesel in a loosely autobiographical story about his struggles in the film industry. The short was widely acclaimed, and even played the Cannes Film Festival. That’s just one of the facts featured in the newest episode of You Think You Know Movies!

News of Marvel’s ABC-IMAX The Inhumans series was quickly followed by curious distinctions that a separate movie might still make it onto the MCU slate. That’s certainly what the sometime-attached Vin Diesel would prefer, as the Guardians of the Galaxy star says he has a mind to talk to Marvel about fixing their plans.

Vin Diesel is a pro when it comes to doing awesome things in places where they should not be done. He drove a muscle car out of a skyscraper in the most recent installment of the Fastly Furious franchise. In 2005 family comedy The Pacifier, Diesel brought white-knuckle secret agent action to a sleepy suburban neighborhood. And in a newly revealed clip from the upcoming xXx sequel Return of Xander Cage, he straps on a pair of skis and speeds through the jungle like it’s an Alpine black diamond trail. This is the poetry and pain of Vin Diesel, always pulling the raddest of stunts in the unlikeliest of spots — unstuck in time and place, an innovator unappreciated in his era, the Van Gogh of shredding the gnar.

With 2016 finally drawing to a close, we can now turn our attention to the bumper crop of ridiculous blockbusters zooming around the corner towards us next year. One of these is xXx: Return of Xander Cage, which will see Vin Diesel return to the franchise built upon the probably drug-induced idea of “Guys, what if… extreme athletes… fought crime?” This week, Paramount gifted us with a new clip that pits Vin Diesel and Donnie Yen against not only each other, but also the forces of Nature itself.

We already know Avengers: Infinity War is going to be huge, with the current MCU arcs building toward a crossover event that promises to be the studio’s biggest yet — even bigger than Captain America: Civil War. According to previous comments made by directors Joe and Anthony Russo, Infinity War will feature dozens of characters from the Marvel universe, including Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel. As for the rest of the lineup, we can only make educated guesses, but a new casting call may have spilled the beans.

Christmas means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To the devout, it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ and the symbolic coming of mankind’s heaven-sent savior to the earthly plane. To countless more, it’s a time when we gather together with family and loved ones to share in peace on earth, goodwill toward men, and beverages that combine that wonders of alcohol and dairy. To children, it is one of the several annual occasions on which you get presents. And to adrenaline addicts who like to live life to the limit even when slouching in for an afternoon at the cineplex, it’s when xXx: The Return of Xander Cage parkours into theaters.

Sometimes you discover something in your life that you didn’t know you needed until you finally have it. Take, for example, the brand new trailer for The Fate of the Furious. If you’d made me list the 100 different things I want from an action movie, I never would have thought to request a scene where a submarine chases a fleet of vehicles across an ice-field. Now that I’ve seen the first trailer for the film, I kind of wish every action movie was just that scene for ninety minutes.

This has been a pretty busy week for fans of the Fast and the Furious franchise. Not only did we get an official title for the eight film in the series, The Fate of the Furious  —  which, for inexplicable reasons that continue to haunt the internet, did not spell ‘fate’ as ‘f8’  —  we also got our first glimpse at new footage courtesy of a trailer tease and promises of a full theatrical trailer on Sunday evening.

Years ago, when The Fast and Furious franchise first began, there’s no way we could’ve fathomed the myriad ways Universal would rework the words “fast” and “furious” into sequel titles. “No,” they said, “We will not simply call these movies The Fast and the Furious 1 - 8. We are creatives!” That creativity peaked with 2 Fast 2 Furious, (prayer emoji hands for whoever originally came up with that one), then along the way they sort of lost their mojo. But now, finally, with the eight installment we’re back on track with a brand new f-word added to the title. So long “fast,” this movie is all about fate!