Matthew Vaughn

Believe the hype: ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ is going to kick all kinds of ass (but, like, in a real classy way). Early reviews of Matthew Vaughn’s latest film have been overwhelmingly positive, but we wouldn’t expect any less from the team that brought us ‘X-Men: First Class.’ And if you want to learn how to be just as awesome as unlikely action star Colin Firth, these new videos from the film will teach you how. Oh, and we’ve got a brand new clip, too.

As ‘Batman’ goes, so goes comic-book movies. When Tim Burton turned the Dark Knight into a retro-gothic hero, Hollywood followed suit with a slew of heavily stylized pulp throwbacks. (See: ‘Dick Tracy,’ ‘The Phantom,’ ‘The Shadow,’ etc.) And when Christopher Nolan turned the Dark Knight into, well, ‘The Dark Knight,’ it sparked a wave of “grim and gritty” movies, with serious superheroes doing and saying serious things in outrageous spandex costumes that had been reimagined as biker gear or body armor. (See: ‘Man of Steel’ [Or maybe don’t.]) There’s been some pushback, but we’re really only now coming out of the trend toward ultra-serious, uber-dark comic-book movies.

We’ve been seeing previews for ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ for quite some time now, but they’ve only really nailed it with the latest trailer. Thanks to the new red-band clip (which you probably shouldn’t watch at work), the latest film from director Matthew Vaughn finally looks like something we can get excited about ... mainly because, for the first time, we can see that this film appears to be completely and totally insane.

Over the last couple of days, rumors have been swirling that the folks at Warner Bros. have offered Christopher Nolan the director’s chair for the adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel ‘Ready Player One.’ While it seems pretty unlikely that Nolan would take the job, a few more names have emerged, also reportedly on WB’s director shortlist: Robert Zemeckis, Edgar Wright (of course), Peter Jackson, and Matthew Vaughn.

The new trailer for ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ seemingly has everything you’d want out of a movie. There’s big, crazy action, Samuel L. Jackson acting like a lunatic, adorable puppies, a supporting cast filled with British actors that you love, and, most importantly, the simple presence of Colin Firth. The fact that Firth is playing a gentleman spy in the old school British ‘Avengers’/Sean Connery/James Bond mold is just a bonus.

For years, comic writer extraordinaire and 'Kick-Ass' creator Mark Millar was a man whose word you always took with a grain (or a pound) of salt. All of that changed when Fox put Millar at the helm of their superhero franchises, using him to help create a unified vision (see: Marvel Studios and Disney). Now Millar's words carry some actual weight! So when he says that 'X-Men: First Class' director Matthew Vaughn is producing Josh Trank's upcoming 'Fantastic Four' reboot, we believe him!

There were rumors a few weeks back that 'Star Wars: Episode 7' could have a female lead and now we know where those rumors came from. It turns out director Matthew Vaughn did meet with Lucasfilm about directing 'Star Wars' and he had a very specific idea on who he wanted to star in his version of 'Star Wars: Episode 7' - Chloe Grace Moretz.

Take this for what it's worth: Actor Jason Flemyng, longtime Matthew Vaughn collaborator, may have spilled the beans on who's directing 'Star Wars Episode 7' -- that being Vaughn, obviously. In an interview he seems to take for granted that Vaughn has the job before somewhat backtracking. Are the beans spilled?

'Star Wars: Episode 7' has only been a public reality for about a week now but it certainly looks like Disney isn't messing around. If the latest rumors are to be believed, they've zeroed in on a director for 'Star Wars: Episode 7' and are in talks to close a deal. So who is the man who will follow George Lucas? Well if you're a superhero fan, you're definitely familiar with his work.

Well this is certainly an interesting bit of news. It seems director Matthew Vaughn will not be returning for 'X-Men: First Class 2.' So who will direct it, then? Original 'X-Men' director Bryan Singer, perhaps?