Lone Survivor is a 2013 American biographical war thriller film based on the 2007 eponymous non-fiction book by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson. Set during the war in Afghanistan, the film dramatizes the unsuccessful United States Navy SEALs counter-insurgent mission Operation Red Wings, during which a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team was tasked to track down the Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. Written and directed by Peter Berg, Lone Survivor stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, and Eric Bana. Lone Survivor opened in limited release in the United States on December 25, 2013, before opening across North America on January 10, 2014, to strong financial success and a generally positive critical response. Some critics praised Berg's direction, as well as the acting, story, visuals, and battle sequences, while others derided the film for focusing more on its action scenes than on characterization. Lone Survivor grossed over $154 million in box-office revenue worldwideâ€"of which $125 million was from North America. It received two Academy Award nominations for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
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Devil's Due is a 2014 American psychological horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by Lindsay Devlin. The film stars Allison Miller, Zach Gilford, and Sam Anderson. The film was released on January 17, 2014. On December 18, 2012, Fox announced that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett would be directing Devil's Due, based upon a script written by Lindsay Devlin. Fox had approached the two directors (who are part of the filmmaking collective Radio Silence) based upon their short 10/31/98 in the 2012 horror anthology V/H/S. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett had been approached by several other companies for "haunted house projects" but chose to work on Devil's Due over the other projects because they felt that the script was character based "creepy mood piece" that focused on the deteriorating relationship between its two main characters. In an interview, the directors said they "focused on Zach & Samantha's love story from day one and the horror of watching the person you love degenerate, and being left helpless beyond continuing to love them unconditionally." The script had been pitched to them as "a found-footage take on Rosemary's Baby," but the directors wanted to find ways to make their movie different from the 1968 film that they both praise and consider a personal favorite. This included instilling "a fun energy throughout" and "a sense of humor into the script.
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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a 2014 American action spy thriller film directed by Kenneth Branagh. Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Branagh, and Keira Knightley star in leading roles. The film features the fictional character Jack Ryan created by author Tom Clancy. It is the fifth film in the Jack Ryan series but is presented as a reboot that departs from the previous installments. Unlike its predecessors, it is not an adaptation of a particular Clancy novel, but rather an original story. Pine stars in the title role, becoming the fourth actor to play Ryan, following Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck.
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47 Ronin is a 2013 American period fantasy action film depicting a fictional account of the forty-seven rÅnin, a real-life group of masterless samurai in 18th-century Japan who avenged the death of their lord, in the style of ChÅ«shingura. Produced by Universal Studios, the film was directed by Carl Rinsch and stars Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada. 47 Ronin is the directorial debut of Carl Rinsch based on a screenplay by The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift screenwriter Chris Morgan and The Wings of the Dove screenwriter Hossein Amini brought in for rewrites. The film has almost nothing in common with the original historical epic, being set "in a world of witches and giants." The studio Universal Pictures first announced the project in December 2008 with actor Keanu Reeves attached to star. Variety reported, "The film will tell a stylized version of the story, mixing fantasy elements of the sort seen in The Lord of the Rings pics, with gritty battle scenes akin to those in films such as Gladiator." Universal planned to produce the film in 2009 after finding a director,. and in November of that year, the studio entered talks with Rinsch to direct the film. For Rinsch, who has filmed "visual and stylish" blurbs for brands, the film was his feature film debut.
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August: Osage County is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written by Tracy Letts and based on his Pulitzer Prizeâ€"winning play of the same name, and directed by John Wells. It is produced by George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Jean Doumanian, and Steve Traxler. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, and Julianne Nicholson as a dysfunctional family that reunites into the familial house when their patriarch (Sam Shepard) suddenly disappears. A modest commercial success, August: Osage County received mixed to positive reviews from critics. While much praise was given to the cast, the screenplay was praised by some and seen by others as too dark and lacking in humor. For their performances in the film, Streep and Roberts received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
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Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a 2013 American comedy film and the sequel to the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. As with the original film, it is directed by Adam McKay, produced by Judd Apatow, written by McKay and Will Ferrell, and stars Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate, all reprising their roles from the first film. It brings in newcomers Harrison Ford, Kristen Wiig, James Marsden, Meagan Good, and Dylan Baker. Development for the film began as early as 2008, but Paramount Pictures turned down the proposed sequel. However, in March 2012, Ferrell officially announced the film was in production and filming began in March 2013. Unlike the first film, the film is distributed by Paramount Pictures instead of DreamWorks Pictures. The Legend Continues was released on December 18, 2013. It received mainly positive reviews, and was a box-office success, grossing $173 million worldwide on a $50 million budget.
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Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is a 2014 American found footage supernatural horror film written and directed by Christopher B. Landon. Released on January 3, 2014 in the United States, it is the fifth film of the Paranormal Activity film series. It is also Landon's second directorial film, after Burning Palms. The film was announced in April 2012, and was first teased in the post-credits scene of Paranormal Activity 4, a scene only presented in theaters. Though the film is targeted to the Latino market, most of its dialogue is not in Spanish. Christopher B. Landon, who wrote the screenplay for 2007's Disturbia, as well as the three Paranormal Activity sequels, was announced to write and direct the project, which has been described as a "cousin" or "ese" to the series as opposed to a direct sequel, prequel, or reboot. The film maintains the look of found footage, a style used throughout the Paranormal Activity series.
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The Legend of Hercules is a 2014 American 3D action fantasy film directed by Renny Harlin, written by Daniel Giat and Sean Hood, and starring Kellan Lutz, Gaia Weiss, Scott Adkins, Roxanne McKee and Liam Garrigan. It was one of two Hollywood-studio Hercules films released in 2014, alongside Paramount Pictures' and MGM's co-production Hercules, being released six months earlier on January 10, 2014. The Legend of Hercules grossed $8,868,318 in its opening weekend, ranking #3 in the domestic box office behind Lone Survivor's third weekend and Frozen's eighth. As of March 9, 2014, the film has grossed $18.8 million domestically and an additional $42.4 million internationally for a worldwide total of $61.3 million.
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Grudge Match is a 2013 sports comedy film starring Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone as aging boxers stepping into the ring for one last bout. Stallone and De Niro have both previously been in successful boxing films (Rocky and Raging Bull, respectively) and worked together in Cop Land. The film is directed by Peter Segal. It was previously scheduled for a January 10, 2014 release, but was moved up to December 25, 2013. Filming commenced in New Orleans, Louisiana, in late 2012 and wrapped in March 2013, while several different establishing shots of Downtown Pittsburgh and the Edgar Thomson Steel Works were shot in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. A trailer was released on September 12, 2013. The climatic fight scene was filmed on location at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.