The first reaction of anyone coming out of The Grey probably won’t be, “I bet the director of The A-Team, Smokin’ Aces, and that BMW short Ticker made this!” Joe Carnahan prefers it to be that way. The director’s fifth feature film isn’t a full-blown action romp, but is instead a thrilling meditation on life, death, and survival. (Check out our review here.) Similar to Carnahan’s breakout feature, Narc, The Grey shows all the trappings of a true personal project — the kind of story that a filmmaker had to tell. And, after speaking with Carnahan for 25 minutes, that was clearly the case. From White Jazz to Killing Pablo, when the personable man finds a story that comes from his core, he’s got to get it made. Here’s what Joe Carnahan had to say about the life and death themes of The Grey, writing and portraying real men, and why he never wants to become a “one for them, one for me” filmmaker:

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s all about movies, and television, and comics, and literature, and photos of hot women. Such as Miss Piggy, yo. We begin tonight with perhaps the most interesting twist of the fall movie season. In recent interviews, the likes of Frank Oz and other original puppeteers and writers from the Jim Henson school are speaking out about how The Muppets might not respect the characters they helped create. “I wasn’t happy with the script,” Oz told Metro. “I don’t think they respected the characters. But I don’t want to go on about it like a sourpuss and hurt the movie.”

There’s something incredibly lacking in the announcement by Mark Millar that there will be a sequel to Kick-Ass. For one, it comes slightly unexpectedly considering the less-than-explosive showing at the box office and the unnecessary nature of continuing the story. For two, the comic book writer whose work is being adapted announcing that they want more of his work to adapt (and doing it on British radio show) seems more like wishful thinking than a genuine announcement.

Mark Millar is at it again. Talking, that is. Don’t get me wrong, as much as we love the guy for all of the subversively brilliant work he does with his comic writing, he does talk a lot about projects that may or may not ever happen.

It’s not nearly as bad as everyone’s making it out to be, but it wasn’t nearly as huge as most fans seemed to expect.

With Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn wanted to go against the grain and against the studios, and it looks like he may have done just that.

Kevin and Neil invite you to experience a milestone in Fat Guy history… both Fat Guys have seen the new films this weekend, and they pretty much agree. Get your fire-and-bimstone umbrellas ready!

There’s something significant about my notes situation as the credits rolled Matthew Vaughn’s high-energy comic adaptation. There was only one note to be written, and it came only at the end. My Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles notepad was blank, except for three words: “That was fun.”

Earlier today, a reader pointed me in the direction of a YouTube page where an intrepid movie lover could find an awesome new international TV spot for the upcoming film Kick-Ass, which highlights some of the film’s more vulgar and violent moments.

In a few weeks Kick-Ass is going to try to achieve what films like Mystery Men and Blankman could not. “Not suck,” you might say and you’d be right on that. But the latest superhero dark comedy, inspired by Mark Millar’s smashing graphic novels, will try to also break past the barrier of comic fan approval alone and burst into the hearts and wallets of the general public.

I am a comic book geek. I won’t fight it. Call me a nerd, and what have you. Those of you who know and love comic books though, probably realize how big of a deal that Mark Millar is. What you may not know though, is that he is one of the nicest and most passionate people I have ever met.

Remember that movie that everyone seems to love but hasn’t even been released yet? It’s getting a kick ass sequel.

Titan Books is releasing a very special companion book called Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie. It features never-before-seen art, script excerpts and commentary from Mark Millar. I had a chance to leaf through one this week, and it’s awesome. An anthology of badassery, if I may. And lucky for you, we’ve got a few to give away.

Most of us were taught growing up that it wasn’t nice to swear. And that it isn’t nice to kill people with a badass sword. Apparently comic super-genius Mark Millar didn’t get that lesson growing up. All of his properties, especially the two that have now been turned into films — Wanted and now Kick-Ass — include a lot of violence and a lot of words we wouldn’t say in front of our grandmother. And in this writer’s opinion, they’re better for it.

When we first got our hands on the red band trailer for Kick-Ass in late December, we had no idea what we were in for. Now, we’re completely enamored with what is to come.

This week, Lionsgate has done everything possible to wrap the world in a blanket of homemade superheroes, releasing a series of character posters as well as the first teaser trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s upcoming actioner Kick-Ass. And now, we’ve got one more.

Lionsgate has somewhat inadvertently released the teaser trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s latest flick, the comic book adaptation Kick-Ass. Yeah, it’s pretty funny.

The folks at IGN have debuted for new character posters from the upcoming Lionsgate release Kick-Ass, from director Matthew Vaughn and the mind of Wanted writer Mark Millar.

Comic creator and writer Mark Millar, whose property Wanted became one of the break-out hits of last year, is getting ready to take on something new: directing.

Kick-Ass is still in post production but director Matthew Vaughn is chomping at the bit to work with creator Mark Millar all over again.