SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Poster

Director: Martin McDonagh

Writer: Martin McDonagh

Stars: Woody Harrelson, Colin Farrell and Abbie Cornish

Synopsis:

From Oscar-winning writer and director Martin McDonagh comes a star-studded, blood-drenched, black comedy. Marty (Colin Farrell) is a struggling writer who dreams of finishing his screenplay Seven Psychopaths. All he needs is a little focus and inspiration.

Billy (Sam Rockwell) is Marty’s best friend, an unemployed actor and part time dog thief, who wants to help Marty by any means necessary.

Hans (Christopher Walken) is Billy’s partner in crime. A religious man with a violent past. Charlie is the psychopathetic gangster whose beloved dog, Billy and Hans have just stolen. Charlie’s unpredictable, extremely violent and wouldn’t think twice about killing anyone or anything associated with the theft. Marty is going to get all the focus and inspiration he needs, just as long as he lives to tell the tale.

Sony Pictures have just released a brand new international trailer for Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man. This new trailer adds a host of extended and new footage of the titular web-crawler in action.

The film is a return to the origin story of Peter Parker web-slinging alter-ego and sees the franchise take a new route away from the 3 pervious Tobey Maguire/Sam Raimi incarnations of the superhero.

The film stars The Social Network star Andrew Garfield in the title role the film alongside Easy A star Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, and Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. The film is being entirely shot using 3D cameras meaning that the swing sequences should be pretty damn impressive.

The Amazing Spider-Man will swing into cinemas on July 3rd, 2012.

Synopsis:

Like most teenagers his age, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today.  In his journey to put the pieces of his past together he uncovers a secret his father held…a secret that will ultimately shape his destiny as Spider-Man.  This is the first in a series of movies that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story.  On July 3rd, 2012, the untold story begins.

Turning a board game into a big-budget summer blockbuster was always
going to be a stretch. But Hasbro the company behind the cinematic
juggernaut Transformers series thought they had locked on to a winning
formula for their adaptation of their best-selling board-game
Battleship…namely ditch Michael Bay for the supremely talented Peter
Berg, add aliens and throw shed-loads of money at the screen. And it
almost works…

The plot such as it is sees Taylor Kitsch play the lovable aimless
reluctant hero. Drafted into the Navy after a drunken stunt to impress
a girl goes awry he soon rises up through the ranks as his natural
ability overshadows his confrontational nature. Meanwhile scientists
have discovered a new planet light-years away that might just contain
intelligent life. Sending a message to this planet they are seemingly
unaware of the potential consequences, that ET might answer and drop
by. Back in Hawaii the Navy is gearing up for a massive military
exercise when our new “friends” decide to pay a visit. What happens
next is man v alien in a spectacular battle of technology and wits for
the control of the planet…

So lets start with Kitsch. The poor boy never can quite get a script
close to that of his breakout TV role in Friday Night Lights. He’s a
likable guy, who does his best with the material and can handle the
action sequences with aplomb. He is however overawed by Alexander
Skarsgard, who manages, in a significantly smaller role, to show why
he’s better equipped for leading man duties than his John Carter
starring cohort. Liam Neeson gives another in his trademark gruff
father figure performances. You never get the feeling that he’s
exerting himself, but that’s okay. Rihanna casts aside her
singer-cum-actress background and manages to give as good as she gets
playing with the boys. Brooklyn Decker never equates to more than
eye-candy and the rest of the actors are all given screen-time but no
background.

As a feat of technical film-making Battleship is a tour-de-force. It’s
visually stunning with obvious state of the art effects and seamless
CGI for the most part. The alien technology is beautifully rendered,
although the aliens themselves leave a lot to be desired. Likewise the
movie slows to a crawl during the misconstrued slow-mo weapon loading
sequences, which serve to remove the audience from the action rather
than immerse them in the spectacle. Aurally the film is amazing, way to
loud, but the sound design itself is full of merit. The soundtrack
works well in places, less so in others. The liberally used rock
classics that magnify the action are well timed, as is the wonderful
interjection of the Pink Panther theme. Sadly it all comes apart when
we get to the script. The story is woeful, with under developed
characters serving only to spout unnecessary exposition and act as the
most needless array of clichés seen in many a year. Even by the
standards of sci-fi films based on board games this is ludicrous. Berg
has a good eye for action but even he can’t help but channel his inner
Michael Bay when it comes to blowing stuff up. Given a couple more
months to develop the script, a good edit job and 40 less decibels and
we’d have a real contender on our hands here.

As it stands Battleship is a completely mental, completely bombastic,
completely stupid summer blockbuster. A missed opportunity perhaps but
maybe just what the doctor ordered if you like your movies loud, crass
and Americatastic.

Two years after the big budget remake Clash of the Titans fought its way onto the screens and passed 500 million at the box office Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and co are back in ancient Greece with more of those pesky Titans to deal with. This time round the Titans are keen for our hero to feel their wrath…

Wrath of the Titans picks up a few years after the first film with Perseus now settled down and living the quiet life of a fisherman and father. Of course Perseus’ own father Zeus is never to far away and soon pops up to warn his son that he has certain obligations as the demi-god off-spring of an irresponsible deity, namely to save the world as the real gods are losing their powers. Perseus being the responsible father that he is tells the old man to back off and settles back into his routine…until his own village is threatened and then he’s off to stop all evil once again.

One of the biggest issues most people had with the first movie was the misuse of 3D. In fact so mishandled was the post-production converting of the film that the movies title became the by-word for really, really shoddy 3D. So this one has reverted to 2D right…well no…in fact this time round the film-makers went even further in their embrace of 3D and set up almost all of the action sequences to “benefit” from the perspective change. To their credit they have embraced the gimmicky side of 3D, with objects flying out of the screen with startling regularity. To say that the special effects are a step up on the first film is to severely understate the visual leap forward, and although it drops at time the 3D doesn’t hamper the film as it did the last time. It’s a shame that the same cannot be said for the script, which burdens the players with cumbersome dialogue and doesn’t do enough to drive the narrative forward. Mainly it serves only as a mechanism to hang the set-pieces on, but for a popcorn movie that’s probably enough.

Sam Worthington gives a good reluctant hero and his fight sequences and general performance level is more than sufficient. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes revel in the sheer absurdity of their roles, and oftentimes appear to be acting in a movie that’s of a higher calibre than the one presented here. Bill Nighy offers some great comic relief in a limited role, plus he plays counter-party to easily the best cameo in the film. Toby Kebbell on the other hand is trying much too hard to be the funny man and really could do with spending more time with Bill honing his art. Another star guilty of trying too hard is Edgar Ramirez, who looks to be on the verge of a full-blown psychotic episode at all times. Oh and the less said about Rosamund Pike the better… Like Gemma Arterton in the previous flick she serves purely as eye-candy and offers nothing aside from that.

As a swords and sandals epic it’s not the movie it could have been, but as a Saturday afternoon popcorn spectacular than requires no real thinking and offers bags of action it does exactly what it sets out to.

THE MONK Poster

Director: Dominik Moll

Writers: Dominik Moll, Anne-Louise Trividic

Stars: Vincent Cassel, Déborah François and Joséphine Japy

Synopsis:

Madrid, in the seventeenth century. Abandoned at the doorstep of a monastery, Ambrosio has been brought up by the Capucin Friars. After becoming a friar himself, he becomes an unrivaled preacher whose sermons draw crowds and earn him the admiration of all. Admired for his extreme rigor and absolute virtue, Ambrosio is certain he is safe from any temptation. But Satan has not said his final word…

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 2

Director: Bill Condon

Writers: Melissa Rosenberg

Stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner

Synopsis:

After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Poster

Director: Marc Webb

Writers: Alvin Sargent , Steve Kloves

Stars: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans

Synopsis:

Like most teenagers his age, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today.  In his journey to put the pieces of his past together he uncovers a secret his father held…a secret that will ultimately shape his destiny as Spider-Man.  This is the first in a series of movies that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story.  On July 3rd, 2012, the untold story begins.

DARK SHADOWS

Director: Tim Burton

Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith

Stars: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green

Synopsis:

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Poster

Director: Marc Webb

Writers: Alvin Sargent , Steve Kloves

Stars: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans

Synopsis:

Like most teenagers his age, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today.  In his journey to put the pieces of his past together he uncovers a secret his father held…a secret that will ultimately shape his destiny as Spider-Man.  This is the first in a series of movies that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story.  On July 3rd, 2012, the untold story begins.

DARK SHADOWS

Director: Tim Burton

Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith

Stars: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green

Synopsis:

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.