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The Grey: Red Band trailer Don’t “F***” with Liam Neeson, even if you’re a pack of Wolves...

2012-01-24T20:56:00.003Z

So Liam Neeson has kicked all the human ass he can (Taken, Unknown) and now the movies are giving him Wolves (They really don’t attack people) and nature itself to beat down!

Synopsis...

“In The Grey, Liam Neeson leads an unruly group of oil-rig roughnecks when their plane crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness. Battling mortal injuries and merciless weather, the survivors have only a few days to escape the icy elements – and a vicious pack of rogue wolves on the hunt – before their time runs out.”

I can’t lie; I am really looking forward to this one. Writer director Joe Carnahan’s previous two films both turned out much better than their trailers made them look (Smokin’ Aces & The A-Team) and this looks like a pure and kick ass film. We shall see.

Movieweb's Red Band trailer...

Oscar nominations:-Apparently Tintin isn’t there and Dragon Tattoos are bad for Best picture / director nominations.

2012-01-24T15:23:00.001Z

Well here’s the list of nominees for the 2012 Academy Awards. Unquestionably the biggest and most well known (if not the best...massive debate ensues) movie awards on the planet’ the Oscars always have something to talk about, one way r the other. There are few surprises, although some seem to be shocked at the inclusion of Demian Bichir, for A Better Life, even though his Sag nom should have confirmed that.

Hugo featurette: Martin Scorsese talks about his first 3D film...

For those interested in the numbers game Hugo has 11 & The Artist 10 (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 5 & The Help 4.) Gary Oldman finally has a sniff of his long overdue est actor Oscar and Dragon Tattoo proves too 'icky'? for the Academy as it fails to fill the 10th spot free spot for Best Picture, despite being a fair sight better at least half the 9 films that did make it. (See video on all 9 nominees below.)

How in God’s name Puss in Boots (Which I liked) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (which I also liked) are in there and Tintin isn’t I will NEVER know. Given the large number of nominations and wins (so far) it has garnered as an animated film from EVERYWHERE else, I just do not get this at all. (Also The Skin I Live In??? Where is it?!)

Ah the Oscars, always room for an argument!

Here they are...

Best Picture

War Horse

The Artist

Moneyball

The Descendants

The Tree of Life

Midnight in Paris

The Help

Hugo

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Actress

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Viola Davis, The Help

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Actor

Demian Bichir, A Better Life

George Clooney, The Descendants

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Director

Michel Hazanivicus, The Artist

Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best Original Screenplay

Michel Hazanivicius, The Artist

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo, Bridesmaids

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

J.C. Chandor, Margin Call

Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

Best Adapted Screenplay

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants

John Logan, Hugo

George Clooney, Beau Willimon and Grant Heslov, The Ides of March

Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, Moneyball

Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Foreign Feature

Bullhead

Footnote

In Darkness

Monsieur Lazhar

A Separation

Best Animated Feature

A Cat in Paris

Chico & Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

Art Direction

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

War Horse

Cinematography

The Artist

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Costume Design

Anonymous

The Artist

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.

Documentary Feature

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Undefeated

Documentary Short Subject

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

God Is the Bigger Elvis

Incident in New Baghdad

Saving Face

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Film Editing

Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Kevin Tent, The Descendants

Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo

Christopher Tellefsen, Moneyball

Makeup

Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle, Albert Nobbs

Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, The Iron Lady

Music (Original Score)

John Williams, The Adventures of Tintin

Ludovic Bource, The Artist

Howard Shore, Hugo

Alberto Iglesias, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

John Williams, War Horse

Music (Original Song)

"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets, Bret McKenzie

"Real in Rio" from Rio, Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

Sound Editing

Drive

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

War Horse

Sound Mixing

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Monyeball

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

War Horse

Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Real Steel

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

Rise of The Planet of The Apes: Featurette claims the film wouldn’t be possible without Andy Serkis.

Short Film (Animated)

Dimanche/Sunday

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

La Luna

A Morning Stroll

Wild Life

Short Film (Live Action)

Pentecost

Raju

The Shore

Time Freak

Tuba Atlantic

The Avengers: Here come the Toys...(But no mystery villains reveal yet.)

2012-01-24T07:07:00.001Z

Hasbro have released their first official pics for the Toy range of Marvel Studios’ The Avengers. If you’re not into collecting / playing with ~~dolls~~ action figures then the pics don’t really give you much more info than you already have: except maybe what kind of Hulk they’re going for. Still a, relatively, scaled down version of the green goliath, as in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, as opposed to 2003’s Hulk.

So the villain guessing game continues. We know Loki’s allies aren’t Skrulls, are unlikely to be Kree and they aren’t Tribbles either. So what we have here is a dramatic face off between Loki (well the back of Loki) and The Avengers.

Here's my favourite version of the trailer fot The Avengers, which is set to the theme for the excellent 'The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes' TV show. (Due back in April I believe.)

Here's 'The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'...

Compare the 2...

Finally the regular old, record breaking, Avengers trailer...

The Avengers trailer ‘Smashes’ iTunes record with 10 million+ downloads in 24 hours...

Resident Evil: Retribution (5): Trailer for the increasingly popular action / horror series...

2012-01-19T21:49:00.002Z

There’s a theme developing for Michelle Rodriguez; if she can convince James Cameron to get her a part in Avatar 2 &/or 3 then she’ll have a hatrick of “What? But I thought you were dead?!?” roles in the next 3 years. As if her, as yet unexplained return from the grave in Fast 5, and the as yet un-filmed Fast 6, wasn’t enough, now we’re going to get to see her tough as nails character, Rain Ocampo, return for more in Resident Evil 5.

YOU CAN'T KILL ME BIATCH!. I'LL BE BACK IN EVERY FILM THAT EVER KILLED ME OFF!

Taking a lead from the Fast & Furious series, the Resident Evil films are starting a reunion theme (Jovovich has expressed a desire for all possible cast members to team up for a 6^th Resident Evil film) with 2 of the series other kick ass ladies, Rodriguez & Sienna Guillory’s ‘Jill Valentine’, showing up in their wonderful outfits (the end of the world shall not cause any couture slip ups!) to aid / hinder Mila Jovovich’s pop culture icon of female badassery, Alice!

The end of the world is no exscuse for bad clothes or hair darlin!

Anyone wondering what the fuss is about after Resident Evil made a solid, but not spectacular $102.4m back in 2002 should just look at the table below and see the table below. Resident Evil 5 is a film with a big act to follow and, whilst we surely shouldn’t expect a Fast 5 like jump of over $250m extra, all eyes will be on this to see if the film can take even more money that part 4. Most importantly, can this film finally crack the North American $100m barrier (so far $60m is the best the series could down there.) Director Anderson’s attempt to get a Three Musketeer’s franchise off the ground stalled last year, in large part due to a failure to capture the north American Market, although in truth, the film also didn’t fare as well in a few of its key markets (most surprisingly, given the subject, The UK and France) although the quality of the film has much to do with that. But fear not, whilst we may not (you never know, those crazy Germans may yet back more Musketeering) be seeing more of Anderson’s crazy airship shenanigans, it is highly likely that Resident Evil 5 will not be the last we see of Jovovich’s Alice. As it gives us a high profile, the most high profile, female action character of the decade, that’s not to be sneezed at.

I told you not to overtake it!

Resident Evil gets bigger every time; or your money back...

Film

Year

North American Gross

International Gross

Worldwide

Budget

Resident Evil

2002

$40,119,709

$62,321,369

$102,441,078

$33m

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

2004

$51,201,453

$78,193,382

$129,394,835

$45

Resident Evil: Extinction

2007

$50,648,679

$97,069,154

$147,717,833

$50m

Resident Evil: Afterlife

2010

$60,128,566

$236,093,097

296,221,663

$60m

Synopsis...

“The wildly successful film franchise adaptation that has grossed nearly $700 million worldwide to the popular video game series, Resident Evil, returns in its highly anticipated fifth instalment, RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION in state-of-the art 3D.

The Umbrella Corporation's deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human race's last and only hope, ALICE (Milla Jovovich), awakens in the heart of Umbrella's most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown has begun.”

Well here it is. I think, I THINK, the film may have a connection with Sony??? Really this IS a trailer for the movie, not Sony goods. This is my world...

New Fantastic Four film’s director is all but confirmed.

2012-01-14T10:19:00.001Z

20^th Century Fox had two goes at turning Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four into decent movie characters and, for many (if not most) they failed miserably twice. Just about the only decent things to come out of either 2005’s Fantastic 4 or 2007’s Fantastic 4: Rise of The Silver Surfer, were Chris Evans’ Human Torch, Michael Chiklis’ The Thing and the Teaser for Rise of The Silver Surfer.

However, whilst the sequel’s gross – negative reaction combo was considered a poor enough mix to end the first run of FF movies, the films still grossed $330,579,719 & $289,047,763 so Fox were never likely to let that potential golden goose fly away. The vagaries of their licensing deal with Marvel (Which I’m sure both Marvel Studios & their ‘new’ owners Disney wish would destroyed in a super villain attack now that they are successfully making their own films) means that they can keep on making Fantastic 4 films (and X-Men films, and Daredevil films) as long as they keep making them. Hence the upcoming restart of Daredevil too. (A similar deal explains the impending return of the Ghost Rider next month and The Amazing Spider-Man this summer, both from Sony.) Universal considered their attempt at The Hulk so unsuccessful that they effectively gave the character back to Marvel, allowing them to rehabilitate the character with the general public in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk; and have him be a major part of The Avengers, due this April / May.

So on to the ‘new’ Fantastic Four film. Possibly worrying news is that the person currently writing the script also wrote last year’s Green Lantern film! Of course Michael Green was only one of several writers on that film (which I’m on record as saying was weak, but nowhere near as terrible as many critics tried to say) so maybe all the good bits are down to him. He also wrote some of the better Heroes stories and should get the benefit of the doubt for that alone. According to Variety Fox have been in talks with Joshua Trank, whose first feature film ‘Chronicle, they are releasing on the 3^rd of February, for some time and, assuming things to according to plan with that film, he’ll be directing the Fantastic Four. Chronicle has building up a very positive buzz for months, due to some well put together trailers and marketing, and the finished product is apparently very promising. Of course none of that means that the film will either be well received, or a success, let alone both; but what isn’t in doubt is that the film has sufficiently impressed those in charge that they fell Trank is their man. Of course, the people in charge were sufficiently impressed with Tim Story’s Fantastic Four that they let him direct its sequel, so... Trank has written & directed several episodes of TV show ‘The Kill Point’.

Chronicle Synopsis...

“Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. Even as they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control because their darker sides begin to take over.”

So are you looking forward to this new FF film with optimism? Or are you one of those who participated in the ‘Boycott’ of Fox’s, surprisingly excellent, X-Men: First Class because you really just want studios to follow Universal’s lead and just let Marvel have the movie rights to their characters back, so that Marvel Studios (Iron Man 1 – 3; The Incredible Hulk; Thor 1 – 2; Captain America: The First Avenger; The Avengers) can make their own film with ALL of their characters?

The Avengers confirmed as 3D & the 2nd, Mystery, Marvel Studios film gets a new date; but still clue to its secret identity..?

2011-12-23T11:55:00.003Z

Disney set about announcing details for its 2 major studios, Pixar & Marvel Studios, today. Whilst Pixar’s Frozen, a fairy tale, and will be released on the 27^th of November 2013. (12 Days after, fellow Disney Company, Marvel Studios’ Thor 2). Bigger news is the confirmation that The Avengers will continue the pattern set by Thor & Captain America: The First Avenger and be released in 3D (& 2D of course).

Way back on the 8^th of August Disney announced that 2 dates in 2014 were booked for Marvel Studios films. (Click the link below to see more.)

Marvel stakes out 2 Summer 2014 dates in response to Spider-Man webbing up their favourite release date!

But today they announced that the second of those two films got brought forward from the 27^th of June to the 4^th of April 2014. Unfortunately the film remains unnamed; so the speculation can continue unabated! Of course the most likely film to fill one of the slots is a sequel to Next Year’s The Avengers (3D). That being the case it would explain Disney’s / Marvel Studios’, reluctance to ‘Put the cart before the horse’ and announce an expensive sequel to film that hasn’t even been out yet (let alone proven to be profitable in these volatile times for many movies). Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim, Shaun of The Dead, Spaced & Tintin) has long been at work on Ant-Man and it’s 11 months since Marvel Studios commissioned Mark Bailey (Ghosts of Abu Ghraib) to write The Black Panther, based on Marvel’s (and mainstream, American, Comic books’) first ‘major’ black super hero. So that’s three films vying for 2 spots.

But there’s more than that waiting. Marvel Studios have repeatedly said that details on ‘Phase 2’ of their entry into the film making business (AKA what we do after we cement the MCU, unified movie universe) with The Avengers, won’t be finalised / released until after the success of The Avengers can be measured. Whilst it was sensible to very quickly stake out, and announce, dates for sequels to Iron Man 2 and Thor; the dates for sequels to Captain America and The Incredible Hulk (Which is still neither certain, nor off the table) are to be determined as Marvel Studios / Disney ponder the balance between sequels to the established characters solo and team efforts with the desire to launch fresh, new characters.

There’s also the balance to be found between expensive launches like Thor, Iron Man & Captain America, and the less risky path of introducing characters in Avengers films, or other MCU films; As has been done with S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick Fury, War Machine, Hawkeye & Black Widow. All of whom are to appear, together or apart in future films about S.H.I.E.L.D & / or Hawkeye & Widow. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has spoken about increasing the number of films Marvel Studios releases in a year from 1 or 2 (so far the pattern is 2-0-1-2-1-2-2: from 2008 – 2014) to 2 – 3 films a year. With Thor 2 now a winter film, perhaps moving Mystery film B up to the start of April is the precursor to a third mystery film being announced for November 2014? So font runners are The Avengers 2, The Black Panther and Ant-Man. But also in the hunt are Doctor Strange (which Kevin Feige has discussed more than once), Captain America 2, The Incredible Hulk Returns (The TV show may be based in the same timeline, but being a prequel would not affect the character’s future film appearances), Nick Fury agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, Hawkeye & Black Widow (although that film could be folded into the S.H.I.E.L.D movie, Luke Cage: Power Man and Runaways are all apparently in the mix having had some eat at one time or another this past year or 2.

The question is, with younger viewers absent from American cinemas for much of 2011; Fox & Sony restarting the Marvel Characters they have the rights to (X-Men, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Daredevil & The Fantastic Four) and Warner Brothers continuing to strive for life outside of Batman, with Man of Steel, Justice League and probably another go at Green Lantern; can Marvel Studios sustain a 3 or 4 film a year slate without watering down the desire for these films? Quality and diversity are key, of course, but it may not be enough. Many a quality film went to the wall in North America this year. That said it is hard to imagine The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises failing to be in 2012’s top 5 grossers list; even the Amazing Spider-Man has a shot; in fact based on the success of the other 3 Spider-Man films compared to the Batman and Marvel Studios movies, The Amazing Spider-Man is in best shape too challenge for $1b and number one film of the year. I’m not saying I think that will happen, just putting the numbers out there and the fact that Spider-Man remains the most popular American Superhero to the public at large. (Sorry comic book readers, but it is true.)

Prometheus Trailer: All is revealed! Nah it’s still mysterious, but it’s a great trailer anyway...

2011-12-22T19:38:00.001Z

Finally we get our first real look at the “It isn’t an Alien Prequel”. At once reminiscent of both Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens, this film looks like something fans will be camping out to see. Interestingly Charlize Theron will do battle with herself as this film will cash heads with Snow White & The Huntsman at the beginning of June.

Aliens...

Alien..this is never good...

Synopsis...

“Ridley Scott, director of "Alien" and "Blade Runner," returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.”

Behold his mighty works...

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer...

2011-12-21T09:12:00.000Z

There are some extremely highly anticipated films coming out in 2012. Christopher Nolan’s series ending ‘The Dark Knight Rises’; Marvel Studios 5 year project ‘The Avengers’; The faithful looking adaptation ‘The Hunger Games’; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt 2 is all but guaranteed to become that series’ highest earner and cannot be ruled out of the race to top the year’s box office. Even the “we really would have preferred Spider-Man 4” restart ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ is gaining momentum; The 'Lord of the Rings' inspired trilogy starter 'Snow White & The Huntsman' has also thrown itself right into the mix following it’s remarkably well received trailer. But it is a film that is actually directly connected to 'The Lord of The Rings' films that is likely to be the most anticipated film of 2012.

What could that be...

Old 'friends' for the first time...

Once again directed by Peter Jackson the first of two Hobbit films opens on the 14^th of December 2012 and I’m already getting misty eyed remember how, for 3 years, it seemed that Christmas (and my sister’s birthday) weren’t the biggest things to happen in December. The Dwarves look tough, Sir Ian McKellan looks beardy and the landscapes look seeping ad epic-y. Can we just skip to next Christmas?

Synopsis...

“"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever ... Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths ofguile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's "precious" ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities ... A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.”

The Hobbit movies get release dates and titles. Preciooouuuusssss!

Some old friends meet some new ones and if this isn’t a huge hit I’ll eat my hats, and I have a lot of hats. The ever impressive cast includes Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Evangeline Lilly, Richard Armitage and the peerless master of Mo-Cap Andy Serkis. Despite having to withdraw from directing the Hobbit films Guillermo del Torojoins Rings veterans Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyen in the writing credits.

Wrath of The Titans (Clash of The Titans 2): This time it’s watchable! Honest guv! Trailer time...

2011-12-20T00:41:00.001Z

The promise of better is coming from the film makers not me! You can still read my growing concerns for the quality of Clash of Titans in my old blog for The SyFy channel’s website; before that films successful, but hideous, half-D release here...

The Avatar Effect - 3D for the Masses -

Despite the second most atrocious 3D-Conversion of all time (remarkably M. Knight Shamylan’s woeful ~~Adaptation~~ destruction of The Last Airbender managed an eve more half arsed, hatchet job of a 3D conversions, in a film that made even greater ruin of an even better source story. But I digress) Clash of the Titans managed to rake in $493,214,993; meaning the dreams of a Titans inspired trilogy (at least) were well and truly kept alive. What’s more after the 1981 original and the remake we’re finally going to get at least one actual Titan in the story this time: Kronos!

Synopsis...

“A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus (Worthington) --the demigod son of Zeus (Neeson)--is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades (Fiennes) and Poseidon (Danny Huston). The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus' godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramirez), switch loyalties and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans' strength grows stronger as Zeus' remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon's demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.”

I know a stellar cast didn’t do wonders for the first film, but this is a good ne never the less - Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Danny Huston, Edgar Ramiez, Bill Nighy, Toby Kebbell and Rosamund Pike replacing Alexa Davalos as Andromeda. Jonathan Liebesman (Battle Los Angeles) directs the monsters and madmen. The first actual Titans smash is on the 30th of March 2012! It'll be a big year for fantasy with Snow White & The Huntsman, Hansel & Gretel, Mirror, Mirror, Jack The Giant Killer all hitting in the space of 4 months, alongside Wrath of The Titans.

Prometheus: The trailer for the trailer arrives...

2011-12-20T00:18:00.003Z

Well I suppose if there was a film and a director that would actually make this slightly annoying trend acceptable, it is Ridly Scott telling us his Prometheus trailer (it’s not an Alien prequel) will be out in 3 days.

Prometheus is...still a mystery. (Not Alien 0.1)

Synopsis...

So are some things finally about to be revealed? See for yourself...

The Dark Knight Rises: Full trailer (HD), ‘Nuff said’...

2011-12-20T00:01:00.002Z

Seriously - Christopher Nolan directs Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway. The League of Shadows return; there are Weapons of Mass destruction and a Batwing – thing...

Synopsis...

“Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' "The Dark Knight Rises" is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar(R) winner Christian Bale ("The Fighter") again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar(R) winner Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose"), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake. Returning to the main cast, Oscar(R) winner Michael Caine ("The Cider House Rules") plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar(R) winner Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby") reprises the role of Lucius Fox.

The screenplay is written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on "Batman Begins" and the record-breaking blockbuster "The Dark Knight." The executive producers are Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer. The film is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.”

You already know you’re going; weddings will have to be cancelled...

John Carter TV spots: Disney adaptation of the Sci-Fi epic ramps up the promos...

2011-12-16T22:20:00.003Z

This is still a very, very risky film. No “stars”; a source book(s) with ‘questionable’ modern following; a first time “live action” director (As with the well received Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’s Brad Bird, I’m not sure that’s a problem) and a very, very big budget. (Rumoured to be around $250m)

But at a time where studios are pulling back from riskier fare (Example Warner Bros postponement of both Paradise Lost Arthur & Lancelot or the abandonment of Guillermo dl Toro’s At The Mountains of Madness) You have to hope that films like this, Snow White & The huntsman succeed both creatively and commercially. After all, as Hugo reminds' us the cinema is mean to be the birthplace of dreams.

Hugo featurette: Martin Scorsese & James Cameron discuss Scorsese’s 1st 3D film...

Synopsis...

“From Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes "John Carter"--a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). "John Carter" is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.”

Two TV Spots for the price of one, It really is Christmas!

Jack The Giant Killer: Trailer for the latest film from the director of X-Men, X2 & The Usual Suspects...

2011-12-16T08:34:00.000Z

I’ve been waiting a while to get a look at this film. Bryan Singer has taken a lot of heat since his disappointing, very disappointing, Superman Returns; but his body of work stand up well for me.

Synopsis...

“"Jack the Giant Killer" tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack, into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend--and gets the chance to become a legend himself.”

It’s a far cry from the, ahem, lower budgeted 1962 version some of you may, ahem, fondly remember from rainy afternoons on TV. The biggest concern for this film is the increasingly large fantasy shadow being cast by fellow June opener Snow White & The Huntsman; but that film could also be a big benefit. A successful, fun fantasy film could excite people for more just before this film opens a dew weeks later in June 2012.

See what you think..?

1962 Jack...

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Full trailer Sony’s 2nd attempt to get the Rider right...

2011-12-15T22:04:00.000Z

There’s been a lot said about the second Ghost Rider film. It’s not a sequel, even though Nicolas Cage is returning as Johnny Blaze and his alter ego The Ghost Rider. (Although a stuntman played The Rider in the first film). Ghost Rider was aimed at a kid friendly level; but this one is going for the darker side, the ‘real’ side of the Marvel Super Hero. This film will be completely different and so on. That said the film is still a PG-13 / 12A so how much darker it can really be is questionable.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance; Comic-Con panel featuring Nicolas Cage & Idris Elba.

The teaser trailer wowed many, but also split people into the camp who found pissing fire cool / amusing and those who definitely did not. (The Pissing fire is cool camp seemed to be bigger.)

Synopsis...

“Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze in Columbia Pictures' and Hyde Park Entertainment's Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny - still struggling with his curse as the devil's bounty hunter - is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the devil (Ciaran Hinds). At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy - and possibly rid himself of his curse forever. Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Screenplay by Scott M. Gimple & Seth Hoffman and David S. Goyer. Story by David S. Goyer.”

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance; trailer and poster for Nicolas Cage’s “It’s not a sequel” follow up to Ghost Rider...

The film opens on the 17th of February 2012 and stars Nicolas Cage, Fergus Riordan, Ciaran Hinds and Idris Elba. It has been directed by the Crank boys Brian Taylor & Mark Neveldine.
So here’s the full trailer...

The Cabin In The Woods trailer: At last the long delayed horror film is on the way

2011-12-15T12:57:00.001Z

Shall we just call 2012 the Year of The Hemsworth and get it over with? Chris Hemsworth’s first entry is likely to be the lowest key of the bunch. A horror film from Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and Drew Goddard (Writer of- Cloverfield) has this film, followed a few weeks later by a return as Thor in The Avengers, which is followed 4 weeks after that by Snow White & The Huntsman. September sees another oft delayed film as Red Dawn finally sees the inside of cinemas in September.

Snow White & The Huntsman trailer. Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron & Kristen Stewart take Snow White to war; is this trailer the fairest of them all? Yes, yes it is...

The Avengers: “If we can’t protect the Earth, You can be damn sure we’ll avenge it!” The Trailer has landed...

The Expendables 2 trailer: This time it’s...

Little brother Liam also kicks off his year with a relatively low key film, Danny Mooney’s AWOL, before appearing in 2 films with much higher expectations: The Hunger Games in March and The Expendables 2 in August.

The old release date

With 2 hits all but guaranteed it looks like Chris is likely to win 2012’s battle of the brothers, but can this film start his year off with a bang? One thing is certain Chris Hemsworth is a far, far bigger presence than he was when he made this film.

Synopsis...

“Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know this story, think again. From fan favorites Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard comes THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, a mind blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out.”

The Expendables 2 trailer: This time it’s...

2011-12-15T11:31:00.000Z

It’s personal this time! No seriously look...

Synopsis...

“The Expendables are back and this time it's personal... Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Lee Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) -- with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time -- six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way...”

The Expendables 2: Liam Hemsworth joins the cast...

Many people will be hoping for an improvement this time around, but with Stallone (wisely) not taking on the roles of star & writer & director this time aroud as well as some canny casting (Liam Hemsworth & Yu Nuan) not to mention more than cameos from Willis & Schwarzenegger, there’s every reason to expect better. Oh and there’s also the addition of more 80s action stars with Chuck Norris & Jean Claude Van Damme.

The main cast in full:- Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Here be names...

The Amazing Spider-Man: More posters and a game trailer for next year’s Spider-Man movie...

2011-12-13T13:01:00.001Z

Having been overshadowed for months by The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises (not to mention the likes of Snow White & The Huntsman) The Amazing Spider-Man put itself back on the map with a cool new poster at the weekend...

Now there are three banner posters and a trailer for the tie-in game to keep the interest in the risky (really the film feels very much like a retread of much of what we saw just 10 years earlier) new direction for Spider-Man at the movies. The poster even had the words “THE UNTOLD STORY” added to banish al thoughts of “We’ve seen 90% of this before and not too long ago either” from our minds. (These international posters, courtesy of comicbookmovie.com, are very similar to the last set of Spider-Man films though.)

Me? I’d still rather have seen the Raimi / Maguire films continue; they were building up a nice universe there with characters flitting in and out, Astronaut / Man-Wolf, Jameson Jr. Professor Connors / The Lizard,, that would have played big parts in future movies. But that ship has sailed so I’ll give this film a shot, until given significant reason not to.

I not sure the film will feature quite as many giant robots as this game trailer though...

G.I Joe: Retaliation trailer..."The world aint saving itself."... Not when The Rock & Bruce Willis are around anyway.

2011-12-13T12:30:00.000Z

O.K, O.K, let’s get the jokes about the audience retaliation for what was a very disappointing first Joe movie out of the way shall we?

Done? Right then, whilst a fair number of people would have found Stephen Sommers ludicrous G.I Joe film harmless fun, it is safe to say a large number of people found it to be a pretty harmful lack of fun. Well everyone seems to have taken note of this and, despite remaining assured that this is a subject matter that can provide big, escapist fun, many changes have been made in order to level up. The addition of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis is a masterstroke that at once will ratchet up the box office appeal of this film. See what Johnson & Diesel did for the Fast & Furious films this summer. Sure it may be a little much to expect this film to perform a similar jump of over $260m from film to film; but I wouldn’t bet against it either.

Watch things go boom now...

Andy Serkis receives the first major nomination for motion capture acting, from The Critics Choice Movie Awards. (For Rise of The Planet of The Apes of course.)

2011-12-13T11:34:00.000Z

I said a while back the Andy Serkis would receive major wards recognition for his work on Rise of The Planet of The Apes; and the honour of being the first major body to recognise this (In the nonsensical category of Supporting actor, for the character the film is about?) is The Critics Choice Movie Awards. The Critics Choice / Broadcast Film Critics Association is America’s largest film critic’s organisation and are one of the more accurate (if your interest is seeing what films / actors are likely to win Oscars) bodies of recent years. (It is worth noting that this ody (along with many other, including The Academy) nominated Brad Pitt for his performance in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That film contained significant effects work on Pitt's performance. (He Won). Something those who don't like this should also consider perhaps?)

Rise of The Planet of The Apes star Andy Serkis to get Oscar / awards push and a big sequel payday for Rise 2...

The list of nominees in full is below, with notables being Steven Spielberg getting THREE nominations; Best Picture & Best Director for War Horse, as well as best Animated Picture for Tintin. The surprisingly small number of noms for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Although the feeling here seems to be that the film itself, and the performances, are masterful, but the perceived “lower quality” of the material itself (the book) are stopping the film from getting more awards recognition.) Variety in particular expressed the view that the film-making was better than the subject matter.

Of course it remains to be seen how many other ‘prestigious’ / ‘worthy’ bodies have the will to nominate Serkis for this role, but I predicted more than one a while back and I’m sticking with that. BAFTA, I’m looking at you. Oscars? You’re still way too far behind the times. Or are you?

List of nominees...

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

The Descendants

Drive

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree Of Life

War Horse

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney – The Descendants

Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar

Jean Dujardin – The Artist

Michael Fassbender – Shame

Ryan Gosling – Drive

Brad Pitt – Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS

Viola Davis – The Help

Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene

Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin

Charlize Theron – Young Adult

Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn

Albert Brooks – Drive

Nick Nolte – Warrior

Patton Oswalt – Young Adult

Christopher Plummer – Beginners

Andrew Serkis – Rise of the Planet of the Apes

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo – The Artist

Jessica Chastain – The Help

Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids

Carey Mulligan – Shame

Octavia Spencer – The Help

Shailene Woodley – The Descendants

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Asa Butterfield – Hugo

Elle Fanning – Super 8

Thomas Horn – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Ezra Miller – We Need to Talk About Kevin

Saoirse Ronan – Hanna

Shailene Woodley – The Descendants

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

The Artist

Bridesmaids

The Descendants

The Help

The Ides of March

BEST DIRECTOR

Stephen Daldry – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist

Alexander Payne – The Descendants

Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive

Martin Scorsese – Hugo

Steven Spielberg – War Horse

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius

50/50 – Will Reiser

Midnight In Paris – Woody Allen

Win Win – Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni

Young Adult – Diablo Cody

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Eric Roth

The Help – Tate Taylor

Hugo – John Logan

Moneyball – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman

Drive – Newton Thomas Sigel

Hugo – Robert Richardson

The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki

War Horse – Janusz Kaminski

BEST ART DIRECTION

The Artist – Production Designer: Laurence Bennett, Art Director: Gregory S. Hooper

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Production Designer: Stuart Craig, Set Decorator: Stephenie McMillan

Hugo – Production Designer: Dante Ferretti, Set Decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo

The Tree of Life – Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank

War Horse – Production Designer: Rick Carter, Set Decorator: Lee Sandales

BEST EDITING

The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius and Anne-Sophie Bion

Drive – Matthew Newman

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker

War Horse – Michael Kahn

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The Artist – Mark Bridges

The Help – Sharen Davis

Hugo – Sandy Powell

Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor

My Week With Marilyn – Jill Taylor

BEST MAKEUP

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The Iron Lady

J. Edgar

My Week With Marilyn

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Super 8

The Tree of Life

BEST SOUND

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Super 8

The Tree of Life

War Horse

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Adventures of Tintin

Arthur Christmas

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

BEST ACTION MOVIE

Drive

Fast Five

Hanna

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Super 8

BEST COMEDY

Bridesmaids

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Horrible Bosses

Midnight in Paris

The Muppets

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

In Darkness

Le Havre

A Separation

The Skin I Live In

Where Do We Go Now

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Buck

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Page One: Inside the New York Times

Project Nim

Undefeated

BEST SONG

“Hello Hello” – performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga/written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin – Gnomeo & Juliet

“Life’s a Happy Song” – performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets

“The Living Proof” – performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. – The Help

“Man or Muppet” – performed by Jason Segel and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets

“Pictures in My Head” – performed by Kermit and the Muppets/written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman – The Muppets

BEST SCORE

The Artist – Ludovic Bource

Drive – Cliff Martinez

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Hugo – Howard Shore

War Horse – John Williams

Men In Black 3 trailer...Back in time...

2011-12-12T18:01:00.004Z

So the attempt to make amends for Men In Black 2 is almost here and I’ll admit I’m hoping they get this one right. Men In Black was a fantastic film and a real breath of Fresh air when it came out.

Contemporary K

Young Agent K...

There have been ups and downs here, with the film taking a rather unorthodox break mid-shoot whilst the rest of the script was finished. The film hits worldwide at the end of May 2012: let’s see what’s in store...

Synopsis...

“In Men in Black 3, Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are back... in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner. But when K's life and the fate of the planet are put at stake, Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discovers that there are secrets to the universe that K never told him -- secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K (Josh Brolin) to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind. The film is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. The screenplay is written by Etan Cohen, based on the Malibu Comic by Lowell Cunningham. The producers are Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, and the executive producers are Steven Spielberg and G. Mac Brown.”

An interesting way to time travel...

New aliens...

...creative as always...

North America
Canada	25-May-12
United States	25-May-12
Latin America
América Central	25-May-12
Argentina	24-May-12
Bolivia	24-May-12
Brasil	25-May-12
Chile	24-May-12
Colombia	25-May-12
Ecuador	25-May-12
México	25-May-12
Perú	24-May-12
Uruguay	25-May-12
Venezuela	25-May-12
Middle East / Africa
Bahrain	24-May-12
Egypt	23-May-12
Ethiopia	25-May-12
Israel	24-May-12
Jordan	23-May-12
Kenya	25-May-12
Kuwait	24-May-12
Lebanon	24-May-12
Nigeria	25-May-12
????? \| Oman	24-May-12
Qatar	24-May-12
South Africa	25-May-12
Syria	24-May-12
United Arab Emirates	24-May-12
Asia Pacific
Australia	24-May-12
Hong Kong	24-May-12
India	25-May-12
Indonesia	24-May-12
Korea	24-May-12
Malaysia	24-May-12
New Zealand	24-May-12
Pilipinas \| Philippines	25-May-12
Singapore	24-May-12
Taiwan	25-May-12
Thailand	25-May-12
Vietnam	25-May-12
Europe
België \| Belgique \| Belgium	23-May-12
Bulgaria	25-May-12
Ceská republika \| Czech Republic	24-May-12
Danmark \| Denmark	25-May-12
Deutschland \| Germany	24-May-12
España \| Spain	25-May-12
Eesti \| Estonia	25-May-12
Greece	24-May-12
France	23-May-12
Hrvatske \| Croatia	24-May-12
Íslan \| Iceland	23-May-12
Italia \| Italy	25-May-12
Latvijas \| Latvija, Latvija \| Latviju \| Latvia	25-May-12
Lietuvos \| Lietuva \| Lithuania	25-May-12
Magyarország \| Hungary	24-May-12
Nederland \| Netherlands \| Holland	24-May-12
Norge \| Norway	25-May-12
Österreich \| Austria	25-May-12
Polska \| Poland	25-May-12
Portugal	24-May-12
Russia	24-May-12
România	25-May-12
Slovenija \| Slovenia	24-May-12
Slovensko \| Slovakia	24-May-12
Srbija \| Crna Gora \| Serbia and Montenegro	24-May-12
Suisse \| Switzerland (Fr)	23-May-12
Schweiz \| Switzerland (Ger)	24-May-12
Svizzera \| Switzerland (Itl)	25-May-12
Suomi \| Finland	25-May-12
Sverige \| Sweden	25-May-12
Türkiye \| Turkey	25-May-12
Ukraine	24-May-12
United Kingdom	23-May-12

Battleship trailer 2: Does it still just feel like Transformers lite?

2011-12-09T23:57:00.001Z

Well it kind of does, but then with Transformers: Dark of the Moon taking in over 1.1 billion dollars I don’t think Hasbro, or Universal, will be overly concerned with that descriptive.

It’s fair to say that the first trailer for Battleship met with a fair amount of scorn earlier this year. Not only because of its visual and audio similarities to the Transformers films, but also because of what seemed like a nonsensical attempt to introduce game pegs and an actual game board into the film. Since then the tide has started to turn (Ho, ho, ho) with writer / director Peter Berg talking to various media outlets about the film and why exactly Aliens wanted to sink peoples’ Battleships. More than that MTV placed the trailer on its list of the 20 best trailers of 2011! (It really wasn’t, but hey it’s all good news.)

Synopsis...

“Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic-scaled action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Inspired by Hasbro's classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper's fiancee; Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper's older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper's crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone's superior (and Sam's father), Admiral Shane.”

So what of the full trailer? See for yourself...

Thor 2: Director Patty Jenkins leaves the film...

2011-12-07T01:17:00.001Z

In a piece of sad news it turns out that Marvel Studios first female director, Jenkins, left Thor 2 due to the dreaded “creative differences”.

A director is a director and sex or colour shouldn’t really matter; but there’s no doubt that there was an interesting seeing what her take would be on such a male dominated genre. That was all the more pertinent given the emphasis (that has been hinted at) to be placed on the growing relationship between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) & Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

Patty Jenkins

Branagh oon set with "Thor" Chris Hemsworth.

Patty Jenkins is still best known for directing movie Monster, for which Charlize Theron won an Oscar, and (for North American viewers) AMC’s pilot for The Killing. Having a director with her background was a perfect follow up to what seemed like an unusual choice of director for Thor in Kenneth Branagh. That choice worked out perfectly as Thor became a popular hit worldwide, despite being the most risky of Marvel Studios early releases, because of the elements of Alien races, connections to Mythology & magic as well as the use of technology as magic. Marvel Studios have yet to make a statement, but perhaps they will return to original front runner Brian Kirk, director of episodes of Luther & Game of Thrones.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jenkins had been bust working on the film just this weekend so we await details with interest. Thor has become Marvel Studios most important character, after Iron Man of course, after his film made $267m outside of North America (American Superhero movies often take 2 sequels to reach a higher gross outside North America than in it) and a total just shy of $450m. Thor 2 is due for release on the 15^th of November 2013. Thor will of course return n The Avengers in April / May 2012.

The Solo-Avengers...

Film

Year

North American Gross

International Gross

Worldwide

Budget

Iron Man

200

$318,412,101

$266,762,12

$585,174,222

$140m

The Incredible Hulk

2008

$134,806,913

$128,620,638

$263,427,551

$150m

Iron Man 2

2010

$312,433,331

$311,500,000

$623,933,331

$200m

Thor

2011

$181,030,624

$267,482,200

$448,512,824

$150m

Captain America: The First Avenger

2011

$176,654,505

$ 191,750,151

$368,404,656

$140m

Perhaps Branagh has had enough time away from Thor (a delay to the release meant Branagh ended up on Thor duty for almost an extra 12 months, to return to the director’s chair himself?

John Carter (still not of Mars) trailer 2 takes off...

2011-12-02T00:42:00.001Z

This film is finding itself near the top of a lot of “most risky” of 2012 lists. It isn’t hard to see why. Disney appear to be frightened of the film’s title (hence the dropping of the “...of Mars” portion. It has significant competition 2 weeks after opening from The Hunger Games, one week after that from the Clash of The Titans sequel (I know the 1^st was piss poor but still) and may yet find itself with competition a week after opening from Mirror, Mirror. Yes I know the trailer got a seriously stink filled buzz but hey...

Mirror, Mirror Trailer; Snow White movie number 1 has Julia Roberts play the Wicked Queen ‘Princess Bride’ style...

A $250m film that has neither an A-List star (such as is left of that breed) nor a “name” director like Cameron, Nolan or Spielberg (No disrespect intended for Andrew Stanton at all after he directed Wall*E and Finding Nemo) , and is very difficult to summarise in a way that makes it sound sensible, is a big risk in these times. That it is based on a popular, but aging, set of books is probably not as much of a boon as it could be either.

So after a fairly underwhelming teaser trailer, it falls to this to grab your attention and sell the film. And...

Well has that made the weekend of the 9^th of March a no g o area for anything other than seeing this film? They’ve certainly gone all out to show us the film will be full of effects and have some ‘original’ action in it. I’m still waiting for the part where we see that it isn’t really Mars at all. I'm maybe a little surprised at how much of the effects work they've shown off here, given that there's surely a fair amount of rendering still to go and there will inevitably be those complaining about the CGI not being of a high enough standard in places.

Ender’s Game: True grit star Hailee Steinfeld Joins Hugo’s Asa Butterfield on the wanted list...

2011-12-02T00:04:00.001Z

Fans of the Ender’s game novel, of which I am an unashamed member, have another piece of casting news to smile about. The filmmakers are certainly setting the bar high as they attempt to gather a cast of children that would rival many high class adult casts. Oscar nominated Steinfeld is talks to play the character of Petra Arkanian; a child genius extremely gifted in military strategy and free thinking strategy. The only female member of Ender’s handpicked group of children, tasked with surviving a rigorous training schedule designed to find, and teach, the latent “Alexander The Greats” amongst the Earth’s children. Variety also believe that Harrison Ford is the prime candidate for one of the few adult roles in the film, Colonel Graff.

Ender’s Game: Lead role offered to ‘Hugo’ star Asa Butterfield...

The film is being directed by Gavin Hood, who has also written the screenplay. It is based on the award winning, highly popular, Orscon Scott Card novel ‘Ender’s Game’; which has spawned several sequels spin-off and has even been adapted by Marvel Comics into a series of comics / graphic novels. U.S release is set for the 15th of March 2013; U.K 29th of March 2013.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Behind the Scenes clip with Dwayne Johnson, Michael Cain, Josh Hutcherson & Vanessa Hudgens...

2011-11-21T23:36:00.001Z

It’s been fewer than 2 weeks since the first trailer for Journey 2 was released, but with the film itself due out in just a few months, we’re getting our first behind the scenes look too. This film faces an uncertain level of competition as it goes head to head with the 3D release of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. It seems almost impossible to predict what level of interest there will be in seeing that film on the big screen again. It is certainly a more popular film than many die-hard Star Wars fans would like to believe; however it is popular with the kind of fans who are more than happy to watch the film at home, and not so popular with those who are most likely to shell out for another, 3D priced, trip to the cinema.

Star Wars Episode 1 3D: Trailer for next year’s 3D cinema release...

Journey to The Centre of The Earth was a fair sized hit a few years and the ending of that film teased potential further adventures exploring the realities of Jules Verne’s fantasy stories. Hutcherson, Johnson and Caine all have “certain” hits due out later in 2012 with The Hunger Games (Hutcherson), G.I. Joe : Retaliation (Johnson) & The Dark Knight Rises (Caine), but all 3 will be looking to kick off the year witha 3D hit that will be expected to outdo the first film’s $241,995,151.

Synopsis...

Young Sean Anderson receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. It's a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.

Unable to stop him from going, Sean's new stepfather, Hank, joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter, they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.