Friday 31 January 2014

Breaking Superman Versus Batman Casting News.




JESSE EISENBERG AND JEREMY IRONS JOIN THE CAST OF
WARNER BROS. PICTURES’ UNTITLED SUPERMAN/BATMAN FILM
FROM DIRECTOR ZACK SNYDER

Eisenberg to star as Superman’s greatest foe, Lex Luthor, while Irons takes on the role of Alfred.

BURBANK, CA, January 31, 2014 – Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Jesse Eisenberg has been set to star as Lex Luthor and Jeremy Irons will play Alfred in the upcoming Zack Snyder untitled Superman/Batman film. The dual announcement was made today by Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, and Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.


Snyder stated, “Lex Luthor is often considered the most notorious of Superman’s rivals, his unsavory reputation preceding him since 1940. What’s great about Lex is that he exists beyond the confines of the stereotypical nefarious villain. He’s a complicated and sophisticated character whose intellect, wealth and prominence position him as one of the few mortals able to challenge the incredible might of Superman. Having Jesse in the role allows us to explore that interesting dynamic, and also take the character in some new and unexpected directions.”


The director added, “As everyone knows, Alfred is Bruce Wayne’s most trusted friend, ally and mentor, a noble guardian and father figure. He is an absolutely critical element in the intricate infrastructure that allows Bruce Wayne to transform himself into Batman. It is an honor to have such an amazingly seasoned and gifted actor as Jeremy taking on the important role of the man who mentors and guides the guarded and nearly impervious façade that encapsulates Bruce Wayne.


Eisenberg received Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award® and BAFTA Award nominations for his starring role as Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher’s “The Social Network.” He also starred in Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love” and Louis Letterier’s “Now You See Me.” He next appears in “The Double” and “Night Moves.”


Irons won the Academy Award® for his portrayal of Claus von Bülow in “Reversal of Fortune.” His work in the film also garnered him a Golden Globe Award. He won an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® for his performance in the TV miniseries “Elizabeth I,” opposite Helen Mirren, and recently starred on the small screen as Rodrigo Borgia in Neil Jordan’s highly acclaimed Showtime series “The Borgias,” for which Irons earned a Golden Globe nomination. He was recently nominated for a SAG Award® for the PBS Great Performances television miniseries “The Hollow Crown,” for his performance as Henry IV.


Snyder’s film stars Henry Cavill, reprising his role as Superman/Clark Kent, Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince. The film also reunites “Man of Steel” stars Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane.


The new film is currently being written by Chris Terrio, from a screenplay by David S. Goyer. Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder are producing, with Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Wesley Coller, David S. Goyer and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers.


The film is set to open worldwide on May 6, 2016, and is based on Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Batman characters created by Bob Kane, and Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston, appearing in comic books published by DC Entertainment.

Monday 20 January 2014

Grudge Match Film Review



Grudge Match, a film about two geriatric boxers striving for personal glory in a world that has given up on them. Starring Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro this film centres around a fanboys dream. What if Rocky Balboa went up against Jake Lamotta? Who would win? Who would lose and most importantly, would we(the audience) care? Grudge Match has a lot going for it, a decent cast, an(almost) original plot and decent talent behind the camera, Peter Segal(Get Smart).

Razor and Kid(Stallone and De Niro respectively) are two washed up boxers, each living their lives the best way they know how. Razor is working at a factory having lost all his winnings due to some swindling and bad money management(Rocky 4 anyone?), Kid owns a bar and a car dealership but you can tell that he will never let go of the loss that he suffered at the hands of Razor all those years ago. Both men are living in the past albeit in very different ways, Razor is trying to forget while Kid is desperately holding on. Events take place and both men are offered the chance to settle the score once and for all, to decide which of the two of them is the greater boxer and during the course of the film they both learn what it means to move on from the mistakes they made in the past all the while preparing for this event that will mean closure for the both of them.

One of the weirder and funnier moments.

I'm unsure about this film. There were moments where I was genuinely interested with what happened to these two guys and the circle of friends and family they have surrounded themselves with. BJ(Jon Bernthal) is a wonderful character who has some great scenes with Kid. They bounce off each other fantastically and you can feel an actual warmth growing as the film progresses, this can be said the same between Razor and Lightning(Alan Arkin) who have this wonderful chemistry due to their long standing friendship. There's some good humour peppered throughout the film and each character is given enough time and fairness to him so that neither comes off as an antagonist or a protagonist(you may argue that Razor is a more likeable character and though at times this can be true he has as many flaws as Kid). The problem with Grudge Match is funnily enough the Grudge Match, not nearly as interesting as it should have been and the ending is so full of sporting film cliches that it would make the Rocky film blush. In the end I enjoyed this film, it's okay not great, not bad just okay and Stallone does not deserve a Razzy for this performance. So I'll finish with the immortal words of Henry "Razor" Sharp, "it's not the best but it's the best we got".

Jack Ryan: Film Review


Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is an unusual film in that it is about a character who is the poster child for a lot of Tom Clancy's novels and films inspired by his novels. The character of Jack Ryan has had many faces, Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and now Chris Pine. Very much like James Bond, the character of Jack Ryan is the American super spy though unlike Bond the narrative makes Jack Ryan out to be an every man, an average Joe who rises to the occasion to become something more. It is this every man style of narrative that most films go for to bring the audience closer to it's protagonist.

With this reboot we start at the beginning(again) of Jack Ryan's career. This time however it is brought into the modern era. We meet Jack Ryan in his formative years in college, then 9/11 occurs and we are flash forwarded to Jack Ryan as a soldier, his unit is attacked and we are(again) flash forwarded to him in his rehabilitation where we meet Cathy(Kiera Knightley), the love interest. Jack is then recruited by shadowy agent Thomas Harper(Kevin Costner) to help with protecting the United States from terrorist actions. Flash forward(seriously?) ten years and we begin the narrative anew with Jack Ryan being sent to Russia(that's right the Russians are the bad guys) to seek out the nefarious leader of a conspiracy that may bring the United States to its knees.

Hey,have you ever wanted to travel back in time to a place where Americans are always good guys and Russians are bad guys and are patriotic to the extent that they will destroy an entire nation just to feel important again? Well you've come to the right place, welcome to cliche 90's film which is unusually set in 2014. There is so much wrong with this film,from the boring action set pieces to the unbelievably bad Kiera Knightley who gives such a terrible performance it just aches to watch, every little romantic moment her and Pine have is full of cliche's and I cringed watching every single one.



The most disappointing part of this film is the talent on hand and the talent behind the camera. I mean come on, Kenneth Branagh is the man who brought Thor to the mainstream. He is a fantastic actor, writer and director, so what happened? His character is laughably bad and is given literally two dimensions to work with. There is a terrorist attack shoe horned into the last twenty minutes which is absolutely ridiculous. Well there you have it, a film that celebrates everything America, Michael Bay would be proud.

Monday 13 January 2014

Breaking News from Marvel: Michael Douglas is Hank Pym

Michael Douglas has stepped is now a Superhero. Hell he is now an Avenger.
The two-time Academy Award-winning actor will join director Edgar Wright and Paul Rudd in Marvel's "Ant-Man," hitting theaters July 31, 2015.


"With Hank Pym's rich history in the Marvel Universe, we knew we needed an actor capable of bringing the weight and stature to the role that the character deserves," said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. "We felt incredibly relieved when Michael Douglas agreed to step into the part with the charm and fortitude he brings to every character he inhabits, and couldn't be more excited to see what he will do to bring Hank Pym to life."
This is Michael Douglas, I know I'm as surprised as you.

The legendary actor, who earned an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor in a Leading Role for his iconic portrayal of Gordon Gecko in "Wall Street," has also starred in numerous modern classics including "Basic Instinct," "Fatal Attraction," "The Game," "Wonder Boys," "Traffic" and many more. In addition to acting, Douglas has also served as Producer and Executive Producer on a number of films including "Romancing the Stone," John Carpenter's "Starman" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," for which he also won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Most recently, Douglas earned a Golden Globe and his first Primetime Emmy Award for his role as legendary entertainer Liberace in the HBO original film "Behind the Candelabra."

Douglas will star as Hank Pym, who first appeared in TALES TO ASTONISH #27 (Jan. 1962), with Rudd starring as Scott Lang in the film. Who saw this coming, not me, I am in absolute shock. Comment below and let us know what you think about this earth shattering news.

More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/movies/2014/1/13/21746/michael_douglas_to_star_as_hank_pym_in_marvels_ant-man#ixzz2qJN8g5Qu

Sunday 12 January 2014

Sherlock His Last Vow Review













It's been a turbulent three weeks for Sherlock. His whole life has been turned upside down after his return from his apparent death. With the loss of his flat mate, the introduction of a wonderful new person to his inner circle(Mary) and the fallout of Moriarty there ha been many difficulties for Sherlock. However there has been nothing more turbulent and terrible than fan reaction to each and every episode that has been released these last few weeks. With fans having mixed opinions to the third season ranging from absolute love to claims of shark jumping this season has been the most unusual. With that we go into the season finale of Sherlock with the long awaited introduction of Charles Augustus Magnussen, the ultimate douche. Just to let you know now this is a spoiler free review, I hope you enjoy.



It's been a month now since the wedding and Sherlock and Watson haven't seen each other since then. In a series of unbelievable events they meet up again. Sherlock explains that he is on to his hardest and most dangerous case to date and he hopes that Watson will join him and because Watson is getting restless he jumps on the opportunity. They come face to face with Magnussen and within five minutes of meeting him both they and the audience want to take him down. With every episode there is the twists and turns but with this I found the twists just mind boggling. Between the villainous turns of Magnussen who just oozes disgust and evil, the wonderful scenes between Mary, Watson and Sherlock that show how Sherlock clearly loves and respects these two people and that is one of the most genuine and touching parts of this episode and the season as a whole. 

There are some genuine what the fuck moments in this episode that are just pure Moffat and that can be good and bad. For the most part it is fantastic but then it starts to get a bit laboured. In particular the moment at the end. When I saw it all I could think is one thing, this could be a Doctor Who plot, some of the dialogue is even reminiscent of an episode of Doctor Who. I won't lie I was torn between wow they just did that to wow, did they just do that?

With an unusual ending with twist upon twist upon shenanigan, great dialogue and wonderful character moments this was a great way to end the season just wish they didn't pull some stuff from Doctor Who to forward their series. Also stay after the credits, it's freaky.

Rating; 3.5/5

Friday 10 January 2014

Interstellar news




INTERSTELLAR, Cert tbc will be released in Ireland on 7th November 2014


Directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan (“Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy), the production will travel the globe and utilize a mixture of 35mm anamorphic and IMAX film photography to bring to the screen a script based on the combination of an original idea by Nolan and an existing script by Jonathan Nolan, originally developed for Paramount Pictures and producer Lynda Obst. The new script chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage. Here is the teaser for your bewilderment:



“Interstellar” features a prestigious cast that includes Matthew McConaughey (“Magic Mike,” “Mud”), Academy Award® winner Anne Hathaway (“Les Miserables,” “The Dark Knight Rises”), Academy Award® nominee Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Tree of Life”), Bill Irwin (“Rachel Getting Married,” TV’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”), Academy Award® nominee John Lithgow (“Terms of Endearment,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”), Academy Award® nominee Casey Affleck (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Gone Baby Gone”), David Gyasi (“Cloud Atlas”), Wes Bentley (“The Hunger Games”), Mackenzie Foy (“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Parts 1 and 2”), Timothée Chalamet (TV’s “Homeland”), Topher Grace (“Spider-Man 3”), David Oyelowo (“Jack Reacher,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”), Academy Award® winner Ellen Burstyn (“The Last Picture Show,” “The Exorcist”), and Academy Award® winner Michael Caine (“The Cider House Rules,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy).



The film is being produced by Academy Award® nominee Emma Thomas (“Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy) and Lynda Obst (“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “The Siege”). Renowned theoretical physicist Kip Thorne is consulting on the film as well as serving as executive producer, along with Jake Myers (“Jack Reacher,” “RED,” “RED 2”) and Jordan Goldberg (“Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy).



The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Fighter”), Academy Award®-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley (“The Dark Knight” Trilogy), Academy Award®-nominated costume designer Mary Zophres (“Gangster Squad,” “True Grit”) Academy Award®-nominated editor Lee Smith “The Dark Knight” Trilogy,” “Elysium”), Academy Award®-winning composer Hans Zimmer (“The Lion King,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy), and Academy Award®-winning visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin (“Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy).

Big Warner Bros. Film News

EDGE OF TOMORROW



Oscar® nominee Tom Cruise (the “Mission: Impossible” films, “Collateral,” “Jerry Maguire”) and Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Adjustment Bureau”) star in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ sci-fi thriller “Edge of Tomorrow,” under the direction of Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”).

The epic action of “Edge of Tomorrow” unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world.

Major William Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop—forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again…and again.

But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFUT7FzyGTA

The international cast also includes Bill Paxton (“Aliens,” HBO’s “Big Love”), Kick Gurry (Australian TV’s “Tangle”), Dragomir Mrsic (“Snabba Cash II”), Charlotte Riley (“World Without End”), Jonas Armstrong (BBC TV’s “Robin Hood”), and Franz Drameh (“Attack the Block”).

Liman is directing “Edge of Tomorrow” from a screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth, based on the acclaimed novel All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Erwin Stoff produces, along with Tom Lassally, Jason Hoffs, Gregory Jacobs and Jeffrey Silver. The executive producers are Doug Liman, Dave Bartis, Joby Harold, Hidemi Fukuhara, and Bruce Berman, with Kim Winther and Tim Lewis serving as co-producers.

The behind-the-scenes team includes Academy Award®-winning director of photography Dion Beebe (“Memoirs of a Geisha”), production designer Oliver Scholl (“Jumper,” “Independence Day”), editor James Herbert (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”), costume designer Kate Hawley (upcoming “Pacific Rim”), and Oscar®-nominated visual effects supervisor Nick Davis (“The Dark Knight”).

“Edge of Tomorrow” is the first motion picture to be shot at the recently christened Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden.



Edge of Tomorrow, Cert TBC will be released in Ireland on 30th May 2014