I know by this point everyone expects any review of Jack and Jill to be a terribly scathing affair and there’s no doubt it deserves as much.

But there’s more to it than that. It’s not just a film about Adam Sandler in a woman suit and Al Pacino slumming it like successful career choices have gone out of fashion. No. It’s a film about missed opportunities, lost potential, no potential, past potential, wasted potential and of course poo jokes and fart jokes. And lots of pooing and farting. Sometimes together, sometimes not. It’s creative like that.

However whilst I would love to give the 97 minutes of wasted celluloid a good raking over with a few rounds from a shotgun, a can of petrol and some horribly puerile similes and metaphors (god there’s so much potential here for a good old rant) – which I will – it’s hard to do so when I’m so utterly bewildered. When cinema can be such a powerful force. When you have so much money and industry power at your disposal. When you obviously have at least a modicum of acting talent. Why not do something great with your time. Why make commercial refuse? Why make this?

The film as everyone by now is horribly aware is a prosthetics and tiaras affair (à la Big Momma’s House and the second half of Eddie Murphy’s career) in which Adam Sandler plays both of the titular roles. He firstly stars as a grumpy career oriented ad exec living a comfortable life in Los Angeles with his prim and proper wife (played by Katie Holmes). His second role in this tour de force is that of Jill, Jack’s loud, stupid twin sister who is much less successful and much less tactful. Then Al Pacino arrives and fancies her and everything takes a turn for the surreal.

Short of the unfunny rubbish, the rubbish unfunny stuff and that gently amusing joke about Pacino only ever receiving one Oscar (which is in the trailer incidentally so why not save yourself the time and the money) the film has so much more to offer in the way of disappointment. It’s not really even worth reviewing properly. it’s just terrible. Need you know more? I’m guessing you won’t be rushing out to watch it anytime soon.

I mean, what was going through the heads of everyone involved? Sandler has proven himself to be utterly terrible at picking roles and passable at delivering them time after time. However let’s not forget that he hasn’t always been so bad. In 2002 he starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love and was quite simply awesome. Ever since then with the possible exception of Reign Over Me he’s taken a career trajectory of diminishing critical returns. He received $7 million to star in Punch Drunk Love yet he routinely receives $20 million+ salaries to produce commercial silage devoid of any artistic merit whatsoever. He’s shown he can act and he’s shown that he has a huge amount of creative control and executive power when it comes to making films, so why oh why oh why is he so utterly lazy?

I mean just look at Jack and Jill on paper. A $80 million budget with which Sandler will dress as a woman and ‘klutz around’. Oh and Johnny Depp will have a cameo and Al Pacino will ruin his career. Sold. It just boggles my mind that these talented people squander their myriad opportunities to create something great on rubbish like this.

This time around Sandler is his usual passable self as Jack but as Jill he really starts to grate about two seconds after appearing on screen sporting a hairpiece and prosthetic bum combination that pretty much constitutes the artistic zenith of his performance. I can’t quite decide what’s less tasteful, her vaguely racist remarks to her adopted Indian nephew or the fact that she has unresolved incestuous feelings for her brother which she creepily airs at certain points in order to apparently elicit laughter. Stumbling all over the screen like a BNP sympathising, loose bowelled Norman Wisdom, she falls over here, offends an ethnic minority there and farts thither an hither. Did I mention there’s farting?

It’s not even funny in a bad way. It’s hard to put a film in the so bad it’s good category when all it does is make you sad. Adam Sandler has managed to make watching the self-immolation of Hollywood movie stars a boring and tedious act. Gone are the days when you could sit back and laugh watching Lindsay Lohan pole dancing her way into an early retirement. Gone are the days when watching Guy Ritchie’s ‘early noughties phase’ was a questionable viewing pleasure. Now we have Sandler – a man eternally alight with a million miscalculations – up in flames on a seemingly bi-monthly basis. However earning $20 million dollars to humiliate yourself before millions does have a certain ring to it.

One also has to wonder how much Pacino was getting paid to debase himself in the name of self-satire. That he does this through playing someone with an artistic integrity that Jack spends most of the film wearing down only makes his presence even more excruciating. It’s less Being Al Pacino and more Being an Idiot. And I thought Robert De Niro was going through a late career malaise…

Jack and Jill was released in UK cinemas on the 3rd of February.

*~~~~ (1/5)

A new trailer for Eddie Murphy’s latest film, A Thousand Words, has been released this week.

Directed by Brian Robbins and written by Steve Koren, the film finished filming and was ready to be released over a year ago. The trailer has only just been made available though, but at least that gets the ball finally rolling.

The film follows talkative agent Jack (Eddie Murphy) who uses his insincere patter as his chief weapon, to assistant Aaron’s (Clark Duke) demise. His irritating non-stop talk even begins to threaten his marriage to wife Caroline (Kerry Washington).

However, the worst is yet to come. When his mouth gets him into trouble with guru and author Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis), Sinja plants a magical Bodhi tree which sheds one leaf for each word Jack speaks. After one thousand words, Jack will die.

Of course, things shouldn’t reach that point and as the trailer shows, the use of really bad sign language should help him along the way. It actually looks quite funny, even after we’ve had to wait so long to see these few minutes.

Originally scheduled to be released in January, Paramount have pushed the release date until after the Oscars. But of course, Murphy has now withdrawn as host so the release date is still subject to change.

For now, the film is set to be released on 6th April, 2012.

It’s been a hectic few days for the for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the 84th Academy Awards lost producer Brett Ratner and host Eddie Murphy all within 24 hours.

Confirmation of Ratner’s replacement is here, however, and amid conversations of who should stand in as host is all over the internet, with The Muppets taking lead as front-runners for the spot.

Alas it was not to be as Billy Crystal has just been confirmed as the host of the 84th Academy Awards.

Filmmaker Ratner announced his resignation as Oscar producer on Tuesday after recent controversies involving racy comments and the use of an anti-gay slur. Murphy then followed with an announcement of his withdrawal the next day.

Fortunately it wasn’t long until Academy President Tom Sherak announced that Brian Grazer has been secured as Ratner’s replacement and in the half an hour Crystal tweeted the following,

Crystal returns to the stage for the ninth time and, while it’s not The Muppets, it provides some stability for the ceremony.

Grazner, whose current projects include the soon-to-be-released J. Edgar and the just released Tower Heist (starring Murphy and directed by Ratner), said that, “It’s very gratifying to be part of a show that honors excellence in the medium to which I have devoted so much of my career.”

Sherak commented that, “Brian Grazer is a renowned filmmaker who over the past 25 years has produced a diverse and extraordinary body of work,” and continued: “He will certainly bring his tremendous talent, creativity and relationships to the Oscars.”

The biggest names to be circulated amongst film fanatics over the last twenty four hours included the return of James Franco and Anne Hathaway, Neil Patrick Harris, Ben Stiller, Ricky Gervais, and Hugh Jackman.

But what seemed to be a favourite option was for The Muppets to host the show, and they quickly became the front-runners as the people’s choice overnight.

Their Twitter account @MuppetsOscars pulled over 11,000 follows, though Variety were quick to deny any chance of it, reporting that any hope of The Muppets hosting was slim. Not that their say has stopped the release of The Muppets promotional poster (above).

The Awards show is still expected to air on February 26, 2012.

Universal Studios’ new movie, Tower Heist is out in UK cinemas now and our friend James Kleinmann was lucky enough to go to New York to interview all the leads in the movie and Director Brett Ratner. Today is the fourth and final interview from the junket. If you’ve missed them, you can see interviews with Ben, Eddie and Director Brett Ratner and Téa Leoni and Alan Alda by clicking the appropriate link. Today we get to hear from which you can see here and today we get hear from Matthew Broderick, Gabourey Sidibe, Casey Affleck all of who have become prolific either in the last few years or over the last few decades. Any interview with Ferris Bueller himself is well worth a watch!

Tower Heist also stars Matthew Broderick, Gabourey Sidibe, Casey Affleck, Stephen Henderson, Judd Hirsch and Michael Peña. Check out the trailer here for more on what you can expect.

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them. Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage. With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo. Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.

Universal Studios’ new movie, Tower Heist comes to the UK now and our friend James Kleinmann was lucky enough to go to New York to interview all the leads in the movie and Director Brett Ratner. We’ve already had the interviews with Ben, Eddie and Brett go live which you can see here and today we get hear from Tea Leoni and Alan Alda about what it was like filming the movie and in particular, spinning on chairs during takes!

Tower Heist also stars Stephen Henderson, Judd Hirsch and Michael Peña. Check out the trailer here for more on what you can expect.

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them. Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage. With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo. Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.

In the face of it, Tower Heist is the kind of production which usually sends alarm bells ringing. ‘A Brett Ratner Film’ hardly causes a surge of excitement amongst cinema-going folk, and co-lead (and co-producer) Eddie Murphy’s track record of late has been patchy to say the least. Even Ben Stiller has squandered some of that goodwill afforded to him via his fantastic turn in last year’s Greenberg by following it up with a by-the-numbers appearance in yet another tired Meets the Parents sequel. Add to that a machination which is far from original (although there’s a pleasingly topical slant) and a poor and unimaginative marketing campaign, and the signs don’t look good.

A sigh of relief can be breathed however, and while Tower Heist is by no means a classic in this well-trodden genre, its good-natured vibe and lively performances from a diverse and talented cast make it hard to dislike. In many ways, it feels like a fun throwback to those disposable (yet entertaining) ’80s action comedy pictures, the likes of which cropped up regularly on Disney’s Touchstone Pictures label (the inclusion of Murphy only helps to reinforce this).

Josh Kovacs (Stiller) is the manager of an impossibly luxurious New York condominium. A respected, go-to-guy and seemingly on hand to offer advice and help to his loyal members of staff at any given hour, he also has a paternal relationship of sorts with Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), a wealthy Wall Street businessman who resides in the outrageously opulent penthouse suite, which is replete with a roof pool (which has a huge, tiled dollar bill mosaic floor) and a classic motor embedded in the living area.

It’s soon revealed that Shaw may have been little more than dishonest in accruing his capital when the law comes a-knocking and he’s placed under house arrest after being charged with stealing two billion from his investors (yes – as hard as it is to fathom, he’s a fraudulent banker). As is usually the case in these instances, the hardest hit is the proverbial little guys, and this time around it turns out to be Kovacs’ fellow employees whose pensions he entrusted to Shaw in the mistaken belief he would bring a sizable return.

As a means of recompense for his justifiably disgruntled staff, Stiller ropes in brother-in-law Charlie (Casey Affleck – surprisingly sparkly) the hotel’s dopey concierge, a resident who has just been turfed out (Matthew Broderick), a newbie go-getting bellhop (Michael Pena) and a feisty Jamaican housekeeper (Gabourey Sidibe) to help him plot a Robin Hood-esque scheme to steal $20 million which is stashed somewhere in Shaw’s apartment. They soon realise that they need a genuine criminal to help pull off the task so Kovak enlists his neighbour Slide (Eddie Murphy), a petty crook with a volatile temper and probably the last person who should be entrusted with organising the heist.

Murphy’s involvement here is one of the film’s key strengths, and even if he’s treading familiar past ground here, it’s always a welcome sight to see him in something other than (with the glowing exception of Dreamgirls) the slew of kid-friendly, lowest common denominator DVD landfill he’s been coasting along on for over a decade or so now. His character is a funny and unpredictable figure in the film, and it’s fun to watch him interact with the other, altogether unthreatening, team members.

The plodding, sub-Ocean’s 11-style gang he attempts to coach in the art of law-breaking is where many of the film’s laughs are found. There’s no slickly-executed planning or heavily choreographed robbery action here, and Murphy’s ridiculous criminal initiation for the team (which involves them each stealing an item from a shop in the mall they’ve visited to discuss the operation) is endearingly daft and amusing. Stiller holds the film together well (although admittedly, the role isn’t much of a stretch for him) and Alda is suitably slimy and stoically two-faced. Broderick brings a convincingly downtrodden and defeated sense of worth to his character (maybe this was a breeze for him to play, given who his real-life spouse is) and it’s nice to see Precious’ Gabourey Sidibe holding her own with this cast, even if her accent does tend to waver at times.

As to be expected for a film in this genre, there’s plot-holes a-plenty and some pretty absurd narrative contrivances. In fact, the film almost threatens to buckle under the weight of its own ridiculousness and strained logic at times, but the playful cast and Ratner’s well-executed and knowingly flamboyant staging of the action set pieces help see things through.

You may find yourself struggling to remember much of it upon leaving the cinema, but Tower Heist is a reasonably entertaining and undemanding slice of popcorn cinema, which will undoubtedly appeal to those who are looking for an evening of light-hearted escapism at the local multiplex. The We Need to Talk About Kevin crowd may choose to look elsewhere for their cinematic fix, however.

***~~ (3/5)

Universal Studios’ new movie, Tower Heist comes to the UK this TODAY, 2nd November and our friend James Kleinmann was lucky enough to go to New York to interview all the leads in the movie and Director Brett Ratner. We’ve already had an interview with Ben and Eddie which you can see here and today we get hear from Ratner himself about what it was like working in New York and with such a great cast. people behind the movie.

Tower Heist also stars Matthew Broderick, Téa Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, Casey Affleck, Stephen Henderson, Judd Hirsch, Michael Peña and Alan Alda. Check out the trailer here for more on what you can expect.

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them. Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage. With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo. Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.

Universal Studios’ new movie, Tower Heist comes to the UK this Wednesday, 2nd November and our friend James Kleinmann was lucky enough to go to New York and interview, Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy. Both actors have been around for quite a while now and it’s great to see them both working together on this project. In the interview, we find out how the characters met and how they came to work together.

Tower Heist also stars Matthew Broderick, Téa Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, Casey Affleck, Stephen Henderson, Judd Hirsch, Michael Peña and Alan Alda. Check out the trailer here for more on what you can expect.

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them. Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage. With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo. Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.

Tower Heist hits Uk cinemas this Wednesday, 2nd November and we’ve been sent this brand new exclusive featurette from the movie that stars Ben Stiller, Charles Q. Murphy, Scottie Knollin, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck and is directed by Brett Ratner called Training the Crew..

If you missed it, we’ve also got the chance for you to win merchandise from the movie along with an Amazon Kindle. Click here to enter.

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about ordinary working guys who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them.  After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.

Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade.  Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected.  In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors.  The hardest hit among those he defrauded?  The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage.

With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo.  Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone.  Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.

We’ve seen plenty of excellent things from Brett Ratner’s upcoming heist comedy, Tower Heist, that have given us a lot to look forward to in the film. If you’re a little late to the party, then you can catch up on it all right here.

A great new clip has surfaced over at Empire, showing Eddie Murphy discussing the finer details of his criminal past and the experience/lack thereof that he’s bringing to the table.

Along with Murphy, the film has a terrific ensemble cast that includes Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Michael Peña, Alan Alda, and Téa Leoni. And a lot of people, myself included, are hopeful that this will see Murphy returning to his brilliant past comedy form.

“Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them. Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage. With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo. Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.”

Ratner, director of all three Rush Hour films and many more greats, looks to have done another fantastic job with this, and everyone is expecting it to do well when it comes out. It will be released here in the UK on 2nd November, which is thankfully just a few short weeks away. Without further ado, here’s the great new clip to enjoy until then.

Here’s another new poster for Ben Stiller’s new movie, Tower Heist whcih has a rather nice cast which includes Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Téa Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, Casey Affleck,  Stephen Henderson, Judd Hirsch, Michael Peña, Alan Alda.

It comes from Director Brett Ratner and we’ve seen a few trailers for the movie all of which you can see here.

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them. Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage. With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo. Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.

Tower Heist is out in the UK 2nd November.

We got the first and second trailers for the upcoming comedy heist film, Tower Heist, over the summer, and they gave us a great look at Brett Ratner’s next film, and by all accounts, it should be a lot of fun.

We’ve now got a new trailer to share with you, courtesy of Apple, via Collider, and it cements the entertainment factor that everything we’ve seen from the film so far is leading us to expect.

The film has such a good cast that includes Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy (who everyone is saying looks to be back on top of his game here), Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Téa Leoni, and Michael Peña. And with Ratner, the man who brought us all three Rush Hour films and many other greats, at its helm, I don’t think there’s much likelihood that Tower Heist won’t live up to expectations.

“Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them. Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage. With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo. Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.”

The film is out in the UK on 2nd November, so it’s only a matter of weeks before we’ll be getting to see this in full on the big screen. Until then, here’s the excellent new trailer to enjoy. And if you fancy seeing it in beautiful HD, then you can click on over here.

Following the news that 80’s comedy megastar Eddie Murphy will be the host of next year’s Academy Awards (an odd choice indeed, considering his less-than-gracious exit from the 2007 show when he failed to pick up the Best Supporting statuette) Paramount has announced that his long-delayed 2009 feature, A Thousand Words, will be released in March. Coincidence?

The film’s premise actually sounds very intriguing (Murphy playing a guy who learns he only has 1000 words to speak before he dies) but the director is one Brian Robbins, the filmmaker behind recent Murphy “classics” Norbit and Meet Dave (is the actor aware that he doesn’t necessarily have to work with the same director almost three times in a row!) so it safe to say that collective breaths don’t need to be held.

Still, with a starring role in the upcoming action comedy ensemble Tower Heist (in which he’ll appear alongside such talents as Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck and Matthew Broderick) maybe Murphy will be able to put behind the last few years of poor box office and stage another Nutty Professor-esque come-back.

If not, expect to hear Beverly Hills Cop 4 rumours surfacing sometime around the beginning of March.

Via The Playlist.

There’s no knowing how this one will turn given it’s turbulet pre-production and the reputation the director brings with him, however the trailer we saw recently makes Brett Ratner’s Tower Heist look better than expected.

If the two big leads have something decent to work with then having Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy heading this film is an easy sell, and this TV spot doesn’t really deviate from the stuff already seen so you’ll know the drill. Employees in a huge tower block are being shafted by the money man who lives in the penthouse suite so decide to enact a heist and take back their money. Crazy antics are sure to ensue.

Here’s the spot, Coming Soon deserve our thanks for this,

With the news recently announced that Eddie Murphy will be hosting the Academy Awards next year, it seems only right that our host for the British Academy of Film and Television Awards would be announced too.

And the British Academy has now announced that the beloved Stephen Fry will returning to take the hosting duties next year, on Sunday 12^th February, two weeks prior to the American awards.

Fry is no stranger to the awards ceremony, having had the job six times in the past, between 2001 and 2006:

“I had a marvellous time presenting the Film Awards for the first six years of the century. Hard as it may be for some characteristically sceptical Britons to believe, the BAFTAs have real kudos, reputation and cachet all over the world of film-making and I, old as I am, never cease to be shamelessly glamorised by the sight of so many legendary names who come every year as nominees and presenters.

“The adorable Jonathan Ross has done a magnificent job since I last hung up my bow-tie and boxed my patent leather pumps, and I am honoured and pleased to return to the lectern and host what I am sure will be an evening of squeals, surreally weird acceptance speeches and genuinely exciting surprises and pleasures.”

I don’t think I know anyone who has anything but nice things to say about Fry, and I’m really looking forward to his presence at the awards next year. Amanda Berry, BAFTA’s CEO, had this to say about the announcement:

“I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Stephen back to host the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2012. Since he stepped down from hosting in 2006, Stephen has continued to build an enviable broadcast repertoire, making a string of BAFTA-nominated documentaries and entertainment programmes as well as lending his voice to BAFTA-winning video games, and we will be seeing him shortly in upcoming films ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ and ‘The Hobbit’. He has also hosted the Academy’s Britannia Awards in Los Angeles, all the while wholeheartedly embracing the Twitter phenomenon and amassing over 3 million followers.

“Stephen’s love of cinema, his keen sense of fun and his characteristic panache will be a huge draw for the biggest film night of 2012.

“Jonathan’s five-year reign as master of ceremonies coincided with a period of growth for the Film Awards, including a move to the Royal Opera House and increasing international awareness of them. Jonathan’s contribution was an essential part of this, and we sincerely thank him for it.”

Sincerely good news in my books, as I’m sure it is in most people’s books. We can next look forward to seeing Fry in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which is due out just before Christmas this year on 16^th December, and should be utterly fantastic. And then just less than two months later, we’ll have the pleasure of inviting him into homes for the evening to host the BAFTAs.

With director Brett Ratner and co-star Eddie Murphy involved in the Oscars® ceremony as producer and newly announced host respectively, Tower Heist’s profile cannot help but have been raised. Whether it needed the boost or not, that boost must surely be in effect for what in all fairness already looks for all the world to be a perfectly serviceable comedy film.

Whether the world needs another perfectly serviceable film of any type from Brett Ratner, Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller, when they have between them given us far more accomplished films like Red Dragon, Trading Places, 48 Hours, Dodgeball and Zoolander is a question for another day. We can only hope that we will not face the experience of another ho-hum film from all concerned and will instead be treated to something a little grander. Fingers crossed and all that.

Thank you to ComingSoon for what we are about to receive.

The rumours started over the weekend that the wildly popular, albeit perhaps slightly in years gone by, Eddie Murphy would be hosting the Oscars next year, taking over from James Franco and Anne Hathaway’s turn back at the end of February this year.

Deadline are now reporting that Murphy has officially agreed to take the hosting duties for the 84^th Academy Awards next year, to be held on Sunday, 26th February, 2012.

I must confess that I am still sadly yet to ever have had the chance to see an Oscar ceremony broadcast to date, lacking the television capabilities beyond terrestrial channels that would allow me access to the awards. But the Oscars are something that are watched by millions the world over, and they are far and away the most prestigious awards granted in the film industry.

Some incredible films are predicted to be going to the Oscars next year, including the likes of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Luc Besson’s The Lady; We Need To Talk About Kevin; and many, many more brilliant films. I personally can’t wait to see how the awards turn out, and having Murphy hosting the ceremony sounds like a pretty solid choice to me.

Though many might think he’s passed his prime, Murphy’s upcoming performance in Brett Ratner’s Tower Heist alongside Ben Stiller and Casey Affleck is said to be ingenious, marking a return to the height of his long and brilliant comedy career. Ratner is one of the producers for next year’s Academy Awards, and it was he that suggested Murphy to the Academy for the role of hosting, having worked with him on Tower Heist, and clearly building a relationship with him, knowing how good a choice he would be.

According to one unnamed insider,

“Nobody knows movies better or is a bigger cinephile than Eddie. Not Brett. Not even Quentin Tarantino. Eddie can quote scenes from every single movie word for word. He can bring all that experience to hosting. Plus he has Saturday Night Live experience before a live crowd. And worldwide the biggest crossover comedians are Will Smith and Eddie Murphy.”

Though the rumours received a slightly mixed response over the weekend, I’m definitely warming to the idea now that it’s been confirmed. I love Murphy in so many different films, and I fully expect him to be a brilliant host for next year’s Awards. I only hope that I’ll finally be able to see it live with everybody else.

Here’s another slick trailer for the new Brett Ratner film Tower Heist, which pulls off a mighty feat in taking a fairly hokey premise (big shot moneyman rips off the hotel staff in the building in which he is under house arrest leading them to steal their money back, you know – that old story) from a director not unused to criticism and makes it look like a slightly less glamorous version of Ocean’s Eleven, but a fun one nonetheless.

Certainly the sight of a greying Ferris Bueller shivering on a hotel rooftop and Eddie Murphy stepping out of prison and straight into Trading Places is quite fun, and Ben Stiller looks firmly set in Night at the Museum mode here with Gabourey Sidibe and Alan Alda making the most of the aforementioned hoke. Decent cast having fun with a silly premise then. Why not?

It’s released in the UK 4th November. Will you be there?

Thanks The Sun.

As of late it seems like the folks at Hanna-Barbera are having a garage sale with the rights to their old TV shows.  In the past few years we’ve seen a horrid adaptation of Yogi Bear, an even worse Smurfs film (with a 2nd coming 2013), and now Alcon pictures has decided to bring everybody’s number one super guy to the big screen.  That’s right ladies and gentleman, I can only be talking about the one and only, Hong Kong Phooey.

Alcon Entertainment is indeed planning on a combination live action/animation rendition of the 70s classic which revolves around a mild mannered police station janitor who also doubles as a bumbling kung-fu practicing crime fighter.  Alcon Entertainment has chosen Eddie Murphy to voice the role of this crime fighting pooch and perhaps this will be the film’s only saving grace.  Murphy can be real hit or miss in the live action world but his two voiceover roles in Mulan and Shrek have most certainly become staples of his career and bode well for the Phooey franchise.

Alcon has also chosen to bring in Alex Zamm for the role of Director.  Zamm, for those not familiar, is the one responsible for such classics as Inspector Gadget 2, Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts, Tooth Fairy 2, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, and Carrot Top’s Chairman of the Board.  What this essentially means, is that Zamm has loads of experience with talking animals, as well as horrible kids movie franchises.  Now it may seem like I’m being hard on Mr. Zamm so I would at least like to mention that he was also the one responsible for My Date With The President’s Daughter, which just so happens to be a classic among kids growing up in the late 90s.

Now I guess we should all wait for the first trailer to come out before we truly judge this film.  However, I still get an uneasy feeling when I think about Hong Kong Phooey hitting the box office.  If the film becomes even somewhat profitable it would undoubtedly mean greenlights for all sorts of horrible Hanna-Barbera remakes.  I can only imagine the posters in Times Square totting “Swim Along With The Snorks, 2014″ or even worse “A Captain Caveman Christmas”.  Why are so many people choosing the worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons when they could be potentially tapping into a goldmine by looking into a Johnny Quest trilogy?  Heck, give me the rights to Pirates of Darkwater and let me show you what a good Hanna-Barbera adaptation can do for the industry!

Big ups to the folks at Collider for the info and Press Release!

Best heist movies of 2010: Chris Nolan’s Inception and Ben Affleck’s The Town. Best heist movies of 2011: Justin Lin’s Fast Five and Brett Ratner’s Tower Heist?

The first trailer for the film was released last week, and to join them, we’ve now got the first two posters for the action comedy film, out on 4th November this year, courtesy of Collider and ImpAwards.

If you missed the trailer last week, then I highly recommend you go back and watch it now, because the film looks excellent. Ratner is the  director who brought us all three Rush Hour films, Red Dragon, The Family Man, the Prison Break pilot (staying on as executive producer for every episode), and X-Men: The Last Stand. And this latest film from him looks to be another great project not to be missed.

Tower Heist stars Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Téa Leoni, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda, Michael Peña, and Gabourey Sidibe. A brilliant cast, to say the least, with g a screenplay by Ted Griffin (Ocean’s Eleven, Matchstick Men) and Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour 2 and 3, Catch Me If You Can). And as if that wasn’t enough, Murphy, Kim Cole (Three Kings), and the fantastic Brian Grazer (24, 8 Mile) are all serving as producers.

In the film, Stiller, Affleck, Broderick, Peña, and Sidibe all star as employees at a New York tower apartment building whose penthouse billionaire (Alda) has robbed them of their savings. Determined to get their money back, they recruit petty crook Murphy to help them pull off a heist on the wealthy businessman, in the midst of his being investigated by the police (Leoni).

The first of the two posters shows the heist team stood together at the bottom of the tower, and the second adds Leoni into the mix on top of the building, with New York’s skyscrapers providing a nice backdrop for the poster.

Despite having not yet seen the film, I stand by my initial statement. It may truthfully be more of an expectation/hope, but last week’s first trailer showed a lot of promise for the film, and I can’t wait for its November release date to roll around. Without further ado, here are the two new posters. As usual, click to make them go big.