All that we’ve seen so far from James McTeigue’s upcoming thriller, The Raven, has been very promising, most recently with the new trailer at the end of last year. Directed by McTeigue, whose credits include the brilliant V For Vendetta, the cast is led by John Cusack in the lead role of renowned poet Edgar Allen Poe, with a supporting cast that includes Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and co-written by Hannah Shakespeare and Ben Livingston.

The first teaser posters that surfaced last year were both absolutely stunning, and this new poster, courtesy of EW via FirstShowing, features Cusack front and centre and departs a little from the earlier artwork, but is just as excellent.

“In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta,Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.”

Originally scheduled for a 9^th March release in the US, Relativity have since pushed it back to 27^th April, which some have suggested indicates a lack of faith in the film, but I don’t think that’s necessarily true. If you take a look at the other releases that weekend in the States, you’ll see that Disney’s blockbuster John Carter is coming out, and putting The Raven up against a film like that wouldn’t really be sensible. The audiences might not be quite the same, but the more niche market for The Raven will probably be torn between the two, and a film like John Carter probably has the bigger appeal, if only because it’s full of 3D special effects.

Pushing it back to 27^th April should make for a more stable opening, without the same level of competition. That weekend sees the release of The Five-Year Engagement and Safe, which should be less competition for The Raven to find its feet.

The UK release date was originally scheduled for 9^th March too, and there’s no word yet on whether or not it will keep that slot and open before it does in America or get pushed back too. John Carter is opening here on 9^th March as well, so if that is the reasoning for the move, then it’s quite possible that we’ll have to wait until April to see it here too. Importantly, however, we’re getting The Avengers on 27^th April (whereas the States get it a week later), so it could well be that we’ll have it here on a different weekend to the US; hopefully we’ll get it earlier rather than later, because this looks like something to look forward to. Without further ado, here’s the new poster for your viewing pleasure.

A new trailer has appeared online for John McTeigue’s film The Raven which takes a fictional swipe at the last days of poet of the night (not ‘of the night’ in a prostitute way, not nocturnal, you know what I mean) Edgar Allan Poe, and it’s rather nice.

John Cusack beards up and takes on a serial killer who is taking inspiration from Poe’s work, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson​ and Oliver Jackson-Cohen star alongside him.

My Movies had this one, the film is out on the 9th of March next year. Will this be a Guy Ritchie style rendering of this literary force? I’m rather looking forward to it, you?

When it was announced that James McTeigue had cast John Cusack in the role of Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven eyebrows were raised and expectations gamely followed.

A fictionalised account of the author’s involvement in a police investigation of a serial killer using his work as inspiration seemed like a novel concept and some moody first look images flitted from the set giving the impression that this would be a suitably dark cinematic outing for the man who puts the ‘Poe’ in Poet.

Now that we’ve got a first look at the trailer it seems Relativity Media have served up a unique Edgar A Poe (where the ‘A’ stands for ACKSHUN) and it cannot be a coincidence that this looks very similar to Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films.

Neither a hideously overburdened bandwagon, nor a particularly bad move and there are some nicely grisly moments in amongst the shouting and there’s a hint of Sleepy Hollow in the mix too. It’ll be interesting to see if Clive Owen is cast as Chuck Dickens: Workhouse Liberator in the next year or so.

The movie stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson​ and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, directed by James McTeigue and is out in the States on March of next year with a UK date to be announced.

We got our first official look at John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe in the upcoming The Raven back in June, and he looked pretty fantastic.

We then got an utterly stunning first poster for the film a month later, followed by a great batch of images, and then a second follow-up poster that was yet another brilliant work of art.

Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), and written by Hannah Shakespeare (Loverboy) and newcomer Ben Livingstone, the film is led by John Cusack and also stars Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Our first look at Alice Eve as the female lead in the film came with the batch of images back in July, and we’ve now got our first hi-res look at her courtesy of Bloody Disgusting. Rest assured, though, the picture is far from bloody disgusting, showing Eve fit for a ball at the seat of a (forte)piano.

“In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta,Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.”

That synopsis sounds like an awesome premise for a film to me, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. McTeigue is a fantastic director with so much potential, and it will be interesting to see his take on a period thriller like this. Everything we’ve seen from the movie so far shows a lot of promise, and I have every expectation that it will live up to its prospects and then some.

The Raven currently has a 9th March release date in the States next year, and though there’s no word on a UK release date yet, hopefully it’s just a matter of time before one comes through. With any luck, we won’t have to wait much/any longer after the US gets it until it arrives in our cinemas. Without further ado, here’s the lovely new image of Alice Eve. As usual, click to enlarge.

If you thought the first teaser poster for James McTeigue’s forthcoming movie The Raven was eye-catching, just wait until you see this latest one: the striking second teaser pares the design back to just the silhouette of a raven set against a scarlet background, with an ominous line of blood running down to the title and tagline. I don’t know about you but on the basis of this poster alone I’m suddenly rather intrigued by this film.

Set in 1849 and starring John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven follows the famous author as he works alongside a Baltimore detective (played by Luke Evans) to track down a serial killer inspired by his work. It’s an interesting premise, and if the film can live up to the frankly quite stunning design work that’s gone into its promotional materials thus far, we’re in for a treat when it reaches cinemas next year.

(via Latino Review)

James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) is currently at Comic-Con in San Diego, drumming up support for his latest thriller The Raven, the poster for which we brought you only yesterday. That poster seems to very much have a style all its own and has raised considerable interest from me, where little previously existed. Aaron Ryder, production head at FilmNation Entertainment, is seemingly so pleased with McTeigue’s work on The Raven that he is also producing his next outing, “Message From The King”:-

“After working with James on The Raven and then seeing a cut of the film, it was very clear to us that we needed to make his next movie.”

Message From The King, from a script by Oliver Butcher (Dr Jekyll & Ms Hyde, Unknown) and Stephen Cornwell (Killing Streets and, erm, Unknown as well) tells of Jacob King, an “enigmatic outsider”, come to LA to look into the sudden disappearance of his sister. Are outsiders always enigmatic? Is every disappearance sudden. We need answers people.

In the meantime, it looks as though filming will kick off much later in the year, with FilmNation distributing and no-one as yet on board to star. No doubt that will change soon, especially if The Raven is well received.

Source: Deadline

Relativity Media have released a couple of new images for their new movie, The Raven which is showing this weekend during Comic-Con which is currently taking place in San Diego. The movie stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen and it’s directed by James McTeigue.

In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta,Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.

The Raven gets its release 9th March in the US (not UK release date as yet).

Click the images below to enlarge.

Relativity Media have released the rather awesome first poster for The Raven ahead of the screenings which are taking place this weekend during Comic-Con. The movie stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen and it’s directed by James McTeigue.

In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta,Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.

The Raven gets its release 9th March in the US (not UK release date as yet).

I really love this poster. Taking the title of the movie to new levels making it a work of art rather than just someone’s face.Good work Relativity!

Click the images below to enlarge.

Source: Rope of Silicon

I’ve just watched one of the most action packed, martial art driven, blood splattering movie I’ve ever seen in the form of Ninja Assassin. The movie is directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and stars Naomie Harris, a Korean pop idol called Rain, Ben Miles, and a former James Bond (Die Another Day) badie, Rick Yune. One of the main selling points of Ninja Assassin is that it was produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski Bros. (The Matrix Trilogy) and was written by the same chap who wrote the screenplay for Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, J. Michael Straczynski – although this would fall into a slightly different genre!

Synopsis from Comingsoon: Ninja Assassin follows Raizo (Rain), one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them… and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge.

OK, so this movie is action packed for sure. Barely 2 minutes goes by without one of the most spectacular martial arts scene you’ve seen since the last one in this movie. The special effects guys must have been working over time to supply enough fake blood to fill the screen! That said, I think most of the blood effects shots will have been done in post but the melding together of the live action martial arts, the amazing fight choreography and stunning parkour is just simply awesome to watch.

The dialogue in this film is pretty poor at times and the story is one we’ve seen over and over again but I can’t think of a movie which combines the marriage martial arts, lighting, visual effects, special effects, direction and overall choreographys well as Ninja Assasin does.You sort of forget that the acting is a bit shoddy as you’re too busy waiting for the next action sequence to come along which is never far away!

One of my favourite scenes of a fight taking place which you only really get to see in the circle of light created by a torch. The direction by James McTeigue must have been a nightmare trying to get everything that happens in shot throughout the 99 minute runtime but he does a fantastic job at pulling you into the movie.

As I said above, don’t buy Ninja Assassin if you want an original story or decent dialogue, but if you want to see some of the best fight choreography mixed together with unbelievable martial arts, parkour and a LOT of blood, then this one is for you!

Check out this exclusive clip from the movie which will give you a bit more of an idea of what I’m talking about.

Ninja Assassin is available to buy now on DVD and Blu Ray.

We’ve been given this brand new and exclusive clip from Ninja Assassin called Do You Remember? As you’ll see when you watch this clip, the movie is rather hi-octane and this is just 1 minute of the entire film! Ninja Assassin is released on DVD and Blu Ray 17th May. The movie is directed by James McTeigue and stars Naomie Harris, Rain, Ben Miles and Rick Yune.

If you’ve not already seen it, we’re giving you the chance to win a signed Ninja Assassin poster and a copy of the Blu-ray! Click here to enter the competiton and for a sneak peak into the movie itself, watch the clip below.

NINJA ASSASSIN, the visually stunning, ninja masterpiece, slashes its way onto Blu-ray, DVD, On Demand and Digital Download on 17th May

The Wachowski Brothers, the creative minds behind The Matrix Trilogy, team up with director James McTeigue (Star Wars Episode II, V for Vendetta) and Joel Silver (Sherlock Holmes, Orphan, Rock n Rolla) to produce the ultimate action film.

The filmmakers behind The Matrix and V for Vendetta bring new blood to martial arts movies in this smashing adventure. Korean pop star Rain plays heroic, deadly Raizo. Trained from childhood in the way of the Ozunu Clan ninja, he is stalked by fellow warriors and their dojo patriarch (martial arts legend Sho Kosugi) and is on the run with a Europol agent (Naomie Harris) who has proof the clan sells assassination services to governments.

You can WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

To celebrate the release of NINJA ASSASSIN, we’re giving you the chance to win a copy of the film on Blu-ray, as well as a poster signed by the films action marvels, Rain, Rick Yune and director James McTeague. To be in with a chance of winning this great prize simply answer the following question using the form below…

Which of the following films did James McTeague previously direct?

A: V for Vendetta

B: Desparado

C: Romeo Must Die

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only.
• Only one entry per household will be counted.
• The competition will close Monday 17th May (release date) at 23.59 GMT.
• The winners will be picked at random from entries received.

The usual T&Cs can be found here.

Competition now Closed

© 2010 Warner Bros Ent. Inc.

When I saw this trailer for Ninja Assassin I was expectingly curious, then I saw the test footage (see below) with the actor Rain going through the chorography of fighting scenes which was incredible and was even more excited by the prospect of a Ninja film from the makers of the Matrix, so it has to be great right?

Wrong. Director James McTeigue, the Wachowski Brothers and co have managed to take a great concept and ruin a majority of it by the overuse of CGI, some terrible dialogue and a plot that was at times nothing short of ridiculous.

The story is of a Ninja called Raizo (Rain) who as a young child was taken from the streets to be trained as a Ninja killing machine who is then banished as he fails to follow the code of the Ozunu clan by his master played by the Ninja acting legend Sho Kosugi. Raizo presumed dead waits to get revenge for the death of his friend and the attempt on his life.

This part of the film is ok with Rain performing brilliantly as Raizo with the Ninja fights and all the cool Ninja moves which is what we all want to see in our Ninja films but then that film would only have lasted an hour or so, so what is added is a ridiculously contrived story of Europol getting involved where female agent Mika(Naomie Harris) has found a money trail linking numerous political assassinations to Ninjas on the basis that 100 lbs of gold were paid to an account and history tells that this was always the payment Ninjas were paid.

Mika’s boss Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) gets involved with the Ninja story and from what I can understand both get investigated by the CIA, FBI etc as they are getting to close to “the truth” and during the night Ninjas come to kill off Mika but she is saved by Raizo.

We then follow the story of Raizo keeping Mika safe, avoiding the government agencies, trying to find/fight his former clan brothers and to kill his former mentor and father figure Ozunu that ends with a climatic stupid battle of Ninjas vs government soldiers and a potentially great but in the end disappointing fight where Raizo faces Ozunu.

As I said the plot is ridiculous with some overlong exposition which are put in place just to set up each round of Ninja fighting Ninjas where Raizo takes on almost endless amounts of foes almost entirely in the dark, which is where I have my main problem with the film. When you watch the excellent footage below of Rain training for the film you get a real sense of the technical and physical ability of these martial artists and most of it is lost in the over use of dark scenes where you lose all visual reference of what is going on as the camera zooms in and out, cuts rapidly and the slow motion takes much of the momentum the action tries to build.

The Ninjas have added blur to them as they move which I thought looked stupid and unnecessary, there was loads of CGI Ninja throwing stars being thrown from every dirrecion on screen that looked messy and then of course there is the amazingly bad CGI blood that spurts out of every decapitation which looks terrible and when you look back at films like Kill Bill where the bride faces off in the House of Blue Leaves, there is really no need for the CGI blood. It just made it all to comical and cartoony when it could have been something so much more exciting.

In the opening scene of the film we witness a room with 10 or so bad guys that all get taken out in an exciting and visually gory assault by an unseen Raizo who hides in the shadows which is slightly comical but yet brutal and cool to watch and its the direction the film should have gone in probably worth seeing itself as we see the stealth and killing skills of these legendary assassins in all its glory.

The Ozunu Clan’s training of the children and a young Raizo rising to a Ninja is great and quite entertaining that sets up the mythology well and shows a horrible method in getting to that level. Rain shows incredible dedication to the role that stands out amongst the supporting cast but that’s not hard against their wooden performances that almost ruin the film and so in the end the bad outweighs the good in Ninja Assassin unfortunately, but there is enough to please fans and anyone needing to unwind for some brainless action and violence but I will always feel it missed a big opportunity to relaunch the Ninja Movie genre which is a real shame.

Ninja Assassin is out on the 8th January.

Fellow film blogger Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net has conducted an insightful interview with Wachowski Brothers’ protege, James McTeigue. As well as answering questions about Ninja Assassin and why he opted for CG blood, he talks about his first film V for Vendetta, his upcoming project The Raven, a bit about his filmmaking background, but most interestingly about his thoughts on his proposed Superman movie.

McTeigue states that he would want to make substantial changes to the traditional Superman mythology in order to update the character so he can exist in modern society. After the disappointment that was Superman Returns, all the legal problems between the various owners of the Superman property, and Diane Nelson (head of newly formed DC Entertainment) announcing that any proposed Superman films are currently on hold, things are not looking too good for The Man of Steel.

All legal issues aside, I do believe that the biggest problem Superman faces is that he is a hero that just does not seem relevant in today’s world. That is why I fully support McTeigue’s ideas of re-imagining the Superman mythos if he gets the chance to.

Watch the interview here.

Ninja Assassin goes on general release on November 25th in the USA, but unfortunately folks in the UK must wait until January 8th 2010 to see McTeigue’s ninja film.

Ten years ago, the Wachowski brothers, little known at the time, released their second movie as directors, The Matrix. A product of their love of Hong Kong action movies and Manga, it became huge. The mix of stylish action and spiritual introspection struck a chord, particularly with teenage boys searching for an identity. Two inferior sequels followed, but they did’nt diminish the cultural impact the first movie made, and the Wachowskis were set – they could write their own cheques.

 Their follow up movie, Speed Racer, got very mixed reviews. They did, however, unearth a very talented young martial arts actor, Rain. Another young man, by the name of James McTeigue, had worked as a second unit director on all three Matrix movies. Having learnt his trade from the talented brothers, McTeigue made his directorial debut with 2006′s V for Vendetta. The Wachowski, along with their Matrix producer Joel Silver, brought these two talented men together for a project, Ninja Assassin.

 Rain plays Raizo, one of the world’s deadliest assassins. He learnt his trade from the shadowy Ozunu Clan, having been abducted by them as a small boy. Rain, from South Korea, is better known as a singer than an actor. Also a talented dancer and designer, his only movie credit before Speed Racer was 2006 Korean film I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK. A friend of Raizo is executed by his clan, causing him to question his loyalty to them. He decides he can no longer work for them, and disappears. In hiding, he awaits the right time to wreak revenge on his former ‘family’.

 Actress Naomie Harris plays Mika Coretti, a Europol agent. She is following a money trail picked up during an investigation into a chain of political assassinations. Harris is probably best known for the part of Tia Dalma in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and is something of an up and coming star. Coretti’s investigation leads her too close to the Ozunu Clan, and she becomes a mark.

 The clan’s team of killers is led by Takeshi, played by Rick Yune. Yune is an actor and writer. He featured in 2002′s Tomorrow Never Dies, and more recently in 2008′s The Fifth Commandment, which he also wrote, and Alone in the Dark II. Inevitably, Raizo and Coretti join forces after the former assassin saves the agent’s life, and together they hatch a plan to shut down the Clan’s operations for good.

 Australian director James McTeigue is well positioned to helm this action thriller, having learnt the art of stylistic martial arts and gun play from the two brothers, working alongside them during filming of their revolutionary trilogy. In the past he also worked as second assistant director on the Street Fighter movie. Like the Wachowskis, McTeigue too has an interest in manga and anime. His debut V for Vendetta, also produced by the Wachowskis, featured just a little of their favoured martial arts action. Though containing some good ideas, the story unfortunately was a bit of a mess. V had been called ‘unfilmable’ in the past, and that assertion was proven correct. To hear what McTeigue has to say about Ninja Assassin go here.

 The script for Ninja Assassin however should be good, despite the cliched synopsis. Legendary screenwriter J Michael Straczynski re-drafted the script at the producers’ request, as they were not completely happy with it. Stracynski is best known for his ground breaking TV series Babylon 5, highly regarded as one of the best space-set television series of all time by science fiction fans. He worked as show runner on that series. He is also responsible for writing the adaptation of the Max Brooks novel World War Z for Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B, along with a screenplay for a potential Silver Surfer movie.

 Based on the trailer (which you can see here), the fight scenes in Ninja Assassin are awesome. The kung fu is fast, the gun play well choreographed. With the influence of The Matrix looming large, the movie is bound to be stylish, possibly to the detriment of it’s substance. Unlike The Matrix, the scenes on show are very darkly lit. Partly a product of it’s shadowy subject matter, but also presumably indicative of it’s lower budget.

 With 2012 still at the beginning of it’s run, and Twilight: New Moon having just opened yesterday, Ninja Assassin may struggle at the box office. An unknown star and director mean there is little name value attached, other than the Wachowskis as producers. This movie’s audience is going to be young men, teens and early twenties, searching for a remedy to Twilight fever. Nevertheless, with some great, talented people involved, Ninja Assassin could be one of the best kung fu action movies produced in the west.

 Ninja Assassin opens in the US next Friday 27th November. It does not reach the UK until 8th January.

Bazmann - You can now follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann