Legion is releasedon DVD and Blu Ray today and stars Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton,  Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Durand, Jon Tenney, Willa Holland, Kate Walsh and is directed by Scott Stewart.

The basic premise of the movie is that God (although never mentioned by name) isn’t happy with his people and decides to start all over again, much like the Bible story, Noah and the Ark. The difference here is that rather than sending a giant flood to wipe out the earth, God uses….. Us! Sound a bit odd. Well, it sort of is!

While God prepares his army of angels to come and possess us all, one angel, Michael (Bettany) stands up against the Lord and Creator. Michael is on a mission to save a baby which is currently in the womb of Charlie played by Adrianne Palicki. If the baby lives, humanity has a chance, if he/she doesn’t, it’s the end of the world as we know it. Along with Bettany, it’s down to a human with the stupidest name of all time, Jeep Hanson (Lucas Black) to try to defend the love of his life who couldn’t care less if he was attracted to her or not.

Legion is a very confused movie with a rather large cast and no real idea of where it’s going. The fact that a rogue angel stands up to God to defy his will is crazy will no doubt annoy any Christian who watched it.

Some redeeming qualities include the sound design which was just fantastic and the special effects but I’m afraid neither save this movie from the tripe that it turned out to be. I’m rather sad it was so bad because from the trailers, it has potential to be something great and I think if the screenplay had been better, we’d have seen a great movie. However it was full of so many absurdities and cliched lines that it’s probably destined to go to the bottom of the bargain bin at your local service/gas station.

If Terminator was merged with Dawn of the Dead with a splash of Childsplay and Men in Black thrown in for good measure, you’d get some way to explaining Legion’s storyline.

Legion is released on DVD and Blu ray – Monday, 9th August and you can purchase it here.

Go Behind the Scenes of Legion

Special Features:

• Designing Paradise Falls: Discover the creative process behind designing the apocalyptic vision of Paradise Falls.
• Blueprint of a Scene: An immersive, in-depth breakdown of a key battle sequence against the possessed.
• movieIQ+sync and BD-Live connect you to real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and more while watching the movie!
• BD Exclusive: Bringing Angels To Earth: Picture-in-Picture
• Creating the Apocalypse – Behind the Physical Effects
• Humanity’s Last Line of Defense – The Cast and Characters
• From Pixels to Picture – A Look at the Visual Effects

It’s that time of the week again when you can put your feet up and let the aural experience of a HeyUGuys Mouth Off podcast brighten your day.

Taken to task this week on the podcast, Dave, /Film’s Brendon Connelly and I talk over the new UK cinema releases this week, focusing on Paul Bettany’s Angels Apocalypse drama Legion and Atom Egoyan’s latest erotic thriller, Chloe.

We also mull over this weekend’s Oscars and offer up our predictions and following on from the small outbreak of controversy surrounding the endless slew of remakes on offer, we give our opinions on what makes a good remake and pose the question – Is any film fair game for a remake?

You can listen in your browser below, or click here to subscribe to the MouthOff feed in iTunes, where you can also find our older episodes.

I hope you enjoy it, do let us know what you want to hear, or if you agree or disagree with us – leave your comments here, or email us on MouthOff@heyuguys.co.uk

Hope you enjoy it, see you next week!

Some movies look great on paper but are either let down by the transition to the big screen. Let me sow that seed of information as you read on.

Legion is the new action thriller from Sony Pictures. It stars Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton,  Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Durand, Jon Tenney, Willa Holland, Kate Walsh and is directed by Scott Stewart.

The basic premise of the movie is that God (although never mentioned by name) isn’t happy with his people and decides to start all over again, much like the Bible story, Noah and the Ark. The difference here is that rather than sending a giant flood to wipe out the earth, God uses….. Us! Sound a bit odd. Well, it sort of is!

While God prepares his army of angels to come and possess us all, one angel, Michael (Bettany) stands up against the Lord and Creator. Michael is on a mission to save a baby which is currently in the womb of Charlie played by Adrianne Palicki. If the baby lives, humanity has a chance, if he/she doesn’t, it’s the end of the world as we know it. Along with Bettany, it’s down to a human with the stupidest name of all time, Jeep Hanson (Lucas Black) to try to defend the love of his life who couldn’t care less if he was attracted to her or not.

Legion is a very confused movie with a rather large cast and no real idea of where it’s going. The fact that a rogue angel stands up to God to defy his will is crazy and goes against everything The Bible has taught Christians since it was written. Some of the dialogue between characters us just laughable and in fact, if you had a camera on the lady sitting next to me, you’d think Legion was indeed full of laugh out loud jokes. She really was in hysterics at how terrible this film was. She was not alone with groans, yawns and people leaving the screening well before it finished as they couldn’t take anymore! I held strong to the end for you the HeyUGuys readers!

Some redeeming qualities include the sound design which was just fantastic and the special effects but I’m afraid neither save this movie from the tripe that it turned out to be. I’m rather sad it was so bad because from the trailers, it has potential to be something great and I think if the screenplay had been better, we’d have seen a great movie. However it was full of so many absurdities and cliched lines that it was destined to go to the bottom of the bargain bin at your local service/gas station.

If Terminator was merged with Dawn of the Dead with a splash of Childsplay and Men in Black thrown in for good measure, you’d get some way to explaining Legion’s storyline. It’s redeeming feature is that it only cost an estimated $26m to make an according to wikipedia, has already made double that in takings in the US so I guess it’s not to be sniffed at. The effects and cast that was used in the movie was actually quite respectable with a budget so low (and yes, i know $26m is still an awful lot of money).

Legion is released in cinemas this Friday. I really look forward to some of you seeing it so you can tell me if I’m wrong but please make sure you go on Orange Wednesday so you’re not paying full price to watch it!

Sony have released a brand new international trailer for Legion which stars Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton, Kate Walsh, Tyrese Gibson, Lucas Black, Adrianne Palicki, and is directed by Scott Stewart.

The movie has been released in the US for a while now and you can see our early review here. This new international trailer shows us a bit more of the story and the characters. It’s scheduled for release in the UK 5th March.

There are films that you go to see because you just know that it’s going to be great.  There are films you go to see expecting greatness, and getting disappointment instead.  Then there are those films you go see because you expect it to be so bad that it’s good.  Everyone I’ve talked to has their “so bad it’s good” films.  I know I do.

Going into Legion, I just knew that it was going to be awful.  But it was one of those movies I just HAD to see.  When you go see movies with that mind set, one of two things can happen: 1) It’ll be great. Or 2) It’s just going to be so bad, it’s bad. I’m happy to report that Legion did not fall into category #2. While it didn’t quite make it into category 1, it was, never the less, a surprise.

To bring you up to speed, Legion tells the story of a fallen angel, Michael (Paul Bettany) who comes to Earth to ensure the survival of mankind from annihilation after the Man upstairs sends out the order to end it all.

Going against the wishes of his boss, he falls to Earth and makes his way to a desert diner to ensure that the diner’s waitress lives to bring her unborn baby to term, and is able to deliver.  With only the owner, employees and a few unlikely patrons, they all must work together to fend off the impending doom that is coming for them.

If you’re familiar with my reviews you know how I hate to give anything away, so I’ll say once again, I’m stopping there as far as the storyline goes.  So let’s talk about it in other terms.

The Film:
With a run time of 1:40, it doesn’t feel too long or too short.  The pacing seemed to be a bit slow in parts but overall, I’d say it was paced properly.  I didn’t feel bored and I didn’t feel the need to check my watch.  There were some cringe worthy scenes, especially the one involving the old lady.  If you’ve seen the trailer, you know what I’m talking about.  But really you should see the scene in it’s entirety to really appreciate it.

The effects were decent, but nothing really to write home about.  Same goes for the scenery.  At times you could really tell they shot on a lot, and some of the CG shots weren’t quite up to par, but it didn’t really bother me like it does in other films.  Perhaps it was due to my mindset.  I didn’t expect a lot so I wasn’t disappointed.

The showdown between Michael and the angel sent to finish the job he refused, Gabriel (played by Kevin Durand) was intense, but a bit choppy.  There were parts where it was difficult to see exactly what was happening.  You got the jist of the battle, but I would have liked to have been able to actually see more.  It was a combination of editing as well as lighting.

The Cast:
Angels:
The main reason I was interested in this film was because of Paul Bettany.  I just couldn’t visualize him in this type of role.  I have, up to this point, only been able to visualize him as he was in either Wimbledon or The Da Vinci Code.  I didn’t think he’d be able to pull of playing an ass kicking angel that packs a lot, and I mean A LOT of heat.  He executed his role very well and at no time did I think that he didn’t fit.

Kevin Durand was also a good choice for Gabriel.  He’s got the stature and menacing presence to pull it off.  While the character was a chunk of the story, his role was mainly confined to the second half of the film. 

Humans:
The rest of the cast includes Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton, Kate Walsh, Tyrese Gibson, Lucas Black, and Adrianne Palicki.  While they may not have been stand out performances, they were effective.  Quaid’s character, Bob Hanson, is the owner of the diner, along with his son Jeep (Black), his cook (Dutton) and the pregnant waitress (Palicki).  Walsh and Gibson are both unsuspecting patrons.

Not all of the characters stories are told thoroughly, but they really didn’t need to be.  The film didn’t spend too much time focusing on each character, which can be both good and bad.  You don’t feel too attached, but at the same time you do have a basic idea of what brought them to the diner.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised and ended up liking Legion.  It’s got it’s flaws, but none of them were enough to ruin the film for me.  It’s not a movie that will change the world, but it was entertaining.  And really, isn’t that what going to movies is all about?

Even though Britain has come to a standstill because of snow, we’re still here to bring you all the latest movie news. This morning’s treat is a new clip from Paul Bettany’s new movie, Legion. The clip shows him having an epic battle with the Angel Gabriel in the form of Kevin Durand. Legion is directed by Scott Stewart and also stars Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Kate Walsh and Adrianne Palicki.

Legion is scheduled for release 5th March and after seeing the previous trailers and now this clip, I’m looking forward to it even more. Check out the clip below or head over to Yahoo to view in HD.

Happy New Year to one and all.  It’s the beginning of a new month, new year and a new decade.  With the close of 2009, we’ve seen best of lists, worst of lists, and everything in between.  Now that we’re starting fresh with 2010, it’s time to look forward. 

In this post, I’ll be highlighting a handful of films that will be released in January.  Not every single film slated to be released will be mentioned, but I’ll try to hit upon the major titles.

So without further ado….let’s talk January! (I am located in the US so all dates are US release dates unless noted)

January 8th
This date brings 3 wide releases as well as several limited releases. First on the list:

Daybreakers (UK release Jan. 6th)
The newest entry into the vampire genre.  This one stars Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill and Willem Dafoe.  In the not so distant future a virus has turned most of the world’s population into vampires facing a shortage of human blood.  The vamps look for a way to survive while a researcher tries to find a way to save the human race. 

This film had me at “vampire” and Willem Dafoe. That’s a combo that for me, is definitely worth the time.

Leap Year (UK release Feb. 26th)
Starring Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott and John Lithgow.  Anna (Adams) thinks her boyfriend (Scott) is going to propose but he doesn’t.  She then takes matters into her own hands and travels to Ireland determined to follow a tradition where a woman can propose to a man on Leap Day.  She meets up with a local (Goode) and hilarity and chaos ensue.

This film looks to be as formulaic as it can get.  From the looks of the trailer it  follows all of the typical romantic comedy shticks there are.  You know how the story will progress and you know how it’s going to end.  But, it looks cute and possibly good for a laugh, and I like Amy Adams so perhaps it’ll be worth it. 

Youth in Revolt (UK release Feb. 5th)
Oh Michael Cera.  How you make me laugh.  Joined by Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Zack Galifianakis (yes, I had to double check the spelling as I typed that out), Steve Buscemi (I know that one by heart), Justin Long, Fred Willard and, well, the list goes on.  Awkward teenager deals with dysfunctional parents and wants to hook up with the girl of his dreams so he creates an alter ego to help him through it all.

Ok, so I know there’s more to it than just that.  But really, with that cast, that’s all I need to know.  I like Michael Cera and he plays awkward very well.  With Cera and Galifianakis I’m hoping for some serious laughs.  This one looks to be a bit darker with the alter ego, but I’m really looking forward to this one.

Limited Releases: Bitch Slap, Crazy on the Outside, In Search of Memory, Pyaar Impossible, Waiting for Armageddon, Wonderful World

January 15th
The 15th is a bit of a snoozer.  We have two wide releases and just a few limited.  I’m only going to mention one here and that is:

The Book of Eli
Starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, and Mila Kunis.  Set in a post- apocalyptic future, Denzel Washington is Eli, a lone man on a mission to protect a book that holds the secrets to saving humanity.

Denzel + Oldman = unmeasurable awesomeness.  The first trailer sold me.  I love me some post apocalyptic chaos and with both of those actors, it can’t go wrong.  Well, at least I really hope it doesn’t.

Limited Releases: 44 Inch Chest, Fish Tank, The Last Station

January 22nd
The 22nd bring us three more wide releases. 

Extraordinary Measures (UK release Feb. 26th)
This one stars Brenden Fraser and Harrison Ford.  Fraser is a father whose children suffer from a rare genetic disorder.  Ford is the doctor who might hold the key to their survival.

I got excited when I saw Harrison Ford was returning to the screen, but then felt a little let down when I saw Brenden Fraser attached to it.  However, after seeing the trailer, I may go see this one.  It looks heartfelt and like a bit of a tear jerker, but it also looks like it has a good story. 

Legion (UK release Mar. 5th)
Starring Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid and Tyrese Gibson, among others.  Bettany plays the Archangel Michael.  When God decides He doesn’t like the way things are going down here on Earth, He sends His legion of angels to clean things up.  Only the strangers trapped in a middle-of-nowhere diner with Michael can end the reign of destruction about to be brought down.

My first thought was oh, interesting concept.  Paul Bettany has surprised me in the past so I won’t pass judgment just yet.  The trailer looks interesting and really this film could either be good, or a complete waste of time.

Tooth Fairy (UK release May 28th)
Dwayne Johnson continues his assault on family movies with his latest Disney entry.  Johnson plays a minor league hockey player whose sentence for a bad deed is to act as a Tooth Fairy for one week.

I admire that this former wrestler feels free to make these family oriented films.  I have no problem with that at all.  I’ve seen his movies.  I even liked The Game Plan…the first 85 times it aired.  But I really think he should be suited up with guns and knives and explosives.  We need another big ballsy action star and it could totally be him!  But alas, now is not the time.  Perhaps his next film??

Limited Releases: Creation, Drool, The Girl on the Train, The Paranoids, To Save a Life

January 29th

Edge of Darkness
Mel Gibson stars in this thriller about a police detective who investigates the death of his daughter and finds more than he bargained for.  The cast also includes Ray Winstone.

When I saw the trailer for this I had a bit of deja vu from Ransom.  It’s been a while since Mel has done anything so I’m hoping this is a good return to form for him.  He has the intensity to pull off this type of role so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  Personally I miss the Martin Riggs Mel Gibson of old, but I’ll hold out hope for this one.

When in Rome (UK release Apr. 23)
Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamal star in this romantic comedy about Beth (Bell), a New Yorker who is unlucky in love.  After travelling to Rome for her sister’s wedding, she swipes some coins from a “love” fountain and finds herself inundated with men proclaiming their love for her.  How can she know for sure which man is the one for her?  All of this and more will be answered on January 29th.

Another romantic comedy.  I guess since we are approaching Valentine’s Day, tis the season.  Kirsten Bell really surprised me in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and as well as the bit part she had on a show called Party Down.  She seems to have comedic chops so we’ll see how she does headlining this one.  As for Josh Duhamal, I’ve only really seen him in the Transformers films so I don’t know much about him.  He looks like he can play the part and it looks like he gets to excercise his comedy muscle as well.

Limited Releases: North Face, Off and Running, Saint John of Las Vegas

That’s the story for January.  Which films do you plan on watching?  Let us know in the comments section.  A rundown for films coming out in February will be posted closer to the beginning of the month.  Until then, happy viewing!

Here’s some awesome new images from Legion which we can expect to see on our screens 5th March. I can’t wait to see this movie. It looks like the perfect blend of action and Paul Bettany looking like he’s rather angry!

Legion also stars Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Kate Walsh, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton, Willa Holland and is directed by Scott Stewart.

These new images come from Hollywood.com and look awesome. Check them out below (click to enlarge). You can see the red band trailer than we’ve posted previously here to get a bit more info on what the film is about.

JoBlo.com have posted six new awesome character poster for Legion. Click the above image to view all the posters in their montage form when you’ll notice that combined, they form a quote which is from Matthew 13:49 which states: ‘So it will be at the end of the age the angels will come forth to take out the wicked and throw them into the furnace of fire’. I’ve put the new posters below which you can click to enlarge.

Legion stars Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Kate Walsh, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton and Willa Holland. Here’s the plot written by someone on IMDb:

After a terrifying biblical apocalypse descends upon the world, a group of strangers stranded in a remote truck stop diner in the Southwest unwittingly become humanity’s last line of defense when they discover the diner’s young waitress is pregnant with the messiah.

We can expect to see Legion, directed by Scott Stewart on our screens in the UK 5th March 2010. You can view the red band trailer which looks awesome here.

As intense trailers go, this one is probably up there in the top 5 I’ve ever seen!

Legion stars Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Kate Walsh, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S Dutton and Willa Holland. Here’s the plot written by someone on IMDb:

After a terrifying biblical apocalypse descends upon the world, a group of strangers stranded in a remote truck stop diner in the Southwest unwittingly become humanity’s last line of defense when they discover the diner’s young waitress is pregnant with the messiah.

It really does look excellent, even if it does look and have the feel of Terminator with angels! Watch the trailer after the jump…