Following all of the recent images of the upcoming LEGO renditions of The Lord of the Rings films, we’ve now got another great set of images for toy-ified versions of the characters from the Nolan brothers’ conclusion to their Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises.

*Potential spoiler warning* I don’t know whether these toys directly relate to what happens in the film, so if you want to fly fairly blind when it hits cinemas this summer, look away now.

A handful of terrific images have surfaced for the new toys over at Hero Complex, via Collider, in which we get a look at the adorable little figures for Bane and Catwoman, both with super-large, adorable eyes that you just can’t help but fall in love with. The Batman toy seems to come from a different set to the Bane and Catwoman figures, with Mattel making the former, and Funko making the vinyl POP! Heroes figures of the latter.

Directed by Christopher Nolan from a script by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, from a story by the director and David S. Goyer, The Dark Knight Rises of course brings back the familiar faces of Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine, with a terrific set of actors joining the cast for the final film, including Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Juno Temple, Josh Pence, and Joey King

The Dark Knight Rises will be with us in cinemas on 20^th July, and is naturally set to be one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters, if not the biggest film of the year. You can catch up on all the rest of our coverage for the film here, including the latest and first full-length trailer that dropped at the end of last year. As usual with these new images for the ridiculously cute toys, you can click to enlarge. How much do you want Bane and Catwoman to just be stood on your desk?

*Spoiler Warning* If you want to stay spoiler-free for the Nolan brothers’ epic conclusion to their Batman trilogy, you may want to look away now.

This month, we’ve seen some terrific new things from next year’s The Dark Knight Rises, one of the most highly anticipated films of 2012, including the awesome first character poster of Bane, and of course, the first trailer that was really quite good. And by that, I of course mean it was incredible.

The plot of Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s conclusion to their trilogy is being kept under wraps, and there’s very little that we know about it for sure. There now comes a new description for a scene from the film, via Hero Complex and Collider, and here is your spoiler warning once again.

I’m personally all for the secrecy, and so whilst I did watch the trailer, I’m steering clear of this scene description below (and so will just paste it below without reading it myself), but I’m sure there will be plenty of people who will relish the chance to read it. Given that I’ve not read it, I can only relay that it’s meant to be spoiler-ful, and so if you want to stay relatively the dark too, look away now.

“Gotham City is a war zone. A ruthless madman named Bane has ripped away any sense of security and the citizens, haggard and clutching suitcases with refugee anxiety, sit behind barbed wire waiting to see what will blow up next. A hooded prisoner is dragged in – it’s Bruce Wayne, one of Gotham’s most famous faces – but the eyes of the crowd go instead to the woman in black standing at the top of the staircase.

“Sorry to spoil things, boys, but Bane needs these guys himself,” says sultry Selina Kyle, played here by actress Anne Hathaway, navigating the steps with stiletto heels that, on closer inspection, turn out to have serrated edges capable of leaving nasty claw marks in a fight. She also wears high-tech goggles that, when not in use, flip up and resemble feline ears.”

Christian Bale will of course be reprising his role as the Dark Knight, alongside Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine, with Tom Hardy joining the cast as the notorious Bane, along with Nolan’s Inception stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Juno Temple, and Josh Pence.

The Dark Knight Rises will be coming to the big screen next summer on 20^th July, and judging by what we’ve seen so far, it’s going to be incredible. I could naturally be proven wrong, but I have a feeling that everything we have seen so far (all of which you can catch up on here) hardly scratches the surface with what we can look forward to next year. I think the Nolan brothers will be keeping plenty secret right up until the film reaches cinemas, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Well, it is Christmas time and all I want for Christmas is a Dark Knight trailer, a Hobbit trailer and a Prometheus trailer… oh and some new images from The Dark Knight Rises!

Well, we can source most of these for you and in a few hours, we’ll also have a nice shiny new trailer for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus but to tide us over (it’s now here!) while we wait, here’s some nice new images from The Dark Knight Rises. We’ve seen most of them before but they’ve always been obscured by a magazine cover or been low res. Now they are nice and high, especially the one of Christian ‘Christmas’ Bale shooting his taser!

The Dark Knight Rises will be with us summer 2012, is directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Josh Pence, Marion Cotillard, Juno Temple, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy.

Click them below to enlarge:

In the past week, we’ve seen the ad campaign for Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s final instalment in their Batman trilogy take an interesting new turn with the release of three documents regarding a man by the name of Dr. Leonid Pavel.

We’ve also been granted our first, ridiculously incredible Bane character poster for the film, and are expecting the film’s first full-length trailer to come any day now – with any luck, tomorrow.

The folk over at SuperHeroHype, via ComingSoon.net, have been treated to an awesome package adding to the film’s advertising campaign, and they’ve been nice enough to upload a few photos of what arrived for them in the mail: an awesome Bane t-shirt (which we should all be jealous of), and a cylindrical map of Gotham City upon which is written five strike zones. Whether we can take the zones on the map to be true to the film itself is of course a different question entirely, and one we’ll probably be debating until the film’s release next summer. In case you don’t want to take a look, I won’t spoil it for you, but some of the locations targeted sound like they’d make for epic battle scenes if they are true to the film.

The Nolan brothers look to be going all out for this final instalment and are sure to be bringing us something absolutely immense with The Dark Knight Rises. The tagline on the Bane poster we saw just a few days ago, ‘The Legend Ends’, is just so damn perfect; this really is going to be an epic conclusion.

Christian Bale​ will be reprising his role as the Dark Knight, alongside Gary Oldman​, Morgan Freeman​, and Michael Caine​, with Tom Hardy​ joining the cast as the notorious Bane, along with Nolan’s Inception stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt​ and Marion Cotillard​, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Juno Temple​, and Josh Pence.

The film’s six-minute prologue has had a few select screenings here and across the Atlantic, and you can read our review of those first six minutes here, and catch up with everyone else Batman-related right here. Without further ado, here are those all-important shots of the Bane t-shirt and the Bane Strike Map. As usual, click to enlarge. Can you imagine waking up to something so cool in your mail?

If ever there were a poster to guarantee itself as deserving a spot on your wall, this is the one. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s conclusion to their Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, is sure to be one of 2012’s biggest films – and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to predict it making the Top 10 list of all-time highest grossing films, a list in which its predecessor, 2008’s The Dark Knight, currently sits – and everything that we’ve seen from the film so far points to an immense finale.

In the past few days, we’ve seen the film’s advertising campaign move into a new direction with the release first of two documents, followed yesterday by a third, with rumours surfacing that the release of the full-length trailer was imminent.

Sadly, that wasn’t to be last night, but we’ve now got an utterly epic poster to share with you for the film now instead, via ComingSoon.net, with the perfect tagline, ‘The Legend Ends’. We got the film’s absolutely brilliant first poster back in July, followed swiftly by the first teaser trailer, which was every bit as awesome as the poster. This new poster definitely maintains that high level of brilliance, and given the amazing posters that Nolan put out for his last film, Inception, I’d be willing to bet that we’ve got more incredible posters to look forward to in the campaign to promote The Dark Knight Rises.

Christian Bale will be reprising his role as the Dark Knight, alongside Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine, with Tom Hardy joining the cast as the notorious Bane, along with Nolan’s Inception stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Juno Temple, and Josh Pence.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, and this new poster will almost certainly set off a huge spark among fans as to what we can expect from it – we see Bane walking away in the pouring rain from a shattered Batman mask. Oh wow.

The Dark Knight Rises will be hitting cinemas on 20th July next summer, and I think we can all agree that we should all agree right now to clear our calendars for that day to make sure we see it at the first possible opportunity, because it’s going to be incredible. Without further ado, feast your eyes upon this amazing first poster of Bane. As usual, click to enlarge, and give yourself even more awesomeness to soak up.

[Updated] Just two days ago, we saw The Dark Knight Rises’ promotional campaign take a turn in a new direction with the release of two documents related to the film, regarding an unknown character, Dr. Leonid Pavel, which is already sparking much discussion on the Internet as to what the documents mean.

A third document has surfaced over at @thefirerises, with thanks to Empire for the tip-off, that continues the information that we saw from the first two documents, talking now about the exfiltration of Dr. Pavel, under the code name, Operation Early Bird, which in turn points us to this website. As the document notes, the exfiltration is set to take place at 1000 hours PST, which is 6pm on our time here in the UK. The Operation Early Bird site has a countdown that will run down at exactly 6pm tonight, so be sure to check back here to see what happens when the clock reaches zero!

It’s thought that we’ll be treated to the film’s first full-length trailer when it does, which is definitely an exciting possibility. We got the film’s first teaser back in July, and it was absolutely brilliant, and you just know that getting a full-length look at Christopher Nolan’s conclusion to his Batman trilogy is going to be immense. The film itself is going to be nothing short of incredible, no doubt about that.

Christian Bale will of course be reprising his role as the Dark Knight, alongside Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine, with Tom Hardy joining the cast as the notorious Bane, along with Nolan’s Inception stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Juno Temple, and Josh Pence.

The Dark Knight Rises will be hitting the big screen on 20^th July, and is naturally expected to be one of the biggest and best films of the year, and I can’t wait for the trailer to hit when the clock reaches 6 tonight. Be sure to check back in then. Without further ado, here’s the third document released as part of the new campaign. As usual, click to enlarge. And if you want a re-cap of everything we’ve seen so far, just click right here.

[Update:] Alas, we sadly weren’t treated to our first look at the trailer last night, as we were all hoping we would be. Instead, the Operation Early Bird site listed free screenings of the six-minute prologue for the film, which they’ll be playing in Manchester, Glasgow, Bradford, and London, on 14th December, ahead of the film’s release next summer. With any luck, we’ll be treated to that highly anticipated trailer very soon, and you can be sure we’ll be bringing it to you as soon as it hits.

Unless you’ve been in hibernation for the past several months, you’ll be fully aware that Christopher and Jonathan Nolan will be bringing us the conclusion to their Batman films next year with The Dark Knight Rises, and there’s every reason to expect that it is going to be nothing short of being utterly immense.

Photos and footage from the set have been unusually frequent through the filming stages of The Dark Knight Rises, with plenty of unofficial set photos and videos surfacing for quite some time.

What we’ve seen officially has been few and far between, but it’s all been brilliant. We first got a look at Tom Hardy as Bane back in May. Then came an awesome first poster for the film in July, followed swiftly by the first teaser trailer, which was just a little bit epic. And most recently, we got our official first look at Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and needless to say, it was ridiculously cool.

We’ve now got two more great official photos to share with you, which are gracing the January 2012 edition of Empire magazine. The issue will be coming in two forms, one with Batman on the cover, and one with Bane, so choose wisely (or choose both, if you can’t choose between them).

The covers boast more official set photos inside the issue, so we can no doubt look forward to more excellent images surfacing soon. As much as I love the first two of Nolan’s films, I have to admit that my knowledge of Batman isn’t extensive beyond them, and so I can’t say whether what Batman’s holding in his cover is something entirely new or something that ties into his comic book history. I can say that it looks ridiculously awesome, whatever it is; judging by the way Christian Bale is looking down the top of it, as if taking aim, I’d guess it is some sort of weapon, but naturally only time will tell.

Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman will all be reprising their roles – and Cillian Murphy has reportedly been seen on the set – and they are joined by a further fantastic cast, including Hathaway, Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Juno Temple, and Josh Pence.

Despite the numerous unofficial images and videos from the set, I think Nolan still has so much about the film being kept under wraps – not least of which being the plot – and I think we’ve got a lot of surprises to look forward to next summer. The Dark Knight Rises will be hitting the big screen on 20th July next year, and by all accounts, it looks like it’s going to be incredible. Without further ado, here are the great new images. As usual, click to enlarge.

Contagion hits UK cinemas today and we’re very excited about it. Jon’s review went up earlier today and he rather enjoyed it. Our friends from Upbeat were lucky enough to sit down and chat with the legends that are, Matt Damon & Laurence Fishburne to chat about the movie which also stars Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hawkes and is directed by Steven Soderbergh.

In the interview, we get to hear about what we can expect from the movie and also get to see Damon sporting a rather nice new hairstyle which I can only assume is for a new film role.

“Contagion” follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days.  As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.  At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart.

Contagion is released in UK cinemas today, 21st October.

Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion is a grimly realistic take on the end of the world which throws the notion that the human race are masters of their own fate into sharp relief. More Andromeda Strain than Armageddon it is a disaster movie whose sobering power lies in a carefully built series of narrative threads which show a world in a sudden and terrifying decline with humanity rather than histrionics.

Soderbergh has the enjoyable habit of occasionally casting non-actors in prominent roles in his films, Gina Carano in the forthcoming Haywire, Sasha Grey in The Girlfriend Experience and so on, Contagion however has one of his Danny Ocean casting calls with a not-so-merry band of A-listers gathering to race to save the world from a particularly nasty form of mutated flu. While the director’s steady hand gives us a tightly plotted narrative and a uniquely realistic end of the world there are a number of problems with such a star-packed cast which occasionally take us out of the story and the film does suffer because of it.

Matt Damon returns to Soderbergh’s side once again and convinces as the man at the centre of the outbreak but seeks not to pave the road to the survival of humanity single-handedly, rather he looks only to save his daughter from the romantic, and possibly fatal, advances of a neighbourhood boy. Kate Winslet’s role is relatively small but pivotal and she manages to lose herself in her character, something Paltrow, Law and Cotilard cannot do. There is a very simple story being told here and the global scale is shown through a group of disparate individuals and when a thread or a character fails to convince or engage it is an unwanted interference.

What works is the world created in the midst of this outbreak. The slow response to the virus with the stoic retaliation from ordinary people keeping our feet on the ground and as the disease spreads we  have the usual subplots of burgeoning romances halted by fear of infection, the heroic doctors succumbing before their vital work is done and so on, but signifiers of the emotional fallout (paranoia leading to rage and riots, professional missteps on the road to a cure are two examples) are consequences which are given their moment on screen but don’t overwhelm.

At times it runs the risk of becoming a toneless TV docu-drama on the ‘What-If’ channel but Soderbergh’s direction elevates the film and it succeeds because of the grounded narrative rather than in spite of it. Signs that the disease is taking hold are told in a matter of fact fashion and while I could have happily lost the subplots involving Marian Cotillard’s unscheduled stop in a remote village and Jude Law’s errant blogger turned Placebo Prophet there is very little to distract from the task at hand.

Mention must be made of Jennifer Ehle, who isn’t on the big screen often enough and who here steals the show as a scientist on the hunt for a cure to save mankind. Just as her small role in The King’s Speech as Lionel Logue’s wife was given a genuine shine by her understated performance here she transcends her role with a deft touch, and in amongst the unbearable tension Soderbergh creates around her it is her final few scenes which tread cautiously around the cliche minefield to become the film’s most affecting moments.

The story is paced perfectly, with some well crafted montages showing the outbreak beginning and then taking hold with swift precision and run fingers gently along the spine rather than slap you in the face with the horror of it all. What is key here is the deliberate pace and the spark of humanity and normality which make Contagion a compelling film.

***½~ (3.5/5)

As a Brit watching Woody Allen’s latest European muse, the first thing that springs to mind is Only Fools’ Nicholas Lyndhurst’s time-travelling sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart about an accidental time traveller who discovers a time portal, allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the Second World War. Time travel captures the imagination and has fascinated audiences, from Back To The Future to Quantum Leap. For this reason alone, Allen’s new romantic comedy has an instant awe – and not just as a result of the setting being the upmarket parts and cultural haunts of gay Paris.

An American family travel to Paris on business, but the engaged couple of the party, Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams), find the culture and lifestyle starting to interfere with real life, and they are forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.

Midnight In Paris is by far one of the best Allen films out for a couple of years. The film-maker has dabbled in other major cities around the world, such as Barcelona and London, with little charm or lasting impression. What Allen taps into in this is the natural mystique of Paris. Hence the rest of the tale feels more magical.

The charming trademark neurosis of Allen’s characters is back in full force – his 2010 film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, was just too self-absorbed and self-commiserating to allow audiences to really care for the characters they were watching. In this, Wilson is an absolute delight in one of his best roles for years as troubled writer Gil, who pines for past creative eras because he longs for a creative eureka moment. His ‘episodes’ with literary, artistic and film-making historical legends is incredibly quaint and light-hearted, and stirs a nostalgic passion we all sometimes feel of a better life lived that is now past.

Wilson is particularly apt at playing the wide-eyed innocent in his films, characters full of flaws and self-depreciation, that when he shares the company of the likes of Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo) and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) in this, it’s the same wonderful thrill you get watching an overly appreciative kid in a candy store, brimming with newfound confidence. In addition, fans of these great minds will revel in their quotes and references. It’s a gloriously amusing cultural jaunt, and although a lot of the episodes are brief, the snapshot moment is all it takes to beguile you.

McAdams is fresh and energetic as Inez and as stunning as Marion Cotillard as Gil’s yesteryear love, Adriana. Again, the sumptuous set design is as intoxicating as the location, showing all involved off in the very best light, and implying that Allen is in love once again with his characters. Cotillard simply illuminates the screen like a silver-screen legend in her heyday, captivating both admirer Gil and the audience. Back in the present, Michael Sheen as know-it-all Paul, one half of a couple who befriend Gil and Inez, is absolutely hilarious and a sheer, conceited tonic to watch as he talks his way around the cultural city with all in tow. Even France’s First Lady, Carla Bruni, makes an appearance to add to the film’s radiance.

Midnight In Paris is like a soothing, retrospective project for Allen, his very own journey to recapturing creative inspiration and fantasy, as he rekindles his character love affair that made him such a satisfying film-maker a couple of decades ago, and brought out the very best performances in his cast – as it does here. Although it suffers from a sobering moment of moralistic self-righteousness about ‘living in the present’ to be more fulfilled, Midnight In Paris is an effervescent, witty and absorbing tale lost in time.

****~ (4/5)

Jacques Audiard, Oscar nominee and two-time BAFTA winner, made a real name for himself two years ago with the Academy Award-nominated French film, A Prophet.

The writer and director has now attached Marion Cotillard, herself an Oscar and BAFTA winner, to lead his next project, Rust And Bone, an adaptation of a short story collection by Craig Davidson, ComingSoon.net report.

The project will see Audiard working with Thomas Bidegain again, with whom he co-wrote A Prophet, and their success with that film certainly suggests that the pair re-teaming for another project, with an Oscar-winning actress attached, is a solid move.

Taken from Amazon’s synopsis for the short stories, this is the kind of thing we might expect from the new film:

“A strong stomach, an open mind and a morbid sense of humor are essential to enjoying Davidson’s accomplished, macabre first collection. Calamity lurks around every corner, these stories suggest, and you never know when fate will smite you—only that it will. Davidson catapults his characters (sex addicts, fighters, gamblers and drinkers) into ingeniously grim situations that test their will. In “Rocket Ride,” a young man who loses his leg to the orca he performs with in a marine park show tries to rebuild his life, in part by attending meetings of the Unlimbited Potential support group, which is full of substance-abusing amputees who wonder if karma’s to blame for their plights. In the gruesome “A Mean Utility,” a normal-seeming couple—an ad exec and his wife, a nurse—breed and fight vicious dogs, while in the sad “On Sleepless Roads,” a repo man leaves one night’s job not with the camper he was supposed to reclaim, but with the destitute man’s hamster and guinea pig, which he brings home to his disabled wife. Davidson, 30, is a fine young writer with a keen sense of the absurd and a bracing, biting wit, but his focus on gore may keep many readers from appreciating his obvious talent.”

Exactly where Cotillard’s character comes in, I’m not entirely sure. The main characters in the short stories mentioned here are predominantly male, with the exception of the wife in A Mean Utility. So it awaits to be seen how this will work out. It could be that there’s a short story in there that has at its focus a female central character, or it could be that A Mean Utility will be the focus of Audiard and Bidegain’s adaptation, with Cotillard playing the nurse wife.

Whatever the specifics of the plot turn out to be, it sounds like this is a project with much potential. The writers, director, and cast are all fantastic so far, which is naturally always good news.

Cotillard was last seen in Christopher Nolan’s Inception and French film, Little White Lies, and we can look forward to seeing more of her this year with Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion both due out next month. And let us of course not forget that she is attached to Nolan’s final instalment in his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. That too is a film I can’t wait for.

If Steven Soderbergh’s highly anticipated next film, Contagion, is yet to catch your attention, then you should definitely start getting excited about it now. You can catch up on all you’ve missed here, including the fantastic first trailer, the film’s great UK poster, and most recently a few new images and a first listen to its score.

Ten new clips have now been released, via The Playlist, in anticipation of its Venice Film Festival debut on 3^rd September.

The film has an absolutely fantastic ensemble cast, headed up by Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, and Bryan Cranston. Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant!) has written the script, which is said to have been heavily researched to be as authentic as possible, and the legendary Steven Soderbergh is the man behind the camera.

Back in March this year, Soderbergh announced that he’s currently considering retirement from directing in the near future, after finishing up on a few last projects, and I sincerely hope that that won’t happen. But in case it does, this could be one of our last chances to see a Soderbergh film in the cinema when it comes out here on 21^st October, and I for one can’t wait for it to come to our screens.

“The story is essentially told through the prism of three characters: everyman Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon), who loses his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) and stepson to virus and remains committed to protecting his teenage daughter; CDC Deputy Director Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) who tries desperately to adapt to the fast moving virus in an effort to protect the public and freelance journalist/blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) whose breathless and alarming reporting becomes the information hub for many struggling to understand what is happening.”

Whilst these new clips aren’t meant to be full of spoilers – if you’ve already seen the trailer, that is – I personally decided not to watch them all so as not to have seen much of the movie before it does come out. I did, however, watch the fifth clip with Jude Law, which also features Elliott Gould and is excellent.

Each clip carries its own title: They’re Closing Midway And O’Hare, There Continue To Be Evaluations, She Failed To Respond, It Came From Here, I’m A Journalist, I Think I’m Sick, How Are You Feeling Today, Figuring Us Out, Don’t Touch Anything, and Are You Sick? Without further ado, here they all are if you should choose to feast your eyes upon them.

We’ve been getting quite a few great things coming out of Steven Soderbergh’s highly anticipated film, Contagion, over the past month, including a brilliant first trailer and UK poster.

We’ve now got three more images from the film to enjoy, courtesy of The Playlist, as well as an excellent first listen to a minute and a half of Cliff Martinez’s soundtrack for the film, from the film’s official website.

Contagion seems to be a combination of some of Soderbergh’s favourite cast and crew he’s enjoyed working with over the years, with Matt Damon heading up the awesome ensemble cast (with whom Soderbergh made the Ocean’s Trilogy and The Informant!), Scott Z. Burns penning the screenplay (who also wrote The Informant!), and Martinez composing the score (who’s worked with Soderbergh on seven films prior to Contagion). I’m always a fan of frequent collaborators, and this film is set to be another great one.

Starring alongside Damon will be the brilliant Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Marion Cotillard, and Jude Law. Did I say awesome ensemble cast, or did I say awesome ensemble cast?

“Though boasting a strong ensemble cast, the story is essentially told through the prism of three characters: everyman Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon), who loses his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) and stepson to virus and remains committed to protecting his teenage daughter; CDC Deputy Director Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) who tries desperately to adapt to the fast moving virus in an effort to protect the public and freelance journalist/blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) whose breathless and alarming reporting becomes the information hub for many struggling to understand what is happening.”

Two of the three new pictures focus on Matt Damon, one with his daughter and one before a crowd, and the other shows us Marion Cotillard being whisked away from unseen danger, with Chin Han (The Dark Knight) in the image too. The first listen to Martinez’s score is exceptional too, giving us a brilliant insight into what we can expect from him. The piano touches on haunting, working against a continuous driving synth, until the piano is left alone and desolate, fading into silence. Brilliant stuff, very thematically appropriate for Contagion.

The film will premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 3rd September, before being released in the States on the 9th September and here on 21st October, which is definitely a date to commit to memory, because this film looks fantastic. Without a doubt, it’s sure to be one of the year’s most interesting films, and is one of the films I’m most looking forward to in the coming months. Without further ado, here are the three new pictures from the film. If you’d like to listen to Martinez’s score, and I highly recommend you do, then click here to go to the film’s official site.

Gwyneth Paltrow has been given a bit of a raw deal in the recent marketing for Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Yikes, we’re all going to die in a airborne viral nightmare’ flick Contagion, but here at least she’s in fine health.

Not for long though! She, and Matt Damon (concerned husband) seek to save the world from a bad case of extinction before it’s too late and with Soderbergh behind the camera this one has been hauled out of The Asylum’s corridors (where it could have easily ended up) and he’s got a merry band of A-listers to sign up. Not least Paltrow and Damon, but also we’ll be enjoying the spluttering end of days with Marion Cotillard, Jude Law and Kate Winslet.

Yahoo just threw out a new poster for us all to enjoy and there are some new pictures from the production which don’t exactly bode well for a happy ending. Cheers, Fangoria.

Get clicking to see your viral apocalypse in finer detail,

To mark the release of Little White Lies on DVD and Blu-ray 22nd August, Lions Gate Home Entertainment have given us two copies of the movie to give away on DVD.

The award-winning Guillaume Canet (Tell No One) directs the critically-acclaimed LITTLE WHITE LIES, a joyous portrayal of friendship and humanity that reveals the undercurrents that feed all our relationships… Starring Academy and BAFTA Award winner Marion Cotillard (Inception, La Vie En Rose) LITTLE WHITE LIES will be released on DVD and Blu-ray 22^nd August.

Every year Max, a successful restaurant owner, and his wife Vero invite their family and friends to a beautiful beach house for a holiday. But this year the eagerly anticipated vacation is not all fun in the sun as a tragic accident causes each guest to reveal their true feelings. Their relationships, convictions and friendships are sorely tested when they are finally forced to own up to the little white lies they have been telling each other over the years…

Featuring a truly exceptional ensemble cast; Cottilard is joined by the César ‘Best Actor’ award winner François Cluzet and Benoît Magimel. Walking the fine line between laughter and tears Canet directs some of France’s most skillful performers to deliver startlingly intimate performances.

To be in with a chance of winning just answer the following simple question using the form below:

Who plays the character ‘Marie’ in Little White Lies?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 22nd August at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Not content with serving up two new TV spots for Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion this evening Yahoo have pasted these six new character banners onto the grimy walls of the internet.

Like the trailer there’s a fair amount of spoilerage in at least one of the images below, but hey – the subject matter doesn’t promise fields of tulips and puppies. An airborne virus threatens the world and along with society doing its best not to crumble a team of scientists and civilians race to find a cure before the entire planet succumbs.

Check out the trailers, tv spots and all manner of exciting Contagion fun here, and here are the banners we are looking for,

Steven Soderbergh’s viral outbreak movie has a great cast which is understandable as the director is one to whom actors flock, and returning favourite Matt Damon has Jude Law, Marion Cotillard and Gwyneth Paltrow to play with in this story of a worldwide airborne plague.

There was a trailer out recently for this one, but it gave away far too much of the outcome of some of the characters storylines so these two new TV spots are welcome in their seductive brevity.

Check them out below – it’s out here in the UK on the 21st of October.