To celebrate the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D which arrives in cinemas February 9th, we are giving away two pairs of tickets to an exclusive advance screening on Wednesday the 8^th February. The screening will take place at a West End venue (this will be revealed once you receive your ticket), in a galaxy far, far away. Storm Troopers will open the doors at 5:30pm, followed by action in the foyer. The saga will begin at 6:30pm.

Join the celebration as Star Wars returns to theaters. Discover how the epic story of Anakin Skywalker begins on the big screen for the first time ever in 3D. A young slave boy on the desert planet Tatooine, Anakin is strong in the Force, and an amazing Podracer pilot. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn discovers Anakin and sees his potential to be a great Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, the droid army of the greedy Trade Federation invades the peaceful planet of Naboo as part of a secret plot by the Sith to gain power. In defending Queen Amidala of Naboo, the Jedi Knights will cross lightsaber blades with the deadly Sith Lord, Darth Maul.

To be in with a chance of winning this fabulous prize, click next to be taken to the question and entry form.

Austin, TX – Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, a documentary that follows the former Tonight Show host premiered at SXSW Film Festival Sunday.

Directed by Rodman Flender, the documentary filmed during Conan’s ”Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television” comedy tour, after his departure from the Tonight Show, takes viewers into an intimate journey of O’Brien’s life.

Here’s a clip from the film.

Enjoy!

Additional Screenings at SXSW

Wednesday march 16 10:00pm – Paramount Theatre

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

SYNOPSIS

After a much–publicized departure from hosting NBC’s Tonight Show – and the severing of a 22-year relationship with the network – O’Brien hit the road with a 32-city music-and-comedy show to exercise his performing chops and exorcise a few demons. The “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television” tour was O’Brien’s answer to a contractual stipulation that banned his appearance on television, radio and the Internet for six months following his last show. Filmmaker Rodman Flender’s resulting documentary, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, is an intimate portrait of an artist trained in improvisation, captured at the most improvisational time of his career. It offers a window into the private writers room and rehearsal halls as O’Brien’s “half-assed show” (his words) is almost instantly assembled and mounted to an adoring fan base. At times angry, mostly hilarious, O’Brien works out his feelings about the very-public separation with comedy and rockabilly music, engaging in bits with on-stage guests such as Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and Jim Carrey, duetting with Jack White and sweating out manic Elvis Presley covers with his band and back-up singers. We see a comic who does not stop — performing, singing, pushing his staff and himself. Did Conan O’Brien hit the road to give something back to his loyal fans, or did he travel across the continent, stopping at cities large (New York, Las Vegas) and remote (Enoch, Alberta) to fill a void within himself?

The long awaited sequel to Tron, Disney’s groundbreaking computer-animated 1982 feature (titled Tron: Legacy) is heading to the cinema screenings soon, and HeyUGuys were fortunate enough to attend a special screening yesterday, where they were privy to 23 minutes of footage (all in 3D!) and a preview of the film’s score, composed by French electronic duo Daft Punk.

The footage began with an introduction to lead character Sean Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) as he is being informed of a signal coming from the pager belonging to his long-lost father (Jeff Bridges). He traces the signal back to his dad’s games arcade – a place which has been left untouched since his disappearance decades back. This scene has a nice nostalgic feel to it, and an audience who came of age in the same era as the original film will be delighted to hear the game sound effects and music pumping out of the arcade when Flynn restores power to the place.

This was the longest sequence of the evening and then the audience were treated to a sneak peek of what they had really turned up to see – a series of scenes set within the new and improved digital world.

Bolstered by some incredible 3D work (up there with Avatar in the ability of completely immersing the viewer within a fully synthetically-created world), these scenes were genuinely thrilling and breathtaking.

The makers also seem to have pulled off the crucial device of maintaining the memorable minimalist neon look from the original film, whilst delivering a contemporary spin on the material. The huge space invaders-like flying ships, which appear to transport players around the different games arenas, look particular impressive in design and scope. We were only given a glimpse of the iconic Tron bikes (it looks like they are truly saving the best till last) but we were treated to a car chase, which ended with the two heroes escaping into the outer world, setting up the final scene of the evening where Sean is finally reunited with his father. It was nice to see a moment of quiet human interaction amongst all the effects work, and also the return of Bridges too, whose character seems to have been living a monk-like life of solitary atop of a huge mountain, overlooking the universe he has created.

The lights went up and the soundtrack was then played through the cinema’s surround system.

It’s obvious why the makers of this sequel would choose the retro-digital stylings of a group like Daft Punk, and their music here certainly didn’t disappoint. We were treated to the same bleep-y up-tempo electro sounds synonymous with the duo but rather interestingly, there were also a couple of cues which had a fantastic brooding Dark Knight-esque feel, with that familiar synth sound bubbling underneath.

This preview screening managed to successfully provide a tantalising peek at what is to come (a montage sequence even offered an astonishing look at a CG achieved de-aged Tron-era Bridges), and the amount of sighs which could be heard around the room when the projector stopped and the lights went up is a sure sign of the huge sense of anticipation which is building around this film.

You’ll be able to discover if this sequel will leave behind its own ‘Legacy’ when it’s released on 17th December.

HeyUGuys were given the chance to see eight minutes of the upcoming Saw 3D, intending to showcase more gory killings, but this time in 3D, for the final movie of the franchise.

What I saw was barely worth getting that excited about except for the opening scene which I will go into later. The set piece kill was pretty imaginative, gory and graphic which will please fans of the films though the 3D added very little to the Saw franchise as I hardly noticed it was there.

The opening scene was definitely the highlight of the footage with Cary Elwes reprising his role from the original movie as Doctor Lawrence Gordon. We follow a bloody trail and the one footed doctor crawling through the tunnels of his prison and coming across a hot steam pipe that he uses to cauterise his stumpy mess. The 3D was subtle, barely noticeable, and the scene was a brilliant reminder of the magic and mystery of the first Saw film, it left me very interested in how they intend to incorporate Lawrence Gordon into Saw 3D to bring the series full circle.

The next scene was our textbook death scene, a more public affair compared to other Saw killings. What appeared to be a glass shop front showcasing a gory display, two men chained to either end of a work bench and both have a huge circular saw blade close to their faces as they awaken to find their predicament. A public audience starts to grow outside the display as a previously concealed girl strapped to the ceiling appears with a third circular saw directly below her. The Saw Puppet (Billy to the fans) appears on his bike and reveals the conundrum, both men are lovers to the girl and must choose to either kill the other person by pushing the blade into the other man in a game of strength in order to save her, or allow her to lower and die resulting in their freedom.

After a bit of verbal hilarity and a bit of blood, the two guys both eventually choose to give the cheating scantily clad surgically enhanced lady the chop (ho ho) and we watch as she gets slowly sliced in two, intestines flailing and all. Pretty unemotional stuff with boring characters and no interest in any of them surviving at all, but this is Saw and it is gore porn at its best, however ridiculous.

I think I missed films part 5 & 6  but it  appears Tobin “Jigsaw” Bell is voicing these murderous scenarios despite being killed and undergoing a graphic autopsy after part 3 which all seems too far fetched for me to buy into the films as I did before he was killed off. The appearance of Cary Elwes returning as Dr. Gordon however, is a definite draw to return to the films and i’ll be watching with interest as to how the legacy ends.

Saw 3D is due for release on 29th October

I was lucky enough to visit Warner Bros today to get a sneak peak preview of the upcoming animated feature ‘Legend of the Guardians’.  I had my reservations and I certainly didn’t expect to come away extremely impressed, enthusiastic and full of anticipation for its release on the 22nd of October 2010.

The thirty minutes of footage I got to see were chosen mainly to show off the film’s wonderful 3D visuals, but there was much more on offer here. The animation was stunning with gorgeous visual effects and there was a glimpse of what is to come in terms of character and storyline.

I have to say at this point I was not a fan of the trailer that was released recently. I thought it looked strange and I found it hard to accept these Owls as characters I could enjoy watching in an animated film, (and let’s not forget the god awful song that accompanied it). So I fully expected the preview footage to equally underwhelm, but what I found was a film that could easily become one of the finest animated movies of the year.

The preview footage contained a number of scenes from the movie, each introduced by Zack Snyder who offered information on the film’s characters, plot, design and he spoke of his passion to create a movie his children could see.

Ga’Hoole fans beware – small spoilers do follow, but I imagine it’s nothing you don’t already know if you’ve read the books.

The scenes which followed were of the main character Soren and his brother Kludd being snatched by the evil characters of the film, called the Pure Ones. Next up was Soren and his friend Gylfie escaping the land of the Pure Ones and learning to fly in the process. A scene showing Soren and Gylfie meeting up with the third member of their gang called Digger,  followed by a scene showing the Owls meeting the Guardians and being taken to the great Ga’Hoole tree. Finally there was a beautiful scene of Soren training in torrential rain with lightning spiking out in slow motion which was visually stunning.

Each scene showcased some excellent 3D which was as good as any I’ve seen; it never felt that it was there for the sake of using 3D, nor did it look out of place. What really surprised me was just how good the animation is, it’s some of the best I’ve ever seen. The birds themselves looked flawless, the design stunning with detailed feathers and other features which really stood out. The thoughts which troubled me from the trailers were forgotten instantly as I grew to like the characters, helped by some excellent vocal casting and I warmed more and more to the idea of a more realistic looking animated character that Legend of the Guardians is offering, as opposed to your regular toy range friendly creations which litter most animated movies. It really works well.

Overall the story looks very interesting combining a wonderfully mythological tale with characters that seem interesting with a wide range of comical, wise and evil roles in place to offer something for all. It is visually incredible and the action scenes were exciting, scary, well choreographed, delicious to watch and contained your regular Snyder slow motion moments. It left me desperate to see more.

Zack Snyder is a great director who knows how to create an entertaining visual treat and this film is looking no different. I’m expecting big things from Legend of the Guardians and I can’t wait until 22nd October for it’s release.

23 years ago, a formulaic Arnold Schwarzenegger action vehicle was released. It enjoyed box office, if not necessarily critical success. A lacklustre follow-up ensured the franchise was, cinematically at least, silenced for many years. The series’ protagonists were given their big screen resurrection 6 years ago with shared billing, with a sequel 3 years later. Both films were very poorly received. How, then, has such a mishandled franchise not only endured up to this point in the public psyche, but led to this week’s big budget sequel, directed by Nimrod Antal, and starring Academy Award winner Adrien Brody?

It was the Eighties, and Arnold Schwarzenegger had become the Hollywood action hero of choice, thanks to his impressive physique, and a string of formulaic hits such as Commando and Raw Deal, and the ground breaking Terminator. Jim and John Thomas’ screenplay for Predator was, as the story goes, the result of a joke that Sylvester Stallone would have to fight an alien in the next Rocky installment, having been victorious over a series of increasingly invincible opponents over the course of Rocky’s I through V.

The first Predator film played out very much like a cross between Rambo and Alien (indeed, the recently mooted Rambo concept of Rambo and company facing off against an alien monster may have been both an offshoot of this original idea, and shut down because of its similarities). A team of soldiers, deep in the Guatemalan jungle on a rescue mission, find themselves picked off one by one by an invisible, otherworldly assailant. Eventually, Schwarzenegger’s Dutch is the only character left, resulting in a Mano a Mano showdown which inevitably ends in the Governator’s victory.

As i mentioned at the beginning, it was a very formulaic, recognisable plot. There was one big factor, however, that helped it stand out. It wasn’t the fact that the cast included two future State Governors (Jesse Ventura and Arnie himself) and excellent Lethal Weapon screenwriter Shane Black (who was apparently chosen in part so he could keep an eye on rookie director John McTiernan). What made Predator better than Schwarzenegger’s usual shtick was the presence of a truly compelling foe. Where mostly he was known for taking apart faceless goons one by one until he met up with the B-movie villain of the piece, here the situation was more or less reversed. If it hadn’t been for the presence of the Austrian actor, the Predator himself would have been the star of the movie. The alien warrior was new and unique. Whilst the creature in Alien and its sequels was driven seemingly by pure animalistic instinct, the Predator had evolved technology, such as the thermal imaging capabilities, and a clear hide and strike, hunter’s mentality. In many ways this made the enemy the more compelling character.

With a $60m gross, and good critical reception, Predator was potentially a fantastic starting point for an interesting series of movies. Unfortunately, Predator 2 was not the right follow up. The series lost star Schwarzenegger to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, replacing him with a Danny Glover who was visibly too old too old for this s^&$. It also lost director McTiernan, who had directed Die Hard in the interim and turned down Predator 2 for The Hunt For Red October.

This time around, the Predator becomes mixed up in an inner city gang war, and is hunted by both a city cop and a task-force tasked with hunting down the otherworldly being. We learn a bit more about the creature, seeing more of his ship, and see several of his kind at the conclusion. Relocating the action to an inner city environment wasn’t necessarily a bad decision, but a combination of poor story, low star power, and unfulfilled potential left Predator 2 as a financial and critical failure, effectively killing the franchise as we knew it.

Well, not exactly. Whilst the botched production of Predator 2 left no money, and therefore no viability for a continuation of the movie series, the Predator character had taken on a cult status, and led to the Alien versus Predator comic and video game series. Predator had clear similarities to the Alien series, and the combination of the two creatures was an obvious, and compelling mix. The differences between their styles, the seemingly mindless, feral nature of the Aliens versus the almost human-like tribal, hunter-gatherer instincts of the Predators meant that two completely different cultures could be explored. With no clear hero and villain, and a seemingly level playing field, fans were free to choose their favourites.

The standalone Alien movie series also continued to be healthy, which meant that this inextricable link between the two beings greatly helped the Predator to stay in the public consciousness. By that token, the Predators stood to gain far more from the relationship, almost riding on Alien’s coat-tails. It was this rivalry, and the cult popularity of the Alien Versus Predator brand that led to Predator’s big screen resurrection, in the first Alien Vs Predators movie.

However, despite the continued success and interest for the Alien movie franchise, AVP was made with a considerably lower budget than was really required to do the concept justice. Though the movie tried to remain faithful to both creatures mythology, with director Paul WS Anderson shoehorning in as many references to their previous outings as he could muster, the storyline was generally pretty weak. It did have interesting ideas about how they existed together in their shared universe. The idea that young Predator’s were sent out to kill their first Alien as a right of passage was a great jumping off point, but the movie as a whole was very poorly written, acted, and produced. Cheap costumes meant that action sequences were reduced to fast cut, dark shadow combat, rendering these battles unwatchable. Though audiences had turned out to see the two great foes do battle, most of the movie followed the human contingent of the story, and movie goers felt seriously short changed.

AVP: Requiem was arguably even worse, coming across as a straight to DVD quality production, with 24′s Michelle Dessler (actress Reiko Aylesworth) as its biggest ‘star’. No money, no ideas, no chance. It was only the AVP brand’s cult status that drew any audience in at all. Alien Vs Predator; Requiem can only be considered a total failure, and really should have killed off both franchises. However, the continued popularity of the two is a clear argument that truly compelling protagonists can survive inept filmmaking.

Whilst AVP was dragging the two combatants names through the mud, a plan was afoot to revive the Predators in their own new standalone movie. Robert Rodriguez had originally been drafted to craft a script for a Predator movie shortly after the first film’s release, and when it was decided to revive the franchise, he was the obvious choice. Dusting off his old screenplay, the director set about rewriting it for a new sequel. The Sin City helmer’s Predators script almost completely disregards the Predator 2 follow up, and both AVP films, and works as more of a Predators to Predator as Aliens was to Alien.

Relocating the action to the Predator home planet, Predators reverts back to the original jungle setting , but where the original movie had humans battling the hunter on their own turf, here the humans find themselves out of their depth as they clash with different Predator tribes, in their own environment. The casting of The Pianist’s Adrien Brody was a surprising move, sort of a halfway house between Predator’s Schwarzenegger and Predator 2′s Glover. As far as acting ability goes, however, it is one giant leap.

This is a promising move, and suggests a much less formulaic storyline may lie in store. He is backed up by the brilliant Danny Trejo, a Robert Rodriguez favourite (having starred in From Dusk Til Dawn, Desperado etc…) along with Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix trilogy), Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Topher Grave (Spiderman 3), and Walton Goggins (TV’s Justified). The relocation to the Predator home planet suggests we may well learn more about their culture, history, and the source of their technological advancement. Predators has the potential to provide a really interesting plot, and allow for a far more compelling series that truly explores the full potential of the franchise. Director Nimrod Antal is also a potentially great choice. His first picture, Hungarian film Control, gained great critical success. He has yet to replicate that success in Hollywood, however, with previous work including 2007′s Vacancy, and the so-so Armoured from last year.

Despite the prequel projects that are underway for the Alien series, whilst the Alien movies best is probably behind them, the Predator’s series has yet to reach its heights. The far more sentient nature of the protagonists, and therefore the increased potential for Predator/Human interaction means that the possibilities for future Predator films are almost endless, withmany different directions that can be explored. Hopefully Predators will perform well both critically and financially, and allow for a new set of movies that live up to the expectations of the fans, and lead to far greater stories than we have previously seen cinematically for the intergalactic hunters.

Predators was released yesterday, Thursday 8th July in the UK, and today, Friday 9th July in the US. You can read our review here.

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

Dubbed ‘Back to The Future’ meets ‘The Hangover’, Hot Tub Time Machine finally hits UK cinemas this week to quantum leap audiences back to 1986 with an almighty flash, bang and whollop of 80s nostalgia!

US audiences were privy to this back in March, so now it’s our turn to catch up on MGM’s latest offering! Director and long-standing production and writing collaborator to John Cusack (Grosse Point Blank and High Fidelity), Steve Pink delivers an unforgettable journey of retro mayhem and light-hearted, feel-good fun. Written by Josh Heald, Sean Anders and John Morris, this is the perfect must-see adventure flick in the run up to summer.

The amusing, self-explanatory title literally is about a time travelling hot tub! Come on… it’s a charming title, admit it. Once all pre-conceptions about logic and physics have been abandoned, you’ll be in for a real treat as you sit back and embrace this space-time continuum delight!

The story revolves around forty-somethings Adam (John Cusack) Lou (Rob Corddry), Nick (Craig Robinson) and Jacob (Clark Duke) as Adam’s geeky nephew. Desperate to break free from their humdrum middle-aged lives, these estranged three amigos (and nephew) decide to hit the road to shake off the blues and relive some of their glory days by revisiting a ski lodge for some much-needed partying. Met with über-disappointment on arrival, the ski resort’s shabby and run-down appearance spurs the guys to make the most of their weekend to let loose, live it up and kick back to their youth.

Cut to the questionable looking hot tub that’s seen better days in their former hotel room. Without wanting to give too much away about how this hot tub actually manages to transform itself into the whirlpool equivalent of the Delorean, it’s quite a bizarre, trippy spectacle to behold and is best kept as a surprise, but do be sure to keep an eye out for that reoccurring bear… Once in the tub, it’s 2010, but when they come out, it’s 1986!

Unbelievably outrageous? Yes, but Bill & Ted got away with it in their time travelling phone booth so just sit back and enjoy the ride as we immerse ourselves in this magical, nonsensical, swirly goodness!

At this point the movie really picks up some much-needed speed. After the guys come to the realisation that they’re back in 1986, they’re in for an even bigger surprise when they see the mirrored reflections of themselves. To everyone else they look like the teenagers they used to be, Jacob aside, and this scene really is one of the funniest throughout the movie. With Jacob faced with Doc Brown’s infamous theory of being erased from existence (whenever a time-traveller alters key events occurring in the past) the guys make it their mission to honour the rules of time travel to find a way back to their future in 2010… or do they? The longer they stay, the greater the danger that Jacob will cease to exist as he flickers in and out of view. Sound familiar? Great Scott!

There are so many funny moments during this film. The humour is very crude, but also cleverly dry and ironic in places, so fans will appreciate many of the 80s pop culture references here. Not to mention the fact that Poison and Motley Crue feature heavily on the soundtrack, along with countless nods to some of the most popular scenes from films born out of the 80s. Despite the slow start, cheap thrills, gratuitous nudity, low-brow humour and wasted opportunities to add more depth to some of it’s core characters, Pink successfully manages to capture the essence of cult 80s comedies which prevail to this day. Those unfamiliar or disinterested in this decade shouldn’t be too disheartened or disappointed – there’s an abundance of over-the-top action and criss-crossing shenanigans to keep you entertained.

There are some notable appearances worth mentioning too. Namely, the legendary Chevy Chase who delightfully portrays the role of the mysterious and often ambiguous keeper/repairman of the magical hot tub. This is a real treat for Chase fans but it doesn’t feel like he gets enough screen time, sadly. It’s still, however, a pleasure to see him on the big screen again and listening to his character’s random, nonsensical musings regarding the power of the hot tub is really quite brilliant.

Then there’s the one-armed, then two-armed bellhop played by 80s favourite Crispin Glover. Glover’s performance is actually pretty hilarious – a real treat for his long-time Back to the Future fans. The ongoing “how does he lose his other arm” plot is quite gripping…. But there shall be no spoilers posted here as to how, when and where he loses that second arm! Lastly, a pesky Caddyshack-esque squirrel becomes a fixture in this flick and keeps popping up throughout. Somewhat reminiscent of Scrat in Ice-Age but harmless fun nonetheless.

With solid performances all-round, one actor stands out and really steals the show. Rob Corddry truly is the star of this film and nails every scene he’s in. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to not be charmed by his vulgarity! The chemistry on-set is flawless and gives you a real sense that the guys were having as much fun filming this shameless, Porky’s style adventure as they were starring in it. It’s also really nice to see John Cusack pay homage to an era he is so often fondly remembered for.

Hot Tub Time Machine is a fantastic 1980s throwback comedy. It’s a feel-good, laugh-out-loud a minute nostalgic journey of awesomeness and leaves you wanting more. With punchy dialogue, hilariously crude humour, a rockin’ soundtrack and blinding wardrobe to boot, audiences can expect to be in for a whirl of a ride. Never has a blast from the past been so much fun getting itself back to the future.

And before we forget, just how many times did you see THAT bear during the film…?

Hot Tub Time Machine is out on general release on 7th May.

You can check out our recent Podcast which features a segment on HTTM with Jon Lyus, Andy Petrou and /Film’s Brendon Connelly.

If you’ve listened to the HeyUGuys Mouth Off podcasts about nostalgia this week (here and here), or indeed followed the news of endless remakes and franchises in development over the last year, you know the eighties are very current right now. Periods always come back in vogue, and we look back fondly at the great times we remember. This is very much the influence behind Hot Tub Time Machine, the new comedy from director Steve Pink.

The men all pass out drunk, but when they come to, find they are no longer in Kansas anymore. They have woken up in the year 1986. Though they look the same to each other, it turns out they look like they did 24 years ago to everyone else. What’s more, they find themselves at the Winterfest music festival, which they originally attended together all those years ago. At first they are afraid to break the timeline Back to the Future-style. It then occurs to them, however, that they have the chance to make different decisions that could affect their lives for the better.

John Cusack’s career was made in the eighties. He was in several iconic films from the period, particularly remembered for Say Anything. Whilst he has been working fairly solidly since then, the main roles he is known for, in films like Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity, also firmly place him as a child of the eighties fondly remembering his childhood. It’s easy to see why he was a great choice for this slice of comedic nostalgia.

Co-star Rob Corddry was most recently seen on the big screen in Oliver Stone’s W, Taking Chances and The Winning Season. Craig Robinson is best known for his part as Darryl Philbin in the American Office, was in last year’s dire The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, and can be seen later in the year in the promising The Other Guys. Clark Duke is a regular in the TV series Greek, and can be seen later this month in Kick-Ass. 80′s icons Chevy Chase (National Lampoons), Crispin Glover (Back to the Future) and William Zabka (The Karate Kid) make appearances too.

Director Steve Pink is relatively inexperienced, his only previous feature film was 2006′s Accepted. He is better known as a screenwriter, having been responsible for the Cusack movies previously mentioned, Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity, which both dealt with nostalgia for a 1980′s adolescence. He has also worked as an actor, in both Grosse Pointe Blank and yet another Cusack picture, America’s Sweethearts. Writing duties this time around went to Josh Heald, Sean Anders and John Morris. Heald, also responsible for the story, is a first time feature writer. Anders has a bit more experience, having written Sex Drive and She’s Out of My League alongside Morris.

The Hangover was one of last year’s surprise success stories. This bodes well for Hot Tub Time Machine. The story of grown men, trying to recapture their younger days, getting drunk with hilarity ensuing is mirrored very much here. There is arguably more scope in this movie however. The idea of fantasy wish fulfillment, going back and reliving events knowing what you do now, isn’t a new one, but hasn’t been done in quite this way before. The potential for hilarious situations is clear, with the protagonists knowledge of what originally happened good for some clever situations. Early buzz from test screenings has been very good, the film has been said to be hilarious from start to finish. Cusack has an easy charm, and has shown a talent for smart comedy throughout his career.

Financially, in theory Hot Tub Time Machine could match the performance of The Hangover last year. Neither have a particularly well known cast, and Cusack is arguably a much bigger name than any of the other actors in either film. He appeared as the lead in last year’s 2012, which made huge box office, though the carnage and destruction of geographical landmarks was really the big star of that movie. However, dramatic comedy Greenburg is also released the same weekend, and the star power of Ben Stiller could prove too much competition for Hot Tub Time Machine at the box office. An opening weekend of  $10-20m can be seen as a success, particularly as there hasn’t been a huge amount of marketing so far.

If Hot Tub Time Machine does well, it could mean great things are on the way for the relatively unknown cast. The premise is smart, the potential for humour is certainly there, and it could be the first surprise hit of 2010.

Hot Tub Time Machine is released in the US this Friday 26th March. There is currently no release date scheduled for the UK, so we’ll have to content ourselves with the trailer here.

Bazmann – You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

Philip K Dick is just one of many successful science fiction novel writers from history. He is possibly the one who has had the most work adapted for the big screen however. The reason? His stories were exciting, compelling, and conveyed timeless messages that are still relevant today. Because of this, there are many who attempt to evoke this spirit in their own science fiction novels. There are always Hollywood producers ready to pounce on such work, in an attempt to replicate the success of a film like Blade Runner. And so it is with Repo Men. An inventive, thought provoking story, set in a futuristic Earth environment, published last year and now being released as a major motion picture…

Jude Law is Remy. Remy is a repo man. He doesn’t repossess homes, cars, or even furniture. He repossesses human organs. In the future, the process for creating artificial organs has been perfected. Much like a car, you can purchase the organ of your choice on credit. But the consequences for not meeting the repayments on your liver, kidney or heart are grave. If you do not pay, the organ will be taken back, with no regard for the well-being of its new owner. And these medical miracles do not come cheap. Remy is one of the best repo men in the business, but when an accident means he ends up with an artificial heart himself, Remy finds himself on the run when he isn’t able to pay for it.

Jude Law is one of those actors that is always around the spotlight, working regularly in big films, but never seems to carry a lead performance. He HAS played lead roles. He played the titular Alfie in the remake of the classic Michael Caine movie. He also played the part of Sky Captain in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. He is best known however for his great supporting roles. He has twice been nominated for Academy Awards for supporting actor, in The Talented Mr Ripley and Cold Mountain. Most recently he has appeared in films like The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and in Guy Ritchie’s hugely successful Sherlock Holmes movie just a few months ago.

Forest Whitaker is Jake, Remy’s former partner. Jake works for The Union, a mega corporation that supplies these man-made human parts. Jake is The Union’s most formidable agent. He must now hunt down Remy, and take back what is no longer his. Whitaker has had a diverse history of roles. He came to prominence with his outstanding performance in Ghost Dog, and was awarded the Oscar for best actor for his role in The Last King of Scotland. The particular brand of martial arts that he learnt for the former role has stood him in good stead in this action picture, and he makes good use of them. Whittaker can be seen now more in TV shows like ER and Brotherhood.

Remy is helped in his escape by ex-wife Beth, played by Alice Braga. She shows him the techniques required to disappear from the system, hiding his identity and avoiding security along the way. Braga is probably best known for her role in the highly acclaimed Cidade de Deus (City of God). The Brazilian’s first big Hollywood role was in 2007′s I Am Legend, opposite Will Smith.

Also present is the fantastic Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), who plays Remy’s boss Frank. Remy’s current wife is played by Carice Van Houten (Valkyire), and his son Peter is played by Chandler Canterbury. Canterbury is a rising young star recently seen in Alex Proya’s Knowing, and alongside Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Repo Men is directed by Miuel Sapochnik. Sapochnik is somewhat of an unknown quantity. Aside from a short film in 2000 called The Dreamer, and a TV project involving popstar Louise Redknapp in 2001, he doesn’t have any work on record, and certainly no feature films.

The movie is based on the novel The Repossession Mambo, by writer Eric Garcia. Garcia also wrote the novel Matchstick Men, which was made into the movie of the same name starring Nicholas Cage and Sam Rockwell. He has adapted the screenplay for Repo Men himself, alongside Garrett Lerner. Lerner has recently been a writer for the Fox series House, as well as numerous other TV shows. 

The signs aren’t good for Repo Men. With a highly inexperienced director, and a screenplay by two first time feature screenwriters, it could suffer. The lacklustre marketing campaign suggests that the studio doesn’t hold much confidence in the finished product either. The story could be good though. It sounds very much like a spin on Logan’s Run, or Michael Bay’s The Island. The principal cast ARE solid actors, and having a novel as the base of the story suggests the plot should be well fleshed out.

Commercially, Repo Men is a difficult one. Law and Whitaker are good actors who have achieved critical acclaim. They do not however, have a great record of drawing big numbers at the box office. Whitaker is most recently known for television work, and Law has a career of great supporting roles rather than leads. With Alice in Wonderland only a couple of weeks into its run, and Matt Damon’s Green Zone just beginning, there isn’t a lot of room at the box office for a sci-fi action movie with low profile personnel. An opening of more than $5m can be looked at as a big success, though will probably be seen as a disappointment when compared against the movies’ budget.

Hopefully Repo Men can evoke the spirit of a great Philip K Dick style storyline, rather than a mediocre, half hearted sci-fi yarn like last year’s Surrogates.

Repo Men is released in the US next Friday 19th March, and in the UK on 23rd April.
Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

13 years ago, Matt Damon managed to shoot himself into the A-list thanks to writing partner Ben Affleck, and collaboration Good Will Hunting. Or so he thought. Despite critical acclaim, and an Academy Award for the screenplay, Damon’s door wasn’t exactly being beaten down. He picked up some big parts here or there, but was struggling to make the big breakthrough to solid A-list. He was dogged by the label of Ben Affleck’s sidekick, and maybe also by that ill advised public break-up. You know the one.

It wasn’t until Steven Soderbergh picked up the phone and offered Damon a part in Ocean’s Eleven that his career really took off. It was during production of Ocean’s that Damon agreed to take on the role of Jason Bourne in the Bourne Identity. The movie proved popular, and grew into a series. Director Paul Greengrass took the helm for sequels Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum. Greengrass and Damon struck up a great working relationship, and the series catapulted Damon into superstardom. Green Zone is the third time the two have worked together, and the first not of the Bourne series.

Matt Damon plays Roy Miller, a US warrant officer helping a senior CIA officer search for weapons of mass destruction during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Along with the Bourne series, Damon has gained critical success recently in Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant. In it, Damon portrayed real life corporate informant Mark Whitacre, gaining weight and becoming almost unrecognisable for the part. It was his 6th film with Soderbergh, following parts in the Ocean’s series, Syriana, and Che Part 2.

Green Zone also stars Brendan Gleeson. Gleeson is an Irish character actor probably best known for the role of Alastor Moody in the Harry Potter franchise. Gregg Kinear plays Clark Poundstone, a shady Pentagon Special Intelligence officer. Kinnear came to prominance when he was nominated for an Academy Award for the part of Jack Nicholson’s gay neighbour in As Good As It Gets, and has recently starred in the Oscar nominated film Little Miss Sunshine. Amy Ryan, also nominated for an Oscar for 2007′s Gone Baby Gone, and known for TV roles in The Office and The Wire, plays Lawrie Dayne. Dayne is a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal following the hunt for WMD’s, investigating the US government’s claims of their existence.

Whilst on the hunt for chemical weapons, Miller instead finds evidence of a massive cover up, and goes in search of the truth. Trying to manoeuvre in an increasingly hostile and unstable region, Miller tries to survive whilst seeking answers to a constantly twisting question. Facing opposition from both sides of the conflict, he finds that even those purportedly on his side are working under their own agendas.

Rounding out the cast are Nicoye Banks (Brooklyn’s Finest), Jason Isaacs (Brotherhood), and Martin McDougall. Actor Khalid Abdalla impressed director Greengrass with his performance in United 93, which has won him the role of an injured Iraqi.

British director Paul Greengrass has built up a reputation for realistic, highly dramatic films based around real events. The Irish director was nominated for an Academy Awards for the 9/11 based film United 93, and also won critical acclaim for his dramatization of the Irish civil rights massacre, Bloody Sunday. More recently he has become known as the director of the last two Bourne movies. His use of steadicam shots to depict tense action sequences and his history of politically based movies makes him the ideal director for this project.

Green Zone is based on the non-fiction novel Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Like The Hurt Locker, the story is an adaptation of the accounts of an embedded reporter present in a warzone, which could give it a leg up at the box office, particularly if Kathryn Bigelow’s film does well at this weekend’s Oscars. The story was adapted by screenwriter Brian Helgeland. Helgeland has a mixed reputation. He won an Oscar for the fantastic screenplay for LA Confidential, and was nominated for Mystic River. However he also wrote The Postman and A Knight’s Tale, so the quality of the writing could go either way.

Based on the trailer, Green Zone is being sold more on the blistering action than on the politically based storyline. This could be a wise move, particularly as the mediocre performance of The Hurt Locker at the box office suggests America may not be fully ready for a politically sensitive war movie. It is a shame though, as Greengrass has shown in all his movies an ability to portray sensitive drama in a sympathetic and compelling way.

March is a busy month at the box office, and opening just a week after Alice in Wonderland may hurt Green Zone’s chances, though the target demographic is remarkably different. Damon has a high profile as a result of the Bourne series, though that didn’t help The Informant, which arguably underperformed at the box office. Aside from Damon, there is a shortage of big names. As a result, Green Zone may struggle to make back its inflated budget. As far as critical success goes, the presence of Greengrass bodes well, though the writing of Helgeland is the wild card. Here’s hoping it sways more in the direction of LA Confidential. Early test screenings prompted rumours of overuse of ‘shaky-cam’, and the buzz wasn’t overwhelmingly positive, but that was around the middle of last year, so there has been plenty of time to fix any potential problems with more editing.

Green Zone is released in the US and UK this Friday 12th March. Gary’s review will be posted next week, until then you can find the trailer here to whet your appetite.

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

My first introduction to Kurosawa and also to Japanese cinema in general was one rainy Sunday afternoon when I was around ten years old and I watched Rashomon. This film was a revelation and the experience remains a defining film memory.

This led me to get more and more interested in cinema and in particular foreign language films. My first experience of Kurosawa and the impact it had is not unique, as the Criterion Collection’s recent competition highlights, and it is the timelessness of Kurosawa’s films that has guaranteed that they will inspire and influence film fans for many more years to come.

Kurosawa’s films are important and influential in not just Japanese cinema but cinema in general. Many of his films are classics and they have heavily influenced filmmakers for over fifty years. Many of Kurosawa’s films have been remade or reworked resulting in many fantastic films including The Magnificent Seven (The Seven Samurai), A Fistful Of Dollars (Yojimbo) and arguably even Star Wars (The Hidden Fortress).

The Criterion Collection has put together a wonderful box set to celebrate what would have been Kurosawa’s 100^th birthday on March 23^rd. The deluxe, linen bound  set contains twenty-five DVDs of his films from fifty years of filmmaking and an illustrated book featuring contributions from Stephen Price (author of the excellent The Warrior’s Cinema) and Japanese film critic legend Donald Richie. Criterion has newly mastered many of the films and the box set features five that are new to the Criterion Collection including four early films previously unavailable on DVD.

The Criterion Collection always release excellent prints on DVD and Blu-Ray (and laserdiscs in the past) and their releases are almost always the best version of the film available. This Kurosawa set is no exception; a beautifully presented set with an excellent selection of films. For the technical nerds, like myself, head on over to DVD Beaver for their exhaustive write up of the specifics of the discs.

Although priced at $399.95 this actually works out to the reasonable price of $16 per DVD and the set can currently be found cheaper online. Unfortunately the set is Region 1 only so anyone in the UK will need a multi-region player to watch the films but the Criterion Collection releases are reason enough to buy one if you don’t own one already.

This is an essential purchase  for any Kurosawa fan with deep enough pockets and a fitting tribute to the great director.

Listed below are all the titles included and embedded is the promo video Criterion has released to advertise the set. Keep an eye on their site for more on Kurosawa as they have declared March Kurosawa month at Criterion.

Sanshiro Sugata (1943)

The Most Beautiful (1944)

Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945)

The Men Who Tread On The Tiger’s Tail (1945)

No Regrets For Our Youth (1946)

One Wonderful Sunday (1947)

Drunken Angel (1948)

Stray Dog (1949)

Scandal (1950)

Rashomon (1950)

The Idiot (1951)

Ikiru (1952)

Seven Samurai (1954)

I Live In Fear (1955)

Throne Of Blood (1957)

The Lower Depths (1957)

The Hidden Fortress (1958)

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

Yojimbo (1961)

Sanjuro (1962)

High And Low (1963)

Red Beard (1965)

Dodes’ka-den (1970)

Kagemusha (1980)

Madadayo (1993)

Here’s the Criterion trailer to showcase the box set.

(Box set photos courtesy of The Auteurs.)

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. They go together like Soderbergh and Damon, Scorsese and Di Caprio, Eastwood and Eastwood… Burton and Depp have worked together on six different feature films, and Burton’s latest, an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland will be the seventh.

Why do Burton and Depp work together so frequently? Tim Burton is well known for the gothic style of his quirky, dark fairy tale type movies. Johnny Depp has the right look, certainly, and many of the same sensibilities. He is so often the perfect foil for Burtons ideas and themes.

Mia Wasikowska plays Alice. It is ten years on from the last time Alice visited Underland, or Wonderland as the inhabitants call it. At an unexpected party thrown for her by her sister and mother, Alice meets the man she is expected to marry. Alice however doesn’t fit in with the ideals of the Victorian society she lives in, and doesn’t want to be married off to a stranger. It is during this party that Alice notices the White Rabbit. Following the rabbit, and her curiosity, Alice once again stumbles into Wonderland, though has no memory of it, or the events that occurred a decade ago. Mia Wasikowska is a relatively unknown actress, probably best known for recent parts in Defiance and Amelia. Alice in Wonderland is probably the 20 year old Australian’s biggest role to date.

In Wonderland, Alice again runs in to the Mad Hatter, played by Johnny Depp. Depp is known for playing a variety of mad, out there characters over the years. For Burton, Depp has played Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd and Ichabod Crane. More recently Depp has become a firm A-list, box office draw with the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the fourth of which is currently in development. Depps unique style will give life to the Mad Hatter, and add some much needed substance to the character. Depp has stated he is not playing the part as simply a mad man, but as one who has many layers.

Things have changed since Alice’s last visit to Wonderland. The Red Queen is trying to take total control. The Red Queen is an amalgamation of the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts from Lewis Carroll’s original stories. Helena Bonham Carter, another frequent Burton collaborator, is playing the role of the Red Queen. Burton’s partner, Carter is well versed in period drama and roles involving royalty. In her early career she was known as the queen of the corset. More recently, as well as her work with Burton, she has become known for more modern roles as in Fight Club and Terminator: Salvation.

Alice joins the Mad Hatter, along with the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), the March Hare (Michael Sheen) the Dormouse (Barbara Windsor) and the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) in their attempt to try and save Wonderland from the grip of the Red Queen. Hathaway has experience playing royalty in the Princess Diaries and Ella Enchanted, but recently has become better known for romantic comedies like Bride Wars and Valentines Day. Sheen has carved out a niche for himself playing real world characters like Tony Blair and Brian Clough. Stephen Fry’s previous voice work has included the voice of the book in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Also starring are Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts, and Alan Rickman as the Blue Caterpillar.

Alice in Wonderland is an extension of the Lewis Carroll stories Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. The story is set after these tales, it is not a remake or straight adaptation. Burton said he wanted to tell a story with a much more cohesive narrative structure. Previous adaptations have been very much a journey with Alice moving from one situation to another like a series of sketches. Burton wants his story to have much more flow.

Alice will be the first major film to be released in 3D since Avatar’s big success story. It wasn’t shot in 3D, but was converted in post production. It was claimed that there would be no difference in look, though James Cameron has slammed the move. There is much complex computer effect work in Alice. Carter’s head has been tripled in size for her part as the Red Queen, and Lucas’ Tweedledum and Tweedledee is part live action, part animation. Frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman composed the score.

Burton is very adept at quirky, fantastical adaptations. His work has been so diverse as to include fantasy, comic book adaptation, animation and musical. He is considered by many to be the perfect director to bring Lewis Carroll’s stories to the big screen. He will provide the right ethereal aura to the work, with a good mix of humour, fantasy and darkness. He has surrounded himself with actors from his frequent stable, many of which have experience with period movies. The cast he has put together looks very good, and Alice in Wonderland should appeal to viewers both young and old.

There has been controversy surrounding the release of Alice in the UK. Disney’s decision to release the DVD/Blu-Ray 12 weeks after the cinematic run rather than the usual 18 weeks has caused some consternation amongst the cinema chains, with Odeon choosing to boycott the movie. This would have had an impact on the UK box office figures, with not enough screens spread around the other cinemas to cope with demand. However, Odeon have now reversed that decision. As yet, no US cinemas are boycotting the movie, and at this stage probably won’t.

With a well known director, a bankable star in the shape of Johnny Depp, and the universal appeal of the classic stories, Alice in Wonderland should do very well at the box office. The success of Avatar has created an increased demand for 3D movies, and with the extra revenue this provides there is potential for Alice to be the highest grossing hit of the year so far. $300 to $400m dollars sounds possible to me, with no major competition at the theatre for the first few weeks at least.

You can read Jon’s review of Alice in Wonderland here.

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

In choosing to return to the well with a much smaller bucket, Martin Campbell will have known that diluting his acclaimed six hour 1985 BBC mini series Edge of Darkness into a two hour thriller would be a minefield.

Bringing Mel Gibson on board was seemingly  a good move; out of the acting spotlight for a good seven years the return to the screen of one of Hollywood’s most recognisable talents has served the hype wagon well, and this film has been sold entirely on Gibson himself.

Gibson is a Boston detective whose daughter, a MIT grad and employee of an ostensibly benign R&D company, returns home to be suddenly gunned down on her father’s doorstep. The Boston police believe Gibson’s character Thomas Craven was the target, not so Mr. Gibson, who finds a series of clues which will lead him to discover his daughter’s activist past and a deeper, darker plot with conspiring tentacles reaching all over the place.

The BBC mini series had the luxury of time to build character and develop the darkness which Bob Peck (the original’s leading man) entered into. With Gibson’s Edge of Darkness it needs a lot of condensing and pace to whip up the audience to join Gibson on his frantic quest for answers and bullet shaped justice. What happens is the audience is left standing at the station watching the train pull away in the distance.

What I struggled with was the pedestrian nature of the film punctuated with sudden and bloody violence. It was like trying to sleep during a thunderstorm. Campbell tries to engage us in the central mystery but this is hampered by the grinding inevitability of reaching journey’s end with a bag full of half truths and a pocketful of short change.

Gibson and Winstone mumble slowly, purposefully but when their conversations leave us with more questions it feels redundant as the very next scene will have Gibson stumbling on another piece of evidence, or another people will turn up dead, leading us by the hand to the conclusion which was never in any doubt.

Corporations bad. Government shady. Cops dubious. Gibson angry. It’s a shadow of the BBC original, and partly this is inevitable as Campbell can only hint at the layers of intrigue and discovery that a six hour mini series could evoke. What he, and the film, does to distance itself from the original, and paper over the cracked plot is to insert thrilling chase scenes and moments of extreme violence carried out by Gibson’s character. The problem with this is we should feel behind him every step (in the groin) of the way and we don’t.

The ten minute scene with his daughter before she gets a hole blown in her is very careful to exposit details in their conversation which set up their relationship, but it is not enough for us to invest in. To remedy this Campbell has chosen to reach into the cliche bag for the ghostly voice of his dead daughter urging Gibson on, and intercutting home video footage of her as a child to the narrative, as if to remind us what he has lost.

Therefore, every stone faced Gibson moment brandishing a gun is purely to show us how angry he is, but the feeling never permeates. No amount of people killed in appalling ways will change the fact that Edge of Darkness is a passive experience, a disappointment from Campbell and Gibson, both capable of better things.

Some secrets lead us to the edge, others make us sleepwalk over it. Edge of Darkness has been done, better, before – and by Martin Campbell. Dispassionate and detached, both Gibson and the audience reach the end none the wiser and whereas Gibson walks into the light (literally – very bizarre scene) we blink our eyes as the lights go up, wondering where all the mystery has gone.

Mel Gibson has had a hard time of it in recent years. His box office draw began to wane, along with other stars of his generation. Then came the bad publicity, the result of a drunken mistake. Aside from his limited success as a director, Gibson was fading from movie-going consciousness.
 
This year Gibson is back, with several movies in the pipeline, beginning with Edge of Darkness. Gibson stars as Thomas Craven. Craven is a homicide detective. When his daughter is shot and dies in his arms, he initially believes he is the target. It becomes clear however that someone wanted his daughter dead. Can it really be true that his little girl posed a threat to national security? He goes out in search of answers, seeking vengeance, and won’t let anyone get in his way. This leads him to the door of a large corporation, and to the attention of an agent tasked with cleaning up loose ends. 
  
Ray Winstone stars as CIA agent Matt Jedburgh. Jedburgh is attempting to cover up the murder, and inevitably ends up clashing with Craven. Veteran actor Ray Winstone is a British institution, and is currently high in demand. Following Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, he currently appears in two British dramas. Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll, the biopic of Ian Drury, and 44 Inch Chest. Upcoming projects include a Ben Hur TV series and the part of Julius Caesar in 2011′s Cleo.
 
Craven’s daughter is played by Bojana Novakovic. Serbian actress Novakovic is best known for her part in Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell last year. Rounding out the cast are Danny Huston and Shawn Roberts. Huston’s recent films have included the disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine and 30 Days of Night. Roberts appeared last year in the awful I Love You, Beth Cooper. 
 
Edge of Darkness is a remake of a miniseries of the same name which was set in Scotland. Made in 1985, it followed Ronald Craven’s investigation into the murder of his daughter, and was aired over six episodes. The mini-series was directed by Martin Campbell, who began developing this remake a couple of years ago, and is again the director.
 
New Zealander Campbell is probably best known for his work with two of the best films in the Bond franchise, Golden Eye and Casino Royale. Casino Royale was particularly well received as a revitalisation of the series. His stellar work in the espionage/action field bodes well for Edge of Darkness. Other credits include the less highly regarded Vertical Limit and The Legend of Zorro. 
 
The screenplay was written by Andrew Bovell and William Monahan. Monahan is a former editor of Spy magazine. He came to Edge of Darkness having completed the screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s excellent The Departed. He was also responsible for Body of Lies, so he has a good recent writing history. Bovell has won awards for screenplays in his native Australia, and now attempts to find Hollywood success.
 
Gibson is best known for his action roles, and the storyline has similar elements to Gibson’s fantastic Payback. You can see why he has chosen this role as his first lead in 8 years. With a solid action director, and hopefully a good script, the Australian could have a hit with his first movie back.
 
It’ll certainly be interesting to see if one of the biggest stars of the eighties and nineties can still draw an audience, particularly during the traditional January dumping period. The lack of heavy competition at the box office could well give Edge of Darkness a helping hand. If he can re-establish himself in the action genre, we can look forward to many more great Gibson roles.
 
You can find the domestic and international trailers here and here, a TV spot here, posters here and here, and some images here. We hope to have a review sometime next week.

Bazmann – Check out the HeyUGuys IMDb250 project here.

About ten years ago, three promising young actors were working to secure a place amongst the Hollywood A-list. Natalie Portman had finished her first major acting role, as Mathilda in Luc Bessons Leon. She would go on to make her major breakthrough in the Star Wars prequels. Tobey Maguire had small roles in respected films like The Cider House Rules and Wonder Boys, then also got his major break in a high budget franchise, winning the role of Spiderman. Jake Gyllenhaal came to public attention through his role in sleeper Indie hit Donnie Darko, then hit the big time through a combination of big budget popcorn in The Day After Tomorrow, and critically acclaimed drama in Brokeback Mountain. Next week in the US, these three actors, firmly A-List, come together for Jim Sheridan’s brothers.
 
Brothers is a remake of Susanne Bier’s Danish film Brodre. Tobey Maguire plays Captain Sam Cahill, a family man, married with two young daughters. Sam is sent overseas to Afghanistan on his fourth tour of duty, and goes missing during the fighting. Maguire showed he was capable of good dramatic work early on, with parts in The Cider House Rules and Wonder Boys. He hit the big time with Spiderman and it’s sequels, but has struggled since to land good serious roles. With a compelling drama like Brothers in his hands, he’ll be hoping to use the chance to re-establish himself as a talented, well rounded actor.
 
Natalie Portman plays Sam’s wife Grace, who has to struggle to take care of daughters Isabelle and Maggie when her husband is overseas. Portman in contrast has done a great job of shaking off the stigma of the underwhelming Star Wars trilogy, in which she played a major role. Since Revenge of the Sith she has shone in movies as diverse as The Other Boleyn Girl, The Darjeeling Limited and V for Vendetta.
 
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Sam’s drifter brother Tommy, a charismatic rogue fresh out of prison. Gyllenhaal has continued to mix dramatic and commercial roles since he came to the fore, including great performances in Sam Mendes’ downbeat Jarhead, and Zodiac. Tommy moves in to the family home in Sam’s absence, to take care of his brother’s family. However, with no way of knowing if Sam will ever return, a relationship develops between Tommy and Grace.
 
The ill-advised union raises eyebrows amongst their extended family, and is sure to tear the family apart if Sam does ever come back. Brothers also stars An Education’s Carey Mulligan, tipped to become the next big thing in the coming year, with roles in Wall Street 2 and Never Let Me Go also on her slate.
 
Irishman Jim Sheridan is no stranger to dramatic movies, having directed the critically acclaimed My Left Foot in 1989, then later 1997′s The Boxer. Having helmed the ill-advised Get Rich or Die Tryin’ with Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson four years ago, Sheridan will be hoping this latest film will be a return to his past excellent form.
 
The screenplay has been adapted from the original Danish picture by writer David Benioff. Benioff has a past record of mixed quality. He was responsible for so-so epic Troy, and the awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It’s not all bad news however, as the scribe also produced cinematic gold in well received drama The Kite Runner. With a good source film to work with, all are hoping this script will be more comparable to the latter.
 
As a small dramatic piece, box office could run very slow for Brothers. Sheridan doesn’t have a lot of name value amongst mainstream movie-goers. Furthermore, despite having had lead performances in movies that grossed hundreds of million dollars, none of the three young actors are a proven draw. Spiderman and Star Wars are big franchises that would have grossed big with any cast. Similarly, Emmerich’s big budget disaster flicks have a history of making lots of money with almost B-list casts. Disney will certainly be hoping that Gyllenhaal shows some kind of cache here, as he is the star of their next big franchise hope Prince of Persia, due next year.
 
Sheridan has had a taste of Oscar with nomination for My Left Foot as best director. He’ll be hoping all the elements will come together to enable him another stab. Certainly he has the talent, as do the young cast he has put together. Decide for yourself if it looks like it has what it takes with the trailer here,  the TV Spot here, and some images here.

Brothers is released in the US next Friday 4th December, and in the UK on 22nd January.

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

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

Four years ago, the first of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga novels was published. Four novels and one smash hit movie later, and Twilight has become a global phenomena every bit as huge as Harry Potter. Next week sees the release of the second movie in the Twilight Saga, New Moon. Based on the novel of the same name, also the second in the series, the story this time focuses on werewolves, in the shape of the Quileute tribe.

 At the end of the first film, Edward and Bella Swan returned to Forks, Washington together. As New Moon begins, Edward and his family leave town in an attempt to keep Bella safe. Feeling hurt and confused, Bella takes to an old motorcycle and hits the road. Bella has discovered that she can have visions of her love Edward whenever she get’s an adrenaline rush, so she goes out in search of danger. Actress Kristen Stewart returns as Bella. She has recently been quoted in the press bemoaning the amount of attention her personal life has attracted. Linked with Edward Cullen actor Robert Pattison during filming of the first film, there have been rumours this time around that she has been getting up close and personal with co-star and on screen love interest Taylor Lautner. This rivalry echoes the rivalry of the upcoming storyline of the movie, and serves as great publicity for it’s release.

 Lautner of course returns as old friend Jacob Black. Bella and Jacob strike up a deep friendship, and he swears to protect her. It turns out he is a werewolf, a member of the Quileute tribe. Seeing as there is a great rivalry between werewolves and vampires, Bella finds her loyalties are severely tested. There was some doubt as to whether Lautner would be allowed to return for New Moon. The producers felt that with his diminutive frame, Lautner wouldn’t be able to live up to the increased physical presence required, so were keen to recast the part. The young actor was determined to keep hold of the role, and hit the gym big time. Gaining thirty pounds of muscle, he secured the part. His new look is testament to his determination and hard work.

 Not returning this time around however is director Catherine Hardwicke, due to scheduling difficulties. This time around, Chris Weitz is at the helm. No stranger to movies adapted from books, his previous work has included About a Boy, based on Nick Hornby’s novel of the same name, and the first movie from the His Dark Materials series, The Golden Compass.

 In the source novel, Edward doesn’t play a very big part. Robert Pattison fans can be cheered however, at the news that the writers have added plenty of extra scenes for Edward, mostly in the form of Bella’s visions and dreams. Pattison also struggled with all the attention he received as a result of the last film, so may be happier that he is playing a lesser role in this one. Believing that Bella is dead, a distraught Edward travels to Italy to commit suicide. He hopes he can anger the peace loving Volturi, led by Michael Sheen, by revealing the existence of vampires, leading them to destroy him.

 Whilst the first Twilight movie was shot on a relatively low budget, the expanded locations and more epic nature of the second part has meant a cost increase. With the huge profit made from the last film, and the hype machine in overload this time around, the producers won’t be worried. With just last weeks opening 2012 as meaningful competition, and increased interest from both fans and non-fans alike, New Moon is set to smash the box office benchmark set by the previous film. Whilst those who hadn’t read the books didn’t know anything about the series last year, the huge attention drawn by the cast and the rabid fans will draw in many many more movie goers, to see what the fuss is all about.

With a production budget of just over $35m, the original Twilight made a worldwide gross of $385m. New Moon will probably garner close to $500m. After it’s release, fans can look forward to next year’s Eclipse, expected in July, where Jacob and Edward’s rivalry really hots up, as vampires and werewolves unite against a common enemy. Then the final story in the series, 2011′s Breaking Dawn, will round out the Twilight Saga.

 To get fans excited about the release of New Moon, a wealth of images and clips have been released in the last few months. We have featured many of these here on HUG, and you can find -

Posters 1 2 3 4 5

Images 1 2 3

Clips 1 2 3 4 5

And even listen to the soundtrack here

The Twilight Saga: New Moon is released in cinemas next Friday 20th November in the US and UK

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

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying Independence Day was a big movie, with a place in cinematic history. Roland Emmerich has been the prince of diminishing returns since, but remains the current king of the global disaster movie. With next week’s 2012, he’s hoping to get his career back on track.

10,000 BC was universally panned, so he has decided to go back to what he does best. Namely, destroying contemporary landmarks, and killing a large percentage of the population. Emmerich loves himself a budget, and epic scale CGI, and judging from the trailer, he has used both liberally. There have been plenty of pre-release clips to encourage the hype. You can see a five minute clip in full HD here, some additional clips here, and some behind the scenes footage here.

As usual, however, there is a human story to be told. In this case, it’s the story of John Cusack’s failed novelist, divorcee Jackson Curtis, now a part-time limo driver. Whilst on a trip to Yellowstone park with his two children, he meets a crackpot who warns him of the coming apocalypse. When the warning signs begin to start, Curtis hires a plane, rescues his wife, and together they must make their way to China, where great arks have been built to carry the human population to safety. Cusack has played the ordinary Joe to great effect in films like High Fidelity, but has shown his action credentials in Con Air and Grosse Point Blank. The Randy Quaid crackpot role is played by Woody Harrelson this time, as trailer park DJ Charlie Frost, who predicts the imminent apocalypse.

With Danny Glover as President Thomas Wilson, and Oliver Platt as his advisor Carl Anheuser, there’s some interesting casting here. Four actors who’s recent CV’s have been spotty at best. Good timing for Harrelson and the movie though, well positioned to capitalise on his performance in surprise hit Zombieland. Harrelson’s star looks to be ascending again. One actor already at the top of his game, the quietly brilliant Chiwetel Ejiofor, plays another of the president’s aides, Adrian Helmsley. Brilliant in smaller masterpieces like Children of Men and Serenity, 2012 will be his biggest film to date.

The cause of the apocalypse this time round is the Mayan prediction of the end of days. Of course, this ‘prediction’ is an interpretation of an ambiguous belief. In actual fact, the Mayans didn’t predict anything. Rather, their calendar resets the date to zero every 1,872,000 days, which makes it next due on December 21st 2012. It’s not known the particular significance of this event to the ancient civilisation, but some have taken it to mean an evolution, some a revolution. Emmerich has used it to suggest a slate wiped clean, the annihilation of the human race and all it has created. It could simply have been a mathematical anomaly.

2012 features earthquakes, super volcanoes, mass suicides, floods and a giant tidal wave. Whilst the ‘weather gone wild’ part of the story is similar to Emmerichs previous The Day After Tomorrow, with the addition of the Earth’s crust displacement, and the vaguely supernantural element of the ‘prediction’ causing global panic, there should certainly be enough here to elevate 2012 beyond some of Emmerich’s previous work.

In a fairly quiet November movie-wise, with the shadow of Avatar yet to loom, 2012 could easily be a box office big hitter. We are all suckers for a big popcorn disaster movie, and they’re obviously confident based on the news of a possible TV series (Read our story here). It’ll certainly need a landslide victory in the box office charts to recoup it’s $200 million budget. If 2012 flops, Emmerich could find his budget for his next movie, possibly the proposed Independence Day 2 (ID5?) reduced to rubble. And that would be a disaster.

You can find our story on the proposed sequel here.

You can try and win a 2012 poster here.

2012 is released this Friday 13th November in the US and UK. You can read our review next week.

Bazmann