Here’s a rather nice new poster for Underworld Awakening which comes from the film’s Facebook Page via Latino Review. I have to admit, I’ve never actually made it through an Underworld movie (any of them!) without falling asleep! This fourth installment sees the return of Kate Beckinsale to the franchise after going AWOL in the third.

IMDb gives us a plot and we’ve had one trailer which you can see here.

When human forces discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans, a war to eradicate both species commences. The vampire warrioress Selene leads the battle against humankind.

Thoughts in the comments below please. My thoughts are that I can get another 90 minute doze out of this one or am I missing something?

Underworld Awakening is released 20th January 2012.

Escape From Madness is a British psychological thriller set against the background of some of the darkest events of the Second World War and in particular events surrounding Himmler, Hitler’s right-hand man, as director Peter J Everett explains:
“Himmler believed that the war could be won by using occultism and black magic.”

As the road to the EFM begins to heat up expect a lot of sales related stuff to appear online, like the first image, synopsis and poster art for Susan Jacobson’s new survival thriller, The Holding.  The movie stars Vincent Regan (300), David Bradley (Harry Potter), and Kierston Wareing (Fish Tank).

For some reason Iam really into the story (via synopsis below) and will be curious to see what the trailer looks like and if it plans on looking as gritty as the poster art below.  I also think the poster is a tad funny since the movie is called The Holding and there are two people holding each other in it…classic.

Synopsis:

“Set on an isolated farm in the rugged and atmospheric landscape of the English countryside, THE HOLDING is a heart-pounding suspense thriller and the ultimate survival story.

Cassie Naylor has a brutal secret – she killed her husband Dean after discovering he had been abusing one of their daughters. Now running the farm alone with her two girls, Cassie fights to avoid financial ruin. Selling up to predatory local farmer Rabe seems to be her only way out…

Then one day an enigmatic stranger called Aden arrives at the farm, claiming to be an old friend of her husband. He knows all about Cassie and her daughters and charms his way into their lives. Unknown to Cassie, Aden’s motivation has a sinister edge – he is obsessed with the idea of a perfect family and wants to take over Dean’s family as if it were his own.

When Cassie discovers Aden’s deluded intentions, she confronts him. This drives him to increasingly violent acts against anyone he sees as a threat to his family and he lays siege at the farmhouse, holding Cassie and the children hostage.

Trapped, Cassie and her girls must unite and fight like never before.”

Source: Bloody Disgusting

This past summer I attended the New York Asian Film Festival in which a plethora of fantastic Asian films were screened for wild audience members like myself.  Unfortunately, due to time restrictions and probably lack of money, I wasn’t able to attend all of the screenings that I wanted to, one of which was the screening of Golden Slumber, the latest film from director Yoshihiro Nakamura, the man that brought the world Fish Story.

The Japanese thriller’s title and plot are based on the classic Beatles song, Golden Slumber, and is about a young man who was framed for an assassination he had nothing to do  with.  The film was extremely well received by audience members at both the NYAFF and at Fantastic Fest so if you haven’t heard of it yet now is your opportunity to get acquainted.  Below you will find the synopsis along with an English subtitled trailer for a film that still doesn’t have distribution yet but, let’s face it, that doesn’t really matter at the moment.  Enjoy!

In sunny Sendai, happy-go-lucky Aoyagi (Masato Sakai) reunites with an old university buddy, only to discover he’s become a patsy for a conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister. As Aoyagi runs for his life, his old classmates are ruthlessly hunted down by a government hatchet man. All hope seems lost until Aoyagi meets “Kill-O,” the friendly neighborhood serial killer, and when his ex Haruko enters the fray, it looks like the titular Beatles song just might be right, there really is a way to get back home. It’s directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura (of The Booth, Fish Storypreviously) based on the novel by Kotaro Isaka.

Source: First Showing

Well it looks like the team behind Underworld has decided to take a hint from, what I would like to call, its sister franchise, Resident Evil, by making a fourth film, in 3D of course.

Both films have female action leads that are not only hot but also kick some major ass resulting in a fun bloodbath of a film.

According to Bloody Disgusting, the fourth Underworld is entitled Underworld 4: New Dawn and will be directed by the Swedish director duo Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein (both collaborated on a Julianne Moore thriller called Shelter).  Below you will find the plot details for New Dawn.

After being held in a coma-like state for fifteen years, vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) learns that she has a fourteen-year-old vampire/Lycan hybrid daughter, Nissa, and when she finds her they must stop BioCom from creating super Lycans that will kill them all

Currently the film is slated for a January 20, 2012 release.  Kate Beckinsale will be returning to reprise her typical role while casting is currently underway for all other roles.  I’m curious to see how the 3D will effect the film and its style.  What are your thoughts on a fourth Underworld?

Set to hit theaters at some point in 2011, Taylor Lautner’s new thriller, Abduction, is finally making some fresh moves with the release of its officially synopsis.  Yesterday, Collider revealed the synopsis along with the first image for the film but unfortunately they were asked to take it down.

The film, which is directed by John Singleton (Four Brothers, 2 Fast 2 Furious), stars Alfred Molina, Maria Bello, Lily Collins and Sigourney Weaver in supporting roles.

While I am personally not a fan of Lauter, the idea behind the film seems pretty cool and very promising given the supporting cast.  Check out the synopsis below:

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

I think the man-on-the-run premise seems like it’s going to work really well given the unique twist in the plot.  What do you all think?

So I think this is the third Rare Exports poster that we have seen and for me, it is probably my favorite.  I’m always a fan of hand drawn posters but this one, if it is hand drawn, seems to seam together the creepiness of the film with the spirit of the holiday season much better than a computer generated poster ever could.

Below you will find the full size domestic poster and, if you haven’t already see it, here is a link to the trailer to prepare for its release.  If you ask me, Santa looks a bit like Scrooge with a red nightcap instead of white.

Let us all thank the IMP Awards for gracing us with this poster

Xavier Gens’ apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, The Divide, has just released its first poster via IMPA.  Gens, responsible for films like Hitman and Frontier(s), is hoping to continue the improvement of his films with his latest high concept endeavor where to survive the end of the world, [everyone] must first survive each other.  It’s a simple yet effective tag line that I believe works extremely well.

The poster below, which I think is pretty cool, looks a bit too much like the poster for the Solaris remake with George Clooney, with the exception of the color and what we see reflected in the glass of the mask.  But luckily for the type of film it is, it actually does work even if it isn’t the most original thing we’ve ever seen.

The Divide stars Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Lauren German, Rosanna Arquette, and Michael Eklund and is expected to be released sometime in 2011.

In case you missed the teaser I’ve posted it below for your viewing pleasure.

Michael Jackson may have shuffled off this mortal coil more than a year ago, but interest in him and his music is still very much alive.

GK Films are currently in negotiations for the rights to his hit song Thriller, which they plan to weave into a feature length narrative. Little is known about the actually story as yet, but the film is budgeted at around $50m, and it’s being written by The Hangover scribe Jeremy Garelick

Kenny Ortega (who directed the singer’s documentary film This Is It) is attached to this one, so there is some continuity here in regards to the keeping it within the Michael Jackson brand, but it seems like a tall order for audiences to get behind a film like this when the hugely iconic John Landis-directed promo is such a well known part of pop culture.

Who knows, maybe the makers are intending on taking the film in an entirely different direction to that of the music video. Whatever the plans, they certainly have their work cut out.

As reported by Deadline.

Although the film is based in Italy, the studios decided the French should have their own boring poster.  You know they only did it because Depp lives there.  I’m just kidding my French friends, we love you all.

Below you will find the rather bland and ordinary French poster for the upcoming “comedy-drama thriller,” The Tourist, starring Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany and Timothy Dalton.

Synopsis:

The Tourist centers on Frank (Depp), an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise (Jolie) is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path.

You certainly can’t accuse the marketing team of Russell Crowe’s latest thriller, The Next Three Days, of finding a formula and sticking to it.

The latest poster follows on from the two others already released (which you can see here, and here) and you can see what I mean.

Paul Haggis directs Crowe and Liam Neeson in his drama about a family torn apart when the wife is accused of murder, Elizabeth Banks stars alongside Olivia Wilde and Brian Dennehy. The US get this one in a month’s time while it’s early 2011 for us Brits.

If The Next Three Days does well we can expect to hear more about the project Haggis and Crowe are currently circling – a big screen version of the 80s TV series, The Equalizer.

Here’s the new poster,

MovieWeb scored the exclusive on this one, stop by – say hi.

Are any of you getting excited yet for Liam Neeson and Russell Crowe’s new film The Next Three Days?

Well, now you have another reason to get excited because the poster for the film has just been released and it’s actually pretty dam cool.

The poster for Paul Haggis’ film is a photo mosaic of sorts, creating Crowe’s face out of a bunch of other pictures with a map of the world as its backdrop.  The face is actually a lot clearer in the thumbnail but you can check out the full poster located below.

You can check out the trailer and read the synopsis for the film here

MSN debuted the poster

Repeaters, a film premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, has just released its first poster in anticipation for its worldwide debut.

The film, which is directed by Canadian Carl Bessai (Severed), has been described as a dark Groundhog day except instead of it being Groundhog day it is actually just one of the most miserable days of your life.

The TIFF film description:

Veteran director Carl Bessai returns with a tense thriller that follows three young addicts in a rehabilitation centre. Each day they live the same events over and over – a situation each responds to in radically different ways.

The film stars Dustin Milligan (Gunless), Amanda Crew (Charlie St. Cloud), and Richard de Klerk (Bang Bang You’re Dead).

While the poster doesn’t really tell you too much I still think its color use is pretty cool, specifically the blood red.  Other than that I think it may be a bit overly dramatic for a thriller.

Cinematical had the exclusive to the poster which you can check out below.

Thanks to Comingsoon.net we now have a new clip from Neil Marshall’s Centurion.

The clip is a tad gruesome but definitely sets the tone for the film by matching the bloody era which it is set in. We reviewed the film way back in April, it’s odd to see the US release lagging so far behind.

There is no need to say much about the clip except that you should watch it.

For those that don’t know much about the film here is some info for you.

Centurion stars Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, David Morrissey, Noel Clarke, Riz Ahmed, JJ Field, Liam Cunningham and Imogen Poots.

Synopsis:

AD 117. The Roman Empire stretches from Egypt to Spain, and East as far as the Black Sea. But in northern Britain, the relentless onslaught of conquest has ground to a halt in face of the guerrilla tactics of an elusive enemy: the savage and terrifying tribes known as the Picts.

Quintus, sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus’ legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the earth and destroy their leader Gorlacon.

But when the legion is ambushed on unfamiliar ground, and Virilus taken captive, Quintus faces a desperate struggle to keep his small platoon alive behind enemy lines, evading remorseless Pict pursuers over harsh terrain, as the band of soldiers race to rescue their General, and to reach the safety of the Roman frontier.

Cody Horn, star of the upcoming movies Flipped and Twelve, has just informed Comingsoon.net that she will be taking the lead in the new film Dead Reckoning.  The film is an adaptation of the 1996 thriller novel of the same name.

The original novel was written by Susan and Pierre LaTour and tells the story of Catherine Lakey, a chemistry professor who vanishes while vacationing in Cape Cod. Though her disappearance is assumed to be a suicide, her niece, Nancy, is unconvinced and begins to uncover clues in her aunt’s beach house that such a far more sinister fate.

Horn will probably be playing the niece, Nancy.  Filming is set to begin in September in Cape Cop, Massachusetts.

Yesterday we posted our interview with Debbon Ayer, who plays the mother in the forthcoming Death And Cremation. Today we have another interview, this time with Jeremy Sumpter who plays her son Jarod in the film. His character forms a bond with Stan (Brad Dourif) which is central to the film.

Jeremy Sumpter is also one of the stars of hit US show Friday Night Lights and is currently working on a variety of feature films.

HUG: Can you talk about what you feel is the main story of Death and Cremation.

JS: The main story of the film is the relationship between Jarod and Stan.

HUG: How does your character fit into this story?

JS: Jarod is the story. He has had a bad life and is reaching out to someone for friendship.

HUG: What do you think the tone of the film is?

JS: Definitely dark.

HUG: There appears to be a father-son dynamic in Death and Cremation. How did you approach this and what was it like working alongside Brad Dourif?

JS: Working with Brad was great. We clicked immediately. I would love to work with him again sometime.

HUG: Jarod is bullied in the film. How do you feel the film deals with issues surrounding bullying and was this something that drew you to the film?

JS: I think most people are bullied at one time or another. It didn’t necessarily draw me to the film but I understood what Jarod was going through.

HUG: From the trailer Brad Dourif’s character of Stan appears to be very creepy. Do you think Death and Cremation is a film that will scare audiences and do you think this is part of Justin’s intention?

JS: It is a dark story that captivates you. It isn’t a horror story where things pop out at you.

HUG: Do you think the character of Jarod is the character that audiences will most relate to in the film?

JS: Probably although I’m sure Stan will get his share also.

HUG: Justin Steele describes Jarod as “extremely odd, disturbed, and damaged”. Did you find any ways in which you could relate to the character and was there anything in particular that you brought to the character that wasn’t in the original script?

JS: It was an interesting character to play since Jarod is so unlike myself. I didn’t find any specific ways to relate to him, just tried to imagine what he was going through.

HUG: Death and Cremation looks to be a very dark film. Do films with a darker or grittier subject matter appeal to you?

JS: Yes, but I like a lot of different films too.

HUG: Can you talk about your route into the film industry and also the experience of working in TV and film and the differences you have found.

JS: I attended a talent competition when I was 10 which was where my manager found me. He helped me get started finding an agent, getting “Frailty”, etc. I’ve been with him for the last 11 years. Television definitely moves quicker. On “Friday Night Lights” we didn’t even rehearse, just was ready to shoot when we showed up in the morning. Film moves a lot slower.

HUG: What other projects are you currently working on and where will we see you next?

JS: I have a couple of scripts I am looking at but have not yet decided my next project. Possible a baseball movie.

Embedded below is the trailer for Death and Cremation.

Last month we showed you the trailer for Death and Cremation, a new film starring Brad Dourif, Debbon Ayer, Jeremy Sumpter and Daniel Baldwin. You can check out the post here where you can also see the poster and read a full synopsis for the film.

We’ve recently been lucky enough to speak to some of the cast and first up is our interview with Debbon Ayer.

Debbon Ayer has previously starred in indie hits including Garden State and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and plays Jarod’s mother Martha in Death and Cremation.

HUG: Can you talk about what you feel is the main story of Death and Cremation?

DA: I feel the main story is about a group of lost souls who find what they need, in this brief period of time. Martha finds her strength and the backbone of her moral fibre by doing the right thing in the end. Stan and Jarod fill a void in their emotional life with each other. Jarod needs a mentor, it’s just too bad the mentor is a serial killer.

HUG: How does your character fit into this story?

DA: When you see Martha’s life, her struggles as a single widowed mother, and her bad choices in looking to fill her own lonely void, you can see how her son gets lost in the daily grind and misplaced avoidance of her responsibilities, until she essentially loses him.

HUG: Can you describe the tone of the film and also who it might appeal to?

DA: It feels to me like a cult thriller/horror film. Stan is so fantastically played by Brad Dourif, so layered you actually have a soft spot for him, even in his taking on Jarod as a “son”. And Jeremy is such a nuanced actor, he brings sympathy to his role as well.

HUG: Martha is described as a nagging mother. Is your character likeable and do you think she is sympathetic?

DA: I do think she is likeable, and she is not a nagging mother so much as a stressed single mother, who is shouldering a lot and not doing that well, but the best she can. She is totally sympathetic because of her circumstances and her love of her son, truly a deep and soulful love. Also the love she had for her husband is palpable in a couple of key scenes.

HUG: I understand you are a mother yourself, did this help you in playing Jarod’s mother and was there anything in particular that you brought to the character that wasn’t in the original script?

DA: Being a mother helps me with everything I do. The love one has for their kid is so real and deep, basically you would do anything for your kid, and Martha does everything for Jarod. She just doesn’t do it that smartly at times. I hope I brought a lot to the character- compassion, depth, ditzyness, humour. On the page no character is as full as when you get hold of them in your little fists.

HUG: Jarod is bullied in the film, how do you feel about the way the film approaches this problem and what it has to say about this kind of behaviour?

DA: Kids are mean, and on the one hand, one is kind of is glad when the mean ones get their due! I mean that’s what movies do for us, right? Cause, sadly, kids are mean in real life and mostly don’t know how severe the cause and effect is on people.

HUG: You’ve worked on a number of fascinating independent films, what have been your favourites and why?

DA: Well, Death and Cremation is right up there cause it had all the good and none of the bad. Fantastic director who loves acting and actors and such a dedicated crew!! I loved working in most movies I have been in. Lets face it, Eternal Sunshine is a genius. Garden State so bitter sweet and beautiful. And to work with Bruce Robinson who is one of the smartest director/writers around, has been cool.

HUG: You have worked as both a producer and an actor. Are you also interested in directing?

DA: I am, though I am not sure I will get to it in this lifetime!

Embedded below is the trailer for Death and Cremation.

In the interests of full disclosure I will admit up front that I am a pretty big fan of Brad Dourif and love his performances in otherwise terrible films.

In addition to some questionable film choices, Dourif has recently done solid work in a number of Werner Herzog films  and is probably still picking up pay checks for supplying the voice of Chucky in the Childs Play films.

He recently had a small part in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans and even managed to stand out there, against the wild eyed crazed performance by Nicholas Cage.

Brad Dourif is now playing a role that was surely made for him, a creepy funeral owner in a new thriller, Death and Cremation.

Death and Cremation is the feature film debut of Justin Steele, who in addition to directing also co-wrote the film. The film was shot on the Red One by cinematographer Akis Konstantakopoulos.

Although the plot doesn’t sound that exciting it does look interesting and the fact that Dourif stars will be enough to get me into the cinema to watch it.

Check out the official synopsis (which is lengthy and contains some spoilers) and the trailer embedded below and let us know what you think.

In Crest Point, people go about their day-to-day lives with no sense of urgency and standard stereotypes abound. There’s the high school bully with the popular girlfriend. The single mother raising her son after her husband has died. The detective who’s never cracked a big case. Then there’s STAN (Brad Dourif), a single 59 year old recluse who contributes to society by offering cremation services from the basement of his funeral home.

JAROD LEARY (Jeremy Sumpter), a bullied and fatherless 17-year-old high school outcast doesn’t even try to fit in with his high school peers. Dressed in black, with his hair and fingernails matching his wardrobe, Jarod draws attention to himself but not in a good way. He’s constantly picked on by resident jock DAVID VALENTINE (Blake Hood) and doesn’t seem to have much luck with the ladies either. Many decide he’s a freak including cool girls LINDSEY WEAVER (Kate Maher) and Courtney Taylor (Madison Eginton), and although Courtney doesn’t mind him, Lindsey has other plans.

In addition to troubles at school, home life for Jarod isn’t much better. Living out of a trailer, Jarod has to put up with nagging from his mother, MARTHA LEARY (Debbon Ayer), and her budding romance with self-righteous immigration attorney RICK WATERS (Sam Ingraffia). Sick of the badgering, Jarod finds after-school work as an apprentice at Stan’s cremation house. The two quickly develop a quirky working relationship and soon Jarod starts to see Stan as a father figure.

Not long after Jarod begins working at the cremation house people start to go missing, including Lindsey Weaver. Her parents BILL (Daniel Baldwin) and BECKY WEAVER (Staci Keanan) tell suburban detective MATT FAIRCHILD (Scott Elrod) about their recent family visit to a cremation house, and all trails lead to Stan.
Rick begins to apply pressure on Jarod to accept him as Martha’s boyfriend just as Jarod gets acclimated to life at the cremation home. When Jarod rejects a summer trip to Alabama witnessing Rick shows his ugly side. Detective Fairchild, meanwhile, steps up his investigation as more bodies amass. It’s then that Stan must decide if protecting his newfound trainee is worth killing for.

Harry Brown is an unassuming name for what may become an iconic character in Michael Caine’s career.

That Caine is able to embody a man of frustration and sadness whose inaction turns to violent action with fluidity and pathos is a testament to the talent of the man and the capability of the film’s director Dabiel Barber.

Make no mistake, Harry Brown is a long and hard look into the dark heart of British society, and no one can stare into it for too long without closing up into self-defeating denial or taking a stand. Complex and unafraid, this is so much more than a British Gran Torino.

Barry reviewed the film on release and you can read his take on Harry Brown here and I’m going to give my verdict here on the DVD experience.

Daniel Barber’s first feature is brutal, and sets out its play with a truly nasty opening scene utilising the device of a video shot on a mobile phone camera and instantly we are thrown into a world which, despite the Daily Mail hysterics, actually exists and one that is not often shown on screen.

I believed in the passion Barber and the assembled cast and crew had for this story, as there is an urgency and willingness to show life on the estates of London as bleak and slow and Barber’s camera begins as voyeuristic as Harry himself, standing by while the gang of kids harass, deal drugs and kill unconcerned while the police do nothing.

We follow Harry’s journey from fear, to nervous action to determined revenge and all the while our morals are kept in check the unrelenting cast of nasties who patrol the run down estate, and when the violence is handed out by Brown there is nothing we as an audience can do except watch its awful cycle play out.

And it is mesmerising, and it is uncomfortable and some people will not want to see this play out, but a stunning turn from Caine and great support from Liam Cunningham, Ben Drew and Emily Mortimer make this a raw and relevant film, with some standout scenes (the drug den is a great example, and include a line every bit as iconic as any in Caine’s career) and an inventive use of camera and location that elevates this one. It is highly recommended.

The DVD and Blu-ray extras are comprised of:

Interviews with cast and crew
Deleted Scenes
Music Video
Feature audio commentary with Sir Michael Caine, director Daniel Barber and producer Kris Thykier

And it is the commentary which provides the most enjoyment, though having the three men laugh and joke their way through such a bleak film is an unusual contrast but Caine especially is a great voice and his anecdotes about this film and others in his long career make for a very entertaining watch.

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