Here’s a nice new set of posters for Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to the 2009 movie, Clash of the Titans. This 2012 movie stars Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Danny Huston, Edgar Ramirez, Bill Nighy, Toby Kebbell, Rosamund Pike and is directed by Jonathan Liebesman.

Rather like these new posters although what the heck is going on with Sam Worthington’s hair?! I think it’s the background but it makes him look like he has a lovely perm from 1982! We can expect to see the movie 30th March. No doubt we’ll see the other characters appear on their own poster rather than in the montage that we see below…..

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus (Worthington) –the demigod son of Zeus (Neeson)–is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades (Fiennes) and Poseidon (Danny Huston). The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus’ godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramirez), switch loyalties and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans’ strength grows stronger as Zeus’ remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon’s demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

Click the posters to enlarge.

Source: Digital Spy

More images from the sequel to the best advert for Viewmaster in years, Wrath of the Titans returns Sam Worthington to a post-Kraken world to fend off more Gods and Monsters and lucky for us that Liam Neeson (in full Cylon regalia hopefully) and Ralph Fiennes return with him.

Rosamund Pike is on English-deity duty and they’ve taken the rather startling decision to post convert the film into 3D, a move which isn’t surprising despite the reaction from the attempt to shoe-horn a third dimension into the previous film. Here’s hoping everything turns out fine.

An unnecessailry lengthy synopsis follows,

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus—the demigod son of Zeus—is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius.

Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld.

Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus’ godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans’ strength grows stronger as Zeus’ remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth.

Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon’s demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

tl;dr Titans will Wrath

Here are your pics, get clicking to see them all big,

A slap on the back for Latino Review if you please.

The road to getting a live-action Hollywood remake of Katsuhiro Otomo’s original manga and anime, Akira, has been a long and hard one. In the past year, the project seems to have been gaining some traction, with Unknown’s Jaume Collet-Serra signing on to direct the film, and some brilliant casting possibilities has been coming in recent months.

At the end of last week, though, it was reported that the production studios in Vancouver that were getting ready for the film, which was scheduled to start shooting in February/March, had been shut down. Initially, it was unclear if this was for budgetary reasons or for a script rewrite, but now it seems as though the project is still very much alive at Warner Bros.

Variety report, via ComicBookMovie.com, that none other than Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan’s brother and fellow scribe on The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and this year’s highly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises, is being eyed by the studio to do the rewrite, with Green Lantern’s Michael Green also being considered:

“As for “Akira,” which has only “Tron: Legacy” star Garrett Hedlund locked, the studio is by no means pulling the plug. Insiders said a new writer will probably be brought on over the next two weeks to focus on character elements and particularly on the pic’s look. While no one’s yet been offered the job, studio is said to be eyeing Jonah Nolan (“The Dark Knight,” “The Dark Knight Rises”) and Michael Green (“Green Lantern”).

WB prexy Jeff Robinov met with the “Akira” team to discuss several issues, including who would land the second lead opposite Hedlund. Choices had been narrowed down to Michael Pitt and Dane DeHaan, but the studio wanted to wait until after the holidays to decide. Now that decision will be delayed further.”

Though casting news has been coming for some time, Hedlund is the only one who’s officially signed on, but some very talented people have been in talks for the other leading roles alongside him, including Ken Watanabe, Kristen Stewart, and Helena Bonham Carter, and hopefully they’ll be signing on soon too.

The report also sheds light on the casting of the male co-lead opposite Hedlund, singling out Michael Pitt and Dane DeHaan as possibilities, which throws new names into the hat, after the likes of Logan Marshall-Green, Toby Kebbell, and Paul Dano were thought to be testing too back in November. (I’ve been rooting for Kebbell, myself; he was so good in RocknRolla.)

I’m naturally well aware that reception of the Akira project is mixed. Many fans don’t think the original needs an adaptation, and particularly one that has only Watanabe so far as a Japanese actor involved in the film. Personally, I’m willing to overlook any and all potential criticisms, because I think this has a huge potential to be immense, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Nolan is of course a very talented writer, and it would be amazing if he were to come on and do a rewrite for the script. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. As always, more news as we get it.

With the release of the first trailer and poster for the Clash of the Titans sequel, Wrath of The Titans, a few weeks ago, a set of new posters have been recently put online, showing more of the incredible looking Titans themselves.

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, The Wrath of the Titans follows Perseus (Sam Worthington), the demigod son of Zeus, who, a decade after his historic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, is attempting to live a quieter life whilst looking after his 10-year old son, Helius.

Meanwhile, weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. When Hades (Ralph Fiennes), along with Zeus’ godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal to capture Zeus, Perseus can no longer ignore his true calling. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon’s demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus must embark on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus (Liam Neeson) and overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

Wrath Of The Titans is set to be released on 30th March, 2012. Here is the new Titan poster for the film, courtesy of IMP Awards, as well as the individual posters for each creature.

The Titans poster:

The gigantic Minotaur:

The two-headed beast Chimera:

The sword-yielding Makhai:

The thunderous Kronos, the father of Zeus:

If ever a film was openly seeking Oscar recognition, it’s Steven Spielberg’s latest solemn contender, War Horse, coming hot off the heels of his recent fun family adventure, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

No stranger to evoking emotions when he so desires in his dramatic cinematic offerings that include Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and E.T., the visionary filmmaker puts his money on a guaranteed winner in the Awards race – Joey the horse: It’s a shame there are no animal Oscars up for grabs.

Set around the time of the Great War, a young Devonshire farm boy called Albert (Jeremy Irvine) forms a deep bond with a spirited horse called Joey, and with some training and a lot of trust, tries to save his struggling parents, the Narracotts (played by Peter Mullan and Emily Watson), from financial ruin at the hands of their unscrupulous landlord Lyons (David Thewlis). But times are hard, and against Albert’s wishes, Joey is sold to the Army to be enlisted as a trusty officer’s steed. There continues one brave thoroughbred’s experiences of the Somme trenches from both sides of the equation, and a longing to one day be reunited with his master.

Spielberg and writers Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) and Richard Curtis (The Boat That Rocked and Blackadder) have taken Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 novel and subsequent successful West End stage play of the same name and created a distinctive Spielberg epic that even finds time to pause for a moment of ironic wit on the killing fields – possibly a Curtis-penned input. The horse’s point-of-view narrative is not as obvious as Morpurgo’s written word, but the sentiment that this story’s protagonist and prime hero is Joey is still apparent, particularly as a real animal is used, rather than any stage puppet or CG.

In turn, this enables the filmmakers to deliberately tug on our animal-loving heartstrings and trigger some gushing sentimentality – with a lot of help from maestro John Williams’ stirring score – as a poignant reminder of all our fallen heroes, past and present, human and beast. In mimicking elements of his past war recreations, the Oscar-winning Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, in conviction and design, Spielberg offers a 12A-compatible film that demonstrates the futility of war and regrettable loss, without the disturbing blood and gore count of Private Ryan’s battlefield.

Indeed, though it’s necessary at the start to witness the seeds of a strong relationship between nag and man being sown to carry this tale through to reconciliation – particularly as it’s important to not lose the human relationship element, courtesy of some fine acting from Mullan, Watson and Irvine, the first-quarter of the film still feels drawn out and excessive. It’s only after the highly impressive charge by the British cavalry that the film’s driven momentum and purpose takes effect. And this is where Spielberg still excels in his fighting reconstructions, opening up the depth and breadth of the scorched and tortured landscape in his Somme vistas, wider than any cinema screen might possibly allow.

However, the film has a curious, mismatched pace to it, almost uneven as it tries to decide on how it wants be received – something replicated in its bizarre mix of real-life exposure and Gone With The Wind-styled, super-chroma-boosted cinematography. Rather than marrying the various key scenes in the film, including the charge of the cavalry, a shocking execution and a reality-defying gallop through No Man’s Land, the pockets of lighter relief seem to both trivialise and detract from the sombre but striking messages that, say, Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan are known and respected for. These moments also highlight irrelevant narrative padding, such as the extensive French-farmer-and-granddaughter domestic scenes that might provide a respite from the muddy trenches and a way to tie up loose ends in the finale, but merely digress from more important matters.

The only lighter and quite amusing moment of any worth, away from all the sadness and melodrama, is (spoiler) when a Geordie soldier (Toby Kebbell) and a German soldier (Hinnerk Schönemann) join forces in the middle of No Man’s Land to release trapped Joey, sharing a bit of banter over a pair of wire cutters. Not only does this serve the purpose of thrilling any Blackadder Goes Forth fan, but speaks volumes about the absurdity of the whole desperate war situation. Joey the horse is reemphasised as the unintentional hero, further bolstering our affections.

It might be deemed rather crass by Spielberg to strategically toy with our emotions in such a way, and to a certain extent, this type of film makes no apologies for that, down to its grand, vibrantly coloured end palette – like an enrolment poster campaign of the time. However, Spielberg has a gift of simplifying historical events for family viewing, mitigating the grim facts but still delivering a sizable punch to the senses. On the whole, War Horse may accentuate a naïve perspective of going to war and its consequences, but its moving romanticism, though prolonged and mawkish for some, is well meant.

***~~ (3/5)

What the heck is going on tonight?! Apple have obviously done a sale on trailer releases as this evening we’ve had The Dark Knight Rises trailer, then Prometheus (although that one is the trailer for the trailer) and now here is the first look footage in the trailer Wrath Of The Titans. The sequel to the 2009 movie Clash of the titans stars Sam Worthington, Toby Kebbell​, Rosamund Pike​, Ralph Fiennes​, Liam Neeson​, Danny Huston​, Edgar Ramirez​ and Bill Nighy​ and will be with us in the UK 30th March 2012.

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus—the demigod son of Zeus—is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius.

Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld.

Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus’ godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans’ strength grows stronger as Zeus’ remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth.

Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon’s demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

Here you will now find the first trailer for Wrath of the Titans!!

Source: Apple

Here’s the first look image from Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to the 2009 movie, Clash of the Titans that if I’m, honest, wasn’t very good but still managed to bring in nearly half a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.The sequel stars Sam Worthington, Toby Kebbell, Rosamund Pike, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Danny Huston, Edgar Ramirez and Bill Nighy and will be with us in the UK 30th March 2012.

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus—the demigod son of Zeus—is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius.

Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld.

Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus’ godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans’ strength grows stronger as Zeus’ remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth.

Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon’s demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

Anyone up for this movie? Tell us in the comments below.

The past few weeks have seen some excellent progress being made on the Akira remake front. Garrett Hedlund has been selected to star as one of the film’s two male leads, given the role of Kaneda. Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter have both been approached to star. And just last week, Kristen Stewart was offered the lead female role of Kei, which I think is a brilliant choice.

News now comes from Collider that there are some great names in the mix for the other male lead, Tetsuo, with seven names having tested for the role yesterday and the day before: Logan Marshall-Green, D.J. Cotrona, Toby Kebbell, Richard Madden, Rami Malek, and Paul Dano and Alden Ehrenreich retesting for the part.

Unknown’s Jaume Collet-Serra is taking the helm for the project, which has a $90m. budget, and it’s definitely something I’m looking forward to. I think Hedlund and Stewart are both going to be awesome in this, and the list of co-leads has some excellent names on it.

Personally, my vote is torn between Marshall-Green and Kebbell. I admit I don’t have much experience with the others’ roles, but Marshall-Green and Kebbell have both been so great in what I’ve seen them in that I’m rooting for either of them.

Marshall-Green may not be a household name, but with a leading role in Ridley Scott’s upcoming Prometheus, I think he’s going to be quickly rising by the time next summer rolls around.

And Kebbell was nothing short of brilliant in Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla, and I’d love to see him in more and more roles in the future. We’ll next be seeing him in the Clash of the Titans sequel, Wrath of the Titans, next March. And he’s currently filming the indie film The East, alongside Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgård, and Brit Marling, and that stellar cast makes me think that that film’s going to be so good.

With the Akira testing having been done over the past two days, I’m hoping it won’t be long before we’ll get confirmation of who’s been chosen. This is definitely a film to be keeping your eye on, and as always, we’ll be bringing you more news as and when we get it.

Robert Redford’s Lincoln assassination drama The Conspirator is out on DVD and Blu-ray on the 24th of October and we’ve been given a clip from the film to share with you.

Redford has assembled an excellent cast for the film, which had a decent, if a little short lived, theatrical release earlier in the year and the extras on the home entertainment formats include a commentary from the director as well as some historical accompaniaments to give you a little of the back story to the film.

James McAvoy​ and Robin Wright lead the cast, telling a story of the fallout of the assassinatin of Abraham Lincoln. Justin Long​, Evan Rachel Wood , Tom Wilkinson , Alexis Bledel , Johnny Simmons, Toby Kebbell , Kevin Kline and Danny Huston​ are in support.

Here’s a synopsis to further advise,

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln ’s assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Wright), 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt: her own son, John (Simmons).

Here’s the clip, check back tomorrow for our review of the film.

At the end of last month, we got the great news that Ellen Page would be joining rising young star Brit Marling – who seemingly can do it all, already having acting, writing, directing, and producing credits to her name – for her newest project, The East.

Granted, that news unfortunately came at the cost of Felicity Jones having to leave the project due to other commitments, but Page is a great actress who’ll fill Jones’ shoes nicely, so all is good in my books.

We’ve now got the brilliant news, courtesy of THR, that Toby Kebbell, best known for his fantastic performance as Johnny Quid in Guy Ritchie’s brilliant RocknRolla, is joining the increasingly excellent cast too.

“The movie centers on a female agent (Marling) from [a] private security firm that protect corporations who infiltrates a terrorist organization known as the East.”

Alexander Skarsgård (TV’s True Blood) will be playing the group’s leader, with Page being a member of the organisation.

“Kebbell will play a doctor who was treated with a tainted drug that caused him to have Parkinson’s-like symptoms.”

Marling has co-written the project with Zal Batmanglij, who will direct, with whom she worked on Sound Of My Voice, which premiered at Sundance this year alongside Marling’s other film, Another Earth, both of which have been picked up by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

The film’s basic premise sounds awesome, and its cast really is shaping up brilliantly already. I thought Kebbell really was so good as Johnny Quid in RocknRolla, and I’m really looking forward to seeing him in this. He’ll next be seen in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse next January, and then Clash of the Titans 2 alongside Sam Worthington next March.

Just because I can, I’ve embedded one of my favourite scenes from RocknRolla below to familiarise you with Kebbell’s brilliant talents in case you aren’t already aware of his excellence. It’s such a good scene, and the piano music is amazing. (The best bit starts at about 30 seconds in.)

To mark the release of The Veteran on DVD and Blu-ray on August 29th, Revolver Entertainment have given us five copies of the movie to give away on DVD.

Revolver Entertainment presents acclaimed British actor and BAFTA-nominee Toby Kebbell (Prince of Persia, Control, RocknRolla ) in The Veteran, the gritty, hard-hitting tale of Robert Miller, a young soldier returning from Afghanistan, unable to fit back into society and soon targeted as a clandestine operative to monitor suspected terrorists in Britain.

Writer/Director Matthew Hope (The Vanguard) helms this independent production, which he scripted with Robert Henry Craft, a former member of The Parachute Regiment who completed 24 years of exemplary service including active service worldwide. Although fiction, the film reflects on his experiences of adapting to civilian life, along with trying to self-manage PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).

Pertinent to the current social climate, The Veteran explores the link between the war on terror and the war on drugs, from the soldiers on the front line to the drug dealers on the streets of Britain and how both are controlled and manipulated directly and indirectly by the government.

The film is shot on location in London; featuring BAFTA and EMMY award winner and Golden Globe nominee Brian Cox CBE (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, X:Men X2), grime music star Ashley Thomas (Shank, 4.3.2.1), Tom Brooke (The Boat That Rocked, The Young Victoria), Tony Curran (The Adventures of Tin Tin) and Military trained Israeli actress Adi Bielski.

The Veteran brings together a host of talents to deliver a tension filled, cautionary story of a war closer to home.

To be in with a chance of winning the movie, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who plays the character Robert Miller in the movie, The Veteran?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 5th September at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

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

Robert Redford’s Lincoln assassination drama The Conspirator is now out in the UK, although without a huge amount of fanfare so let’s get everyone in the mood with a new poster, shall we?

We’ve seen a few images and had ourselves a trailer and anything with James McAvoy will stir a certain section of the UK audience and there’s a decent cast with Robin Wright, Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood , Tom Wilkinson , Alexis Bledel , Johnny Simmons, Toby Kebbell , Kevin Kline and Danny Huston alongside McAvoy.

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln ’s assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Wright), 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt: her own son, John (Simmons).

Here’s your poster,

Start clapping like impressed sea-lions at the people from IMPA

With shades of Taxi Driver and (if not thematically-matched) still a little hint of First Blood, The Veteran stars Toby Kebbell as Robert Miller, a former soldier back in London after a stint in Afghanistan and suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. It doesn’t help that he’s living in a violent housing estate either, proceeded over by drug lord Tyrone (Ashley Bashy Thomas) who is interested in Miller working as an enforcer for him. Lost on civvies street, and without a clue as to what he wants to do with his life, he hooks up with an old friend from the forces and agrees to do some undercover surveillance for a couple of shady government operatives (Tony Curran and Brian Cox). He soon finds (surprise, surprise) that all is not what it seems, and he’s drawn back into having to adapt to his military mindset once more.

The Veteran is a surprisingly watchable thriller which succeeds despite its obviously low-budget limitations. It also showcases some really solid work from Kebbell, who is completely at ease with carrying the film. The actor first showed considerable promise as Paddy Considine’s slow-minded younger brother in 2004’s Dead Man’s Shoe’s, and like his older sibling in that film, Kebbell is similarly commanding in his portrayal here of someone who is on the edge emotionally, while still trying to keep a lid on his exterior.

There’s some good work from the supporting cast too. Thomas gives a very credible and menacing performance without ever resorting to clichéd gangster theatrics and Curran is also very good, as is Cox who, in little more than an extended cameo, still makes a strong impressive in a limited screen time.

The sparse, gritty shooting style lends the film some gravitas and the two converging plot strands work well before meshing together at the end, where an exciting, if credibility-stretching, shoot-out resembles a mini-Heat meets inner-city London.

Assisted by a dark and ominous electronic score, director Matthew Hope successfully injects a feeling of unease throughout, and like the aforementioned gun battle, is equally adept at staging large(ish) scale action sequences alongside the more sobering, reflective character moments. A riverside struggle and battle to the death between Kebbell and an assailant is suitably gripping and visceral, bringing to mind the grimy milieu of the likes of Get Carter. It’s also nice to see a UK genre piece with a little political edge.

It’s a shame the conspiracy reveal towards the end tips the film into the realm of fantasy, undoing some of the solid work which has come beforehand and jarring with the social and political points. The ending too, while uncompromising and unflinching in its bleakness, feels a little abrupt and is missing a satisfying coda.

That being said, The Veteran still has a lot going for it, and will undoubtedly find a loving home on DVD. While it will be almost certainly be marketed in lad’s mags as a “violent” and “explosive” shoot-em’ up, there is clearly more going on within the film than that, and as a sophomore effort, it definitely marks Hope as a talent to watch.

***~~ (3/5)

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions, via Yahoo! Movies, have released the first official trailer for political thriller The Conspirator.

Directed by Robert Redford, The Conspirator stars Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood, Tom Wilkinson, Alexis Bledel, Johnny Simmons, Toby Kebbell, Kevin Kline and Danny Huston.

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Wright), 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt: her own son, John (Simmons).

The Conspirator will be released in the US in April. A UK release date is not yet known.

While Mickey Rourke may have found himself back on solid, if familiar, ground with roles in The Expendables and Iron Man 2, it was his role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler that reminded us of what a great on-screen presence the man can be.

Now we get a chance to see him in the first clip to emerge from Mitch Glazer’s Passion Play, courtesy of ET (via The Playlist).

A bewinged Megan Fox stars opposite Rourke and director Glazer has seen fit to throw Rhys Ifans, who recently impressed in Greenberg opposite Ben Stiller, Kelly Lynch and Bill Murray into the mix, making for an intriguing cast.

The film is appearing at Toronto and we’re looking forward to hearing some reactions to this one.

Here’s the clip.

Mickey Rourke (so good as the battered and bruised wrestler in Darren Aronosky’s film) continues on the comeback trail with this intriguing-looking period romance, entitled Passion Play.

The Playlist have posted this image of both Rourke and his love interest in the film Megan Fox, who is playing an angel who hooks up Mickey’s jazz trumpet player as they both try to evade being captured by a ruthless gangster played by Bill Murray (who replaces young up-and-coming Brit star Toby Kebbell).

Featuring an eclectic supporting cast (alongside Murray, there’s the likes of Rhys Ifans, Kelly Lynch, Rory Cochrane, and Harold and Maude’s Bud Cort), the film is set to receive it’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month and may also mark the first time an audience actually get to see Fox give a decent performance.

Could be worth the ticket price alone.

Today sees the release of the latest collaboration between Jerry Bruckheimer and Walt Disney Pictures in the form of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The movie stars Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Monica Bellucci, Toby Kebbell and is directed by Jon Turteltaub.

Our friends from Upbeat got to meet and interview the cast from the movie for us along with the director and Producing legend, Jerry Bruckheimer!

Our review went live yesterday and you can see it here. For all our coverage of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, visit this very handy link!

Thanks to Simon Thompson for conducting the interviews for us.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is released in the UK tomorrow and promises to make your summer more magical than ever before. Read on to find out if the it will fulfill the magical quota…..

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the latest movie between long-standing collaborators, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer films. This is the 2nd movie to be released by the two power-houses in 2010 with the first being Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Where as Prince of Persia was based on a computer game, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice got its inspiration from a sequence in Disney’s Fantasia which was created back in 1940 – but does a short sequence lend itself to becoming a full length feature film?

Fantasia is possibly one of Walt Disney’s most famous movies as it showed off just how creative his team of artists really could be. I wonder if Walt ever thought that a live action movie could be spawned from one sequence in Fantasia? I guess we’ll never know but obviously someone at Disney thought it could be done. So, as if by magic, here is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Monica Bellucci, Toby Kebbell. It’s directed by Jon Turteltaub who worked with Cage, Bruckheimer and Disney previously on the National Treasure movies.

So what exactly is the movie about? Brooms washing floors for 90 minutes? Have a read of the synopsis and it’ll tell you a little more:

Walt Disney Studios, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub, the creators of the “National Treasure” franchise, present “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” — an innovative and epic comedy adventure about a sorcerer and his hapless apprentice who are swept into the center of an ancient conflict between good and evil.

Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina).  Balthazar can’t do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protégé.  The sorcerer gives his unwilling accomplice a crash course in the art and science of magic, and together, these unlikely partners work to stop the forces of darkness.  It’ll take all the courage Dave can muster to survive his training, save the city and get the girl as he becomes “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” The screenplay is by Matt Lopez and Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard from a screen story by Matt Lopez and Larry Konner & Mark Rosenthal.

The movie opens with a voice over to end all voice-overs. It goes on forever. I guess they had to do this though so that we knew what was going on, as the entire opening sequence is a montage of information (overload) so that we could then work out what was going on for the rest of the movie. Unfortunately the voice-over is so badly put together, from the get-go, you start to think that maybe paying £10 for this at the cinema could have been a mistake.

The opening sequence to the movie is actually very good and features Jake Cherry (as young Dave) trying to work out if the prettiest girl at school is interested in going out with him. Through various circumstances, Dave finds himself in an old antique shop where we get to see Sorcerer, Nicolas Cage for the first time. Then cue Alfred Molina and the fight is on using magic galore. This is where the CGI guys got to shine and thinking back on it, was probably my favourite part of the movie. The banter between Molina and Cage is great and watching them come up with different magical tricks to out-do one another was excellent. The issue here is, do you really want the best bit of the movie to be in the first 5 minutes?

So why was that the best bit? Well, it’s mainly because after that scene, 10 years pass and older Dave (now Jay Baruchel) turns up and just doesn’t suit the part whatsoever. He’s supposed to be a geeky kid who’s trying to find his place in the world but with silly dialogue, a bad screenplay and some silly actions like knuckle-bumps, it just seems all a bit poor.

I don’t know if it’s Baruchel’s fault. He was cast in the movie by some people who obviously thought he was perfect for the role. But they’re trying to make a movie funny when it doesn’t need to be. This leads me onto another point. Who is this movie aimed at? I’ve seen it and I still don’t know. Kids may love it for the silliness side of it but i think even kids may find some of the ‘comedy’ as unfunny as adults would.

There are however a few redeeming features. Both Alfred Molina and Toby Kebbell are excellent in every scene in which they appeared. The more I see of Kebbell, the more I realise how versatile an actor he is. I first saw him in Shane Meadows’ Dead Man’s Shoes which was one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Every time he appears in a movie, I know his performance will be excellent and he’s obviously caught the eye of Disney / Bruckheimer as he also appeared in Prince of Persia earlier this year.

The two leading ladies in the movie are Teresa Palmer and Monca Bellucci. Palmer plays Dave’s love interest and although she puts in an OK performance, she too has little to work with and the chemistry between her and Baruchel is completely unbelievable from the start. Bellucci is hardly in the movie which is a real shame as she’s such a great actress. For the one scene that she does appear in, she’s the excellent, beautiful, veteran actress that we’ve all come to know and love.

So, as you may have gathered, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice isn’t the greatest movie I’ve ever seen. The target audience is a little muddled and if I’d spent £10 on a ticket to see this at the cinema, I’d be a little disappointed. Some of the CGI scenes were excellent, mainly the car chases where you see a classic old fashioned car turn into a top of the range Mercedes, then go through a mirror to flip over into a clever ‘backward world’ (you’ll understand what I mean when you see it). The various nods to other films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (with Alfred Molina) were brilliant but must be in there for the adults as I don’t think a child would ever spot it. Also so make sure you stay to the end of the credits for a little nod to Fantasia and a possible sequel.

In a nutshell though, wait for the DVD!

I hope you’re keeping up with the lovely new posters we’re posting for Disney’s next big thing, the Nicolas Cage fronted Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and now there’s a lovely trailer to complement them.

If you’re a fan of CG heavy movies about magic then you’ll probably love this one, and it comes to you from the hands of Dave’s fave – Jerry Bruckheimer – which tells you all you need to know.

There’s some new footage on offer here, and it looks slick enough, with magic abounding all over the place and Mr. Cage has on his spooky hat so you can’t argue.

Here’s a synopsis for you.

Walt Disney Studios, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub, the creators of the “National Treasure” franchise, present THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE,  an innovative and epic comedy adventure about a sorcerer and his hapless apprentice who are swept into the center of an ancient conflict between good and evil. Balthazar Blake (NICOLAS CAGE) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (ALFRED MOLINA). Balthazar can’t do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler (JAY BARUCHEL), a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protégé.

Disney / Bruckheimer have released a brand new behind the scenes look at their latest movie, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice which is directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) and stars Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Monica Bellucci and Toby Kebbell.

The movie has a US release date of July 16th but we don’t get it until 13th August.

Synopsis: Synopsis: Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). Balthazar can’t do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protégé. The sorcerer gives his unwilling accomplice a crash course in the art and science of magic, and together, these unlikely partners work to stop the forces of darkness. It’ll take all the courage Dave can muster to survive his training, save the city and get the girl as he becomes THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE.

Source: Yahoo