As an exercise in controlled madness, Werner Herzog’s remake – or is it? – of Abel Ferrara’s celebrated 1992 film certainly has plenty of screws loose before the credits roll. The charismatic German director has often been drawn to eccentric loners in his documentaries and demented heroes in his works of fiction. His tempestuous working relationship with actor Klaus Kinski on Aguirre: Wrath Of God, Nosferatu and Fitzcarraldo is the stuff of Hollywood legend – the filmmaker famously threatened his leading man with a loaded gun to prevent him from walking off set.
T-Rex was right, the British love to boogie, and not just on a Saturday night. For the past two years, the winners of the top-rated ITV1 series Britain’s Got Talent have been dance acts George Sampson and Diversity respectively. BBC One and Sky1 have wooed viewers with rival shows So You Think You Can Dance and Just Dance in addition to old stalwart Strictly Come Dancing, and cinema audiences have got their groove on to Step Up, Stomp The Yard, Make It Happen and Fame. Directors Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini celebrate the inventiveness of UK street dance in the first live action feature film to be shot entirely in 3D outside of America.
Since his ultra-low budget 1994 debut, Clerks, writer-director Kevin Smith has forged his reputation and cult status with potty-mouthed comedies, which celebrate the unspoken bonds of friendship between men. No better is this exemplified that the misfit characters of Jay and Silent Bob, who wreak havoc in many of his films. Smith brings those same sensibilities to bear on the action comedy Cop Out, about a pair of NYPD officers on the trail of a stolen baseball card.
“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you… Three, four, better lock your door…” In 1984, writer-director Wes Craven unleashed one of cinema’s most iconic and dearly beloved boogiemen: Freddy Krueger. Dressed in an eye-catching red and green striped sweater and a beaten fedora, Freddy stalked his victims in their dreams, killing them with a glove of razor sharp knives. Craven officially laid his hideously-disfigured creation to rest in 1994 with the self-referential New Nightmare and now, more than 15 years later, Freddy is resurrected in a slick yet soulless remake that doesn’t have a clue how to scare an audience.
Director Ridley Scott and leading man Russell Crowe reunite for a thunderous new chapter in the legend of everyone’s favourite 12th century pick-pocketer. Shot with Scott’s typical bombast, this Robin Hood juxtaposes spectacular battle scenes with romantic interludes, political intrigue and melancholic flashbacks, all set to Marc Treitenfeld’s rumbustious score. It’s unabashedly macho and predictable with an inevitable battle cry for Crowe to rally the troops into action: Gladiarcher, if you will. No green tights in sight this time around, but it’s still good fun all the same.
Miley Cyrus + the author of The Notebook and Dear John? A quirky but lovable character that finds herself in a heartwarming but ultimately doomed situation? Yep, you’re going to get exactly what you expect. The tweeny-pop sensation has essentially chosen the perfect vehicle in The Last Song for a transition from pop singer to… well… pop actress. But it is actually a film that will affect anyone other than her existing fan base? Probably not.
Everyone loves a buddy comedy, right? Sure the laughs are cheap, but generally they’re thick, fast and cheerful, with a plot that careers like an enthusiastic labrador to a satisfyingly predictable conclusion. Bless them, we say. Bless all who ride in them. Unless, of course, you’re talking about Hot Tub Time Machine; the laziest, dully-degrading, least funny bromance movie we’ve seen in some time, made all the more offensive by the evident comic potential of the cast. Oh dear oh dear. And the title was so awesome.
Cute and cuddly woodland creatures including squirrels, deer, mice and groundhogs are revolting. Revolting against the real estate developers, who are encroaching on their territory, razing acres of lush, natural habitat to make way for ecologically-unsound housing estates. In Roger Kumble’s family-orientated comedy, Mother Nature fights back tooth and claw (and hoof and feather) against the pesky human invaders. And Brendan Fraser is in it. For some reason.
A young woman faces a terrifying ordeal in J Blakeson’s accomplished feature directorial debut. The Disappearance Of Alice Creed is an edge of seat thriller that by its simple design – three characters trapped predominantly in one location – could easily have started life on the stage. The film even adopts a classic three act structure, bookmarked by twists that force us to re-evaluate the fragile balance of power.
Absence should make the heart grow fonder but has anyone missed Jennifer Lopez on the big screen during her four-year hiatus to raise fraternal twins with husband Marc Anthony? The slow-burning 1998 thriller Out Of Sight with George Clooney remains her best work, sandwiched between the camp B-movie Anaconda and numerous instantly-forgettable romantic comedies. Lopez makes her return to pouting in front of the camera in Alan Poul’s whimsical chick flick, which asserts that love happens when you least expect it. Excited? Yep.
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