Ninja Assassin is an abysmal car crash of a movie, not even redeemed by its semi-slick and overly-repetitious fight scenes. Jeong Ji-hoon, AKA Rain, gurns and grunts his way through this daft revenge fantasy as Raizo, a trained-from-childhood ninja who becomes disillusioned with his taskmasters’ shady dealings and harsh discipline. The Wachowski brothers once more prove themselves as a laughing stock, a one-trick-pony whose sell by date expired at the precise moment the first Matrix film ended. With any luck, this dreck will be the last we see of ’em, and good riddance.
The Boys are Back doesn’t work as well as it thinks it does. By all accounts, it should be a stand-out for the drama genre this year – a teary but heart-warming memoir of an absentee dad thrust into single parenthood, brought to the screen by the king of the subtle dramatic performance, Clive Owen. Add in some lovely scenic shots of the South Australian coast and acclaimed Shine director Scott Hicks at the helm, and you should be onto a winner. While it’s an interesting look at what loss can do to a family, it’s not exactly a warm-and-fuzzy tale for the ages.
Though Toy Story 2 3D is not the immersive, mind-blowing experience that watching Avatar is, there’s no denying that this film only gets better with the added technology. And the difference is that – unlike Avatar- Toy Story 2 never had to rely on its special effects to captivate your attention.
The acclaimed director of Slumdog Millionnaire, 28 Days Later and Trainspotting has announced today that he plans to return to his theatrical roots having been, as he says, “distracted for 15 years by the movies.” He has decided to direct a theatrical adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at the National Theatre.
Catholic schools. Priests. Sexual abuse allegations. Does this equal a film we’d want to see? Probably not. At best, it would be dull, at worst quite disturbing. Nevertheless, given the Oscar hype surrounding this adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s play last year, we decided it couldn’t be that bad. In fact, this 1960’s-set drama centring around a nun’s mission to prove a progressive priest guilty of sexual abuse of a student turned out to be quite a unique and thought-provoking film experience.
David Tennant to play Bilbo Baggins? Maybe, according to a (quickly deleted) Tweet from his (now ex) Burke and Hare star Simon Pegg, who makes more than one hint at Tennant heading to Middle Earth…
Gran Torino is vintage Clint Eastwood at his best. From Dirty Harry to Million Dollar Baby, he’s made his signature character into an art form, a hypnotising, hardened beast of a human that you can’t take your eyes off, and yet one that’s never without redeeming qualities either. In this self-directed tale of a bigoted retiree coming to terms with his Asian neighbours in middle America, Eastwood gives us enough bad-ass attitude, along with poignant drama to stand Gran Torino alongside his earlier Oscar-winning efforts.
Super-secret showing of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World reveals a classic in the making! In Vegas, the select few were treated to a test audience screening of Edgar Wright’s up-and-coming Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and all the results say this is gonna be an awesome mashup of everything we love about the cinema. And NES games. Hell yes.
Paramount have announced their reboot of Footloose is no more. Seems they’re finally listening to the public’s cries of “Dear God, no more remakes!” Either that or both their star director and lead actor have dropped out.
Confirmation of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides came yesterday, announced (oddly enough) by the Governor of Hawaii. The Pirates team plan to film on the Hawaiian islands of Kaua’i and O’ahu and so it was the proud job of the local government to tell the world of their upcoming visitors.
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