End of the world movies have a special place in my heart. Is it the place in my heart that flares up whenever I'm sat in a crowded cinema screen filled with obnoxious loud mouths? Yes, but the general vicinity of that place is still my heart, so it counts.
In a piece of casting gold, Peter Jackson has signed up Billy Connolly for the two-picture adaptation of The Hobbit. He is joining the film as Dain Ironfoot, a great dwarf warrior and cousin of Richard Armitage's Thorin Oakenshield.
The good folks at STUDIOCANAL are undertaking a joint restoration project with HAMMER FILMS to restore and release on DVD and as blu-ray premiers, some of their most iconic horror titles.
Starting March 5th with one of Hammer's most iconic characters, they will be releasing on double-play DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS, starring Christopher Lee and Barbara Shelley. Along with the fully restored film, there will be a comprehensive extras package produced in association with Hammer expert and author Marcus Hearn.
Further titles to be released in this restoration programme will include THE REPTILE and THE PLAGUE OF ZOMBIES, both arriving to blu-ray for the first time on May 7th, with more to follow later this year.
Alex Proyas' adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost had already been placed on hold whilst Legendary Pictures sought to resolve budgeting issues, but now the project has been shelved entirely.
The Woman In Black opens in UK cinemas this weekend (check out Alex's review here), and the newly revived Hammer studios shows no signs of stopping by picking up the rights to Gaslight, a "spooky thriller" that deals with Jack the Ripper.
Nick Fury and the international agency S.H.I.E.L.D. bring together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.
Any review of Tinker Tailor inevitably has to state that the film is a world away from the flash-bang-wallop oeuvres of Messrs Bond and Bourne. There is talking. Lots of talking. If you don’t like lots of talking then don’t watch it but what the film categorically is not is boring. From the opening sequence of a meeting gone wrong in Czechoslovakiato the final, bitter, montage set to a disco crooner’s version of La Mer, each shot is wrung for maximum tension and suffused with palpable mournfulness. The two primary factors for this: the assured but unshowy direction of Tomas Alfredson and Gary Oldman’s meticulous performance.
Entertainment Weekly has a quite extensive feature on Seven Psychopaths, Martin McDonagh's second feature after the critically acclaimed In Bruges. The piece contains some revealing quotes, mild spoilers regarding supporting cast members, and four pictures. This is the first official look at the film we have seen.
