Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts

Saturday, 22 June 2013

Part 2 - Is 2013 the year for nerd cinema?

Continuing our round up of this years must see Nerd films we take a look at the upcoming movies for the rest of this year

Despicable Me 2 (July 2013) - Steve Carell
The LONG overdue sequel to the amazing 2010 Chris Meledandri movie starring Steve Carell as villian Gru who adopts 3 young girls in an effort to fulfill his plan to steal the moon.  Gru eventually realises that family is what matters and becomes a good guy - aided by his little yellow Minions who steal the film so much that they even have their own spin off due out Christmas 2014.


Monsters University (July 2013) - John Goodman, Billy Crystal
The sequel that's actually a prequel explores the beginning of the relationship between the best scare team in the history of Monsters Incorporated - Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan.

It's great to see that the whole team are back for the sequel and are joined by Nathan Fillion in the role of Johnny Worthington, president of the Roar Omega Roar fraternity.



The Worlds End (July 2013) - Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
The third installment of Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy looks set to storm the box office when it opens next month with many cinemas showing the previous two films back to back before a midnight premiere.  Blending equal parts Shaun of the Dead and Falling Skies the story starts with five friends attempting to re-enact a pub crawl from over 20 years earlier and unwittingly becoming the possible saviours of the entire human race!
  
The Wolverine (July 2013) - Hugh Jackman
Hopefully this X-Men spin off will prove to be far better than that god awful Wolverine Origin movie that was released in 2009, the only good part of that film was the genius casting of Liev Schrieber as Sabretooth (although it was still a shame not to see Tyler Mane return to the role).  Early photo's look promising and the fact that this is a 15 instead of a family friendly PG-13 like it's predecessor indicate we'll see a darker story and a meaner Wolverine.  Drawing from Wolverine's Japanese saga storyline, which I'm a big fan of, I'm looking forward to seeing if this Wolverine wants to shred your face or simply sleep on your lap.

Pacific Rim (July 2013) - Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba
There are three things that make this film awesome -

  • ~ Guillermo Del Toro
  • ~ Big fucking monsters
  • ~ Big ass robots

If that doesn't give you a little wood already then you're dead from the waist down and may as well go euthanize yourself right now before you waste more oxygen.


R.I.P.D (August 2013) - Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon
Adapted from the Dark Horse comic book of the same name Reynolds plays cop Nick Cruz who joins the supernatural Rest In Peace Department after his murder.  Teamed with Bridges veteran agent Roy Pulsipher the pair protect the living from supernatural entities who refuse to pass on to the afterlife whilst attempting to track down Cruz's killer.


Kick-Ass 2 (August 2013) - Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Taylor-Johnson returns in the titular role joining forces with Colonel Stars and Stripes (played by Jim Carrey) to patrol the city and protect the innocent.  Meanwhile Hit-Girl (Moretz) has 'retired' and is trying to enjoy a normal life and supervillian Red Mist (Mintz-Plasse) reinvents himself as The Mother Fucker and attempts to exact revenge on Kick-Ass for killing his father.



RED 2 (August 2013) - Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren
Following on from the previous film Frank Moses (Willis) is trying to lead a normal life, again, when he's notified that Interpol are hunting for him.  In the process of trying to clear his name he has to disarm a nuclear device in Russia, fend off the amorous advances of an old flame, and avoid being assassinated... all in a days work apparently.



Elysium (August 2013) - Matt Damon, Jodie Foster
Neill Blomkamp's follow up film to 2009's hugely successful District 9 this sci-fi actioner will follow similiar themes to those explored in D9 such as immigration, health care, and class separation.  Set in a not too distant dystopian future the rich live on a crime free floating city called Elysium whilst everyone else struggles to survive on a dirty, crowded, Earth far below.


Riddick - Rule the Dark (September 2013) - Vin Diesel
Back to an 'R' rating in the states the new Riddick movie looks alot like a re-hash of the original Pitch Black with Riddick fighting nasty alien beasties in the dark.  Set after Chronicles Diesel's third outing see's him betrayed and left for dead on a desolate planet fighting off bounty hunters attracted by the price on his head.  Karl Urban has been confirmed to reprise his role as Vaako from Chronicles so it will be interesting to see how Twohy and Diesel rounded off the Necromonger's story arc from the last movie.



Machete Kills (September 2013 (US)) - Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Mel Gibson
Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale Machete in Robert Rodriguez second Mexploitation flick which features more over the top action and an equally over the top plot.  Mel Gibson joins the cast as the billionaire arms dealer hell bent on starting World War 3 that Machete is sent to stop by the American president (played by Charlie Sheen).  Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez reprise their roles from the original film and there's even a place for Sofia Vergara, Alexa Vega, and Lady Gaga?!?



Oldboy (October 2013 (US)) - Josh Brolin
Spike Lee's remake of the cult Korean film and Manga of the same name has received positive feedback from viewings of an early rough cut.  Josh Brolin plays the lead role of an executive who is incarcerated in solitary confinement for 20 years with no reason given and is then, just as suddenly, released.

Hopefully this remake will be better than the terrible remakes of other cult asian cinema classics like Ringu, Ju-on, and The Eye.


Thor: The Dark World (October 2013) - Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston
Hemsworth reprises the role of Thor for his third outing as the God of thunder.  Set approximately one year after the end of The Avengers movie Thor must battle Malekith the Accursed (played by Christopher Eccleston) and his army of Dark Elves in order to save the Nine Realms.  Hiddleston returns as Thor's adopted brother Loki, Portman returns as the love interest Jane Foster and we get to discover more of Asgard and it's inhabitants.



Ender's Game (October 2013) - Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford
Never having read the books I've not been caught up in the hype of this one but considering the following for the series it seems only right to include it here.

The series follows Ender Wiggin, a shy but brilliant boy as he's recruited by the military to help defeat a race of aliens called the Formics who have attacked Earth.  The trailer looks stunning and, considering the wealth of source material, this could be another Harry Potter franchise.


The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 2013) - Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson
The second film in the series continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark after their victory at the 74th Annual Hunger Games when they must embark on a victory tour as rebellion stirs in the districts.

I enjoyed the first film but didn't understand why everyone raved about it so much, it pretty much stole the idea of kids fighting each other in a TV show from Battle Royale and didn't manage to do it with quite so much style.  I hope Catching Fire is better than the first film but I won't be rushing out to see it.


The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 2013) - Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen
I'm going to make an admission here... I still haven't seen The Hobbit yet.  I want to see it but, with a baby, finding three hours of time to watch a film is pretty difficult, in addition to that I'm unsure how Peter Jackson can take a book considerably smaller than the Lord of the Rings trilogy and make it into a series of 3 films of nearly 3 hours each.



Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (December 2013) - Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate
I don't know how to put this but... this films kind of a big deal.

Set 10 years after the original Anchorman this film finds the news team disbanded and at rock bottom until they are recruited for a 24 hour cable news show in New York City.  Prepare for the triumphant return of Ron, Brian, Champ, and Brick (not forgetting Baxter of course) - News Team Assemble!!!!



An honourable mention goes to Sin City: A Dame to Kill For which was due for release in October 2013 but was pushed back to August 2014 whilst this post was being written which sucks but does give us more to look forward to next year.

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

Part 1 - Is 2013 the year for nerd cinema?

This is a massive year for nerd film lovers everywhere with a whole glut of awesome looking movies due for release and no fewer than NINE comic book adaptations being released over the course of the year.  In addition to these comic book adaptations there's some rebooted franchises, re-imaginings of cult movies, and  some long awaited sequels.

Bullet to the Head (Feb 2013) - Sylvester Stallone
Based on the graphic novel Headshot (Du Plomb Dans La TĂȘte) by French writer Alexis Nolent, 2012's Bullet to the Head stars Stallone as a hitman who joins forces with a police detective to take down a common enemy when their respective partners are killed.  

It received a score of 48/100 on Metacritic with it's generic plot and back-to-the-80's action, it's the action movie equivelant of Marmite - you either love it or hate it.



Warm Bodies (February 2013) - Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer
Starring Nicholas Hoult (the awkward duck killing Marcus Brewer from About a Boy) Warm Bodies is adapted from the novel of the same name.  Zombie, R, spends his days wandering around an abandoned airport with his fellow zombies until one day he sees Julie and is drawn to her.

Billed as a zombie romance and with a Metacritic score of 59/100 it received mixed, but mostly positive, reviews and I'm including it here cos I'm a sucker for a good zombie flick.
-,

A Good Day to Die Hard (February 2013) - Bruce Willis
The return of everyone's favourite vest wearing supercop the fifth outing for John McClane moved the action from the US to Russia in a bid to breathe new life into the franchise.  Focusing more on family, relationships and attempting to develop the characters of McClane and his son the film swings from (almost) hallmark moments between the pair to overly long chase scenes and by the book gun fights.  A disappointing part of a franchise I dearly love but I guess Hans Gruber can only have so many brothers... To be fair though I did only watch half of it, the rest I was asleep for - not surprising considering the Metacritic score of 28/100 with only one positive review.



Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 2013) - James Franco
A re-imagining (and a prequel of sorts) to the much loved classic The Wizard of Oz tells the story of small time magician Oscar Diggs who finds himself transported to the land of Oz.  Passing himself off as a great Wizard he's soon drawn into a power struggle between three rival witches.

With a Metacritic score of 44/100 it received many mixed reviews from critics but favourable reviews from cinemagoers.


G.I. Joe: Retaliation (March 2013) - Channing Tatum, The Rock, Bruce Willis
Another comic book movie and a sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra which, suprisingly, wasn't that terrible but neither was it anything outstanding either.  The forever delayed sequel adds the star power of The Rock and Bruce Willis to try to make it bigger and better than it's predecessor which it appears to have achieved as it managed to score a Metacritic rating of 41 compared to the first films 32.  G.I. Joe is a dearly loved and very major franchise in the US and any attempt to bring it to the screen was always going to get met with some fairly harsh criticism by the fans but at the end of the day this film does exactly what it promises to do - it blows shit up and doesn't take itself too seriously whilst it's doing it.


Evil Dead (April 2013) - Jessica Lucas
I'm a HUGE fan of Sam Raimis original Evil Dead series so an attempt to remake any them was always going to be met with a massive amount of skepticism from yours truly.  At the moment I've not seen it, partly because I love the original so much I don't want this one to foul the experience of watching one of my favourite horror movies and partly because it's Metacritic reviews vary so wildly from 'It's everything a horror movie should be' to 'starts well but soon degenerates into tiresome shock gore'


Iron Man 3 (May 2013) - Robert Downey Jr, Ben Kingsley, Gwyneth Paltrow
Robert Downey Juniors third solo outing as the man in the iron suit, I've yet to see this film but am really looking forward to it as I've heard good things about it and can't wait to see Sir Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin.  Whether it's the script or Downey Junior as the smug yet charismatic Tony Stark I'm not sure but this is one of my favourite Marvel franchises even though I was never a huge fan of the comic books when I was growing up preferring Spiderman over Iron Man.


Star Trek Into Darkness (May 2013) - Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch
Writing this has got me realising just how many films I've missed this year so far and the new Star Trek is one of those, JJ Abrams sequel to 2009's amazing franchise reboot promises more of the same but with the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch (who seems to be everywhere at the moment).  I'm looking forward to seeing how Abram's continues the new alternate universe he created with the time travelling Romulan planet killers from the first film.


Man of Steel (June 2013) - Henry Cavill, Amy Adams
The trailer for Zack Snyder's reboot of the Superman franchise promises all sorts of awesomeness with Henry Cavill donning the red cape to battle Michael Shannon's Kryptonian uber-baddie General Zod.  Going on Snyder's previous comic book adaptations (Watchmen, 300) you can expect the visuals to be jaw droppingly awesome and for the story to stick pretty close to it's source material.

I was never a big fan of Superman as I prefer my heroes to have a bit of a dark side (like Batman) but I'm pretty excited about this one!!!


World War Z (June 2013) - Brad Pitt
I really enjoyed the source novel when I read it so am looking forward to seeing how it's been adapted into a movie considering the book was written as a collection of individual accounts and records of a ten year battle against the zombies which seemed pretty difficult to adapt.

The film stars Pitt as Gerry Lane a retired UN employee who travels the world trying to find a cure to the zombie pandemic sweeping the earth.