Friday 27 April 2012

Trank developing Fantastic Four for Fox

The mind behind found-footage super-power film 'Chronicle' will be developing Marvel's 'Fantastic Four' reboot, it was revealed at Cinemacon.

Whether Trank will be directing the reboot is still unsure but we do know that he will be developing the story and maybe the script which was announced by an executive for Fox at the film convention.

More news when we get it!


Wednesday 25 April 2012

The Avengers - An All Of The Above Review

Directed By: Joss Whedon

Written by : Joss Whedon, Zack Penn

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johanssen, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Jeremy Renner,



Since the beginning we comic book fans have dreamt of seeing our favourite super-heroes on the big screen, we thought that the animated shows were as good as it was going to get, we were wrong.

We've known for a long time that Marvel were planning on changing the way we watch super-hero films for a few years now, starting with 'Iron-man' and leading up to probably the most anticipated super-hero movie of all time.

Hopefully by now you would have seen every Marvel film since 'Iron-Man' seeing as every single one of those films have been setting up this cinematic event. If you haven't, shame on you, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?

'The Avengers (Assemble)' tells the story of The Earth's Mightiest heroes joining together to save the Earth from evil, in this case, evil comes in the form of the Aesir Trickster-God Loki Laufi-Son and his mysterious alien army the Tchi'tari who (as all villains aim to do), take over the world.

Without saying too much more about the story and the characters within i can safely say Whedon hits the nail on the head with every bit of it. The story is great, funny and keeps you interested and the characters work well together...or do they?

As always Downey Jr seems to steel the show (that's meant to be a pun, not a typo) whenever he is on screen but doesn't seem to be much of a problem as Tony Stark is pretty much the scene-stealer in every sense of the word.

Evan's Captain America is exactly how you would expect him to be along with Hemsworth's Thor but it was the surprising performances by Johanssen's Black Widow who really took a step up since 'Iron-Man 2' bringing more to the film in terms of character and ability (her being one of two non-superpowered heroes). Renner's Hawkeye was awesome which is well-deserved as he is the only character other than Black Widow who hasn't had their own movie...but my guess he will after this.

Tom Hiddleston returned as the conniving Loki and by George did he do it! Hiddleston is frightening, dangerous and oh so creeptastic letting everyone know why Loki deserved to be the first villain to battle the movie version of the Avengers!

Have I forgotten anyone? Oh yeh! Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner! Let me start in saying I was skeptical in how the actor-change would go down...I can confirm that it was for the best! Ruffalo's Banner is smart and genuinely creepy, he hides anger behind his smile but is totally under control, and the Hulk? Is the baddest mofo in the entire film! The green-machine didn't have as much screen-time as the rest but he didn't need it as when he did emerge he was all you wanted to see, pulling off some of the best action scenes in the film. Ruffalo is Bruce Banner, and that's awesome.

Jackson's Nick Fury was ok but not as good as I Thought he would be but it's no real big deal as we all just want to see the Avengers kick butt!

The action sequences are amazing, the direction is great and the script is clever and very funny and on top of it all Stan Lee is in it too!

There are a load of comic book refrences that I'll keep to my self and let you see for yourself but whether you are an avid Marvel fan or just there for the ride you will not be dissappointed.

All in all, Whedon's Avengers is brilliant, it's fast paced (which is great for how long the film is) it's funny and it's exactly what we expected it would be, my only problem is that we have to wait a few years for the sequel..which is guaranteed if Marvel have anything to do with it.

5/5 stars


By George Kleanthous

Friday 20 April 2012

Lockout - Die-Hard in space? An All Of The Above Review

Directed By: James Mather, Stephen St. Legar

Written By: James Mather, Stephen St. Legar, Luc Besson

Starring: Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Vincent Regan, Joseph Gilgun,Lennie James, Peter Stormare,

Guy Pearce is wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage is offered freedom if he can save the President's daughter (Grace) who is stuck on an outer-space prison over-run by blood-thirsty deranged inmates.

Now that the synopsis is out of the way I can get down to the real business, the review!

Starting with a literal punch in the face you immediately get the feeling that this film's main in the shape of Guy Pearce's Snow isn't liked by some, and you'd be correct, because Snow is a bastard in every sense of the word, but he's a bastard with a heart and that's why he's our main.

And it seems the film is full of bastards, maybe too many, maybe the film should have been titled "Bastards In Space" for that's exactly what it was. But I digress, because 'Lockout' is a low-budget Sci-fi action thriller that brings you back to the 80s action films you know and loved....because it's explosive and a tad on the cheesy side.

The script does feel a little week at points leaving loopholes for you to think about whilst the film is still playing however the dialogue does give us some great lines to think about too.

There were some great performances in this film too, coming from Joseph Gilgun (Misfits, This Is England) playing a rowdy, blood-thirsty scottish convict alongside Vincent Regan (300) the sinister convict master-mind, Guy Pearce plays a convincing bastard too.....slightly reminiscent of an 80's Bruce Willis....slightly.

The special effects were okay, some scenes looking a lot better than others (the bike chase scene looking exceptionally terrible) but as the film progressed you don't really think about it.

All in all it wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. The action scenes were good but the story really did lack that oomph that would run it along side some of the better Sci-fi action films.

See it of you like action films with a slice of cheese.

3/5 stars

By George Kleanthous


Friday 13 April 2012

A Cabin In The Woods - an All Of The Above review

Directed by: Drew Godard
Written By: Joss Whedon, Drew Godard

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins

'Cabin In The Woods' is a horror film unlike any you've seen before. A story about a group of college kids consisting of hot girls, a jock, a semi-attractive book-worm and a stoner spend a vacation at a cabin in the woods to have good old fashioned fun until bad stuff starts to happen....okay so you may have seen this before but not quite like this.

It's hard to talk about this film because it's got so much in it that I don't want to spoil for you. It's funny, has a few jumps and more twists than.....something twisted. Without giving anything away, the group unknowingly choose how they would die from a plethora of amazingly cinematic ways.

There is some really great acting and some very good direction coming from D.Godard along with great effects. The characters are a great nod to the stereotypical horror film and Whedon and Godard let us know that throughout the film.

'Cabin In The Woods' can only be described as 'The Truman Show' meets every type of horror or slasher you can think of.

I highly recommend this film and try to watch it knowing as little as possible about it.

5/5 stars

By George Kleanthous



Battleship - Is It a Floater? By George Kleanthous

Directed by: Peter Berg
Written by: Eric Hoeber/ Jon Hoeber

Starting: Alexander Skarsgard, Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna

You may be aware of a little film which has hit the cinemas this week by the name of 'Battleship', based on the Hasbro board game in which you are pitted against your enemies fleet of ships and must guess where they are on your grid and sink them.

But Hasbro had better ideas, what's big at the moment? they ask, what has made us a ship-load of money once adapted onto the big screen? ALIENS! That's right, they turned it into a Sci-fi and banked off their incredibly successful 'Transformers' movies by duplicating it in nearly every way.

Based on the very real and most logical theory of alien visitation, 'Battleship' tells the story of an alien race responding to a message sent out by us and landing at the signal's birthplace, a satellite station in Hawaii, at the same time some of the world's best navy fleets join forces to run a navy battle exercise, which is rather convenient, as the aliens land they activate a barrier around the islands and effectively cutting off the majority of the fleets leaving three destroyers to battle them, you can guess the rest.

So far it might seem that I'm ripping on this film which I guess I am but it's really not that bad. It holds plenty of laughs, the effects are great and the action sequences are explosive, I just wish it wasn't a 'Transformers' clone.

It holds the same cinematography style as that of TF, the same sound engineers and cgi studio, Hell, they even have the same music composer in the way of Steve Jablonsky. So excuse me for feeling that the Hasbro execs weren't willing to try anything new.

All in all 'Battleship' holds it's own, it's not a bad film, in fact it's pretty darn good! People laughed, jaws dropped and Rihanna didn't have me wanting to jump ship as her acting wasn't the worst thing I'd seen. There were some particularly great moments in the film like the OAP montage (You'll see what I mean) and the use of real navy crewman and wounded soldiers was a kind and respectful nod at the armed forces. A tad bit on the lengthy side but still worth a watch!

Watch this if you liked 'Transformers' and 'Battle: Los Angeles'

3/5 stars

By George Kleanthous