Alcon deny Harrison Ford will return for Blade Runner sequel

Rumours of Harrison Ford's potential return to the character of Deckard in Ridley Scott’s forthcoming sequel/reboot/remake of seminal 80s sci-fi Blade Runner have again been flatly denied by Alcon Entertainment, Deadline reports.

Alcon’s co-founder Andrew Kosove said, "What we are trying to do with Ridley now is go through the painstaking process of trying to break the back of the story, figure out the direction we’re going to take the movie and find a writer to work on it. The casting of the movie could not be further from our minds at this moment. It's like asking if we're going to make the sky red or blue. There has been no discussion about it."

Kosove went on to say, “In advance of knowing what we’re going to do, I supposed you could say yes, he could. But I think it is quite unlikely.” Perhaps not a categorical denial then, more of a ‘we don’t know yet’. So there may still be hope for those dying to see Ford return to the iconic role.

Scott is busy with Prometheus at the moment and has a number of other potential projects in the pipeline, but there’s a good chance this one is next on the table. No word yet on that Monopoly adaptation though. Perhaps he’s waiting to see how rival in the 'boardgame-to-film' genre Battleship performs before committing to anything. Fingers crossed everyone.

First trailer for Dexter Fletcher's directorial debut Wild Bill

After earning rave reviews at the London Film Festival last October, the heart-warming family crime-drama Wild Bill is gearing up for release in the UK and the first trailer has just been released courtesy of distributors The Works. The directorial debut of English actor and former child star Dexter Fletcher (Bugsy Malone, Press Gang, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Band of Brothers, Kick-Ass), Wild Bill features a strong cast of British talent including Charlie Creed-Miles (Hereafter), Will Poulter (Son of Rambow), Liz White (The Woman in Black) Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Jaime Winstone (Anuvahood), Jason Flemyng (X-Men: First Class), Olivia Williams (An Education), Leo Gregory (Tristan & Isolde), Iwan Rheon (Misfits), Sammy Williams (Attack the Block) and newcomer Charlotte Spencer.

Check out the synopsis and trailer below...

"SYNOPSIS - Out on parole after 8 years inside, Bill Hayward (Charlie Creed-Miles) returns home to find his now 11 and 15-year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, his arrival brings them to the attention of social services. With the danger of being put into care looming, Dean (Will Poulter) forces his Dad to stay by threatening to grass him up for dealing. Dean soon connects with Jimmy (Sammy Williams) and through this new bond starts to realize what he's been missing. He has a family and a place in the world, but when Jimmy gets into trouble with Bill's old cohorts, he quickly has to decide what kind of Dad he wants to be. A good one, or a free one."


Wild Bill is set for release on March 30th. For more info, visit the official Facebook page here.

DVD Review - Perfect Sense (2011)

Perfect Sense, 2011.

Directed by David Mackenzie.
Starring Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Connie Nielsen, Stephen Dillane and Ewen Bremner.


SYNOPSIS:

A chef and a scientist fall in love as an epidemic sweeps the globe.


The first thing to go is our sense of smell. Then we start to cry uncontrollably. Then an insatiable hunger as our sense of taste disappears.

In Perfect Sense, the question of ‘what makes us human’ is asked as a mysterious virus begins to infect the world and take away our senses, with no one safe. Are we defined by what we hear, see, smell, taste, and touch? Could we love and connect with those around us if we lost these senses? In the film, we focus on the start of a relationship between a chef (Ewan McGregor) and a scientist (Eva Green) who are just two typical people living in Glasgow who get struck by the virus and the results are very melancholic, sad, thoughtful, and, for the most part, the film works due to its originality and realistic portrayal of human nature.

The virus is never explained, but is a mere MacGuffin for director David Mackenzie to ask us - would you embrace the senses you had left, or would you turn to anarchy? What kind of human are you and what do you think of fellow man? McGregor and Green have more ups and downs in this film than most married couples have in 50 years, but the extreme emotions they are feeling are very well played out and this is McGregor on rare form as he conveys an ‘average guy’ expertly well and we feel genuine sympathy for him as their happiness is put in jeopardy.

The script is full of realistic dialogue in the way two damaged people might actually talk; most notable was the scene where Green asks him to tell her ‘something to make her feel special’. He tells her that he left his fiancé when she became critically ill and does so without any remorse and in return she tells him he is an asshole and he agrees, not putting up any protests. I found this to be refreshingly honest and open, as here are two characters showing real life characteristics, not false creations.

Mackenzie has filled his film with interesting images and as each sense goes, we get a real understanding of how this might affect the key characters and the panic builds at an organic pace, never rushed. The final scene, when the two lovers are moments away from blindness, is as touching as anything I saw last year and a perfect way to end the film both visually and thematically.

The film undoubtedly works most credibly when the attention is on McGregor and Green, and less so when the action spreads to the rest of the world, with some montages of still image, and actual footage of humanity at its most destructive (war, fighting, looting). I found some of this to be borderline preachy, as I don’t want messages that humanity can be harmful to its own survival rammed down my throat from what is otherwise a very intelligent and thought-provoking film.

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

The Amazing Spider-Man trailer 2 hits the web

Yesterday, Sony gave fans an early look at six minutes of Marc Webb's upcoming Spider-Man reboot with a series of special sneak peek screenings across the globe and this morning they've followed that up with the online release of the second theatrical trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man, giving us a new look at Andrew Garfield's web-crawler in action.

Along with Garfield, The Amazing Spider-Man stars Emma Stone as love-interest Gwen Stacy, along with Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard, Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, Sally Field as Aunt May, Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy, Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson, C. Thomas Howell as Ray, Irrfan Khan as Nels van Adder (a.k.a. Proto-Goblin), Cambell Scott as Richard Parker and Embeth Davidtz as Mary Parker.

Check out the latest trailer, which provides a pretty good idea of the story, not to mention a first glimpse of the villainous Lizard...


"The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker, an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy, and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance - leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr Curt Connors, his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero."

So, now that we've got an idea of how each of 2012's three big superhero movies are shaping up, how do you think The Amazing Spider-Man compares to Joss Whedon's Marvel team-up The Avengers and Christopher Nolan's final Batman feature, The Dark Knight Rises..?

The Amazing Spider-Man is set for release on July 3rd in North America and hits UK cinemas the following day.

Machete will return in Machete Kills!

We were promised that he'd return and now Deadline have confirmed that Danny Trejo's former Mexican Federale will be back, with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez signing a deal with producer Alexander Rodnyansky to develop Machete Kills - the sequel to 2010's Grindhouse spin-off Machete and the second instalment in a planned trilogy that will presumably conclude with Machete Kills Again.

According to Deadline's report, "The new film finds Machete recruited by the U.S. Government for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man. Machete must battle his way through Mexico to take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space. Machete takes on an army in an effort to dismantle a plan for global anarchy."

Machete Kills has been scripted by Kyle Ward (the upcoming adaptation of Kane & Lynch) and is expected to begin filming in April. Talks are currently underway with Trejo to reprise his role, while Rodriguez also stated that he expects those cast members whose characters managed to survive the first movie - such as Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan - to return.

Movie Review - The Watermen (2011)

The Watermen, 2011.

Written and Directed by Matt L. Lockhart.
Starring Jason Mewes, Richard Riehle, Floyd Abel, Luke Guldan and Tyler Johnson.


SYNOPSIS:

A group of sport fishermen and their attractive lady friends go on a fishing trip, but they soon get captured by some murderous watermen and must fight for their lives.


What worse place is there to be stranded than the middle of the ocean? With the boat engine tampered with and the flares missing, the dodgy watermen who filled the tank and sold the group interesting looking bait are of course to blame. The group are starving, deprived of drinking water and desperate. So when a large fishing boat comes along with aid, their desperation clouds their judgement. The water they glug so aggressively is laced with some sort of drug, and the group soon literally hit the deck unconscious.

The Watermen have got them right where they want them – ready to off them one by one to use their flesh for their bait-selling business, because fish of course can’t get enough of the taste of tasty, tasty human. These men of the sea are completely psychotic, well equipped on their island with a whole host of ways to maim the beautiful people and make a profit.

This low budget horror follows the conventions of the genre pretty rigidly, and unfortunately it does suffer a little for it. Of course, the tension is still there as you get behind the group and wish for their escape – but parts of The Watermen are painfully predictable, including the ending. You’ve got the pretty people, our victims, you’ve got the typical gore, and of course the mandatory nudity. The recipe for a decent budget horror is there, but it never rises above average. It dares to throw in a bit of rape, and complete exploitation of women, but it’s really nothing new, is it?

In terms of the film making, there are some well-crafted shots in The Watermen, and some interesting deaths (one, for example being a hook through a truck roof), but the most frustrating element of this film is the amount of pointless filler. The number of panning establishing shots that just waste time, and fade out into other panning establishing shot, is excruciatingly annoying. These, alongside a few other shots dotted throughout the film are completely fruitless and distracting.

The other failed element of The Watermen is the actual watermen themselves. They speak in an accent and tone that is pretty much impossible to work out. It’s difficult to feel threatened by killers that mumble in a way that makes them sound a bit…simple? It also makes what should be an interesting (but overused) speech by the ‘leader’ to one of the victims pretty pointless. The victim asks the waterman why they’re attacking innocent people, and from what I could make out, his response was that they ain’t so innocent at all. It always makes me cringe when this sort of dialogue is thrown into horror, it’s clearly some weak message about a society of sinners. Blah blah blah. It’s embarrassing.

All in all, The Watermen is not a terrible film. It’s average at best to be honest. It sticks to conventions and very rarely strays away from them. Modern horror has pretty much taken us in so many directions in terms of plot twists, that there’s little point in trying to create something new and unique – as proven by this entry to the genre.

Cat Fyson

Thoughts on... Hostel (2005)

Hostel, 2005.

Directed by Eli Roth.
Starring Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson and Eythor Gudjonsson.


SYNOPSIS:

Three backpackers travelling through Europe find themselves staying in a hostel with a dark secret.


It's difficult to deny that Hostel is an important film within the horror genre, ushering in a wave of torture porn. David Edelstein's 2006 article 'Now Playing at Your Local Multiplex: Torture Porn' is largely credited with the first use of the term 'torture porn' to describe a distinct group of films. Sure, the term torture porn has been retroactively applied to Saw (2004), a film which is now considered to be key viewing within this exploitative subgenre, but Hostel popularised the term. Director Eli Roth has hit back at the terminology, claiming "I think that the term 'torture porn' genuinely says more about the critic's limited understanding of what horror movies can do than about the film itself" - which is a fair point. Regardless, by labelling a film as torture porn, you're generally aware of what you're getting into (generally graphic senseless gore), and rarely are there any surprises to be had. There are countless debates to be had regarding the worth of this critically-applied term, but that's for another time - right now, we've got a movie to discuss.

Hostel takes its time to really get going. We're introduced to two American backpackers, Josh (Derek Richardson) and Paxton (Jay Hernandez), who are travelling across Europe with their Icelandic friend Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), the self-titled 'King of Swing'. This trio are primarily preoccupied with two things, sex and drugs. To Paxton and Oli, women are mere objects to be fucked, and although Josh is a little more sensitive, deep down he's also a red-blooded American male wanting to score. The set-up is strikingly familiar to EuroTrip (2004) and both films actually feature eerily similar moments set in a train carriage. Unfortunately, Hostel attempts to get us to like these horny males by including supposedly comedic scenes, but this doesn't really do a good enough job of establishing the characters. If anything, once the idea of comedy has been introduced, the rest of the film just feels awkwardly comedic instead of horrific.

After visiting a few clubs and showing us copious amounts of boobs, the trio are told about a hostel near Bratislava. It's the sort of place that isn't featured in any guidebooks, but there is a plethora of hot local girls just desperate for some American action. It's around this point that my first issue with the film is raised. Roth seems keen to portray American ignorance (both Josh and Paxton are hardly understanding of foreign cultures), yet is constantly reaffirming and reasserting American authority and desirable status. We can easily read Hostel as a warning to Americans - your paranoia of the outside world is justified, just look at what could happen to you!

The first third of the film wastes our time trying to get us to side with these unlikeable characters, but once the second act kicks in things get a little more interesting. In a move lifted from Psycho (1960), Josh, the least detestable guy, is killed off. With over half the movie still to go, it appears we've lost our protagonist. Paxton steps up to assume lead, and must navigate his way out of a factory where innocent tourists are chained to chairs and brutally murdered with an assortment of tools by the rich with too much money for morals.

Roth interestingly casts Takashi Miike in a cameo role, which is perhaps a little unfortunate. Sure, we think we see more torture than we actually do in Hostel (and rarely is the gore particularly unpleasant - one eye-slicing scene sounds far more horrid than it actually is) but the sight of Miike reminds us of a film that similarly includes acts of torture - Audition (Ôdishon) (1999). Now here is an example of a film that doesn't just rely on torture to sustain a plot, and one is left wishing we were watching an equally accomplished example of filmmaking.

That's not to say Roth is entirely without talent. Hostel does raise some really interesting ideas and themes, but they're never really developed to their full potential. It takes more than just schlocky special effects to properly get under the skin and unsettle, and sadly Hostel doesn't have much else to offer. The last third is at least vaguely entertaining, but the film is severely hampered by questionable acting and a messy narrative. Besides a couple of stand-out scenes, there is sadly little to warrant recommending this movie to those who aren't easily pleased by just gore and boobs.

I want to offer a defence to Hostel, but the first act is so successful in crafting really odious characters that it seems almost futile. This is one of those cases where the idea far surpasses the film itself. I do like Eli Roth's enthusiasm for the horror genre and I think he is a director with potential, but here he flounders early and struggles to really recover. Still, that didn't stop Hostel from being hugely successful and profitable - evidently an audience exists for torture porn.

Liam Underwood

365 Days, 100 Films #96 - Despicable Me (2010)

Despicable Me, 2010.

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.
Featuring the voice talents of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove and Julie Andrews.


SYNOPSIS:

A supervillain adopts three orphaned girls so they can steal a shrink ray from his enemy’s lair.


Gru (Steve Carell) wants the moon, his reason being that once he has it, the world will give him whatever he wants for its safe return. But what, exactly, does Gru want?

Gru is a supervillain with his own army of short, yellow minions, a secret, underground base and an elderly, evil scientist, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand). What he does not have, however, is respect – not from the head of the Bank of Evil (formerly Lehman Brothers), nor from his uninterested mother. Gru doesn’t really want the moon, or all the riches it could provide. He wants that respect. He wants to be the greatest supervillain in the world.

Despicable Me’s world is an intriguing one, inhabited only by normal people and evil geniuses, with not a single superhero of which to speak. Such a lack of regulation involving frequent plot-foiling and ass-whoopery has created a climate where these supervillains can behave as they wish: crushing cars to find a parking space, popping a child’s balloons, casting a café’s queue in ice with a freeze ray to hop to the front. Incidentally, product placement is queasily rife in this film. That it is aimed at those poor, impressionable children makes the experience all the more nauseous.

All these supervillains are constantly trying to outdo one another, and Gru’s grand idea is the theft of the moon – but he needs a shrink ray to do so. The only one in existence is in the possession of Vector (Jason Segal), a spoilt twit (his father is head of the Bank of Evil) with a predisposition towards aquatic-life-themed weaponry. Upon his and Gru’s first meeting, Vector proudly displays his Piranha Blaster, which fires piranhas. Later, he unveils his new creation: the Squid Gun, which fires squid.

Only one thing can penetrate the many defences of Vector’s head quarters – young girls selling cookies. Specifically coconut ones. No, there isn’t anything pervy about this. Well, there might be in the subtext (immature, sociopathic man-child lures 12 year old girls in uniform into his lair), but the film doesn’t play his motivation that way. He simply loves their cookies (again, not a euphemism). So Gru adopts three girls from the local orphanage to smuggle a box of cookie-shaped robots into Vector’s mighty fortress. The obvious solution.

Before this point, the film intercuts between Gru and the three girls. Gru receives far more screen time, and they all encounter each other near the film’s beginning as the girls attempt to sell him some cookies – but that is all. This is the film’s structural and narrative flaw.

Gru is initially an unsympathetic character, and remains that way for the first two-thirds of the film (SPOILER: he and the girls foster a loving relationship by the end). He has a handful of tender moments to break up his inherent evilness – he is a supervillain, after all – when the film flashes back to his youth and his relationship with his mother. These, however, are few and far between.

If Steve Carell’s name wasn’t so large in the opening credits, you’d have no idea Gru’s was his voice. He grimaces out a poor Eastern-European accent that hinders much of Carell’s naturally comedic delivery. Those initial credits promise much – Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Jemaine Clement, Jack McBrayer, Danny McBride – but none of them sound as they do in real life. In an animated film, what is the point of having such a depth of audibly recognisable talent if they are unidentifiable? Why not cast proper voice actors? The only visible manifestation of Carell in Gru is his large nose (“Like when you go to the beach and someone yells ‘Shark! Shark!’ and then they realise that it’s Steve Carell doing the backstroke?”).

Rather, as Gru is so difficult to relate to, why not open on the three orphan girls? They are three cute, defined characters, particularly the unicorn-obsessed, youngest one, Agnes (“IT’S SO FLUFFY!”), that could easily carry the film’s opening 20 minutes. Their stories can be established – why they are in the orphanage in the first place, why the three have stuck together, why they desire adoption so very much. They’re sympathetic - they’re empathetic – unlike Gru.

Additionally, it provides a natural framework in which the three girls, who are in the dark about Gru’s supervillainary – as are we – can ask questions about his profession and backstory. Plot details and character history could be teased out organically, rather than through exposition or montage.

These are fundamental flaws, but grudgingly forgivable ones. Although the film failed in this respect, it at least tried something different - an unsympathetic, evil protagonist. Such daring is not often a trait of children’s films outside studios Pixar and Aardman.

However, one cannot forgive Despicable Me for missed opportunity. The one foot-in-the-door that the viewer is provided for a way into Gru’s psychology, so we can understand him better, is his relationship with his mother. This is told in flashbacks, when she uninterestedly sighs at her child’s increasingly impressive rocket models, and in the present day during a phone call, where she taunts him for not being the mastermind behind a recent pyramid theft. She’s the whole reason Gru is why he is. In another life, with another mother, he’d be an astronaut.

Yet the film treats her as nothing more than a cheap laugh. She only appears in the two aforementioned, very brief flashbacks and phone call scene, another appearance right at the very end of the film, and in one tiny segment of a montage during the middle.

Montages, he said through gritted teeth and a furrowed brow, there must be at least three montages in this film. It’s a short cut, an easy way of conveying character and relationship development, which should be permissible only in Rocky. They fool you into thinking you’re experiencing emotion, when really it’s just a surface level effect of music and editing. There are too many in Despicable Me. But fair enough.

What’s not fair enough is having Gru’s mother appear for no longer than ten seconds, for little more than an easy joke, during one of them. Gru and the children’s relationship is blossoming. They’ve been to theme parks and dance practices, and suddenly the moon isn’t looking quite so important – but then Gru’s mother appears. This should be a pivotal moment, where she embarrasses him and reawakens his insecurities, reminding him why he adopted the kids in the first place – to become the greatest supervillain in the world.

But she doesn’t. She gets out a photo album and shows the children a picture of Gru as a baby, his bare bottom completing the cliché. Gru places his hand on his forehead and groans. The children chuckle. They move onto the next insignificant part of the montage. Everything’s fine. Character development is ignored.

It’s not important anyway. Look at the Wii that Vector is playing on. Look how cute all these yellow minions are. Focus on them instead, and don’t forget to pester your parents about buying all our merchandise once you’ve left the cinema. That’s how we’ll get a sequel – through spin-off toys rather than characters you wish to revisit.

Gru isn’t the only supervillain at work here.

RATING **

Oli Davis

365 Days, 100 Films

Michael Biehn to produce and star in three Grindhouse films

Following his comeback in the Planet Terror portion of the Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse back in 2007, cult actor Michael Biehn - star of 80's classics The Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss - now seems to have a taste for exploitation flicks. Having made his directorial debut last year with the suspense thriller The Victim, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Biehn has signed a deal with Chiller Films (the genre arm of Aspect Film Ltd.) to star in three grindhouse movies from his production company Blanc/Biehn Productions.

In a press statement, Chiller Films CEO Hugh Edwards said, "The three films are action-packed and very humorous; true to the essence of the best in recent grindhouse movies, from the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez." The projects are currently going by the working titles of The Farm, Up and Down and The Predicator, and will be shot over a 45-day period under three different directors, with Biehn and his wife, Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, also serving as executive producers.

Blu-ray Review - Tyrannosaur (2011)

Tyrannosaur, 2011.

Directed by Paddy Considine.
Starring Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman and Eddie Marsan.


SYNOPSIS:

A man whose life is spiralling out of control is given a chance at redemption when he meets a Christian charity shop worker.


The feature debut from British actor Paddy Considine (Dead Man's Shoes, Hot Fuzz), Tyrannosaur has been earning a host of plaudits since its premiere at Sundance last year and now comes to DVD and Blu-ray following a limited theatrical release in the UK last October. A bleak and gritty slice of social drama, Tyrannosaur is remeniscent of the work of filmmakers such as Ken Loach and Considine's long-time friend Shane Meadows, and is a superbly assured debut for its writer-director.

An extension of Considine's 2007 short Dog Altogether (which is also included as a special feature), Tyrannosaur centres on Joseph (Peter Mullan), a middle-aged, alcoholic widower whose life is consumed by wanton violence and anger. During the first ten minutes of the film, Joseph kills his beloved pet dog in a fit of rage, smashes the window of his local post office and assualts a group of youths in his local pub. However, before he can slip any further down this path of self-destruction, Joseph meets Hannah (Olivia Colman), a kind-hearted charity shop owner who appears to offer him a chance at salvation. At first, Joseph spurns Hannah's attempts to play the Good Samaritan, but as the two spark up a friendship, we come to discover that Hannah has her own issues - namely, that she is stuck in an abusive relationship with her vile and sadistic husband James (Eddie Marsan) - and it soon becomes apparent that Joseph is not the only one looking to get his life back on track.

While Considine's writing and direction is first-rate throughout, the true highlight of the film is the wonderful performances he draws from his cast. With a C.V. that includes films such as of Trainspotting, My Name is Joe and Neds (for which he also served as director), the ever-reliable Peter Mullan is of course in familiar territory as Joseph, but the real surprise is the fantastic turn from Olivia Colman, best known for her role in the Channel 4 comedy series Peep Show. As Hannah, Colman delivers a stunning performance that really demonstrates her range and ability as an actress and it comes as a surprise that BAFTA failed to recognise her work with a nomination at the British Academy Film Awards, especially with Tilda Swinton getting a nod for essentially pulling the same face for the best part of two hours in We Need to Talk About Kevin.

While it doesn't quite reach the same levels of brutality as Nil by Mouth, Tyrannosaur is certainly an uncomfortable film to watch at times; however, as with Gary Oldman's aforementioned 1997 directorial debut, it is also a powerful and affecting drama that demands to be seen - not to mention a film that firmly establishes Paddy Considine as a real talent to watch out for behind the camera.

Gary Collinson

Special Features - The Ten Best Movie Stares

Jake Wardle selects his ten favourite movie stares...

Stares, glares, gazes... whatever you want to call them, the movies are full of them, and as far as I can tell nobody’s ever compiled a list of the best. Shocking, I’m sure you’ll agree, but true. For some, even the mention of ‘film’ will bring to mind a good stare, so it’s only fitting that those films which place similar value on the humble gawk are duly recognized...

10. Lyn Cassady – The Men Who Stare at Goats


Not, perhaps, a great film, but a damn good stare. A stare so good it gets the uncommon honour of being ‘the titular stare’. It is, as the title would suggest, a stare between a man (George Clooney) and a goat (a goat), ultimately resulting in said goat’s death. Nobody wins when a stare goes that far. But a classic stare regardless.

9. Private Pyle - Full Metal Jacket


Staring is a fairly versatile tool in film. A stare can establish a character, it can serve as a reaction, or it can signal a change in the mood or disposition of the character. Full Metal Jacket gives us the latter. Pyle’s stare is the final proof of his insanity. This isn’t the stare of a well man. This is the stare of a man pushed too far, a man holding a loaded shotgun with the absolute intention of using it. Which he does. But not before delivering a ruddy great stare.

8. Antoine Doinel - The 400 Blows


For those who believe the stare is not something to be lavished with attention, I point you to Jean-Pierre Léaud’s final look into the camera in Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. There are few more emotive looks in film, the 14 year old capturing the same sense of ‘what now?’ that Dustin Hoffman so brilliantly showed in The Graduate. If a stare can be beautiful, then this one is.

7. Hannibal Lecter – The Silence of the Lambs


When Hannibal Lecter stares, be scared. Behind those serpentine eyes is a mind at work, calculating, formulating a plan probably involving one or more of your internal organs. In the case of this stare (a personal favourite), it’s the precursor to an escape based around the removal of another man’s face. Which is unpleasant.

6. Warden Samuel Norton – The Shawshank Redemption


We know that a stare can tell a story on its own, and Warden Norton‘s stare in Shawshank is a brilliant example of this. As he gazes down the tunnel that Andy Dufresne spent the last two decades of his life making, we see his confusion, followed by his realization, then anger, with a little bit of fear, and maybe, just maybe, a hint of admiration. It’s a revelatory stare, for him, and for us too.

5. Colonel Kurtz – Apocalypse Now


Amid the decades of disagreement over Marlon Brando’s performance in this film, not once has anyone highlighted the brilliance of his stare. Frankly, it’s an argument ender. Those who maintain Brando mumbles his way through this film need to go back and watch - really watch - his eyes when Willard delivers the fatal blow, as he stares into the distance. The brilliance of Apocalypse Now is encapsulated in that stare. Kurtz’s insanity, his regret, and most of all, the horror of what he’s seen. It’s all in there.

4. Travis Bickle – Taxi Driver


The immortal final scene of Martin Scorcese’s Taxi Driver gave us a great stare. Happy-go-lucky Travis Bickle, having just fought his way through a pimp’s apartment, killing everyone inside, realises he hasn’t enough ammunition left to take his own life. Disappointed, he sits down on the sofa, and upon the arrival of the police, gives one of the all-time great stares, holding a finger-gun to his temple and pulling the imaginary trigger. He’s lost his mind, and he doesn’t care.

3. Alex DeLarge – A Clockwork Orange


Surely one of the most famous stares in cinema history? Kubrick was a master of the stare. Along with the aforementioned Full Metal Jacket, 2001: A Space Oddysey is arguably a film almost entirely comprised of stares. A Clockwork Orange’s stare, though, is his crowning glory. The first shot of the film is a close up of Alex’s staring face, slowly tracking backwards through the milk bar, never breaking his stare, the nature of his character becomes fairly clear immediately. Anybody who can stare like that for so long is surely capable of great evil.

2. Frank and Harmonica – Once Upon a Time in the West


Probably the most iconic stare on this list, is that between Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda in the finale of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West. The camera switches between each actor’s eyes, as Frank (Henry Fonda, with eyes made for staring) slowly realises the mysterious gunman (Charles Bronson) is the same man who’s brother he killed years ago. Coupled with one of the greatest scores in cinema history, this is almost the greatest movie stare. Almost....

1. Norman Bates – Psycho


This is the stare. For me, the greatest stare in cinema history. A history full of great and varied stares, cataloguing every possible human emotion. But no stare says so much, does so much, as the stare of Norman Bates. As if Psycho isn’t unsettling enough, Alfred Hitchcock chose to follow the obligatory ‘detective explains everything to the audience’ scene with one of the most terrifying images in film. Norman, now 100% undeniably insane, his ‘mother’ now occupying his mind completely; he sits, and stares, and allows a fly to land on his hand, proving to the guards outside by not swatting it that he’s ‘harmless’. The image is slowly merged with a skull, before the credits roll. Eep...

What's your favourite movie stare? Feel free to let us know in the comments below...

Jake Wardle

Super Bowl TV spots - The Avengers, The Hunger Games, Star Wars 3D, John Carter, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Battleship, The Dictator and more...

The Super Bowl took place in the States last night, which as always, provides the Hollywood studios with the opportunity to grab some hugely-expensive ad space to show off their big cinematic offerings for the year ahead. Although notable absentees included hotly-anticipated releases such as The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man, there was still a veritable feast of movie goodness on display, including TV spots for the likes of 21 Jump Street, Act of Valor, Battleship, The Dictator, Dr. Suess' The Lorax, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Hunger Games, John Carter and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D, while Marvel also gave superhero fans a brand new look at Joss Whedon's epic ensemble The Avengers and Sony offered up another glimpse of the upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

Take a look at all of the Super Bowl movie ads here...

21 Jump Street:


Act of Valor:


The Avengers:


The Avengers (extended):


Battleship:


The Dictator:


Dr. Suess' The Lorax:


Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance:


G.I. Joe: Retaliation:


The Hunger Games:


John Carter:


Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D


And lastly, a short message from Optimus Prime...

Transformers: The Ride 3D


Which is your favourite of the Super Bowl TV spots? Personally, I'd have to say The Avengers takes it hands down...

Harrison Ford returning as Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner sequel?

Not content with returning to the Alien franchise for this summer’s sci-fi epic Prometheus, British filmmaker Ridley Scott is also busy making plans to revisit the Blade Runner universe and now, according to Twitch Film, star Harrison Ford has entered early negotiations to reprise his role as replicant hunter (and possible replicant) Rick Deckard.

Back in August, producer Andrew Kosove told the Los Angeles Times that the latest Blade Runner would present an entirely new story, sans Ford: “In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott but if you're asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.” However, if this latest casting rumour proves true, it would seem that Scott has other ideas, whilst also indicating that the director is planning a straight-up sequel to the 1982 cult classic.

The new Blade Runner feature is widely assumed to be Scott’s next film after Prometheus, although the director has recently been linked to Cormac McCarthy’s The Counselor and also has several other projects in the pipeline, including an adaptation of the Cold War-era thriller Child 44, a Gertrude Bell biopic starring Angelina Jolie, and a docudrama based upon the exploits of Simon Mann, an ex-British army officer who led a failed coup against government of Equatorial Guinea. Meanwhile Ford has the baseball drama 42 and sci-fi adventure Ender’s Game on his upcoming slate, while rumours persist that the actor will also be linking up with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for a fifth outing as Indiana Jones in the somewhat near future.

On a final note, with Scott seemingly intent on revisiting past glories, let’s hope he doesn’t turn his attention to the Nick Cave-scripted Gladiator 2, which would have seen Russell Crowe’s Maximus resurrected by the Roman gods before going on to fight in the likes of World War II and Vietnam.

Chronicle soars, The Woman in Black suprises and Big Miracle sinks at the US box office

The found footage superhero film Chronicle should barely edge out the return of Hammer horror at the North American box office...

It was a nail biter... Separated by only a few hundred thousand dollars, the superhero movie pulled Chronicle in an estimated $20 million. This original attempt at launching a superhero franchise has been well received by a skeptical online community, with director Josh Trank getting a lion's share of the credit. His name is now being mentioned as a potential attachment to every long-gestating comic book adaptation, while the found footage premise seems more 'hit' than 'miss' after nice returns for Chronicle and January's The Devil Inside.

CBS Films' The Woman in Black came out of nowhere and almost seized the top spot. Daniel Radcliffe's first big post-Harry Potter vehicle ended up with $19.5 million over the weekend. It's the biggest opening for fledgling distributor CBS Films and a big win for both Radcliffe and Hammer, the long dormant horror brand.

Last week's number one film The Grey dropped the traditional 50% pulling in 9 million dollars over the weekend. The well-reviewed thriller didn't inspire as much interest with audiences as it did with critics. The ending has become a major discussion point and The Grey is easily the most polarizing film that's been released in some time. There was hope that the conversation would translate into word-of-mouth ticket sales; however, much like the characters in the survival flick, hope didn't end up amounting to much.

The other wide release this week was the Drew Barrymore family film Big Miracle. The true story of three trapped whales and the rescue mission to save them didn't generate much interest. Even though there's an extreme lack of family films in the marketplace, Big Miracle didn't end up filling the void and should end up with only 6 million dollars over the weekend.

With the exception of The Grey, last weekend's holdovers have fallen fast. Katherine Heigl's One for the Money and Sam Worthington's Man on a Ledge will each end up around $5 million in their second weekend. Both films have already been written off as marked disappointments.

The Descendants continues to be the one film greatly benefitting from Oscar nominations, with its week over week hold continuing to be the strongest of all current releases. The film has been out since November and continues to linger in the bottom half of the top ten. In its 9th week of wide release it will make almost as much as Man on a Ledge in its second week or Red Tails in its third. There's still money to be made in arthouse films if you're willing to be patient and have a marketing team who understands how to platform a film.

Next week is another major cinematic traffic jam. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tries his hand at another big CG spectacle with Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and speaking of 'CG spectacle', next week also marks the 3D re-release of The Phantom Menace. For the ladies there's Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum in the romantic drama The Vow, and Denzel Washington stars as a wicked villain matching wits with Ryan Reynolds in Safe House.

Here's your top films for North America...

1. Chronicle
Weekend Estimate: $20 million

2. The Woman in Black
Weekend Estimate: $19.5 million

3. The Grey
Weekend Estimate: $9 million; $34 million total

4. Big Miracle
Weekend Estimate: $6 million

5. One for the Money
Weekend Estimate: $5 million; $14 million total

Anghus Houvouras

How to Double Your Box Office

Commenting on the commentators with Simon Columb...

Angie Han writes for Slash Film about a new (Beatles-inspired?) double-film project that Joel Edgerton and Jessica Chastain have recently become involved in called The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers:

"I’m a sucker for movies about failing relationships to begin with, and I love the idea of two films telling the same tale from two different angles. The same exact events can seem radically different depending on who’s telling the story, especially if the people involved aren’t quite on the same wavelength at the moment. On the downside, if the project is badly done, audiences could wind up paying twice for what’s essentially the same film, but the press release notes that both parts are intended as stand-alone features."

When press interviewed Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin she hinted at the fantasy idea of creating a trilogy – the first film dealing with the Mum's perspective, second from the Father's and the final from the perspective of Kevin himself. I remember reading this and thinking, as an idea, that would be brilliant. But could it ever work?

Sequels, as we know, are the guaranteed sell for studios. If they can get Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones back together for Men in Black III, it doesn't matter if the story isn't very good - the opening weekend alone should justify the cost. Better yet, shooting two films at the same time and releasing them separately is a much cheaper way to ensure that a sequel is already set-up and yet only pay for the one extended production. Back-to-back productions include Back to the Future Part II and Part III and The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

Recently, studios are much happier to gain double the box office by simply splitting a film in two - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 and Part 2, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Che: Part One and Part Two and the upcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again; even Grindhouse, when it didn't garner a big-enough box office in the US, Miramax split up the two films - Planet Terror and Death Proof - and released them separately across the rest of the world. It didn't matter that artistically the films were always intended to be together with characters and actors that appeared in both films.

On the one hand, like Han, we could all agree that the 'idea' justifies the production of the 'double film'. But in this case, I am going to be a little bit more cynical. From the outset, this is a very purposeful project that doesn't cost much but should make a substantial amount of money. Much more a manufactured product akin to a special edition of a chocolate bar rather than a work of art. There are many films that effectively explore the different perspectives of characters without having to dedicate an entire film to each perspective - Rashomon would've become quite tiresome if it was three separate films. Not to mention how it can also be much more interesting to leave certain aspects quite ambiguous - we don't need to know every perspective. Chances are that both films will total roughly 3 hours so they could theoretically be released together as one double-bill feature. But of course, that would not make as much money, would it? The whole point of this is not to push the boundaries of cinema or create personal and meaningful art - it is to make two films for the price of one.

Bottom line is it doesn't matter because it is the idea that sells. (Additionally, funny how they chose the name 'Eleanor Rigby'... that guarantees the obsessive Beatles fan audience too! Kerr-ching!)

Simon Columb

A Michael Mann Retrospective

Flickering Myth presents a detailed look at the work of the acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann...


Whether it is a Native Indian raised trapper caught in crossfire of the colonial wars between Britain and France or an investigative journalist undermined by corporate interests, Michael Mann has the remarkable ability to explore the nuances of human behavior within an epic environment. To commemorate the 69th birthday of the Chicago born filmmaker, Flickering Myth has assembled a career overview which contains various insider insights detailing the making of his ten feature films starting with Thief (1981) and concluding with Public Enemies (2009)...


Mann Handled: A Michael Mann Profile
Trevor Hogg profiles the career of director Michael Mann in a two-part article from 2009.


Thief, 1981.

Written and Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring James Caan, Tuesday Weld, James Belushi, Dennis Farina, William Petersen and Robert Prosky.

SYNOPSIS:

A professional safecracker’s plan for going straight spirals out-of-control when he becomes indebted to a crime boss.





The Keep, 1983.

Written and Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Scott Glenn, Gabriel Byrne, Jürgen Prochnow, Ian McKellen, Alberta Watson, Robert Prosky, Morgan Sheppard, Royston Tickner, Michael Carter and Bruce Payne.

SYNOPSIS:

A detachment of the German army is sent to guard a mysterious and strategically important Romanian citadel. When they start turning up dead, the S.S. is sent in to investigate.



Manhunter, 1986.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring William Petersen, Brian Cox, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Stephen Lang, David Seaman and Benjamin Hendrickson.

SYNOPSIS:

A mentally fragile FBI profiler is drawn out of retirement to catch a serial killer known as The Tooth Fairy.





The Last of the Mohicans, 1992.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Wes Studi, Russell Means, Eric Schweig, Steven Waddington, Pete Postlethwaite, Colm Meaney and Jodhi May.

SYNOPSIS:

In 1757, North America is the battleground of the colonial powers of Britain and France. Midst the escalating conflict, three trappers from a nearly extinct Native Indian tribe protect the daughters of a British Colonel.



Heat, 1995.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Danny Trejo and Jeremy Piven.

SYNOPSIS:

A professional thief is hunted by an unrelenting detective in the streets of Los Angeles.



The Insider, 1999.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Roger Bart, Rip Torn, Bruce McGill, Michael Gambon, Gina Gershon, Philip Baker Hall and Paul Perri.

SYNOPSIS:

The airing of an exclusive 60 Minutes interview with a tobacco industry insider is cancelled because of corporate pressure.




Ali, 2001.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Will Smith, Jon Voight, Jamie Foxx, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffrey Wright, Jada Pinkett Smith and Mykelti Williamson.

SYNOPSIS:

The movie depicts a decade in the life of Muhammad Ali, beginning with the legendary athlete’s defeat of Sonny Liston in 1964 and concluding with his 1974 'Rumble in Jungle' comeback fight against George Foreman.




Collateral, 2004.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Mark Ruffalo, Jada Pinkett Smith, Javier Bardem, Bruce McGill, Irma P. Hall, Peter Berg and Jason Statham.

SYNOPSIS:

A Los Angeles cab driver unwittingly becomes the chauffer for a hired assassin.





Miami Vice, 2006.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Li Gong, Naomie Harris, Ciarán Hinds, Justin Theroux, Barry Shabaka Henley, Luis Tosar, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Eddie Marsan and John Ortiz.

SYNOPSIS:

Two Miami Vice detectives go undercover to bring down drug traffickers.





Public Enemies, 2009.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Cudrup, Stephen Dorff, Stephen Lang, Stephen Graham, Carey Mulligan, Giovanni Ribisi and Channing Tatum.

SYNOPSIS:

Infamous American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd are targeted in a “war on crime” campaign by the fledgling FBI during the 1930s.




Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

The Week in Spandex - The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Ghost Rider: SOV, The Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men and more...

Presenting our weekly round-up of all the biggest news stories from the world of movie superheroes…

The Super Bowl takes place this Sunday and despite the fact we won't be getting any advertising spots for The Dark Knight Rises or The Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel will ensure that superhero fans have plenty to get excited over as the studio delivers some brand new footage from The Avengers, which was preceeded by a short ten-second preview earlier in the week that gave us a tantalising glimpse of the mysterious alien race whose identity has been subject to so much speculation over the past few months. While the 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' peek wasn't giving too much away, perhaps we'll have a better idea of their identity when the commercial airs on Sunday.

With just three months to go until The Avengers arrives in cinemas, the marketing machine appears to have stepped up a gear, with Marvel issuing a host of new character posters featuring Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Incredible Hulk (a mo-capped Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), while Joss Whedon and company also took part in a live Twitter chat, during which it was confirmed by the director himself that Spider-Man will NOT be making a cameo appearance, despite plenty of rumours to the contrary. So there you have it...

Turning now to The Dark Knight Rises and we're starting to get to see some of the promotional tie-ins that will accompany the release of Christopher Nolan's hugely-anticipated third Batman feature. Among the goodies released this past week are a couple of new shots of the Dark Knight, along with a look at Mattel's range of action figures, which of course come complete with the obligatory range of ridiculous accessories. Meanwhile Christian Bale also took part in an interview with Style Magazine, during which he described Batman's position in TDKR: "For me he is an anarchist and a free spirit. He knows that there are parallels between him and his enemies because life is never stable - you always have to fight for it. Keeping in mind that it may never be boring and that nobody is obliging you to behave like a superhero and to always have your muscles flexed and bulging."

Wrapping up the best of the rest…

...With Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance hitting screens later this month, Yahoo! Movies debuted a new behind-the-scenes video from the upcoming sequel / reboot, while CineComics also got their hands on a selection of images showing Nicolas Cage performing as Ghost Rider pre-CGI enhancements...

…As Sony prepare to unleash a sneak peek at The Amazing Spider-Man across select cities this coming Monday (February 6th), we also received confirmation via the Alberta Film Ratings website that a second theatrical trailer – running at 2.24 seconds in duration – will be arriving in the very near future. Meanwhile Andrew Garfield took part in an interview with The Times of India, during which he discussed how his version of the web-crawler will differ from that of Tobey Maguire’s earlier incarnation, while the official site has also updated with several new images featuring the likes of Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field), along with a host of wallpapers and avatars…

…In other Spidey-related news, Newsarama spoke to Marvel Studios executives Will Corona Pilgrim and Jeph Loeb about Agent Coulson and his inclusion in the upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, while Loeb also touched upon the continuity of Marvel’s ever-expanding slate of comic book, theatrical and television offerings: “Marvel TV properties in general will exist within the Marvel Universe in comics. That’s the continuity we watch… there’s nothing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that goes against the publishing Marvel Universe, so we’d pretty much follow in that way…”

… Chronicle arrived in UK cinemas this past Wednesday but Fox still managed to sneak in one last trailer before the $15m found footage superhero flick opened across North American cinemas yesterday. Director Josh Trank - rumoured to be in the frame to tackle Fox's reboot of the Fantastic Four - spoke to ComicBookMovie about the film, while HeyUGuys also caught up with cast members Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan and Alex Russell…

…Warner Premiere’s latest DC Universe Animated Original Movie, Justice League: Doom, is released in North America later this month and a couple of new clips have arrived online recently, showing Batman (Kevin Conroy) squaring off against the Royal Flush Gang before the Caped Crusader’s Justice League colleagues Superman (Tim Daly), Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg), The Flash (Michael Rosenbaum), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) and Martian Manhunter (Carl Lumbly) get in on the action. Check the clips out here and here…

…The CW network’s Green Arrow television series continues to pick up steam as Deadline revealed that Canadian actor Stephen Amell has joined the cast of Arrow in the title role of Oliver Queen. Amell – whose previous credits include shows such as The Vampire Diaries, CSI, 90210 and Hung – will step into the role for the upcoming pilot, which is set to be directed by David Nutter (Dark Angel, Smallville, Supernatural) from a script by Andrew Kreisberg (Justice League) and Green Lantern scribes Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim…

…On the subject of Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds had a few brief words about the chances of a sequel to Warner Bros. big-budget box office disappointment, telling MTV Splash Page that he has “no idea” when asked if he’ll be reprising his role as Hal Jordan…

…And finally, in news which really didn’t come as much of a surprise at all, it was also announced that Fox have reached a deal with British director Matthew Vaughn to continue his mutant exploits, with Vaughn and producer Bryan Singer signing on for a sequel to last year’s X-Men: First Class. The project joins fellow X-Men spin-offs The Wolverine and Deadpool in development at Fox, with X-Men: The Last Stand and Sherlock Holmes screenwriter Simon Kinberg set to pen the script and James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender previously confirmed as returning to the cast.

Gary Collinson

Holy Franchise, Batman! - Arriving this June.

The Twilight Saga DVD giveaway

As Twilight fans prepare themselves for the home entertainment release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 - not to mention the arrival of the series' final instalment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, in cinemas this coming November - we are offering one of our readers the chance to win themselves a DVD box set featuring Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse in our latest Twitter giveaway.

Read on for a synopsis and details of how to enter this competition...

Experience the passion, romance and action that has made The Twilight Saga a global box office smash hit in this 3 disc set.

Twilight adds a dangerous twist to the classic story of star-crossed lovers as we first meet 17 year old Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and the mysterious Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) - a boy who's hiding a dark secret: he's a vampire.

In The Twilight Saga: New Moon Bella finds her loyalties tested as she is drawn into the world of the werewolves, the ancestral enemies of the vampires, through her friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger, and in the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob. With her graduation approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.

Be sure to check out the site this coming Wednesday for an exclusive insight into the making of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.

To be in with a chance of grabbing the DVD box set, simply add us on Twitter go directly to the competition message and hit retweet.

The giveaway closes at midnight on Saturday, February 25th. For entrants outside of the UK, please make sure you can play Region 2 DVDs.

The Prize Finder - UK Competitions
Loquax Competitions

By entering this competition you agree to our terms and conditions, which you can read here.

R.I.P. Ben Gazzara (1930 - 2012)

Ben Gazzara, the veteran actor of the stage and screen, has passed away on Friday at the age of 81 after battling pancreatic cancer. Born in New York City in 1930, Gazzara studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop in New York before joining the celebrated Actors Studio and began his career with a number of acclaimed Broadway roles during the 1950s, gaining the first of three Tony Award nominations in 1956 for his work in A Hatful of Rain. He made his feature film debut alongside fellow Actors Studio alumni such as George Peppard and Pat Hingle in 1957's The Strange One, before gaining his breakthrough role in Otto Preminger's 1959 courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder.

During the 1960s, Gazzara enjoyed a successful run in the television series Run for Your Life, receiving three Golden Globe nominations for Best TV Star - Male and two Emmy nominations for Actor in Leading Role in a Dramatic Series (he would receive a further Emmy nomination in 1986 for the mini-series An Early Frost, before collecting the Award at the fourth attempt when he was named Outstanding Supporting Actor for the 2002 TV movie Hysterical Blindness). Following his work on Run for Your Life, Gazzara began a series of collaborations with acclaimed filmmaker John Cassavetes, appearing in Husbands (1970), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) and Opening Night (1977), and during the later stages of his career he remained prolific, appearing in films such as Road House (1989), The Big Lebowski (1998), Buffalo '66 (1998), Happiness (1998), Summer of Sam (1999), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Dogville (2003) and Paris, je t'aime (2006).

Story details emerge for the Vin Diesel sci-fi sequel Riddick

After returning to The Fast and the Furious franchise a couple of years back, action star Vin Diesel has now turned his attention to a third live-action outing as the anti-hero Richard B. Riddick, donning the goggles once more under writer-director David Twohy for the long-rumoured sequel to Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick.

Entitled Riddick, the latest film has gone into production in Montreal, Canada and Universal Pictures have just issued a press release giving us some details about the story:

The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he's encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.

The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won't leave the planet without Riddick's head as their trophy.

Along with Vin Diesel, Riddick also sees the return of Karl Urban (Dredd) as Vakko, while newcomers to the series include Jordi Molla (Colombiana), Matt Nable (Killer Elite), Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica), Bokeem Woodbine (Total Recall), Conrad Pla (Immortals) and Raoul Trujillo (Apocalypto), along with singer Keri Hilson and former WWE star Batista.

Riddick is expected to aim for an R-rating, and is scheduled to hit cinemas some time next year.

J.J. Abrams does some major networking

With NBC picking up the pilot for the apocalyptic drama Revolution, ABC has become the only American broadcast network left that does not have a project being produced by Star Trek (2009) director J.J. Abrams. An early log line for the show reads:

“In this epic adventure thriller, a family struggles to reunite in a post-apocalyptic American landscape; a world of empty cities, local militias and heroic freedom fighters, where every single piece of technology — computers, planes, cars, phones, even lights — has mysteriously blacked out... forever.”

Over at CW, J.J. Abrams has teamed with One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn to make Shelter which takes place at a New England summer resort where comic and emotional mayhem ensues as the hospitality staff attempts to meet the needs of guests and their own private lives. Fox has added the supernatural prison tale Alcatraz to go along with the science fiction procedural Fringe, and CBS has recently given a full-season order to the vigilante justice series Person of Interest.

Win a pair of tickets to a preview screening of The Woman in Black - NOW CLOSED

Flickering Myth have teamed up with Orange Film to offer one lucky reader two tickets to an exclusive preview screening of Hammer's supernatural thriller The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. The screening will take place at BAFTA HQ (195 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LN) on the evening of Monday 6th February - read on for a synopsis and details of how to enter the giveaway...


The Woman in Black follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), who is ordered to travel to a remote village and sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in the client’s isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover tragic secrets, his unease growing when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed only in black. Receiving only silence from the locals, Kipps is forced to uncover the true identity of the Woman in Black on his own, leading to a desperate race against time when he discovers her true intent.

To be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is make sure you like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, then send a quick email with your contact details and the subject heading "WOMAN". Be sure to include your postal address, contact telephone number and your Facebook / Twitter username.

The competition closes at 5pm on Sunday, February 5th. UK entrants only please.

Don’t forget, Orange customers can also download a film every Thursday from iTunes with Orange Film To Go. They can do so by simply texting ‘FILMTOGO’ to 85060, via the dedicated ‘Orange Film To Go’ iPhone app or by logging onto facebook.com/orangefilmclub.

Small print:
- Arrivals from 6.30 for a 7pm start
- Winners must be over 18 and bring photo identification
- No travel or accommodation is provided