Good Cop? Bad Cop? Any Cop?

Pride and Glory explores issues of loyalty, morality and justice as a corruption scandal threatens to blow apart a closely-knit police family and the entire NYPD.  The male dominated cast revolves around the Irish-American Tierney family, with Edward Norton taking centre stage.  The plot gradually unravels as he investigates the murder of four New York City cops, only to implicate members of his own family. 

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The Bond Supremacy?
007′s back in one of the most eagerly anticipated films of ‘008.

Quantum of Solace kicks off just 20 minutes after the closing scenes of Casino Royale.  This is the first direct James Bond sequel and it’s clearly designed as part of a much larger canon, with plenty of scope for continuation.

Bond (Daniel Craig) must come to terms with Vesper’s betrayal and expose the mysterious organisation that took her life.  The organisation is more powerful and far-reaching than MI6 had ever conceived and Bond’s path brings him into contact with politically corrupt environmentalist Dominick Greene (French actor Mathieu Amalric), and his fiery love interest Camille (Olga Kurylenko).  (more…)

Or ‘Bauer through the Looking Glass’ if you’re a 24 fan…

Kiefer Sutherland takes time out of his busy 24 filming/Parole schedule to star in this US unofficial adaptation of Japanese Horror movie ‘Into the Mirror’.  He plays a shamed LA cop and recovering alcoholic who takes a job working security for a burnt out department store, only to experience sinister visions in the surviving mirrors.  He soon finds that the mysterious goings-on aren’t limited to his work place and though greeted with scepticism, he fights to protect his family. (more…)

Title:                 The Hobbit (and as yet untitled second film)

Director:           Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy II), produced by Peter Jackson.

Starring:            So far only Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis are confirmed, but it’s early days yet.

Released:         The first film is pencilled in for some time in 2011…with the second following a year later.

Synopsis:         The prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy tells of a young Bilbo and his encounters with the spiders of Mirkwood, Smaug the Dragon and of course, everybody’s favourite creature feature… Gollum.

Go further:        www.thehobbitblog.com

4-Word Thinking:           We wants it…precious.

Carnage as the Fast and the Furious has head on collision with Scrap Heap Challenge

Dubious director Paul WS Anderson has taken a break from his constant stream of ropey video game adaptations (the Resident Evil series, Dead or Alive, Mortal Kombat and the forthcoming Castlevania) to remake the controversial 1975 sci-fi Death Race 2000.  (more…)

Remember that scene in The Matrix when Neo uses a mobile phone to receive elaborate instructions from a stranger in order to escape the agents? 

Director D.J. Caruso certainly does – he’s taken the concept and turned it into a full length feature.  Eagle Eye is a technological action thriller that deals with conspiracy theories of invasive technology and ‘Big Brother’s watching you’ paranoia, throwing Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan and anybody watching onto a relentless rollercoaster ride of destruction. (more…)

Guy Ritchie bungs a TV through the window of his East-end Gangster’s paradise in this tale of sex, thugs, and Rock n’ Roll.

The latest London gangland flick from the stable that brought us contemporary classics ‘Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels’ and its sequel, ‘Snatch’, has to work hard if it’s to distance itself from 2005′s much maligned ‘Revolver’, let alone meet the standards of its spiritual predecessors.   For the uninitiated, or indeed, for anybody who’s not a wheeling-dealing cockney geezer, a RocknRolla is a “man who derives his living off the streets by using his wits and raw drive“, or, as it’s put so eloquently in the film’s opening credits – “We all like a bit of the good life – some the money, some the drugs, others the sex game, the glamour, or the fame. But a RocknRolla, oh, he’s different. Why? Because a real RocknRolla wants the f***ing lot”.  (more…)

War.  What is it good for?  If you’re Ben Stiller, the answer is comedy value.  But can this big budget Frat-Pack funfest combine the action of Platoon with the hilarity of Zoolander or is it just a fumble in the jungle? 

When a band of Prima Donna actors shooting a big budget Vietnam War movie find themselves in a real life war-zone, they must embody their roles as hardened US marines as a means to survive – let alone achieve box office success.  It’s a simple concept that has long been apparent from the previews, trailers and pre-release hype.  There are few real surprises to progress the plot beyond the initial idea so the success of Tropic Thunder is largely reliant on the characters and their personal journeys.   (more…)

Title:               Valkyrie

Director:       Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-men, X2, Superman Returns)

Starring:       Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Stephen Fry, Tom Wilkinson.

Released:     February 2009

Synopsis:     Based on a true story, this thriller documents Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg (Cruise) and Henning Von Treskow’s (Branagh) plot to assassinate Hitler, bringing an end to World War II.  It’s got an impressive award friendly cast, a director that can do no wrong and some weighty historic subject matter.  One to watch. 

Go further:         http://valkyrie.unitedartists.com/

4-Word Thinking:            Oscar’s Usual warring Suspects

The makers of Superbad let the monkey out of the bottle…

The latest comedy from Judd Apatow’s crowd, the Pineapple Express aims to do for stoner movies what Superbad did for the gross-out coming of age comedy, what Knocked-up did for the Rom-Com and what the 40 Year Old Virgin did for um…virgins?

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