So the news coming from across the pond is that J.J. Abrams has been selected to take on the directing duties for Star Wars Episode VII even though it was only a few weeks ago that he was ruling himself out of it.
I think this is fantastic news given J.J.’s track record of Alias, Lost, Fringe and then turning to films like Cloverfield, Mission Impossible, Super 8 and taking the reins of Star Trek on the big screen. This man seems to have a golden touch and is probably the best possible person to work on bringing Star Wars back to its original roots. His work with Star Trek was fantastic, yes he might have changed the history of Kirk and the Enterprise crew by creating an alternate timeline but by doing this he helped create a new fan base by giving it a refresh while at the same time keeping so much in for the original hard-core Trekkies.
Not just with Star Trek but with his other work he cared about the audience and wants to please them/us so I don’t see why Star Wars would be any different. We will obviously have new characters, stories, and I’m sure some good old J.J. camera flare shots but he will also include aspects of the Star Wars history, and returning characters, to keep everyone happy.
One person who I imagine is ecstatic by this news will be Simon Pegg. As a massive self-confessed Star Wars geek I’m sure he will be hoping to team up with J.J. once again and get a role in the film having worked with him in two Mission Impossible films and two Star Trek films.
The only negative that could arise from this is what will happen to the futures of Mission Impossible and more importantly Star Trek? Given there has been a 4 year gap between Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness we could see the same sort of wait for Star Trek 3 meaning a 2017 release giving plenty of time for Star Wars.
However I think we can all agree now, and we didn’t want to believe it, that J.J. Abrams is indeed our father. YYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Following on from last year I have compiled a list of films, that I am looking forward to, being released this in 2013. It was going to be a top 10 but there were far too many so I made it a top 15 to look out for.
So have a read and see if any of these are getting you excited for the film year ahead.
A Good Day to Die Hard
Directed by John Moore
Starring Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney
Taking place in Russia, John McClain goes after his son who is in a spot of trouble with some local authorities. Expect guns, explosions, witty one liners and a Yippie-ki-yay…….
Out February 14th
Oz the Great and Powerful
Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams
Ever wondered how the wizard ever came to live in OZ. This tells the story of how a young magician is transported to the Land of Oz and his encounters with the inhabitants.
Out March 8th
Iron Man 3
Directed by Shane Black
Starring Robert Downey Jnr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley and Guy Pierce
Taking place right after the events of Avengers Assemble, Tony Stark is trying to deal with who he is. The man or the suit? Stark comes up against his toughest threat yet in the Mandarin as his personal world crumbles around him.
Out April 26th
Star Trek into Darkness
Directed by J.J. Abrams
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg and Benedict Cumberbatch
The crew of the Enterprise find Starfleet and the Earth in chaos and it is up to the Kirk and his crew to find who is responsible and settle an old score.
Out May 17th
Only God Forgives
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring Ryan Gosling and Kristin Scott Thomas
This film reunites the team that brought us Drive, Refn and Gosling. The film is about a Thai boxing club that is the front for a family’s drug business. Things don’t go to plan and Gosling is forced to find the people who killed his brother.
Out May 23rd
The Hangover 3
Directed by Todd Phillips
Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zack Galifianakis
Not much has been released about this yet, a possible funeral, possible mental home…. But what we do know is that they will be returning to Vegas and the Wolf pack is sure to have one crazy final blowout.
Out May 24th
Man of Steel
Directed by Zach Snyder
Starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne and Russell Crowe
Yes this is another Superman film and we will probably see a lot of Kal-el becoming Clark Kent and Clark Kent becoming Superman once again but this will be different. Christopher Nolan is helping produce and helped write the story which already adds anticipation considering what he did for the Batman franchise.
Out June 14th
Monsters University
Directed by Dan Scanlon
Starring the voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal
This is the story of how Mike Wazowski and James P. “Sully” Sullivan met at university and became best friends before going into the scaring business.
Out July 12th
The Wolverine
Directed by James Mangold
Starring Hugh Jackman
Taking place after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan travels to Japan to deal with his continuing issues but soon finds himself in a battle against someone from his past.
Out July 26th
The Worlds End
Directed by Edgar Wright
Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine and Martin Freeman
This is the final part in the ‘Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy’ which will see the green mint choc-chip ice cream being used. The story is based around five child hood friends who meet up to repeat a pub crawl that they did in their younger days which finishes in The Worlds End pub. However things don’t go according to plan and they realise that it’s not just their own lives they should worry about but the whole worlds.
Out August 14th
Elysium
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Starring Matt Damon, Sharlto Copley and Jodie Foster
There are two types of people that live in the year 2159. Wealthy ones who live on the space station Elysium and the rest who live on an overpopulated and destroyed Earth. The film sees a plan to make everyone equal by sending ex-con Damon on a mission to make the 2 worlds 1.
Out September 20th
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Starring Mickey Rourke, Michael Madsen, Jamie King, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Josh Brolin and Joseph Gordon Levitt
Mostly based on the second book in the Sin City series by Frank Miller Sin City: A Dame to Kill For follows the same path of the first film looking over 4 different stories that intertwine. 1 of the stories is new and has Joseph Gordon Levitt playing a cocky gambler called Johnny. Anything with JGL in gets my vote.
Out October 2nd
Thor: The Dark World
Directed by Alan Taylor
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård and Christopher Ecclestone
A primeval race intends to send the universe in to darkness while at the same time Thor battles to save all the Nine Realms. Thor must team with Jane Foster to save the universe from the evil Malekith. What makes this even more interesting is director Alan Taylor has also worked on the 1st and 2nd series of Game of Thrones.
Out October 30th
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage and Andy Serkis
Continues on from where The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey left off. Expect stunning visuals and great fun.
Out December 13th
Anchorman: The Legend Continues
Directed by Adam McKay
Starring Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Christina Applegate
Not much has been released about what we can expect from this film. All we know is that the news team are reuniting and that the story may involve a custody battle and some bowling.
Everyone does a review of the best films of the year that has just ended and I am not going to be the exception.
I probably went to the cinema more times in 2012 than I had in any previous years. There were some very good films out and also some very bad ones. I try to see as many as possible as I like to get a nice range of different genres.
I have thought long and hard about narrowing the films down to a top 5 of 2012 which means I have had to cut some good films out including Moonrise Kingdom, The Amazing Spiderman and, probably the closest to making my top 5, Argo.
So here is goes (note: this is not in any order) with the first 3 probably being very obvious and the last 2 being a little bit out there.
The Dark Knight Rises
What a perfect way to end the Dark Knight Trilogy. On 1st viewing I did think there were too many long 1 on 1 talking scenes and not enough action however on a second viewing I realised that they weren’t really that long and they really added to the closing of the story. Anything with Joseph Gordon Levitt in is great in my eyes and Tom Hardy is slowly turning into one of my favourite actors. The added little Easter eggs in the film are great for the fans of Batman. This has been added to my Bluray collection.
Avengers Assemble
This was the film that has been wanted and has been built up to for a number of years by all the previous Marvel films. Seeing all the top Marvel characters (minus Spiderman and the X-men) join forces to take on some big bad just couldn’t stop that huge smile across my face. Robert Downey Jr. is the stand out performer as the playboy billionaire Tony Stark/Ironman although Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk was probably the best take on the character in recent years. The action set pieces in the film were huge with the heroes not only taking on the bad guys but also taking on each other. Most memorable part of the film has to be Hulk punching Thor, classic.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an absolute favourite of mine and when news first broke that The Hobbit was going to be made the excitement started building and then we find out that it is turning into another trilogy, yes. The only downside is that we have to wait until 2015 for the final part. The film may have been similar to The Fellowship of the Ring following same plot points but it didn’t stop the film being any less enjoyable. The beginning of the film was a nice way to tie it in with LOTR and the whole Gollum/Bilbo scene was very funny. Having been to New Zealand and some of the LOTR locations I always feel happy when I see the country again and brings back lots of memories. I loved the film and cannot wait for the other 2 parts to come out.
The Cabin in the Woods
A film that was made in 2009 and due to studio differences took until 2012 to be released however it was well worth the wait. This was not your straight forward teen/slasher movie. Yes it had the typical characters that you would expect in these types of films and introduced them in the obvious and I’ve seen this all before. However the comedy and Sci-fi elements that were thrown in were brilliant and not fully expected. A film to watch over and over and now belongs in my Bluray collection.
Killer Joe
This was my stand out film of the year and was so beautiful and disgusting that it was fantastic. McConaughey stepped away from his usual rom-com character and played what can be described as a cool prick dirty cop. This film might be too much for some people and you will probably never look at fried chicken in the same way ever again. If you haven’t seen this I highly recommend it but just be warned.
To finish off here are a couple of side awards;
Considering Joss Whedon had a hand in 2 of these films makes him my Director/Writer of the year.
Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spiderman was my hottie of the year.
Least enjoyable/Worst Film of the year was both Taken 2 and Total Recall as I couldn’t decide between the two which I enjoyed least.
So what do you think of my Top 5 films of 2012?
What about my side awards? What was the least enjoyable film you saw?
So over the last week we have had a teaser poster and a teaser trailer and what do we know about it. Still not much. Rumours are rife about who Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing and what about Alice Eve’s character who looks very nice in the bright blue uniform.
If you are lucky enough to catch the 1st 9 minutes of the film in front of The Hobbit IMAX showings you might just get a little taster of what to expect from these new (new used very lightly if you are to believe rumours) additions to the Star Trek universe.
Anyway in case you missed them here is the poster and trailer. Enjoy
Superman was always my favourite of the superheroes and this has never changed. Ok so the most recent instalments might have been a bit on the dodgy side but this latest version looks awesome.
Check out this new trailer and I think you will feel the excitement too.
RT @OspreyGames: Take your friends and family to the Wildlands over the holidays! Retweet and Follow for a chance to #win a copy of Martin… 4 years ago
thefriedgold 