Not The Messiah

As part of their 40th anniversary celebrations last year, the surviving members of Monty Python (with the exception of John Cleese), appeared in a stage performance of Eric Idle's oratoria Not The Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy). The musical is of course based on Monty Python's Life of Brian, which many consider the most successful of their films.

The event was recorded and will in fact gain a very brief cinema release for one night only on March 25th. The recording will screen at 90 cinemas in the UK, with no showings planned in the US at president.

No doubt this means the show will turn up on DVD at some point in the near future. In the meantime, here's a trailer for the cinema screeenings

Transformers 3D

Despite his previous protestations that 3D may be nothing more than a fad, and unsuitable for his style of film making, rumours are circulating that Michael Bay may in fact shoot the third Transformers movie in the format.

Speaking on 'In The House' a TV series on American cable channel Starz, Bay told the interviewer that :-

“It (3D) is a process we’re testing with some ‘Transformers‘ scenes, how successful it is with my movie in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens, because hopefully that process will work. I’ve seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage.”

Whilst some may disagree with the suggestion that there is anything 'real' about the special effect sequences in Bay's movies, the series does seem to be a good candidate for the 3D treatment and Paramount is apparently very keen on making this happen.

Transformers 3 is set for a summer 2011 release with Bay directing and Shia Lebouf, Megan Fox and a lot of bad CGI explosions also returning.

Source: Slashfilm

Avatar 2

It is no great shock that a sequel to Avatar is already in the planning stages, but what may be more surprising is the potential involvement of Sigourney Weaver.

Weaver appeared on French TV show 'Le Grand Journal' this week to plug her forthcoming hosting duties at the Cesar Awards, AKA the French Oscars.

During her interview, Weaver was asked if she would be part of any Avatar sequel, and she responded that she has in fact already discussed this with writer/director James Cameron, who has confirmed he is planning to include her in the sequel.

Spoilers below

Those who have seen the film will express some surprise at these news, for the simple fact that Weaver's character was killed in the original film. Whilst the Na'avi attempted to transfer Grace's consciousness from her dying human body into her avatar the attempt was apparently unsuccessful.

However, according to Weaver the key is that after the transfer, Mo’at declared that “she is with Eywa now”. Cameron apparently explained to Weaver that despite her character's apparent death, she still exists “in the tree”, and that he has some ideas on how to keep “the family together”.

Repo Men

Here's a new poster for forthcoming Sci-fi film Repo Men.

Rather than being a sequel to Alex Cox's 80's classic Repo Man (although that too is apparently on the way), Repo Men is instead a dark comedy about a future world in which life saving organ transplants can be repossessed if the recipients fail to make their repayments. Jude Law and Forrest Whitaker co-star in the movie, which hits theatres on March 19th.

Burke and Hare

Courtesy of Dark Horizons, here's the first shot of Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis in Burke and Hare. The currently shooting film tells the story of the notorious 17th century grave robbers and murderers who made a lucrative business out of selling corpses to Edinburgh medical students.

The black comedy co-stars Isla Fisher and Tim Curry and marks a return to feature filmmaking for John Landis, whose last cinematic release was 1998 flop Susan's Plan.

Paranormal Activity 2

In surprising news, Paramount pictures has supposedly approached Brian De Palma as a last minute replacement director for their sequel to last years suprise hit Paranormal Activity.

You will no doubt recall that production on the film hit a major snag recently when Lionsgate exercised their contractual rights to pull original director Kevin Greutert from the film in order that he could fulfil his duties on Saw 7. Greutert was quite vocal in his displeasure at this course of events, but Paramount seem to have given up any hope of resolving the situation.

Whilst De Palma may not be the obvious choice, his recent Iraq war film Redacted used similar techniques to the original Paranormal Activity to tell it's story and he does of course have a long relationship with the horror genre through such films as Carrie and The Fury.

Zoolander 2

The original Zoolander was not a big success on it's initial cinema release, but since then has rapidly became a cult classic on DVD. Now, after several false starts, it looks like Ben Stiller could be returning to the role.

Stiller has been working on the script with Justin Theroux, co-writer on Tropic Thunder and Iron Man 2. Theroux is also attached to direct. Jonah Hill is in consideration to play the films baddie, replacing the original's Will Ferrell.

Source: Slashfilm

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Following Tuesday's new poster, here's a further trailer for New Lines Nightmare on Elm Street remake. The trailer simultaneously seems to give away an awful lot of the films surprises and make the film look like an exact retread of the original. Whether this is the case or not will become apparent on 30 April when the film hits American cinemas.

Iron Man 2

For those who cant wait until April, The French version of MSN Video has a (very) short featurette containing some interview clips and behind the scenes footage from the forthcoming Iron Man sequel.

Superman

Latino Review reports that David Goyer, co-writer of The Dark Knight, has been hired to pen a reboot of the Superman franchise.

Ignoring 2006's woeful Superman Returns, the new script is not intended to be an origin story and will begin with most of the key elements (Lex Luthor, Lois Lane etc.) already in place. This seems a smart idea, as there cannot be many members of the movie going public who are not already aware of the mythology surrounding the character.

Speedy Gonzalez

Following the success of the Alvin and the Chipmunk films, producers are dusting off other cartoon properties for live action / CGI remakes. Next up, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is Warner Bros take on Speedy Gonzalez, with comedian George Lopez on board to provide the voice.

Garfield screenwriters Alex Socolow and Joel Cohen (not coen) have penned the screenplay, which according to producer Anne Lopez recasts Speedy as "a misunderstood boy who comes from a family that works in a very meticulous setting, and he's a little too fast for what they do. He makes a mess of that. So he has to go out in the world to find what he's good at."

Lopez has also indicated that they will be careful to avoid the accusations of racial stereotyping which have plagued the cartoon in the past.

Whilst this sounds terrible and it is difficult to see the appeal of such an outdated character, the same could be said a few years back of Alvin and friends, and if they can achieve a fraction of that success Warner Brothers will be speeding their way to the bank (groan..)

The Karate Kid

Jackie Chan and Will Smith's offspring star in this June's remake of The Karate Kid. The trailer suggests this is aimed at a younger audience than the original, and the makers of the film don't appear to realise that Karate and Kung Fu are not the same thing. Nonetheless, Jackie Chan seems a good fit for the Mr Miyagi role, and at the very least the gag at the end should make fans of the orignal smile.

Source: Aint It Cool News

Doc Savage

Shane Black, writer of Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout, and director of the much under-appreciated 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' has been hired to co-write and direct the forthcoming film adaptation of comic super hero Doc Savage.

Doc Savage was last seen on screen in 1975's camp classic 'Doc Savage - The Man of Bronze' but rumours of a return have been mooted for over ten years, with Schwarzenegger attached way back in 1999.

According to Variety, the film will keep the 1930s setting and will also feature 'The Fagulous Five', Doc Savage's recurring companions.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Here is the new poster for New Line's reboot of the Freddy series.

In addition, head over to Slashfilm for a lengthy transcript of a roundtable interview with the film's producers, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form. In some surprisingly frank exchanges, they talk about the development of the film, fans reactions to both this film and their previous Friday the 13th remake and series creator Wes Craven's lack of involvement in the new film.

Die Hard 5

Whilst promoting his new comedy Cop Out, Bruce Willis told MTV news that a fifth Die Hard is in the offing, with production to begin as early as 2011.

Willis also said that Len Wiseman, the director of the last film in franchise, 2007's Die Hard 4.0, is also his preferred choice to helm the new movie. In terms of plot, look for John McClane to travel abroad, with Willis stating "It's got to go worldwide. That would be my contribution to the next movie."

BAFTA Awards

No massive suprises at the British Academy awards last night, with the big winner being The Hurt Locker , which took six awards to Avatar's two.

Colin Firth was a deserved winner for his role in A single Man, but will struggle to repeat the feat at the Oscars, where Jeff Bridges is a clear favourite to win.

The full list of winners was as follows:-

Best Film: The Hurt Locker

Outstanding British Film: Fish Tank

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker

Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air

Film not in the English Language: A Prophet

Animated Film: Up Leading Actor: Colin Firth, A Single Man

Leading Actress: Carey Mulligan, An Education

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, Precious

Music: Up

Cinematography: The Hurt Locker

Editing: The Hurt Locker

Production Design: Avatar

Costume Design: The Young Victoria

Sound: The Hurt Locker

Special Visual Effects: Avatar

The Orange Rising Star Award: Kristen Stewart

Hit Somebody

Following his directing-only gig on this week's 'Cop Out', Kevin Smith will be returning to writing duties for his next film, 'Hit Somebody', a hockey drama based on the song by Warren Zevon and Mitch Alborn.

In an interview with www.nhl.com, Smith revealed that Seann William Scott will play the lead role of 'Buddy', a hockey 'enforcer' whose wish is to score just one goal in a game.

Smith also says the movie will take place over a period of decades, and unlike his previous movies will be 'big and epic in scale'

Tekken

Did you know they are making a movie of popular video game Tekken? Following on from such great successes as Double Dragon, Streetfigher and Mortal Kombat, comingsoon.net has a selection of new images from the film, such as this :-

The movie stars Luke Goss, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Tamlyn Tomita, Gary Daniels, Chiaki Kuriyama, Cung Le, Jon Foo, Kelly Overton, Ian Anthony Dale, Lateef Crowder, Darrin Dewitt Henson, John Pyper-Ferguson, Mircea Monroe, Gary Ray Stearns, Candice Hillebrand and David Pitt.

When the only vaguely recognisable name on the list is former 'Bros.' singer Luke Goss, it may not come as a surprise to know that the film has yet to be picked up by an American distributor.

Kick Ass

New restricted trailer for the action comedy.

Zaitochi

For those of you lucky enough to be based in the US, Hulu keeps getting better and better with it's movie offerings. The latest company to jump on board is art house DVD specialists Criterion. The first offerings are six films in the popular Japanese Zaitochi - The Blind Swordsman series, with more films from Criterion's wide ranging collection set to follow

Woody Allen's Next

Owen Wilson has signed on as the lead in Woody Allen’s as yet untitled next movie. Little is known about the movie except that Carla Bruni has a small role.

This is of course Allen's next movie to film, while his prodigious work rate means we will be seeing his already shot 'You will Meet a Tall Dark Strnager' in September, starring Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto and Lucy Punch.

When You're Strange : A Film About The Doors

Trailer for the forthcoming Jim Morrison/ The Doors documentary. The documentary is directed by Ton DiCillo, best known for his feature work including the much undderated 'Living in oblivion'. Not too much information is given in the trailer, but hopefully this will vanquish memories of Val Kilmer's portrayal in the overwrought Oliver Stone bio-pic of a few years back.

Cop Out

Two new R-rated clips from Kevin Smith's buddy cop comedy, which hits US theatres next week., via www.newsaskew.com.

After a pretty poor first trailer, subsequent marketing has raised expectations for the film, which looks like a pretty fun return to the days of Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills cop.

American Pie 4

The LA times reports that Universal are beginning work on 'American Pie 4'. Unlike the numerous straight to DVD spin offs this is aimed at a theatrical release and will feature the characters from the original trilogy.

Harold and Kumar writers Jon Hurwitz and Haydyn Schlossberg have been tasked with writing the screenplay and several of the original actors, most of whom are now well into their thirties, have expressed an interest in returning. Given the less than stellar careers most of them have progressed onto (with the exception of Alyson Hannigan and Seann William Scott) this is not entirely surprising.

James Cameron Interview

MTV.com has a wide ranging interview with James Cameron. There's lots on Avatar of course, including details of the home video release and inevitable sequel, but Cameron also talks at length about the wider industry, including his thoughts on Terminator sequels, superhero movies and the future of 3d. Cameron is particularly interesting when talking about the process of 'retrofitting' 3d to existing films and the use of the technique purely as a marketing process, as can be seen in this clip

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Source: Slashfilm

Roger Ebert

Esquire magazine has a lengthy article on famous film critic Roger Ebert. One of the most respected critics in the business, Ebert has suffered serious health problems in the last few years, which have left him unable to eat and speak. Despite this he continues to turn out a prodigious quantity of journalism, most of which can be found at www.rogerebert.com and collected in numerous books.

Wall Street 2

Unfortunately you have to visit The Sun's website to see it, but the new international trailer for Wall Street 2 features a lot of footage not seen in the US teaser. Those wanting to avoid spoilers should be aware however, as the trailer appears to give away a good chunk of the films plot.

Avatar

Whilst Avatar continues to smash box office records, stories are beginning to emerge about the future of the franchise. Whilst a sequel is no doubt inevitable it will also take several years to come to the screen.

Notwithstanding this, it seems we will be seeing new Avatar material much sooner than this, in the form of a novel written by Cameron himself.

Speaking to MTV news, producer Jon Landau indicated that the novel would be a 'big epic story that fills in a lot of things' including the death of Jake's brother and how main villain Quaritch ended up on Pandora.

The producer also indicated that other material originally intended for the movie, but cut for time, may make an appearance either in the novel, or another medium such as comic books.

Kick Ass

Empire Online have the new poster for Matthew Vaughan's forthcoming comic book adaptation Kick Ass. If you follow the link you'll also find a short behind the scene documentary on the film, which is due for release on March 26 in the UK and April 16 in the US.

Taxi Driver 2

Lars Von Trier producing partner has moved quickly to debunk yesterday's story that Von Trier was working on a new version of Scorsese's 1970's classic Taxi Driver.

Speaking to Screen Daily, Peter Aalbaek Jensen stated that the story was without foundation Whilst he confimed that Scorsese and Von Trier had met at the Berlinale he said rumours that the latter wanted to re-make Taxi Driver were “rubbish”.

Whilst many will breathe a sigh of relief at this news, a part of me was intrigued at what the Danish provocateur would have produced.

Whilst the Wolfman update has done better than expected at the box office with a $32 million opening weekend, reviews have not been kind. Stories have abounded about this being a troubled shoot, with numerous writers, a last minute change of director and extensive reshoots, and many critics have claimed that this is clearly reflected in the final product.

Joe Johnson, who replaced Mark Romanek as director, has given an interview to Time Out magazine in which, whilst not expressing displeasure with the final result, he is unusually candid about the difficulties in bringing the film to the screen. Amongst his choice quotes:-

“One of the issues with the previous director was that he had said he needed another 20 days, [...] and that became one of the areas of disagreement that led to [the studio] looking for a new director.”

Johnson goes on to state that whilst he initially brought the film in on the timescale set out by the studio, this was at the expense of jettisoning several sequences for time and budget reasons, including "a much longer sequence at the end and one in London where the wolfman is loose"

After cutting the film together it became apparent that the film did not work without these sequences, necessitating five further weeks of reshoots and significant delays in the film's release.

Whilst this is only the latest in a number of tales of films which have gone wildly over time and budget as a result of creative disagreements and studio politics, unfortunately for Universal The Wolfman looks to be another Last Action Hero rather than the next Titanic.

Arthur

In the second Russell Brand story of the day, The Hollywood reporter reports that the makers of his forthcoming Arthur Remake have approached Mery Streep for the supporting cast.

Streep is apparently wanted for the role of Hobson, the valet / butler originally played by John Gielgud. Obviously some work will need to be done to re-tool the role for a woman, but Streep is one of the few actresses who could give the necessary gravitas to the role, for which Gielgud won a best supporting actor oscar.

British screenwriter Peter Baynham, who contributed to Borat and Bruno, as well as being one of the creators of Alan Partridge, is working on the script for the film, which begins filming this summer.

Taxi Driver 2

File this one under weird rumours at the moment, but stories are emerging from the Berlin Film Festival that De Niro and Martin Scorsese are looking to revisit perhaps their most famous collaboration, Taxi Driver, with Lars Von Trier in the director's chair.

No word on whether this is a sequel, remake or pure fantasy, but the idea of the Danish filmmaker getting his hands on this material does have a certain appeal.

More details as and when we get them...

Get him to the Greek

We have the full trailer for 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' spin off 'Get him to the Greek', centring on Russell Brand's rockstar character Aldous Snow.

Jonah Hill plays a music industry assistant tasked with getting the British Rocker from London to LA to perform an anniversary show. Unfortunately, it appears that Snow has fallen back off the wagon since his appearance in the previous film.

People's opinion of this film will no doubt depend on their tolerance of Russell Brand's schtick. The film is also his first starring role in an American movie, and it will be interesting to see whether he can carry a film.

Toy Story 3

New full length trailer for Pixar's 3d sequel, which hits cinemas on June 18th

Mr and Mrs Smith

The NY Mag reports that Regency Enterprises,developing a quasi-prequel to the 2005 Brad Pitt–Angelina Jolie hit Mr. and Mrs. Smith without its original stars.

The new film, which will possibly be titled Mr. and Mrs. Jones, will serve as an origin story about a pair of twenty-something spies who are set up as a fake married couple when they graduate agency training.

Clearly there's an economic reason for this, as Pitt and Jolie don't come cheap, and Star Trek showed that fans will flock to an established franchise even without the majority of the original cast. Notwithstanding this, the original film coasted on it's stars charm and chemistry and questions remain about the viability of any sequel which doesn't feature them.

Green Lantern

Tim Robbins is the latest actor to sign on to Warner Brothers comic adaption Green Lantern, according to the website Heat Vision.

Robbins will play Robbins plays Senator Hammond, the father of the main villian Dr Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard).Ryan Reynolds plays the title character with Blake Lively also appearing in the film, which begins filimng in New Orleans In March.

Saw VII

Slashfilm reports that Saw VII, which hits cinemas in 3D this October, may be the last in the series following the disappointing box office of the last movie.

Speaking to Demon FM, a UK Radio Station, the films screenwriter, Patrick Melton, stated

“I think it’s going to end with Saw VII. I have a very strong feeling its going to end with Saw VII. That’s something we’re debating now. You saw in previous interviews or discussions where we thought Saw VIII would be the last one where we had the first trilogy and the second trilogy and then sort of a grand finale wrapped up in two films. But frankly because Saw VI hasn’t performed as well as we anticipated, the idea is well why make two movies when we can make one really excellent movie that wraps up as best we can? And it’s going to be in 3-D which sort of adds to the spectacle. So if you had to ask me, I don’t own the franchise, nor do I run the studio, but I have a feeling, a strong feeling that it’s going to be Saw VII which will be also known as Endgame. And nothing’s official yet, but that’s where we’re hoping things will go. “

Trailer for David Baddiel's comedy 'The Infidel', starring Omad Djalili as a devout muslim who finds out he in fact both adopted and Jewish. The West Wing's Richard Schiff co-stars and the trailer also highlights cameos from other well known British comedians.

Worried this resembles Leon the Pig Farmer in reverse, but the central conceit has some mileage.

Source: The Guardian

Miramax

The Guardian reports that the Weinstein Brothers may again be back in the running to purchase recently shuttered Miramax from Disney.

The story originally surfaced at the start of the year before the closure of the studio was announced. However Disney's decision to wind down the studio appeared to put an end to the rumours.

However sources now suggest that the Weinsteins have now been approached by two hedge funds with a proposal to purchase Miramax as a joint venture.

The LA Times reports that the Weinsteins are not the only people seeking to salvage Miramax, with reports that between seven to 10 bidders were interested in purchasing the studio, including Summit Entertainment, currently rolling in money due to the success of teen vampire franchise Twilight.

Robin Hood

Dodgy english accents ahoy in Ridley Scott's retelling of the Robin Hood legend. Basically, Gladiator with tights.

Alice in Wonderland

Disney have issued a new trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland which includes some new footage together with members of the cast explaining the premise of the film, which is now being marketed clearly as a sequel to the original, despite the title.

Superbowl Spots : Avatar - The Last Airbender

Cop Out

Kevin Smith fans who expressed disappointment at the recent trailer for 'Cop Out' will probably find this red band trailer more to their taste.

This appears to be internet only at the minute, but it appears to give a truer impression as to the type of film we'll be getting come February.

King Kong 3D

OK, not a new film as such, but Universal have given more details on the revamped King Kong ride that will be opening this summer to replace the original ride, which was destroyed in a fire in June 2008.

Rather than rebuilding the animatronic Kong, the new attraction will use state of the art 3D technology, according to the Los Angeles times :-

Guests on the studio tour will don 3-D glasses and board a tram that will enter a 200-foot-long soundstage, where park visitors will not only see Kong in three dimensions but also smell his banana breath, feel the gust of wind as he jumps over the guests and sense the ground quake when the ape engages aTyrannosaurus rex in a life-or-death battle. The Kong attraction will be one stop on the park's back lot studio tour ride.

During a recent preview of the technology, a dirty, battle-scarred Kong stared menacingly out from two 180-foot-long by 40-foot-tall screens that wrap around the trams that will carry visitors. In another scene, a 35-foot-tall T. rexstepped over the trams, turned to the audience and bared its massive teeth.

Inside the building, the tram will stop over a "tram-mover" system, powered by massive air bags that will lift, shake and drop the tram, giving guests the feeling of being jolted during the battle between Kong and a T. rex, she said.

180-foot-long screens will curve around the tram so that the 3-D images seem to surround the passengers. A system of fans, sprayers and other devices installed in the building will spew air, water and odors at park visitors.

The attraction sounds similar to the Spiderman 3D at Universal's Islands of Adventure resort in Florida, which is one of that park's most popular attractions.

Four Lions

The sundance festival homepage has a transcription of a Q & A with Chris Morris after a recent screening of his feature debut Four Lions. Morris rarely speaks about his work, but has a few interesting things to say here.

Cemetery Junction

New trailer for Ricky Gervais' and Stephen Merchant's next movie.

RIP Zelda Rubenstein

Miramax RIP

Industry website The Wrap reports that Disney is closing down it's Miramax subsidiary for good, with the loss of 80 jobs in the process.

Founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the studio scored success with 'indie' films such as Clerks, The English Patient and, most famously, Pulp Fiction.

Bob and Harvey have of course long since left to form The Weinstein Company and the studio lost a lot of it's credibility and appeal with their departure. Nonetheless the news comes as a surprise and a sense of sadness that one of the most famous names in modern cinema is no more.

Kevin Smith, who had a number of films distributed and/or financed by Miramax, writes :-

"I was never a brand-name whore in my life, except when it came to indie film. And from the moment I knew I wanted to be in film, there was one label I wanted on my ass: Miramax.

What Harvey and Bob built from scratch resembled an old studio star-factory; but this time, the stars were the filmmakers. It was a gang (of New York), and like any good gang, it was dripping with street cred. Just being a part of that gang sent a message: I run with rebels.

But Miramax wasn't just a bad-boy clubhouse, it was a 20th century Olympus: throw a can of Diet Coke and you hit a modern-day deity. And for one brief, shining moment, it was an age of magic and wonders.

I'm crushed to see it pass into history, because I owe everything I have to Miramax. Without them, I'd still be a New Jersey convenience store register jockey. In practice, not just in my head."

Wall Street 2 : Money Never Sleeps

Teaser trailer for Oliver Stone's timely Wall Street sequel. Nice mobile...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Reports are coming in that, following the success of Avatar, Warner Brothers are looking to release the last two Harry Potter films in 3D. Whilst the films have already been partly shot, apparently technology now exists to convert the films in post production. A similar process may also be used on the forthcoming Clash of the Titans remake.

Terminator Salvation

According to Slashfilm, those in the US (or with a proxy server) can download a free copy of Terminator Salvation.

Simply visit Cinemanow here , enter promo code 'TS201023' and register with the site.

The movie's not great, but hey, it's free.

A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American

www.blinkbox.com has a number of free films available for screening. Whilst most of those are obscure and/or out of copyright, there's a few gems.

In particular, the superb documentary, A personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies is available here. The film features almost four hours of Scorsese talking about the movies that inspired and influenced him, and features a selection of rare clips. Scorsese is almost as well respected as a film historian and preservationist as a director, and he talks about the films with knowledge and passion.

l Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American

Four Lions

The Guardian has an exclusive clip from Chris Morris' feature debut Four Lions, a 'jihadist comedy' which has its world premiere at Sundance today.

Source: The Guardian

Alien

Surprising news on rhe Alien remake dront comes from Variety, who state that franchise originator Ridley Scott will be returning to direct.

The previously announced screenwriter fis Jon Spaihts, who despite having no produced films to his credit has no less than five scripts in various stages of development, including Children of Mars and Shadow 19.

Harvey

Variety reports that Steven Spielberg's next film will be a remake of invisible rabbit movie Harvey. The article describes the project as an adaptation of the original 1944 play by Mary Chase, as opposed to the 1950 James Stewart adaptation. Casting and pre-production will begin immediately, with Tom Hanks seemingly perfectly suited to the role. Filming is expected to begin early 2010.

Super Size Me

Those in the US (or with the requisite technical knowledge) can view Morgan Spurlock's junk food documentary Super Size Me free of charge via snagfilms

Alice in Wonderland

The new trailer to TIm Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland is now out. See the HD video here

Kevin Smith

Writer / Director Kevin Smith will be bringing his famous Q & A sessions to the UK again this Autumn.

Kevin will appear at the Indig02 at the O2 arena on Saturday 10 October 2009. Ticket prices and availablity have yet to be announced.

SAW VI and VII

Above is the poster for the sixth film in the never-ending Saw series. Despite the fact that this film isnt even out yet, Variety indiate that plans are already underway for a seventh installment, stating:-

David Hackl -- production designer of the second, third and fourth films and helmer of "Saw V" -- has been tapped to direct.

Mark Burg and Oren Koules, who have produced all six of the "Saw" pics, are back as producers. And scribes Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, who penned the fourth, fifth and sixth films, are writing the seventh.

Avatar

Aint It Cool News has a detailed rundown of the twenty minutes of 3D Avatar footage that has just screened at Comic Con.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

IGN has the teaser poster and a promotional image giving the first shots of Jackie Haley as the new Freddy Kreuger, albeit with his face heavily in shadow. The costume and fedora look almost identical to the original movies, although some set reports state that the makeup itself is noticeably more realistic.

Don't be fooled by the fourth image, which appears to be a publicity still for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4.

Follow this link for the images

Survival of the Dead

George Romero's newest zombie sequel, previously known as 'Island of the Dead' appears to have undergone a title change. The film will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The program notes are as follows:-

" Master director George A. Romero returns to his world of the undead, this time pitting two feuding clans in the middle of the fallout of a zombie epidemic."

Source: Slashfilm

US Box Office

This weekends box office, courtesy of IMDB, shows Harry Potter making over $150 million in it's first week of release. The film looks set to become the highest grossing of the franchise.

Mixed reviews and controversy over the content have led to a substantial drop in takings for Bruno, which will struggle to reach Borats success. Meanwhile The Hangover is now the highest grossing R rated comedy of all time, a title owned for over 20 years by Beverly Hills Cop.

The full chart is below

US Box Office

1Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)$77.8M/$158M

2Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)$17.6M/$152M

3Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)$13.7M/$364M

4Brüno (2009)$8.32M/$49.5M

5The Proposal (2009)$8.29M/$128M

6The Hangover (2009)$8.12M/$236M

7Public Enemies (2009)$7.75M/$79.6M

8Up (2009)$3.17M/$280M

9My Sister's Keeper (2009)$2.83M/$41.5M

10I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009)$2.77M/$10.4M

Prince of Persia

New posters for Disney's computer game adaptation, which they are hoping is next years Pirates of the Carribean.

Source: Empire

Doctor Who

From The Guardian comes news that David Tennant and Russell T Davies are expected to announce a big-screen outing for Doctor Who at the San Diego comic con later this month.

Tennant is scheduled to attend the annual fan convention in along with Russell T Davies, the show runner behind Doctor Who's small screen revival.

Davies has been dropping hints about a "special project" to Doctor Who Magazine. "News as and when – but I can promise it's worth waiting for," he said. The BBC has also confirmed that a Doctor Who feature is "in development".

Tennant, the 10th official Doctor Who, is due to leave the tardis after three further TV specials, the last of which will air in early 2010. After that the role will be taken over by new actor Matt Smith. Quite how this will tie in with Tennant continuing the role in feature films remains to be seen.

iPhone test

Blogwriter lite is a new piece of software which allows the posting of blog entries directly from the iPhone. Whilst useful the free version allows text only and does not allow you to edit text one posted. There also seems to be no way of adding tags to your post at present.

Notwithstanding this I'll be playing around with the software over the next few days and hopefully posting on a more regular basis than over the last few months.

Retro Review - Society

Society is a film in which a man gets fisted. To the extent that his head is pulled through his bum. Whilst such a sight may be common on Youporn, this may be the first incidence of this occuring in mainstream cinema.

Still reading? Brian Yuzna, producer of Re-Animator, made his directorial debut with this satirical tale of the American rich and what goes on behind their closed doors

Billy Warlock takes a break from starring in baywatch and numerous day time soap operas to take the starring role as a rich but troubled Beverly Hills teenager who begins to suspect his family and friends may not be all they seem. When he hears a tape of his sisters 'coming out' party his fears increase and he begins to question

Whilst the film initially keeps events on a relatively even keel, things soon take a turn for the surreal with incest, cannibalism and general gloopy weirdness all on the menu,

The last thirty minutes is a literal orgy of special effects, with bodies distorting and melting into each other as the truth is revealed and a captured Billy is forced to attend a party in which the rich suck the life out of their working class victims, It is here the somewhat unfortunate fisting occurs, as Billy escapes one of his pursuers by turning in inside out. This is shown in graphic, if rubbery, detail. The special effects were created by an individual going by the name 'Screaming Mad George', which seems a suitable epithet for the creator of this senes.

Of course there are hints throughout this this may all be in Billy's imagination. He is
after all prone to hallucinations, and is seeing a psychiatrist.

The film's points about class society are far from subtle, and the sudden shifts in tone and rather arbitrary ending make for an uneven experience, but the imagery of the closing scenes and sheer weirdness of the film will ensure society will linger in the memory.

Gamer

New trailer for the cheesy looking action pic, starring Gerard Butler

Princess and the Frog

Poster for Disney's long awaited return to hand drawn animation, courtesy of Cinematical