Upcoming Movies 2012 – Coming Soon

Posted by James in Entertainment, Movies & Film

Upcoming movies 2012, coming soon to a theatre near you. We take a look at the new movie releases for 2012.

First up we have Rock of Ages starring Tom Cruise, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones & Alec Baldwin. It tells the story of small town girl Sherrie & city boy Drew as they pursue their dreams of fame and fortune. It’s based on the successful musical & features some classic rock hits so we know it will at least have a good soundtrack. It is coming in June 2012, check out the trailer below.

Upcoming Movies 2012: Rock of Ages Trailer

Next we take a look at what will be one of the biggest releases of the year, The Dark Knight Rises. Due in July 2012 Christopher Nolan returns to complete his Batman trilogy with Christian Bale once again reprising the role of Batman the caped crusader.

Upcoming Movies 2012: The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

They don’t come any bigger than the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in December 2012.

From the Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson expectations are surely sky high for the first of 2 films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set 60 years before the Lord of the Rings and features Bilbo Baggins as the hero played by Martin Freeman.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey as does Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Ian Holm as the older Bilbo Baggins, Elijah Wood as Frodo, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Andy Serkis as Gollum and Hugo Weaving as Elrond.

The second film will be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again, scheduled for release in December 2013.

Upcoming Movies 2012: The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey Trailer

Tintin Movie, ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’, Comes To Life

Posted by Tracy in Entertainment, Movies & Film

Tintin movie called ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’, comes to life thanks to the efforts of director Steven Spielberg & producer Peter Jackson.

The Tintin movie, with a budget of around $100 million, uses the latest technology in motion capture to create super realistic 3D animation that they call ‘performance capture’.

You can understand why Spielberg and Jackson got together for this project. Jackson brought us the special effects monster that was the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Spielbergs achievements in ‘daring do’ movies need no introduction.

Most of the other major players in the Tintin movie happen to be British. The screenplay was principally written by Dr Who’s writer Steven Moffat and most of the cast are British.

Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell plays the lead role of reporter Tintin while Captain Haddock is played by Andy Serkis who won acclaim for his portrayal of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play the bumbling detectives, the Thompson twins, while James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, plays the villain Ivanovich Sakharine.

The Tintin books have been bestsellers for decades around every corner of the world, from China to Europe, but America has been slow to catch on.

For Spielberg he hopes that this will now change as the film opens across the US. He has been a fan since his Indiana Jones days and he admits to wanting to make a Tintin movie for the past 30 years.

With so many Tintin stories to base the film on they decided to use 3 books as a basis for the movie. The Secret of the Unicorn, The Crab with the Golden Claws and Red Rackhams Treasure.

Tintin Trailer

Tintin Reviews

The Tintin movie has premièred in Europe and is coming to the US and rest of the world soon. Perhaps the biggest thumbs up for the film has been the good reception of the Tintin movie in Belgium, the home of Tintins author, the late Georges Remi (pen name Hergé).

Here is what other people have said:

Variety: “the director and his team have deployed both technologies with subtle finesse throughout, exploiting 3D’s potential just enough to make the action scenes that much more effective without overdoing it…. The characters, with their exaggerated features, almost resemble flesh-and-blood thesps wearing prosthetic makeup.”

Hollywood Reporter: “First Tintin instalment takes Steven Spielberg back to his fun-filled, visually splendid roots.”

Telegraph: “there’s a mechanistic quality to Spielberg’s craft that’s undoubtedly disappointing: a film directed by one such distinctive artist and based on the work of another shouldn’t feel like it could have been made by almost anyone.”

Empire: “Action-packed, gorgeous, and faithfully whimsical: Hergé thought Spielberg the only director capable of filming Tintin. He was onto something.”

Film4: “An entertaining start – roll on the next one”

Photo:tintin.com

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Casts Spell Over Box Office

Posted by Clive in Entertainment, Movies & Film

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2) has broken the record for the biggest box office first day sales in the US & Canada according to initial estimates.

The film in the final instalment of the Harry Potter movies brings to an end the movie franchise that has clocked up an estimated  $6 billion worldwide in box office takings.

It looks like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2) will add considerably to that total, Warner Bros. are reporting initial first day sales of $92.1 million in North America.

This beats the previous record holder, The Twilight Saga (New Moon) which pulled in a measly $72.7 million on it’s opening day.

The seventh and final book in JK Rowlings epic tale of a young wizard was split into two films for the cinema. Some may say that was a cynical effort to extend the movie franchise and pull in even more money, others might say that it was necessary to fully convey the books final storyline.

Whatever the reason, Harry Potter fans have flocked to see it, queuing for hours to be amongst the first to get in. Some flew across the world to get to the premiere in London. And they loved it. Many have been watching for 10 years of their young lives.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2), the battle between good and evil becomes an all out war and Harry Potter has a showdown with Lord Voldemort.

In memory of the last Harry Potter movie we have put together some Harry Potter quotes for fans to enjoy the memories. All attribution goes to their author JK Rowling.

Harry Potter Quotes

For those who want further Harry Potter adventures then JK Rowling has recently launched the pottermore experience.

Photo: giraffe_756

Marilyn Monroe’s White Dress Sold For $4.6 Million

Posted by Sam in Celebrity, Movies & Film

Marilyn Monroe’s dress, the famous white dress that blew up in the air  in the film ‘The Seven Year Itch”, has been sold at auction for $4.6 million in LA.

The dress is an iconic piece of Marilyn Monroe history and was featured in the subway scene of the film ‘The Seven-Year Itch’, the air from the subway trains below blew the dress around creating one of the most iconic scenes of Marilyn’s career and one of her most famous poses.

The auction was held by Profiles in History on behalf of the screen legend Debbie Reynolds. She has decided to sell all the items in her collection as it has become too much of a burden to look after, you can understand why when you see it.

There are over 3,500 costumes, 20,000 photographs, thousands of movie posters and sketches as well as hundreds of other items.

The collection includes items from ‘Gone With the Wind’, ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Singing in the Rain’ and many other iconic movies.

Reynold’s has been building the collection since the 1970′s and had for many years attempted to set up a museum to house it, but her dream has never become reality so she has decided to pass the collection onto others.

The Kings Speech Triumphs at the Oscars 2011

Posted by Gary in Entertainment, Movies & Film

The was an air of predictability at the 83rd Oscars ceremony tonight as the favourites dominated. The Kings Speech wins the best picture award and Colin Firth gets best actor.

‘The Kings Speech‘ starring Colin Firth has yet again dominated an awards ceremony as it picked up the best picture, best actor, best director and best screenplay awards.

Runaway favourite Natalie Portman picked up the award for best actress for her starring role in the psychological ballet film, ‘Black Swan’.

‘The Social Network’ missed out on the high profile awards but won best adapted screenplay, best editing and best score awards.

Christian Bale won best supporting actor yet again for his turn in the boxing film ‘The Fighter’. Mark Wahlberg spent years training for the film to play the lead role, but has missed out on recognition in all the award shows.

Best supporting actress also went to ‘The Fighter’ with Melissa Leo winning her first Oscar, she had a little trouble keeping it together for her speech saying she was ‘Shaking in her boots’.

Usually the more interesting categories are the best foreign language film and the best documentary.

All week in Los Angeles Banksy, who was nominated for his documentary feature, had been causing a stir by exhibiting his art in various locations around LA.

He is known around the world for popping up during thea night and spraying his own brand of artwork onto public buildings. Any works that make it to auction are quickly snapped up by collectors for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The best documentary award was not to be his though as ‘Strangers No More’ picked up the prize and for best foreign language film, ‘In a Better World’ won out.

The Razzies Hand Out Worst Film Awards

Posted by Jo in Entertainment, Movies & Film

As the Oscars approach, the The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation hand out their own version of a film award, the Razzies.

The Raspberry foundation exists to highlight the worst of Hollywood achievements the night before the Oscars highlight the best.

This years leader of the pack was the universally panned ‘The Last Airbender’ by M Night Shyamalan, who has had a rough ride since his first major film ‘The Sixth Sense’ received an Oscars nomination in 1999.

The film was a ‘re-imagining’ of a cult TV series that even die-hard fans dismissed. The picture pulled off the dubious honer of winning Worst Director, Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actor and a new category, Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3D.

Sex and the City 2 also did ‘well’ taking the grand prizes for Worst Sequel, Worst Screen Ensemble and Worst Actress which was given jointly to the film’s 4 major actresses, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Davis.

Worst Actor was presented to Ashton Kutcher for the double whammy of ‘Killers’ and ‘Valentines Day’.

‘Valentines Day’ was also represented by Jessica Alba who won the ‘Worst Supporting Actress’ for the culmination of her performances in four films from the year.

Photo: mark sebastian

The Baftas Dominated by the Kings Speech

Posted by Jo in Entertainment, Movies & Film

The ‘Kings Speech’ once again dominated an awards ceremony as it won 7 Baftas (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) last night at the ceremony in London.

‘The Kings Speech‘ star, Colin Firth, won the best actor award for his betrayal of King George VI and his struggle to overcome his speech impediment.

It also walked away with the BAFTA for best film, outstanding British film, best original screenplay, best musical score and best supporting actors awards for Helen Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush.

Colin Firth is one of the few people who have won a Bafta for 2 years in a row, winning last year for ‘A Single Man’.

‘The Social Network’ picked up Bafta’s for best director, best editing and best adapted screenplay.

A heavily pregnant Natalie Portman wasn’t able to fly to over to the UK for the awards night but picked up the best actress award for her multi-award winning film ‘Black Swan’.

Always an interesting category, voted for by the public, Tom Hardy won the Bafta’s rising star award.

Photo: nicogenin

Academy Award (Oscar) Nominations for 2011 Announced

Posted by Sam in Entertainment, Movies & Film

The nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards have been announced and, perhaps timely for a Royal Wedding year, a film about the Royal Family leads the way.

‘The Kings Speech’ has again caught the eyes of the voters at the Academy Awards just like it did at the Golden Globes. It leads the way with 12 nominations, including that of best actor for Colin Firth and the big prize of best film. Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush join him with best supporting actor nominations.

The remake ‘True Grit’ by the Coen brothers, has 10 nominations and the facebook story ‘The Social Network’ and ‘Inception’ are not far behind with 8 nominations each.

Natalie Portman is nominated for best actress and has to be the favourite after triumphing at the Golden Globes. She is up against Annette Bening, for the film ‘The Kids Are All Right’ and Nicole Kidman for the movie ‘Rabbit Hole’.

The award ceremony for will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre and The Oscars will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Photo: Lancashire County Council

Colin Firth & Natalie Portman Scoop Actors Awards

Posted by Gary in Entertainment, Movies & Film

Colin Firth was crowned best actor at the Golden Globe Awards for his role in ‘The Kings Speech’ last night. Natalie Portman scooped the best actress award for her role in ‘Black Swan’.

‘The Kings Speech’ is a film about King George VI’s trials as he tries to overcome a heavy stammer to lead Britain during wartime. Colin Firth had no such issues as he gave his acceptance speech saying,

“Getting through the mid stage of your life with your dignity and judgement intact can be somewhat precarious. Sometimes all you need a bit of gentle reassurance to keep on track. I’m not sure this could be described as gentle, but right now this is all that stands between me and a Harley Davidson.”

A pregnant Natalie Portman gave tribute to Benjamin Millipied whom she met on the set of ‘Black Swan’,

“You may remember him as the guy in the movie who was asked if he would sleep with that girl and he said, no. He is the best actor, it’s not true, he totally wants to sleep with me.”

Photo: Lancashire County Council