Book, Film & TV Reviews
Based on a true story and directed by James Mangold, Le Mans ’66 follows visionary American car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and the fearless British driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) as they battle corporate interference and the laws of physics to build a revolutionary race car for Ford in order to defeat Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France.
Continue reading “Film Review: Le Mans ’66 (Ford v Ferrari)”
“In the land of Ingary where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of the three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes.”
From the amazing Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Howl’s Moving Castle is based on British author Diana Wynne Jones‘ 1986 fantasy novel, the first in a series of three, that follows a young, unconfident girl called Sophie Hatter (voiced by Emily Mortimer) from the fairytale land of Ingary.
From the amazing Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Howl’s Moving Castle is based on British author Diana Wynne Jones‘ 1986 fantasy novel, the first in a series of three, that follows a young, unconfident girl called Sophie Hatter (voiced by Emily Mortimer) from the fairytale land of Ingary.
For Sophie, being born the oldest of three is only the beginning of her troubles, since the oldest child is doomed to fail first. When Sophie’s father dies, her stepmother, Fanny, takes Sophie and her two sisters out of school. But whilst Lettie and Martha go off to become apprentices, Sophie is left with no one to talk to but the hats she creates. One day, the Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall) makes a visit to Sophie’s shop, and leaves Sophie under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady (Jean Simmons). Her only chance of breaking it is to find the ever-moving castle in the hills, and plead with the castle’s owner, the heartless Wizard Howl (Christian Bale). To untangle the enchantment, Sophie makes a deal with Howl’s fire demon, Calcifer (Billy Crystal): if Sophie can break his contract with Howl, then he will fix her curse. Finding herself caught up in Howl and the Witch’s conflict, Sophie soon discovers that there’s far more to Howl — and herself — than first meets the eye.
Directed by Mary Harron and based on Bret Easton Ellis‘ 1991 book of the same name, American Psycho follows 26-year-old Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a young, handsome and wealthy investment banking executive from New York, who has a beautiful fiancée, Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon), a secretary who’s in love with him, Jean (Chloë Sevigny), and everything a man of his age could only dream of. Yet Bateman remains indistinguishable from his Wall Street colleague – Timothy Bryce (Justin Theroux), Craig McDermott (Josh Lucas), David Van Patten (Bill Sage), Luis Carruthers (Matt Ross), and Paul Allen (Jared Leto). That is, apart from one thing: Bateman is a psychotic serial killer, delving deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies as his everyday routine becomes more and more mundane. Fueled by materialism and envy, Bateman’s murderous impulses are sharpened as he steps up his homicidal activities to a frenzied pitch. But how much can he get away with?
“I had all the characteristics of a human being—flesh, blood, skin, hair—but my depersonalization was so intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to feel compassion had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating reality, a rough resemblance of a human being, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning.”
Directed by Mary Harron and based on Bret Easton Ellis‘ 1991 book of the same name, American Psycho follows 26-year-old Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a young, handsome and wealthy investment banking executive from New York, who has a beautiful fiancée, Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon), a secretary who’s in love with him, Jean (Chloë Sevigny), and everything a man of his age could only dream of. Yet Bateman remains indistinguishable from his Wall Street colleague – Timothy Bryce (Justin Theroux), Craig McDermott (Josh Lucas), David Van Patten (Bill Sage), Luis Carruthers (Matt Ross), and Paul Allen (Jared Leto). That is, apart from one thing: Bateman is a psychotic serial killer, delving deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies as his everyday routine becomes more and more mundane. Fueled by materialism and envy, Bateman’s murderous impulses are sharpened as he steps up his homicidal activities to a frenzied pitch. But how much can he get away with?
Directed by Ridley Scott, Exodus: Gods and Kings tells the epic biblical adventure of the defiant leader Moses (Christian Bale) and his daring courage to take on the might of an empire. Finding out that he is not the son of a King he was raised to believe he was, Moses is asked by God to rise up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.
Directed and co-written by David O. Russell, American Hustle follows brilliant con-man Irvine Rosenfield (Christians Bale) who, along with his cunning and seductive partner Sydney (Amy Adams), is forced to cooperate with wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). Pushing them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the mafia, Irvine’s unpredictable wife (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings their entire world crashing down.
(Published in Issue 12 of my publication In Retrospect)
The final instalment to Christopher Nolan‘s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises picks up eight years after the attacks of The Joker and Two-Face from 2008’s The Dark Knight when a new terrorist leader, Bane (Tom Hardy), overwhelms Gotham’s finest, including Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Detective Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). When jewel thief Selina aka Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) threatens that a storm is coming, Bruce Wayne a.k.a the caped crusader that is Batman (Christian Bale) must resurface from his years of solitude to protect a city that has branded him an enemy. With Bane intending to destroy everything that Bruce has his name to, he must enlist the help of his butler Alfred (Michael Caine) and his business manager Fox (Morgan Freeman), and put his trust in a new colleague Miranda (Marion Cotillard) to rise again.
(Written for Lost In the Multiplex)
This week we have the first set images for Terrence Malick’s follow up to his highly acclaimed Tree Of Life, with his latest film Knight Of Cups.
Currently still being filmed, the new photos reveal a new addition to the cast with lead actor Christian Bale getting close to a punked-up Imogen Poots (Jane Eyre), and also give a brief glimpse of Malick himself.
Continue reading “New Behind The Scenes Pics From Terrence Malick’s ‘Knight Of Cups’”
(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)
Debuting on Facebook earlier this week, we have the brand new poster for Christopher Nolan’s final instalment in his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises.
Seeing the return of Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, aka The Batman, we see the dark-suited superhero take on his biggest and fiercest nemesis yet, Bane (Tom Hardy).
Whilst the poster has already had a large lash of criticism, I don’t think the Photoshop job is that bad. It actually makes a very decent poster for the film’s upcoming release; so what if Batman has only been cropped onto the last poster we saw? At least it’s a bit of an improvement.
Continue reading “A Fire Will Rise, But Does This ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Poster Deserve Flaming?”
(Written for BritScene)
British actor Christian Bale, next to be seen playing The Dark Knight in the final film of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy this summer, has rejoined Scott Cooper‘s revenge drama Out of the Furnace after dropping out of the project last year.
Continue reading “Christian Bale To Get Revenge In ‘Out of the Furnace’”
(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)
Christian Bale has been talking about where the final chapter of Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy will take his character of Bruce Wayne this week, as confirmation is given that the sequel will take place eight years after the events depicted in The Dark Knight.
From the sounds of it, Bale will be going to some very dark places, posing the question to his fictional alter-ego, “How long will you let the pain and loss define your life?” when talking to Aceshowbiz.
Continue reading “Christian Bale talks ‘The Dark Knight Rises’”
(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)
Anne Hathaway has been snapped in downtown Los Angeles this weekend during filming for The Dark Knight Rises, showing off her leather Catwoman costume in full whilst straddling her own blackened mode of transport.
The photos show Hathaway alongside Christian Bale as Batman and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon.
The film also stars Tom Hardy as Batman’s most deadly and powerful foe, Bane, and Joseph Goron-Levitt as John Blake, a new Gotham Detective who joins Commissioner Gordon’s squad to catch the Batman.
This week sees the trailers of two of the most anticipated and upcoming superhero films, the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan‘s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, and Marc Webb‘s first in a series of rebooted Spider-Man films, The Amazing Spider-Man. Captain America is out in cinemas next week and a (good quality) trailer is due for The Avengers shortly. With the Comic-Con this week, as well, everyone has gone Marvel and DC mad.
First up there’s Captain America which is released in UK cinemas next week on 29th July. Only a short time to wait until the year for the following three films. However, Captain America is the last of The Avengers team that we need to meet so it’s about time. Captain America is the story of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) who is deemed unfit for military service and volunteers for a top-secret research project, thus turning him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America’s ideals.
Continue reading “It’s Been a ‘Super’ Week for Marvel and DC”
The second instalment in The Dark Knight Trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan and a sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins, The Dark Knight sees Batman (Christian Bale) enlist the help of his allies – Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) – to keep a tight lid on crime in Gotham City. But when a vile young criminal calling himself the Joker (Heath Ledger) suddenly throws the town into chaos, the caped Crusader must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
Directed by Christopher Nolan and the first instalment in his The Dark Knight Trilogy, Batman Begins follows a young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) who travels to the Far East to be trained in the martial arts by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a member of the mysterious League of Shadows. When Ducard reveals the League’s true purpose – the complete destruction of Gotham City – Wayne returns to Gotham intent on cleaning up the city without resorting to murder. With the help of his loyal butler, Alfred (Michael Caine), and the tech expert at Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Batman is born.
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