Film Review: Knives Out

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Knives Out follows the investigation into the apparent suicide of renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), who is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday. When the inquisitive Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate, Blanc must sift through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death. The knives are out amongst Harlan’s dysfunctional family – (Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Katherine Langford, Riki Lindhome, K Callan, and Jaeden Martell) – and loyal staff – (Ana de Armas and Edi Patterson) – to find out the truth.

Film Review: Spectre

The 24th James Bond film, Spectre is the second instalment directed by Sam Mendes and is the 4th film featuring Daniel Craig in the lead. With the secret service under political threat by a member of the British government, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the team – M (Ralph Fiennes), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) – must focus their efforts on keeping the operation alive. But Bond puts matters into his own hands after a cryptic message forces him to go on a rogue mission to uncover a sinister organisation known as Spectre. With the company of Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), Bond must follow a well-disguised trail of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind the organisation, as a face from his past, Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), uncovers a link bigger than any of the 007 initiative could have ever imagined.

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‘Spectre’ Will Make Its World Premiere At The CTBF Royal Film Performance

(Written for Filmoria)

The 24th James Bond adventure, Spectre, has been selected for The CTBF Royal Film Performance 2015, it has been announced today, and will make its world premiere on 26th October.

The CTBF Royal Film Performance is an annual event, which will take place at The Royal Albert Hall in London, attended by Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

The film will be the third Bond film chosen as an RFP title since its inception in 1946, and will be attended by the film’s leading actors Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, David Bautista, Monica Bellucci, and Ralph Fiennes.

New ‘Skyfall’ Teaser Trailer

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

After the release of the first official poster for Sam Mendes’ latest James Bond film, Skyfall, earlier this week, we know have the first official teaser trailer.

Based on Ian Fleming’s 007 character and the twenty-third James Bond film altogether, Skyfall sees the return of Daniel Craig in the lead role as Bond must track down and destroy the threat that has attacked MI6, no matter how personal the cost, as his loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Will Soon Be Playing With Fire

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

According to Sony this month, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is still moving forward, despite many believing that the franchise would not continue after the first film in a series of adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy didn’t do as well as expected.

The news follows Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal confirmation in November 201 that The Girl Who Played With Fire was definitely a go, and that it was planned to start filming late this year with a late-2013 release date targeted.

Brits At The Box Office: Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Brown Findlay, Tilda Swinton & More!

(Weekly feature written for BritScene)

The Christmas season is over, and 2012 is now well in play. Some films did well over this period, with many that we mentioned in our last post remaining at the top of the Box Office, with many that we mentioned in our last post remaining at the top of the Box Office. This weekend there are a couple of great films being released too, including action thriller Contraband and coming-of-age drama Albatross, as well as a few others that are expanding their release to more theaters. Carry on reading to find out what British movies and actors you can see on the big screen over the next seven days, as well as where you will be able to see them.

Film Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

(Published on BritScene and in Issue 5 of my publication In Retrospect)

David Fincher‘s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the first instalment in a Hollywood adaptation of Stieg Larsson‘s thriller trilogy, originally released as a Swedish-language screen adaptation directed by Niels Arden Oplev in 2009.

This English-language remake follows investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) who is asked to help discover the truth about a woman who has been missing for forty years. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced that a member of his own dysfunctional family has murdered her. This is where Blomkvist meets Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a young, gothic computer hacker, who Blomkvist hires to help him find “a killer of women”. As the mystery uncovers, we soon start to discover the disturbing truth about Lisbeth’s past and present as well.

Brits At The Box Office: Jamie Bell, Simon Pegg, Daniel Craig & More!

(Weekly feature written for BritScene)

This week we’re doing a Christmas round-up of films, so you know what will be on in theatres up until New Years Day. There’s three new releases to be looking forward to – The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse and The Iron Lady – and there’s also a few of last week’s films still doing well, with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows placing itself at the top of the box office.

Prepare for ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ With An Eight Minute Trailer And Soundtrack Sampler

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

With the release of David Fincher‘s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo only days away (26th December), iTunes have released an eight minute long trailer for the English remake of this Swedish thriller, and you can also download six tracks from the films score.

Adapted from Stieg Larsson‘s Millennium trilogy of novels, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the first instalment, which was primarily released in Swedish and directed by Niels Arden Oplev in 2009.

Brits At The Box Office: Michael Fassbender, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, Kate Winslet & More!

(Weekly feature written for BritScene)

This week has seen the overall box office suffer its worst weekend since 2008, but one British movie has enjoyed robust numbers whilst another two are continuing their successful theatrical runs. There’s also some great new films set to be released over the next week that feature a number of Brits in their cast, including the Sherlock Holmes sequel, Roman Polanski’s Carnage, Mission Impossible 4 and David Fincher’s English adaptation of The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo.

First Set Pictures for ‘Skyfall’ and 007 Daniel Craig

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

The first photographs from the new James Bond film, Skyfall, have made their way online this week as Daniel Craig films scenes for the film in Trafalgar Square, London on Saturday (19th November).

“It, I think, has all the elements of a classic Bond movie, including, to quell any rumours, a lot of action,” Director Sam Mendes said during a recent press conference.

Now we can make begin to make a judgement for ourselves, as the pictures below show Craig suiting up to reprise his role as 007.

Film Review: Dream House

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex and published in Issue 4 of In Retrospect)

Dream House, directed by Jim Sheridan, follows publisher Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) who quits work to move his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and their two daughters into their dream home. The family soon discover, however, that their seemingly idyllic house was once the murder scene of a mother and her daughters, and that the crime was supposedly committed by the father who is now being held at a psychiatric hospital in town. Will begins to investigate into the murder himself when strange things start happening around him, but whilst most seem to be keeping what they know to themselves, he finds a lead in neighbour Ann (Naomi Watts) and her ex-husband Jack (Marton Csokas).

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New Clips And Behind The Scenes Footage for Tintin

(Written for BritScene)

Excited for the new Tintin movie? Well, we’re about to make your day…

DreamWorks Pictures has released five clips from The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn this week, and three behind-the-scenes featurettes have also appeared online which take us inside the amazing motion-capture process of Steven Spielberg’s 3D family adventure.

The Adventure Begins With a New Trailer for Tintin

(Written for BritScene)

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is the first instalment in a planned trilogy of computer-animated motion-capture adaptations of George Remi’s series of comic strips. When Tintin and his friends discover directions to a sunken ship they set off on their first adventure, a treasure hunt.

MSN have released an exclusive second trailer for the film this week, only a day after releasing the trailer for another of Spielberg’s film, War Horse.

The script is based on three of the Tintin stories – The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure, with screenplay written by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim), Joe Cornish (Attack The Block), and Steven Moffat (TV’s Sherlock & Doctor Who).

Film Review: Cowboys & Aliens

(Read this in my publication In Retrospect – Issue 1)

Based on the graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg in 2006, Cowboys & Aliens is a Western sci-fi directed by Jon Favreau.

Set in Arizona in 1873, Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of a desert with no recollection of who he is or what has happened to him. With a cut in his chest and a mysterious metallic object attached around his wrist, Jake stumbles into the town of Absolution where he is recognised as a wanted outlaw. When trying to escape, Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) knocks him out and is asked for by Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), a rich and influential cattleman who Jake has supposedly stolen some gold from.

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English Version of ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ To Be Released This Year

The official trailer for David Fincher‘s version of the first instalment to the film adaptations of the ‘Millennium’ series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, has recently been released, confirming Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander.

The Millennium trilogy is a series of bestselling novels by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest – which were first published between 2005 and 2007. The novels follow investigative journalist Blomkvist, who is asked to help uncover the truth about a woman who has been missing for forty years. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own dysfunctional family. This is where Blomkvist meets Salander, a young female hacker, as we start to discover the disturbing truth about her past as well.