Film Review: Fantastic Beasts 2 – The Crimes of Grindelwald

The second instalment in the Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts, The Crimes of Grindelwald is directed by David Yates and written by J.K. Rowling. Continuing on from its predecessor, the film begins with the escape of the powerful Dark wizard, Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), who has set about gathering followers to begin his plan to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. To stop him, a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists the help of his former student, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). As the wizarding world is increasingly dividing, love and loyalty are tested, and many truths will be revealed that will change the wizarding world as we know it.

Film Review: Murder On The Orient Express

Directed by Kenneth Branagh and based on Agatha Christie‘s train-set 1934 whodunnit, Murder On The Orient Express centres on the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh). When a passenger is murdered in his compartment aboard the Simplon-Istanbul Express, Poirot has to work out who did the dirty deed on the snow drift-stalled train.

Actor Ranked: Johnny Depp

From Pirates of The Caribbean to a host of Tim Burton films, Johnny Depp goes all out when it comes to acting, and it’s very rare that he doesn’t give a performance that you’ll be talking about for the rest of the year.

Here is my ranking of his performances (not of the films themselves) to date:

Top 12 On-Screen Portrayals of Real-Life Gangsters

(Written for Filmoria)

Next week sees the release of the hugely anticipated Legend, which stars Tom Hardy as both of the notorious Kray twins. To celebrate the film’s release, we take a look at 12 of the best on-screen portrayals of real-life gangsters in film.

Set to be released on 9th September and directed by Brian Helgeland, Legend tells the story of tells the story of the 1960s twin gangsters, Reggie and Ronnie Kray, two of the most well-known criminals in British history.

New Poster For Disney’s ‘Into The Woods’ Arrives

(Written for Filmoria)

This week we have a brand new poster for Rob Marshall’s highly anticipated upcoming family musical, Into The Woods. Released by Walt Disney Pictures, the new poster sees a sinister Meryl Streep creeping out from the darkness, luring audiences in to find out exactly what her story is.

Based on the Tony Award-winning musical play by legendary composer Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, with Lapine also penning the screenplay and Sondheim providing the music and lyrics for the film, Into The Woods is a humorous and heartfelt musical that follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel – all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.

Film Review: Transcendence

Directed by Wally Pfister, Transcendence is a sci-fi thriller that follows Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence. As he works toward his goal of creating an omniscient, sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions, his highly controversial experiments make him the prime target of anti-technology extremists, who will do whatever it takes to stop him. But with few options left, Will wants to become a participant in his own transcendence, to establish a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain. For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), the question is not if they can help Will., but if they should.

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DVD Review: The Lone Ranger

Based on the radio series of the same name, The Lone Ranger is based on the fictional character, Lone Ranger (Armie Hammer), a masked former Texas Ranger who fights injustice with his Native American friend, Tonto (Johnny Depp). Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films and directed by Gore Verbinski, the film recounts Tonto’s untold tales of how the trusty John Reid, a man of the law, was transformed into a legend of justice, telling a story of the duo’s earliest efforts to subdue the immoral actions of the corrupt and bring justice in the American Old West.

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Saoirse Rona To Lead Wes Anderson’s Latest

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

With an ensemble cast already checked in to Wes Anderson’s upcoming The Grand Budapest Hotel, news this week confirms that Oscar-nominee Saoirse Ronan is set to play the female lead in the period picture.

Already starring Anderson regulars Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, and Jason Schwartzman, as well as a number of brilliant new additions including Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp, The Grand Budapest Hotel is shaping up to look pretty fantastic.

Jude Law Sure To Be Delightfully Twee In Wes Anderson’s Next

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

Wes Anderson has always been known for a having a brilliant yet sometimes surprising cast ensemble in his films, and with Johnny Depp, one of the biggest names yet, signing up for his next film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, it looks as if nothing is about to change.

Following this year’s brilliant Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel already stars Anderson regular Owen Wilson, but the latest name to be confirmed on board is British actor Jude Law, who told MTV that he was given a role earlier this month.

Edgar Wright to Direct Johnny Depp in ‘The Night Stalker’

(Written for BritScene)

With two pieces of casting news rolled into one, Disney has this week recruited British director Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead) to helm a remake of the 1972 television horror, The Night Stalker, and Johnny Depp is set to star in the main role.

New ‘Dark Shadows’ Image: Johnny Depp and Eva Green Look Appropriately Gothic

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

We’ve seen a quite a few images from Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows already over the past few months, but this latest new picture introduces Eva Green’s character as she comes face-to-face with her on-screen ex-lover Johnny Depp.

Another New Image of Johnny Depp in ‘Dark Shadows’

(Written for HeyUGuys)

Another image of Johnny Depp in Tim Burton‘s retelling of the 1966-1971 classic gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows, has been released this week. No trailer yet, but Depp looks better and better each image we see, so for most that’s already enough to look forward to on its own.

New Picture of An Undead Johnny Depp in ‘Dark Shadows’

(Written for HeyUGuys)

Warner Bros. has shared a new photograph of Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer this week, showing the undead couple in Tim Burton‘s retelling of the 1966-1971 classic gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows.

The film follows Barnabas Collins (Depp), a wealthy playboy who is transformed into a vampire and buried by a jilted lover, Angelique (Eva Green). After being dug up in 1752, Collins attempts to reintegrate with his descendants, led by Elizabeth (Pfeiffer) and Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), whilst he also crosses the path with various monsters, witches, werewolves and ghosts, all of whom have secrets.

Film Review: The Rum Diary

(Published on Lost In The Multiplex and in Issue 4 of my publication In Retrospect)

The Rum Diary, directed by Bruce Robinson, follows journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) who travels to Puerto Rico to escape the American life. Here, he starts writing for a run-down newspaper, The San Juan Star, with stressed-out editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins), fellow journalist Bob Sala (Michael Rispoli) and office drunk Moburg (Giovanni Ribisi). After disagreements with his boss, Kemp picks up his own habit of drinking rum and falls in love with the beautiful Chenault (Amber Heard), fiancée of businessman Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). But will a proposition from Sanderson pull Kemp away from backstreet cockfights and into a life of luxury and private beaches? It seems unlikely when the proposition revolves around exploiting the island, something which Kemp has already found inspiration for his writing in.

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New Poster for Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

Bruce Robinson‘s film adaptation of American journalist Hunter S. Thompson‘s The Rum Diary has been given a new poster depicting a drunken Johnny Depp in Puerto Rico.

Depp plays the character of Paul Kemp, a freelance journalist who travels to Puerto Rico to start writing for a run-down newspaper, but along the way, he picks up the habit of drinking rum and becomes obsessed with a beautiful woman.

The images released so far have emphasised on the film’s 1950s Caribbean setting, focusing on the Puerto Rican atmosphere rather than the amount of alcohol that Depp’s character consumes throughout his day. This new poster and the trailer which can be seen below, however, keeps in with the film’s focus on Depp finding himself amidst a group of lost souls all bent on self-destruction; there’s nothing tropical about that.

Film Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 4 – On Stranger Tides

(Published on Rushes Online Film Magazine)

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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, directed by Rob Marshall, is the fourth installment to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns for another adventure, this time to find the Fountain of Youth. But he isn’t the only one. During his first, inevitable mission of having to find a ship, Jack bumps into a woman from his past, Angelica Malon (Penélope Cruz), who is trying to find the fountain for herself. Angelica forces Jack aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Captained by her father, the fearsome Blackbeard (Ian McShane) where he is forced to cooperate, finding himself on an unexpected quest. Overseas, Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is setting off with a different plan in mind.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – Film Homepage

(This was published on Total Film’s website as a series of Film Homepages that they asked their subscribers to write for them).

In a nutshell:
Captain Jack Sparrow returns for his fourth adventure on the high seas, this time to find the fountain of youth.