Films seen so far this year: 413
Films seen this week: The Magic Hour, Tulpan, Lala Pipo – A Lot of People, Love the Beast, Astro Boy, The Fourth Kind, All the King's Men, Amelia, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Christmas in Wonderland, The Box
Spider-Man 4 Casting Rumours
I wrote a blog piece a while back about how I would normally refuse to write about casting rumours for movies (particularly superhero movies) until the official announcements, but with Spider-Man 4 I just can't help myself. Geek cards on the table, I'm a huge Spider-Man fan – or at least, I used to be. I grew up reading the comics and obsessively collected them from the age of about nine until around about 1994, when the whole Clone Saga thing kicked off and I gave up in disgust. Like Spider-fans everywhere, I'm prepared to forgive the horrors of Spider-Man 3 (seriously, what were they thinking?) and give Sam Raimi another chance, meaning that I'm eagerly awaiting the news of which villain(s) will be in Spider-Man 4 and who's going to be playing them.
With that in mind, the current rumours suggest the villains will be The Lizard (Dylan Baker has played The Lizard's alter-ego Curt Connors in every Spider-Man movie so far and he's confirmed for Spider-Man 4 though no official word on The Lizard yet) and The Black Cat, who's essentially the Spider-Man equivalent of Catwoman, but who learned Spider-Man's secret identity and was his girlfriend for several years. (In an interesting twist, she was in love with Spider-Man and wasn't all that bothered about Peter Parker). It's been reported that Rachel McAdams is the front-runner to play her and that works for me. However, the same reports also say that they're still casting around for another male villain, so until I hear otherwise, I'm holding out for the dream casting of Larry David as The Vulture.
Trailerwatch: How To Train Your Dragon
One of the pleasures of doing this blog is stumbling across the occasional trailer for a film I'd never previously heard of, particularly as I hardly ever see trailers in actual cinemas anymore and don't really go trawling for them on the internet either. Up until today I'd never heard of How To Train Your Dragon, but I got an email that mentioned it and, lo and behold, the trailer makes it look very good indeed. It's another 3D animated adventure from Dreamworks (Shrek, Kung Fu Panda), starring Jay Baruchel as Hiccup, a young Viking boy who tries to kill a dragon and ends up befriending it instead. Baruchel (best known for his supporting roles in Judd Apatow films) is a great choice for the lead and I like his delivery of the lines “Dah-dah-dah, we're dead” and “Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile.” The superb voice cast also includes America Ferrera (as Astrid), Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig and, er, Gerard Butler. It doesn't open here until March 31st but I'm sure it will be worth the wait.
Top 10 Films On Release This Week (as recommended by me):
Lots of changes this week with quirky Kaufman-esque black comedy Cold Souls, Dig! director Ondi Timoner's brilliant documentary We Live In Public, Roland Emmerich's end-of-the-world disaster epic 2012, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon and Kazakhstan shepherd drama Tulpan all making it into the top ten. In the interests of keeping the list up to date, I've dropped both Fish Tank and (500) Days of Summer from the list, though they're both in their second runs and you really ought to catch them if you haven't seen them, as they're two of the best films of the year. It's actually a pretty good time for decent films right now, with films such as Jane Campion's Bright Star and The Men Who Stare At Goats hovering around 11th and 12th place, while this week's Harry Brown is also worth a look, if not quite the instant British classic the rave reviews would have you believe.
1. Love Exposure
2. Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
3. UP
4. Cold Souls
5. We Live In Public
6. 2012
7. Welcome
8. Fantastic Mr Fox
9. The White Ribbon
10. Tulpan
DVD of the Week: Moon (out Monday 16th November, RRP £19.99)
This week's DVD of the Week is the excellent British sci-fi drama Moon, directed by Duncan Jones. Sam Rockwell plays astronaut Sam Bell, who's beginning to hallucinate as he nears the end of a three year solo mining-supervision mission on the moon, with only space station computer GERTY (Kevin Spacey) and the occasional video message from home for company. When Sam wakes up after a nasty accident, he makes a shocking discovery that causes him to question his sanity, his past and his entire identity. With a brilliant script, great production design and a terrific performance from Sam Rockwell, this is a hugely enjoyable, impressively directed sci-fi drama that's simultaneously creepy, darkly funny and deeply moving. It's also one of the best films of the year. Extras include: two separate commentary tracks (though neither features Rockwell or Spacey); a Making Of; a short film by Duncan Jones (“Whistle”); a featurette on the special effects; and two filmed Q&A sessions. No deleted scenes or out-takes though, sadly.