J.J.Abrams Is The Jedi Master Now

So unless you have been living in a cave in the deserts of Tatooine for the last few months you'll know there's been quite a search on to find the man to take over from George Lucas as director of Disney's new Star Wars film. And now it looks like the search has ended. That man just happens to be the man in charge of probably the other biggest Science Fiction franchise around, J.J. Abrams. It's fair to say that pretty much every well known director on the planet has being linked with this job but it looks like Disney have found their man and from the looks of it it's a much more popular decision then the one to actually make a sequel.

This does of course raise several questions, the of which is if this is actually going to happen and not just internet talk but it seems pretty genuine. For me the biggest question is will this deal affect Abrams involvement in the Star Trek series, after his fine reboot in 2009 and the highly promising sequel set to be released later this year. With the release date for episode 7 sat for 2015 which would suggest that he probably would not be able to make his 2 films into a trilogy which would be a great shame. Next question is what will the plot of the new film be which still remains a mystery, i think many fans would actually want a fresh start with a few old faces dropping in (i mean you can't have Star Wars without R2 and C3PO can you?) and hopefully that will be the path that Abrams will take as appose to the way he rebooted Star Trek. There are more questions but i don't really have the time right now so i'll leave it at that although one more question: When are we going to get some news about Disney's plans for Indiana Jones?!

Review: Les Miserables

Les Miserables (2013)

Director: Tom Hooper

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway

UK Release Date: 11th January 2013

Now I've been a bad film students, proven by the fact that this is the first of this years Oscar best pictures nominees that i have seen. I obviously have not being trying hard enough, something that cannot be said of any one who worked on Les Miserables. Quite the opposite of the subtle loveliness of Tom Hooper's previous two films, Les Mis is an epic looking piece of cinema that just happens to only have about 2 lines of actual dialogue. Thanks to Hooper's risk in having the cast sing live the constant singing actually works and allows the cast to perform to their best. There's not a bad performance there with some of the less experienced cast such as Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Banks shinning. But what the film will always be remembered for is Anne Hathaway's incredible supporting role that has Oscar written all over it, that will bring almost all to tears. While not a perfect film, Les Mis is the perfect adaptation of the stage musical experience and will go down as one of the best film musicals in history.

2012 Award Winners

2012 Award Nominations

So happy New Year to all and to celebrate the fact is's a new year what better to do then look back at the last year in film and TV so here is my 2012 award nomination's:

Review: The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage

UK Release Date: 13th December 2012

Now i must say now that the Lord of the Rings trilogy are the films that really started my love of film so i had high expectations for the film we've being waiting almost a decade for. Well An Unexpected Journey isn't as good as those films, but it gives it a pretty goddamn good try. And the film manages to joyfully return us to middle-earth and me to the magic of the originals. Much has being said about the pacing issue due to the fact that this film is adapted from a little over 100 pages of the novel but for me the pace was no slower then in The Fellowship of the Ring. Once again the casting of film has being done just right, although with such a large cast of dwarves only a few make an impact. Among those standing out are British talents Richard Armitage, James Nesbet, Ken Scott and Aidan Turner. The old cast are all back at their superb best and it is a joy to see Christopher Lee and Ian McKellan share the screen again, and Andy Serkis's Gollum is his usual best. But the star of the film truly is Martin Freeman in the role he was surely born to play. New Zealand  looks fantastic in it's supporting role. Add to this the joy of Howard Shore's score and you've got the ingredients for a successful and brilliant return to Middle-Earth. Oh how we've missed you!!

Review: Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Director: Martin McDonagh

Starring: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson

UK Release Date: 5th December 2012

Now Seven Psychopaths may not be a bad film, but after watching it with knowledge of the fact it's meant to be a comedy and that it's made by the same guy who brought us the brilliant In Bruges i can't help thinking that it is quite a bad film ... The problem is the film is just not funny!! You can see where the laughs are meant to be but  there just not there!! The strong cast just seems to be on auto-act and even the usually splendid Woody Harrelson doesn't make an impact. There is a few clever plot twists but unfortunately these twists are not enough to make up for the lack of jokes. Another problem is that the film seems to believe that it is a superb laugh a minute romp and as Film 2012's Danny Leigh said 'If the film was even half as good as it thinks it is then it would be the film of the year' - yeah that's right i've run out of things to say so i'm stealing someone elses words!! You can't get away from the feeling though that this film could of being great if it had aimed not to be a comedy and maybe if their were a few decent roles for women in the film.

Is 2013 Going to be a Dark Year for Cinema?

Now if you've being keeping an eye on trailers for next years releases i think it's there to say you'll be able to see the influences of Christopher's Nolan's Dark Knight series on cinema and that can be seen in the darkness of the look  of two of the teaser/announcement/what ever the hell their calling them now trailers for two of next summers early big blockbusters.

A few weeks ago we got this rather Nolanesk look Iron Man 3:

And then just today we got our first look at JJ Abrams Star Trek Into Darkness:

 
It's obvious from the look of these trailers that both films are going to be a tab bit darker then what has gone before. And it cannot be doubted in my view that they both look like their going to be bloody good!! But when you look at the films been released it does seem that 2013 may be the darkest year in cinema history with Zack Synder's Superman reboot Man of Steel, Hugh Jackman's next bout as The Wolverine, The long Muted Sin City 2, The darkest sounding installment in Peter Jackson's new middle-earth trilogy The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and an even darker test for Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen in Catching Fire.

So you can see from that list that it may not be the happiest year for film but it does seem like it might be pretty awesome all the same and i can guarantee you that i would personally be queuing up to see all of these films. It does seem though that dark story-lines might be the newest trend in Hollywood and it's pretty clear Chris Nolan is probably responsible for this!! And don't worry if your not a fan of darker cinema there's still some great looking happier films coming out this year (if you don't mind going to see a kids film). I mean who isn't looking forward to The Smurfs 2?? Sadly i actually am....