It is normally well into July when we start to see the blockbuster movies released at cinemas, but it seems like many of the big names are being released early to prolong their shelf life even further.
The final instalment of the Harry Potter franchise may not be out until the 15th of July, when you’ll finally get to see Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, but Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is out this week, The Hangover 2 is out on the 27th of May and X-Men: First Class is out on the 3rd of June.
We won’t have to wait too long to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon either, as it is due for release in UK cinemas on the 1st of July.
It has been reported this week that the three twenty-somethings who grew up taking part in the Harry Potter film adaptations have now made it onto the Sunday Times Rich List for 2011.
While no real surprise, seeing as the combined total of the seven books released up until now reaching a worldwide total of $6.3 billion gross, the stars have swiftly moved up the wealth list of people under 30 years of age.
The boy wizard himself, Daniel Radcliffe, takes fifth spot as he is worth a staggering £48 million, while Rupert Grint and Emma Watson don’t fare too badly either, as they each have a £24 million fortune.
Firstly, I must apologise for the title of the blog post, but I just couldn’t resist!
I happened to go and see the new Kenneth Branagh movie the other day, and I must admit that for a superhero flick it really was quite enjoyable. That is not to say that I don’t like comic book adaptations from the likes of DC Comics and Marvel, but that many of them are rather underwhelming when they hit the big screen.
In the case of Thor, I found it entertaining as well as humorous - especially when the Asgardian warriors end up in New Mexico, US, clad in Norse garb. As long as you don’t take it too seriously, and you like a fun film but don’t care too much for the plot, then I would recommend you go see it.
If, like me, you can’t wait until the first part of The Hobbit reaches UK cinemas, then for now there is the videoblog - a Hobbit video diary made by the director Peter Jackson.
I was fortunate enough to visit the set of Hobbiton when visiting New Zealand back in January when they were putting the finishing touches to the village, so can quite imagine where Peter is standing as he introduces us to Bilbo’s abode in Middle-earth.
Be sure to check out the videoblog for yourself on the last few weeks of pre-production, which will give you an insight into the exciting journey which is about to begin.
Some franchises just never know when to stop. Well, you can’t really blame them if people are stupid enough to part with their hard earned cash to see a rehash of a movie that happened to be quite good the first time around.
Today Scream 4 is set to be released in cinemas across the UK and what is for sure is that this film can’t be as bad as the third one – or can it?
I even admit that when Scream came out, I quite enjoyed this new take on the horror genre.
In this, the premise does seem the same, but tweaked for the Internet and social media generation. And it has garnered half-decent reviews from the critics so far on Rotten Tomatoes, so I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve had the chance to see the slasher flick for myself.
Sky Atlantic has already brought us one huge new HBO show from the US in Boardwalk Empire and as the first season has now come to an end, this Monday will see the first episode of Game of Thrones.
The production of this fantasy drama series cost even more than Rome, which is certainly saying something – the BBC/HBO collaboration costing less than the $5 to $10 million spent this time around.
So it is fair to say that there will be plenty in the way of special effects used in this TV show, which has been adapted from George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novels.
Game of Thrones is already highly anticipated so there are high hopes that it will be another hit for Sky.
Last Friday I went to the cinema and so had to decide what I wanted to watch. I whittled down my options to either the Brad Furman movie The Lincoln Lawyer, which received generally favourable reviews and has now been out for a few weeks, or Duncan Jones’s Source Code, a sci-fi thriller on its opening weekend.
As you can probably guess by the title of the blog, I chose the latter and must say i’m sure I made the right choice. I really enjoyed the Groundhog Day-style premise as Jake Gyllenhaal’s Captain Colter Stevens attempts to work out why he has to keep on reliving the eight minutes on-board a passenger train before it gets blown up due to a terrorist bomb. I highly recommend it as top entertainment to while away a few hours.
I happened to go and see the new Neil Burger flick ‘Limitless’ the other night and unlike most American thrillers, did actually make me think about things and what I would do in the same situation as the protagonist Eddie, played by The Hangover’s Bradley Cooper.
In the film Eddie turns from a lazy, down and out writer into a focused, imaginative politician via a stint as a stockbroker. And this is all down to an illegal drug called NZT. As I was watching the movie I must admit that I did start to question how I would use my own newfound motivation if I ever found myself in such a situation.
When most high profile films and TV shows that have been built up finally make it onto the screen, it is usually met with at least some degree of disappointment. However, when referring to HBO’s Boardwalk Empire I would argue that this was not the case.
The show opened in the UK on Sky’s new ‘Atlantic’ channel and 10 episodes have been screened so far. I must say that I have really enjoyed it up until now. It is certainly not fast paced and action packed all the time and some may find it slow going, but for fans of dramas like The Sopranos, which was also penned by Terence Winter, and The Wire, you are bound to appreciate the quality of the series like I do.
As I was saying in my last post, I have only recently discovered the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has been going strong since the year 2000. While I am catching up, I think I must be about 55 episodes behind still.
The life of Larry David, as he upsets and annoys everyone in Los Angeles, makes for terrific television viewing and some of the situations he gets himself in are absolutely hilarious. While you can sometimes feel a bit of sympathy for him, it is usually of his own doing.
This is what makes this an unmissable comedy series. My favourite episodes to date are the beloved aunt typo scenario and the one where he shares at the incest group.