It’s taken pretty much for granted in modern cinema that, for a Chinese film role, you cast a Chinese actor. Just as leading men no longer black up in boot polish to play Othello, actresses long ago stopped painting their eyes slanted to look Chinese. It’s daft, it’s unconvincing, and to the actors turned away […]

Green Lantern, 2011. Directed by Martin Campbell. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins, Temuera Morrison, Taiki Waititi, Jon Tenney, Jay O. Sanders, Geoffrey Rush, Michael Clarke Duncan and Peter Sarsgaard. SYNOPSIS: Cocky test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is granted cosmic super-powers to help defeat an intergalactic foe. You know […]

Presenting our weekly round-up of the big news stories from the world of movie superheroes… Warner Bros. and Marvel are unlikely to have much of a showing at the San Diego Comic-Con this year (if at all), but both did make an appearance at the Licensing International Expo this past week. Highlights included the unveiling […]

The Tree of Life, 2011. Written and Directed by Terrence Malick. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. SYNOPSIS: The film follows the life journey of the eldest son of a Midwestern family through the innocence of childhood in the 1950s to his disillusioned adult years in the modern world, seeking answers to the […]

Hanna, 2011. Directed by Joe Wright. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng and Cate Blanchett. SYNOPSIS: A teenage assassin s dispatched on a mission across Europe where she is tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives. Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) shifts gear with this audacious espionage […]

Liam Trim on the transition from page to screen of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep… Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel The Big Sleep, the first to star PI Philip Marlowe, was ready made for the big screen. It had a zippy, twisting and engrossing plot, propelled at pace by short, sharp chapters that feel like scenes […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of legendary filmmaker George Lucas in the second of a six part feature… read part one here. “After THX 1138 [1971], I wanted to do Flash Gordon and tried to buy the rights to it from King Features, but they wanted a lot of money for it, more than I […]

The Future, 2011. Directed by Miranda July. Starring Miranda July and Hamish Linklater. SYNOPSIS: When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life is changed dramatically. Following her fantastic multi award winning (most notably Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival) debut Me, You and Everyone We Know, Miranda July’s The […]

Psalm 21, 2009. Directed by Fredrik Hiller. Starring Jonas Malmsjö, Niklas Falk, Björn Bengtsson, Görel Crona, Josefin Ljungman and Per Ragnar. SYNOPSIS: Investigating the death of his father, a priest arrives in a desolate village where he inadvertently opens a door to the other side where ghosts from the past begin to cross over into […]

The Warrior’s Path (a.k.a. The Sanctuary), 2009. Directed by Thanapon Maliwan. Starring Michael B., Russell Wong, Intira Jaroenpura, Patharawarin Timkul and Erik Markus Schuetz. SYNOPSIS: When a priceless antique is discovered deep in the dark heart of the Thai jungle a young explorer thinks all his dreams have come true. Little does he know that […]