Bond 23 gets the girl and a release date

It appears that the James Bond news trawl has been making tracks of late with the rumour that British actress Naomie Harris will star alongside Daniel Craig in the next Bond adventure. It came to great delight when scouring through this week’s edition of the News of the World that the London-born stunner is being strongly considered for the meaty role. Harris is a fine fine choice for the role and one which I believe she will nail. She will follow in the footsteps of some of the most glamorous and stunning women to appear alongside 007 including the likes of Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman and most recently Olga Kurylenko in Quantum of Solace.

It appears that Bond producers are keeping along the similar trend of not hiring pure A-list totty for such a high-profile role. I’m not implying that Harris is not talented nor is she a looker, because she is on both fronts. She is building up a very stable and diverse list of credentials after taking to the high seas with Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, romping with Jamie Foxx in the, lets face it, awful Miami Vice remake and giving a strong turn opposite Cillian Murphy in Danny Boyle’s apocalyptic horror 28 Days Later. No details of her role have been revealed yet, it all seems For Your Eyes Only at this stage.

Another piece of slightly mehh yet essential news is keep an ear out for the clinking of Vodka Martini flutes on October 26^th of next year when Bond 23 will officially be hitting cinemas. But I would say it will only be a matter of time until we really get into the nitty gritty details such as the title of James Bond’s 23 mission as well of course who will be unveiled as 007’s nemesis. Mr Ralph Fiennes seems the favourite at this stage, something which I would wholeheartedly welcome with open arms. You just have to glance at his track record of villainous and dastardly roles in the likes of In Bruges, the Harry Potter movies, Clash of the Titans, Red Dragon and Schindler’s List to tell he would be perfect to face off against Britain’s deadliest MI6 agent.

Long-term producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli appear to be keeping the British end up with Sam Mendes in the director’s chair, Daniel Craig, once again as Bond and Dame Judi Dench returning as M. As we have now gotten past the whole, let’s revitalise the Bond franchise for the fifteen time, I really do hope they bring back some of the key ingredients that made the old school 60’s Bond movies such as From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service into real British gems. Q Branch is at the top of my list to make a comeback. Remember Little Nellie from You Only Live Twice. Remember the jet-pack in Thunderball. Remember, of course, the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger. At times they got a little too far-fetched *cough* the invisible car in Die Another Day *cough*. But you can’t shy away from the fact that the gadgets were such a key component in the earlier Bond movies. Another feature I would like brought back is the good old disfigured, psychopathic henchmen that brought another level of entertainment. Jaws, Oddjob, Red Grant and of course Xenia Onatopp and her thunder thighs that could kill with a little squeeze. A little bit of tradition needs to ideally be brought back to the franchise and I believe Sam Mendes is a superb director to bring all these to the table and bring back some of the essence seen in earlier James Bond adventures.

Oh and a few laughs from the stone-faced Craig perhaps with another return, this time from Miss Moneypenny would be a bonus. Maybe I’m being a little too old school but as a die hard James Bond fan I can only take so much reinvigoration.

Written by Michael Cunneen

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The Wolfpack will return for more boozy antics

It just shows you that even though a highly anticipated sequel to the highest grossing “R” rated comedy of all time can receive mixed reviews, it can still bring home a very sizeable return. I considered The Hangover: Part II to be, in it’s own right a funny film with some laugh-out-loud moments. But, and this a big but, as a sequel and following the exact the same blueprint of its predecessor with the exception of the location, it was utterly pointless and at times tiresome with fewer gags. The opening scene of Part II (who has part II of a hangover anyway…) was an exact replica of the original, the tone being ominous and dark – Was the director Todd Phillips on roofies himself whilst shooting the Wolfpack’s antics?! There was just a minimal amount of new and fresh material to play with bar the standout scene involving Stu and a ladyboy!

But back to the facts and figures. The film was released in the US on the Thursday before the long Memorial weekend, clever marketing you see as it went on to bring home over $137.3 million. If things carry on and progress, they could easily match or most likely surpass the original’s hefty totals. Surely a solid justification to plan ahead for Part III… yep, you’re spot on. The Road Trip director has said he is keen to continue and possibly end the franchise as a trilogy. Phillips was actually quoted during a press junket, declaring, “The third would very much be a finale and an ending.” So expect more hijinks from crazy Alan, player Phil, dentist Stu and I pray no more singing Mike Tyson, pleaaaaase!

It appears Warner Bros. aren’t messing around as it was reported earlier in the week that Hangover II writer Craig Mazin has been hired to pen the third film in the boozy franchise. So it looks like all parties seem eager beavers for a third round of carnage. But there is potentially one bearded chubby gentlemen who could put a massive spanner in the works and that is Zach Galifianakis. The standout performer in the films was reported as being vocally negative during filming of Part II, there’s always one! Remember when Mel Gibson was hired as the tattoo artist then was dramatically dropped from the role due to certain cast members taking a dislike to the addition, classic Alan. But with both films bringing home a considerable amount of bacon, that shouldn’t deter Galifianakis from a return.

A plot has yet to be revealed nor has a title, something more original and fresh like the second one should have been (!) would be appreciated – The Hangover – Return of the Roofies... But for now, fellow bloggers and film journo’s will be scattering their brains for potential locations and plotlines. Ibiza? London? Benidorm?! Even though I’m not fully backing a “threequel” a trip to Amsterdam or Prague perhaps may well be an encouraging venue. Just picture the Wolfpack taking in the seedy sites of the Red Light District. In an ideal world (if there is such a thing), dope dealing monkeys and animals altogether should be removed from joining in the bant, no psycho ex-heavyweight boxers and perhaps a few more genius cameos after Paul Giamatti’s scene stealing turn as a shady businessman/copper in the sequel. Whatever Todd Phillips decides, it’s fairly safe to say audiences will warm to a third film in the already highly successful franchise.

Written by Michael Cunneen

You can also follow me on Twitter @michaelcunneen

David Fincher's Dragon Tattoo will take Christmas to the dark side

Movie taglines. They are generally considered an essential ingredient to a film’s marketing and give audiences a flavour of what to expect for their forthcoming movie experience. David Fincher has certainly taken that school of thought on board for his upcoming remake of the outstanding Swedish thriller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This week saw the release of two trailers (a red-band teaser which was subsequently removed when the PG friendly green-band version was released). It’s tagline, smeared across the screen, “The feel bad movie of Christmas” certainly gives us an idea of what to expect. In addition, a moody, black and white poster revealing a half naked Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig (who portray Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist respectively) was released with the tagline, “Evil shall with evil be expelled.” I’m guessing Fincher isn’t much of a Jingle Bells and Santa kinda’ fella with this marketing approach which has really sprung to life like a jack-in-the-box and has whetted a lot of appetites for the hectic Winter season of movies.

But before we go any further into Fincher’s re-do of Dragon Tattoo, lets reflect back to March of last year when the original was released to audiences. Based on the international best selling Millennium Trilogy, the story focuses on the disappearance of a member of the shady Vanger family led by disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist. During the investigation Blomkvist teams up with Goth hacker Lisbeth Salander. As they get deeper into the case they begin to uncover some disturbing home truths and are sucked into world of corruption and murder. The film was hailed as a huge hit and the two sequels (The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – what a mouthful) turned the Millennium trilogy into a hit franchise with cinemagoers worldwide. Swedish actress Noomi Rapace who played Salander was rightly hailed as delivering an iconic role which saw her lose a considerable amount of weight and actually go through several body piercings to really mould herself into the complex character of the computer hacker. She may have considered herself unlucky to not have received more recognition than she actually did after begin snubbed at this year’s Oscars.

In the current and sweltering climate of remakes, prequels and the rest it was no surprise to hear Hollywood and David Fincher specifically, were interested in remaking the Swedish thriller. The Social Network director confirmed his next project shortly after the release of Dragon Tattoo and has had a very hectic schedule over the last 12 months what with the success of his Facebook movie and doing the rounds at various awards ceremonies. Fincher has taken a slightly different approach to his US version. Instead of glossing his project with the stars and stripes, he has in fact shot the film on location in Stockholm. With an impressive cast that includes Daniel Craig as journalist Mikael Blomkvist and relatively unknown actress Rooney Mara (who had a minor role in The Social Network) as Lisbeth Salander, on paper it looks a slightly risqué yet intriguing cast. With support from Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright and Max von Sydow this could turn out to be a dark horse in the best films of this year.

Reactions to the footage released this week has been very positive with both trailers showing pretty much the same short, sharp sequences bar a bloody looking Daniel Craig and a topless Rooney Mara in the green-band version. From my point of view it appears Fincher is keeping very true to the original books written by the late Stieg Larsson who sadly passed away before the original trilogy even came to cinemas. So it seems fitting that the Fight Club filmmaker has stayed truthful and looks to have really captured the moody and dark essence of Stockholm and gives very little away with Trent Reznor and Karen O’s blistering version of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant song powering in the foreground.

However, a big topic on people’s minds has been the US-style portrayal of the lead character, Lisbeth Salander. Going for an unknown could end up going in one of two different ways; it could either tank and ruin the film or it could end up being an inspired choice and potentially be a career turning point for Rooney Mara whose other credentials include the shoddy Nightmare on Elm Street re-do and Youth in Revolt. But from the first official poster and shots of her in character released earlier on in the year it appears that the New York-born actress is diving straight in the deep end to give an honest and committed performance as Salander. According to reports, in prep for the role she locked herself in a room for a week to read all three books, and ultimately eat fierce competition from the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Winter’s Bone actress Jennifer Lawrence.

With Fincher’s dogged style of filmmaking, his most recent success about the creation of a social networking site and lets face it, his pristine CV, expectations are sky high for another success in his already sterling career. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hits cinemas on the 26^th December.

Written by Michael Cunneen

You can also follow me on Twitter @michaelcunneen