The Summer of Promethues or The Dark Knight Rises..?

It hasn’t exactly been a week of being drip-fed the latest teaser trailers for the upcoming Summer treats. No, it’s been a week of being showered with an almighty helping of what’s to come in the coming weeks and months and what a considerably gigantic treat it has been for films fans of all preferences. Anyone else might think movies are becoming non-entities with the added gimmick of 3D to make an extra buck or thousand. How wrong they all are.

In a week of space jockeys and fallen caped crusaders it’s time for the excitement (in the meantime) to settle and reflect on what could potentially be the most successful Summer of film in years. It would be criminal to leave out of course Marvels Avengers Assemble which is already smashing box office records in the UK and overseas. It has set the standard and it will be a big feat to match that never mind topple it. The eagerly anticipated superhero ensemble met all expectations and more with a stunning display of visual effects, pounding action sequences and an abnormal amount of laugh-out-loud humour to boot aka SHIELD agent playing Space Invaders, Hulk Vs. Thor, Hulk Vs. Loki and much, much more. It had all the elements of what a Summer blockbuster should be and left me somewhat buzzing and all too confident for that pure adrenaline rush to progress long into the near future.

Last Sunday, 20^th Century Fox undertook an interesting marketing ploy which sent Twitter into overload. During the ad breaks of Channel 4’s penultimate episode of Homeland, the distributing giant unveiled the international launch of the new trailer for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Adding snippets of gloriously new footage blended in with already seen clips from previous trailers, it made a dominating impression on me which puts it firmly up there as one of this year’s potential big guns. Twitter did what 20^th Century Fox wanted and it turned into a Prometheus #areyouseeingthis frenzy. Smart chaps them fellas!  According to the Alien maestro, it will have none of the previous DNA that partly created the genre back in the 70’s. It will however focus on a group of scientists out to discover the true origins of mankind that will take them to the darkest reaches of the Universe. My Alien Quadrilogy DVD set is waiting to be used as previously to Prometheus being announced, I wasn’t the keenest of Alien followers. But as soon as I clasped my eyes on the likes of Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, the mighty Idris Elba and Co. I was all for it.

It was around 7.30am on Tuesday 1^st March when it turned into 25^th December and my world catapulted into all things The Dark Knight Rises. After the previous day’s viral marketing campaign kicked things off which presented fans the task of discovering pieces of graffiti using the map tool on the official website and photograph the evidence back on the site. This took a mere few hours to capture and like a disappearing pencil into a goon’s forehead (!) we had ourselves the third and final trailer to Christopher Nolan’s epic finale to his Batman trilogy.

Where do I begin..? Let me first declare that I have never been more excited for a film to come out until I saw the 2 minutes and 20 seconds worth of pure brilliance that Christopher Nolan has created. Even after watching it 50 times over, it still like it’s the first time I have seen this trailer and the fact that the excitement never lets up, tells me that, as Ray Winstone bluntly puts it during pre-cinema screenings as “The Experience”. As far as the actual content is concerned, we are royally treated to new footage including the brute and physical threat of Tom Hardy’s Bane. Responding to, “What are you? “as “Gotham’s reckoning” indicates this is very much a different threat to The Joker. It kicks off very ominously with Hans Zimmer’s stunning and absorbing musical score building up to what looks like a war torn Gotham. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s good cop John Blake gets plenty of screen time to indicate he will be more of a bigger player as well as Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle aka Catwoman coming across to be more of an ally to the Bat. It is the running theme of is this going to be the end of the Dark Knight legend as the trailer puts it that the stakes are going to be raised even higher particularly the way The Dark Knight ended with Batman taking the blame for the death of Harvey Dent. It doesn’t appear to be all gloom and doom however with a brief glimpse of Batman’s new mode of transportation, the Batwing at the end of the trailer showing he is getting tooled up for quite possibly his biggest and most threatening test to date.

Batman Begins was a triumph. The Dark Knight went above and beyond and exceeded not only expectations but in my opinion, bettered the original. 20^th July could not come any quicker as I firmly believe in the law of trilogies, The Dark Knight Rises will be the rare exception to that rule.

We are coming into the business end of the Summer movie season. In the blue corner we have Promethues. In the red corner we have The Dark Knight Rises. One of which will reign supreme.

Written by Michael Cunneen

The 12 most anticipated movies of 2012

As we settle down into the New Year, its time to take a look ahead at what’s to look forward to in the next 12 months. 2012 – The year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee? The year of The Olympics? The year of the Mayans?! Forget all that, this year looks set to be one of the strongest in the movie calendar in aaaaages. Yes, it has the usual flurry of comic book adaptations, sequels, threequels, prequels and the standard annual Paranormal Activity instalment (!).

However on paper 2012 has the potential to be a barnstorming year for movies. The beginning has the usual Oscar friendly pictures out to make a name for themselves aka Shame, War Horse, J.Edgar and The Descendants to name just a few. The fantasy genre has a huge part to play this year with swords and sandal epics (Wrath of the Titans) and fairytale adaptations seem to be back in fashion (Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman amongst others). Lest we forget the return to Middle Earth for Peter Jackson, Bilbo Baggins et al in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. To have some sort of structure to this post and prevent any further case of exhaustion, it is the summer months in which I’m keen to focus on as I’ve compiled a list of the 12 most anticipated movies of 2012.

1. The Avengers

There’s nothing like a year in movies without Marvel and head honcho Stan Lee from rubber stamping their territory. You may have noticed, but Marvel have unveiled a number of standalone adaptations in recent years. Iron Man, Hulk and Thor all getting the spotlight and having their time to shine. But that’s just practise as come 27^th April, they will be teaming up with Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D, Black Widow and Hawkeye to form The Avengers. The question of who will win in a fight between your favourite superheroes will be revealed as the Marvel heroes unite and go toe-to-toe with Tom Hiddleston’s evil Loki and, of course, attempt to save the world! I welcomed the latest rumour of Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull possibly making an appearance after new footage indicated a secondary villain to Thor’s step-brother Loki. I mean give the guy a break, he’ll need a hand against the rage machine that is The Incredible Hulk. Fight! Fight! Fight!

 

2. Prometheus
 

During the final weeks of last year director Ridley Scott was in teaser mode as he unveiled to the web images and the first trailer for his Alien prequel, Prometheus. I wouldn’t say I was the keenest of fans of the Alien franchise even though I thought James Cameron brought us one of the best sequels ever in Aliens. But from what I’ve come across so far I am very stoked for this new instalment. The cast is to die for headed up by Noomi Rapace’s Ripley like lead character with support from man of the hour Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron and one of my current favourite’s in Idris Elba who seems to be conquering both sides of the pond these days. The trailer echo’s that of the original Alien and focuses on a team of explorers out to discover the origins of mankind but come across an evil force and save the Earth. Vague I know but this is the world that no one can hear you scream and Ridley Scott helped redefine the genre way back in the 70’s. This could well introduce a whole new fanbase come 1^st June.  

   

3. The Amazing Spiderman

After Sam Raimi’s dire and at times cringe worthy (Goth Peter Parker trying to act the player, helloooo) Spiderman threequel, a new direction was needed for the series to be resurrected. I just didn’t expect Marc Webb, the director of the anti rom-com 500 Days of Summer to bring back The Amazing Spiderman to his early days. Yet he has equipped himself with an impressive cast that has The Social Network’s Andrew Garfield battling teenage issues and of a more grown up nature after he is bitten by a genetically modified spider to gain spider-like abilities. The ever-likeable Emma Stone plays Parker’s love interest, Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans takes on the villain duties as Dr. Curt Connors aka The Lizard. Sally Field and Martin Sheen portray May and Ben Watson. Going back to Parker’s schoolboy days is, I feel a necessary direction in order to bring back the early success of the franchise and indications show the webcrawler could be back to his glory days. A sneak bit of footage of The Lizard would be welcomed to really get the fans spinning like a spider’s web.

4. The Dark Knight Rises

My excitement for Christopher Nolan’s third and final journey to Gotham City is now off the chart as 20^th July doesn’t seem to far off and we will finally see The Dark Knight Rises and who comes face-to-face with Tom Hardy’s brute of a “movie monster” Bane. I found it fascinating to learn that Chris Nolan rounds off his Batman trilogy eight years after The Joker unleashed anarchy upon Gotham in The Dark Knight. Alongside the December release of his understated yet epic full trailer, it leaves a lot of open theories and questions, for example is Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman with or against the Bat? And why does it look like Bruce Wayne is back to his prison days seen back in Batman Begins? The movie master himself Christopher Nolan has all the secrets and answers and will no doubt tease the fans up until the release date.

5. The Bourne Legacy

A Bourne film is nothing without Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass – See The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum if you don’t believe me. When I heard a fourth Bourne film was being made without those two big names, I was hesitant to say the very least. Effectively Jason Bourne brought us the spy genre back to life with nothing but a Bic pen and a magazine in his handy arsenal of weapons. But unfortunately they are out and Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) and Jeremy Renner are in for The Bourne Legacy. The story is still set within the world of Treadstone and the CIA but it’s crosshairs now point to Renner’s operative Aaron Cross. Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz round off the strong looking cast. After turns in The Hurt Locker, The Town and Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Jeremy Renner looks set to be the new action hero and I think has the shoe size and capabilities to attempt at least to fill the large, dominant shoes of Matt Damon.

6. The Expendables 2

As if the average age of these (former) action heroes wasn’t high enough in the successful 2010 actioner The Expendables, new director Simon West deems it fit to bump it up a few years more. Not only is he reuniting Stallone, Statham, Li, Lundgren, Crews, Courture, Willis and Schwarzenegger **massive loss of breathing**, he has brought in the new face of Coors Light beer, Jean-Claude Van Damme and to crank up the saggy muscle mass, Chuck Norris to the table. There you have the testosterone fuelled sequel, The Expendables 2 which brings the boys back in town for another mission orchestrated by Bruce Willis’s shady Mr Church. Expect more bang for ya’ buck!

7. Argo

Ben Affleck can direct. See Gone Baby Gone and The Town for two solid examples of his transformation. The once panned actor has his third stint in the director’s chair and stars in CIA kidnap thriller Argo. Affleck stars as a CIA exfiltration specialist out to free six hostages from war torn Iran who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador. Affleck leads a strong cast that includes Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin and Kyle Chandler. If his previous directorial gigs are anything to go by, this is a film to be penned into your calander for 5^th October.

 

8. Untitled Taken Sequel

5^th October also launches a very different specific set of skills as Liam Neeson returns as ex-CIA agent Bryan Mills in the sequel to the shock smash hit thriller Taken. The tough nut Neeson is this time up against a vicious European ganglord who is out to avenge the death of his son who was killed by the spook on the freeways of Paris. Instead of setting off on a different mission entirely, this ties in neatly with its predecessor. If your European, don’t be a foot and stick around, cos you don’t want to be on the other end of the phone with Neeson coldly explaining, “I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” You’ve been warned Europe.

9. Skyfall

Bond is back and fighting on home soil. After a four year hiatus, Daniel Craig’s 007 is out to track down and destroy the threat that put M and MI6 under attack. Sounds tasty. Under the very British direction of Oscar winner Sam Mendes, he has equipped himself with a stellar and classy looking cast that includes Javier Bardem’s chief villain, Albert Finney, Ralph Fiennes (who recently confirmed he plays a government agent – a future M perhaps…), Helen McCory, Ben Whishaw heading up Q branch and the ridiculously good looking femme fetales Bérénice Marlohe and Naomie Harris. Mendes has promised all the ingredients to unveil the quintessential Bond movie and I for one cannot wait for its 26^th October release.

10. Gangster Squad

Check this out for a cast: Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Giovanni Ribisi, Josh Pence, Anthony Mackie and Robert Patrick. Pretty swell yes! Now hell the heck has the director of zom-com Zombieland racked up this impressive cast?! Not that I’m complaining as Gangster Squad chronicles the battle between the LAPD and the East Coast Mafia headed by Sean Penn in 1940’s Los Angeles. This does ring a bell from Michael Mann’s superb and classy crime epic Public Enemies back in 2009. Little is known about this prospective little gem with only a couple of images including Penn and Brolin facing off looking rather sharp and mean. Cracking cast, cops Vs gangsters – early contender for Oscars 2012 perhaps. Awaiting it’s 9^th November release avidly.

11. Django Unchained

Undoubtedly one of my most eagerly awaited movies of the year is Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited Spaghetti Western, Django Unchained. One of my all-time favourite directors teaming up with my favourite actor Leonardo DiCaprio is the dream team of partnerships. DiCaprio is throwing away the good boy image and leading the cast as evil plantation owner, Calvin Candie holding slave-turned-bounty-hunter Jamie Foxx’s wife as hostage. A Tarantino film would never skim on his ensemble cast and Django is no different with support from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sacha Baron Cohen, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Kurt Russell and Don Johnson. Expect extreme violence, black humour and a soundtrack finally fitting QT’s beloved genre.

12. Lincoln

Once upon a time director Steven Spielberg had an idea of a film, a biopic of the sixteenth President of the United States. He had Liam Neeson in mind for the lead role as Abraham Lincoln but it was never made. I wouldn’t necessarily say the Belfast actor would live happily ever after it was made official last year that double Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis took over the prized role for the 2012 release, Lincoln. In my eyes, this is the best and obvious piece of casting seen for years. The notorious method man will don the top hat as he guides the north to victory during the Civil War. Reports have suggested Day-Lewis has not dropped the character, not even the accent since March 2011. The man is as versatile as he is a genius. Sally Field plays his Mrs alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jared Harris, Tommy Lee Jones and Jackie Earle Haley. Oscar may as well cancel other potential contenders for everything come 2013 because There will be Beard. Lincoln is set for a December 2012 release.

What do you make to the list compiled? Any you feel that have been wrongly missed out? Speak now forever hold your peace!

Written by Michael Cunneen