Presumably the most British show ever, Downton Abbey, has been renewed for a fourth season, assuring a whole bunch more episodes loosely drenched in English history and the sounds of footsteps caressing those well-polished floors. Yes, ITV have confirmed that the series - which has garnered a hugely surprising transatlantic success - will return to UK screens next fall, assuring that "viewers can look forward to more drama, comedy, love, hatred, jealousy, rivalry, ambition, despair and romance," basically meaning that no theme or human emotional will be left out.
Now that we can't possibly bear to watch movies that haven't been manipulated in one way or another, lots of upcoming pictures are getting to grips with the IMAX format, something which promises to make proceedings bigger and better (and more expensive for you). The next big film to latch onto IMAX is the sequel to the actually excellent The Hunger Games, currently titled The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which will harness the technological during its arena fighting sequences.
Despite the ridiculous amount of lens flare that took up around 80% of J.J. Abrams's Star Trek movie, what we got was an assured, interesting and exciting entry to the series, albeit one that didn't exactly feel like Star Trek. And though we knew that Abrams would be returning for another round (a privilege that Lost wasn't graced with, given that Abrams went off to create an apparently endless cycle of new shows), we haven't heard a word as to what kind of avenue his Star Trek sequel, currently titled Star Trek Into Darkness, would be taking. Until now.
The world is essentially looking at Zero Dark Thirty as "that movie about killing Osama Bin Laden," which is sort of exactly what it is - we're just not sure how it's going to go about doing such a thing, and whether we're going to get a wonderfully-rendered shot of a bullet making its way into the head of the world's most wanted terrorist (well, former terrorist), or if the film will choose to play things on the subtler side.
R.I.P.D. kind of sounds like the worst idea ever, but I'm assured by fans of the comic book that it's actually really good. I put my reservations on hold then until this thing makes it into theatres, despite the fact that the plot seems like one of those you make up after you've come up with the title. For anyone who doesn't know, R.I.P.D. tells the story of a recently slain cop who finds himself joining a crew of undead police officers ("Rest In Peace Department") and trying to find the man who murdered him. Bizarre.
Since Twilight fans are the sort of people who might, say, go and see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Down - Part 2 in theatres any number of times between two and one-hundred and seventy, it's no surprise that the fifth (and final) film in the vampire franchise ruled the US box office this weekend for the second time in a row. Apparently mediocre movies with awful plots are really in these days, or perhaps the world has just gone to hell: it pulled in an impressive $43 million, pushing its grand total past the $200 million mark.
Given that Martin Scorsese is arguably the greatest filmmaker of his generation, and that Robert De Niro is arguably the greatest actor, the eight films that these two made together over the course of three decades emerged as some of cinema's greatest ever. As collaborators, Scorsese and De Niro are the Lennon/McCartney of the film world, though recently Scorsese has found new love and success in Leonardo DiCaprio (c'mon, he was Jack in Titanic), whereas DeNiro has found himself associated with some very middling performances in some very mediocre films.
Zack Snyder, who is currently tied to his Christopher Nolan produced/influenced Superman movie, Man Of Steel, is renowned for his love of all things CGI, making his association with a more realistically-grounded film very curious indeed. And with the talks of a Justice League movie in the wind, Snyder made some recent comments as to how his own film might fit within the means of that universe, given that all movies are part of universe these days, otherwise what's the point?
This week unnecessary movie projects: Fox are apparently looking to the life of flubby singing sensation Susan Boyle for feature film adaptation, given that they might as well try and cash in on her brief period of immense fame before she fades into obscurity for good.
Just because you're one of the world's most successful directors, the recipient of countless prestigious awards and are responsible for creating some of the best films to have ever graced theatres the world over, it doesn't mean you can, like, stroll into that place where they make James Bond movies and ask to direct one. That's exactly what Steven Spielberg found out when he made a request to an apparently bastard-version of Cubby Broccoli, who flat-out refused to give Spielberg the reins to the series when he asked in the 70s. Maybe Spielberg made fun of his name, which is absolutely and entirely ridiculous. Broccoli is a vegetable.
