Where was the kicking, people? Sigh, I’m seriously behind with these trailers and I’ve got long list to share with you all. I’m going to try to do my next post in two days time and then keep this up as a weekly post.

Fugitive Pieces
An indie film, that’s been picked up for a limited release, Fugitive Pieces is about the life of a World War II survivor, attempting to deal with his experiences. While it seems as an interesting enough film, the trailer goes in full blown dramatic mode, with orchestra blazing sentimental musics, snippets from raving reviews of movie critiques and the big trailer voice booming: “…a story about finding ourselves…”. Tone it down a bit, please? [Trailer]

Meet Dave
There used to be a time when Eddie Murphy was actually funny. Why does he continue making these type of movies? Meet Dave is about a crew of miniature aliens whose spaceship has a human form. Murphy plays the spaceship and the captain of the aliens. This just looks so bad and unfunny, I really don’t want to waste my time on it. [Trailer]

Wargames: The Dead Code
Again another lesson in ‘How not to make a trailer’. Not that there’s anybody out there, who even cares about this movie. It’s a direct-to-dvd sequel of the classic Wargames, but they could have very well just left the Wargames part completely off of it. Yes, both of the films are kind of about the same thing, but this isn’t a sequel. It’s a cheap and easy way to try and attract more simple-minded buyers, who don’t take the time to read the back of the dvd. [Trailer]

Bangkok Dangerous
Even though Nicholas Cage‘s movies have been lately more Miss, then Hit, this one seems actually more than half decent. Cage is a hitman who has a “job” in Bangkok, but can’t pull it off and gets all these nasty people after him (of course). I somehow get the same vibe off of it as some of Cage’s older action movies, like Con Air and Face/Off, and I can only hope this movie is anywhere near as good as those. [Trailer]

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Weren’t the dinosaurs extinct before the Ice Age? But now we’re seeing them in the 3rd Ice Age movie? Anyone else see the flaw there? This is only teaser trailer featuring the beloved Scrat, so we haven’t seen anything real about the plot. Except of course that it involves dinosaurs. The 2nd movie wasn’t actually as bad as I had expected, so I’m gonna wait and give this 3rd one also a chance. [Trailer]

The House Bunny
A movie about a Playboy mansion bunny (Anna Faris), who becomes the house mother of a group of socially inept sorority girls; that’s doomed to fail, right? And yet, after watching the trailer, I wasn’t completely appalled by it (unlike Amanda Bynes‘ Sydney White). It even reminds me a bit of Legally Blond and Clueless. This isn’t going to be a great movie with a good plot and maybe not even good acting, but I think it will be a bit of simple fun entertainment. [Trailer]

Surveillance
Interesting. And potentially good. That’s what I felt when I saw this trailer. It’s directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch, daughter of David Lynch and you can see she’s inherited her father’s fondness for weirdness. The description of the movie is “An FBI agent tracks a serial killer with the help of three of his would-be victims – all of whom have wildly different stories to tell.” It’s a German trailer, so the text is in German (luckily it’s not dubbed), but I missed that when I was watching: I thought it was just some weird quirkiness of the film. [Trailer]

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
I didn’t like the first Hellboy, but this trailer has got me psyched for it’s sequel. The plot and background mythology look cool, the visual effects look wicked (although I have to admit sometimes a bit wonky, but that could also be the small screen I got) and some of the creatures look fantastic. My only gripe is with the bad guys; they look a bit too much like the Wraith from Star Gate: Atlantis for my liking. [Trailer]

Blindness
Based on the book by Jose Saramago, Blindness is about a doctor’s wife (Julianne Moore) who becomes the only person with the ability to see after everyone in the city is struck with a mysterious case of sudden blindness. This teaser trailer is perfect, slightly lifting the veil so that you know a bit about what the movie is about, without giving anything away. One of the films on my Must-Watch list of this year. [Trailer]

Anamorph
This could be another ‘same old, same old’ serial-killer movie, but by using the concept of anamorphosis we could get a very interesting movie. Anamorphosis is a painting technique where there’s a part of the painting that’s only discernible when using a distorting mirror or when viewed from a specific position. I’m not really sure how this is applied in the movie, but I’m guessing the killer is posing his victims and creating real-life anamorphic crime scenes. [Trailer]

Thanks to Sizemore, I got an invite for a bloggers screening of Forgetting Sarah Marshall last night. I had seen the trailers and read early reviews on it, so I went in with the feeling I would like this movie. I didn’t expect though that I’d be laughing so much! It’s by far one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a long time.

Peter Bretter (Jason Segal) is devastated when he gets dumped by girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kirsten Bell), star of a hit TV show. In an attempt to get over her he takes a vacation to Hawaii, only to discover Sarah is there too… with her new boyfriend, rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). While trying to avoid and forget about Sarah, Peter enjoys the companionship of the laid-back resort employee Rachel (Mila Kunis) and a myriad of other characters.

Let me get one thing clear first: the movie seems as if it’s a romantic comedy, a chick flick, a boy-meets-girl story. It isn’t. While Forgetting Sarah Marshall does have a couple of these elements, it is first of all a solid good comedy. Initially I was surprised to see that more than half the attendees of the screening were woman (which for the geek crowd is still quite rare), but I’m guessing most guys are thinking this isn’t a film for them. Trust me when I say it is. There’s a sliver of an emotional message in it, but don’t let that put you off and miss the hilarity that takes up most of the film.

That being said, the movie is funny. Very funny. As I said before, I don’t think I’ve laughed this much during a film in ages. At times the audience was so in stitches that I couldn’t hear some of the next lines. A lot of the jokes are sexually laden, but in a good way. The jokes are more mature than the standard bodily fluids, high schoolish, There’s Something About Mary type of jokes you normally get in comedies from recent years.

Almost all the main actors are fairly unknown in the realm of movies, but they all prove they have the caliber to belong on the big screen. I like Jason Segal in How I Met Your Mother, but I didn’t think he could carry the weight of a movie as a leading actor. This role though is tailor-made for him. Literally. Besides starring in the movie, Segal also wrote the screenplay, weaving his own experiences throughout the story. No big surprise then that he fits so right in the role. One of Segal’s next projects will be to revive the Muppet movies and after seeing this film, I’ve got confidence he’s the perfect person to take that on.

Kirsten Bell (Veronica Mars, Heroes) and Russell Brand are great as the ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. Both characters avoid falling in the predictable stereotype roles and are more nuanced than you would expect. Sarah Marshall isn’t a complete spoiled, pampered Hollywood starlet and Bell manages to make her likable and hatable at the same time. Russell Brand really surprised me. For those of you who don’t know him, he’s an English comedian and I know quite some people who thoroughly dislike him. Here he plays a similar character to how we usually see him and yet, it works. I couldn’t imagine any other person playing Ardous Snow and he delivers some of the best lines of the movie.

Mila Kunis (That 70’s Show) is adorable as the easygoing Rachel and her chemistry with Segal works really well. The supporting characters are also brilliant with a wide range of familiar faces: Bill Hader (Superbad, SNL), Jonah Hill (Superbad, Knocked Up), Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin) and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock). Looking at the names you can clearly see it’s a Jude Apatow produced movie and in this case that’s not a bad thing.

I could tell you a lot more about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but I don’t want to give too much away and spoil the movie for everyone. There are certain scenes that are just unforgettable and outrageous, describing them would never do them justice. This is a movie you have to see and I recommend it to anyone who wants a couple of hours of pure fun. Again: don’t leave your seats when the credits start rolling. There’s a little scene during the credits you’ll also want to see.

[rating: 4.5/5]

First off, there has been a lot of Iron Man news these past weeks: new clips, new photos, even six actual scenes from the movie have been released. If you’re curious, go ahead, take a look. Me? I’m already convinced I’m going to see this movie, so why bother with all this stuff? In the end they’ll only potentially ruin the movie for you.

Anyhow, it’s been a month ago since I did my last Trailerrific post and a lot of trailers have come out since then. I’ve been meaning to do this much more regularly (like every week), but I never get around to doing that (yeah perhaps I’m just lazy). I’m going to split this all into three posts with the second and third parts appearing sometime at the end of this week. I promise though: from now on this will be a weekly post. Any volunteers into kicking me when I don’t?

Pathology
Remember the previous two trailers? This trailer is a Red Band version of that first one, meaning more blood and more sex (a lot more sex). Strange enough though by adding the Red Band stuff to it, they’ve cut away more of the parts that would spoil the movie. It still gives a tad too much away and in my opinion they could easily make an interesting trailer without revealing so much. Then again I guess the movie’s pretty predictable anyway and nobody’s going to see it because of the brilliant intricate plot. [Trailer]

The Life Before Her Eyes
The teaser trailer came out in January and I already said then that this will be a 2009 Oscar contender. And after seeing the full length trailer I stand by that. Evan Rachel Wood plays Diana, a teenage girl who experiences a high school shooting. Years later the grown-up Diana, now played by Uma Thurman, is still traumatized by the event. [Trailer]

Mamma Mia!
I’m not an Abba fan, never was, never will be. But I have a feeling I will see this movie (not in the cinema), just because of Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. The film is based on the Broadway musical about a bride-to-be trying to figure out who her father is. If you like cheerful musicals, this is the film for you. [Trailer]

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
What do you get when you mix vampires, Hamlet and the Holy Grail? Apparently, this movie. I’m not kidding. This movie seems to mix the those three subjects in a weird and unique way. Definitely going on my Must-See list. [Trailer]

The Strangers
I want to say this film seems interesting, but looking at the horror movies Hollywood has lately produced, it all seems to be repeats and rehashes of older films. The Strangers looks like it might have a slight original angle, but tell me how many masked faces did you count in the trailer? I’m just getting a feeling of “been there, done that, next movie please”. Although it does have Liv Tyler (without pointy ears), so that should get the geeks going. [Trailer]

Tropic Thunder
This film could be the dark horse of 2008. In short: it’s Galaxy Quest in the jungle. Three big actors working together on a big-budget war movie are dumped in the middle of the jungle, thinking everything that happens to them is part of the movie. You’ve got the action star (Ben Stiller), the comedy star (Jack Black), the method actor (Robert Downey Jr.), the crazy director (Steve Coogan) and the war hero (Nick Nolte). If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, you should. This will definitely be a must-see this summer. [Trailer]

Stone’s War
The premise of this movie is Nazi Zombies fighting in World War II. That alone would make see this movie, which made be think there would at least be an interesting trailer, right? Now I know it’s not an official trailer yet (it hasn’t even got a release date yet), but couldn’t they come up with anything better? Something without the standard ‘Requiem for a Dream’ tune? Something that actually shows ‘Nazi Zombies’? I’m not asking too much, am I? [Trailer]

Deception
Any film with both Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor in it, gets my stamp of approval. Deception is about an accountant (McGregor) who gets introduced to a secret sex club called The List by new lawyer friend Jackman, but of course not all is as it seems. Again a potentially great movie and a trailer that reveals too much. Given the (what I believe will be) intricate plot, maybe it doesn’t actually spoil anything, but do we really all those “surprises” and “reveals” in the trailer? My tip: watch half of the trailer. If you’re convinced, stop watching. If you remain unconvinced, watch it all. [Trailer]

Special
I’m not sure about the release dates of this movie. It was made in 2006 and has been released in some countries, but from what I’ve heard there might be a wide release of it this summer (please contact me, if you have some more info). The film is being described as a superhero spoof, but don’t think this means it falls in with the silly parody movies like Scary Movie, Epic Movie, etc. Michael Rapaport plays Les, a metermaid that has a psychotic reaction to his medication and starts believing he’s a superhero. [Trailer]

Episode 51: “Isn’t it time to give back?”

I’ll be going to a screening of Forgetting Sarah Marshall tonight, so to celebrate that here’s a bit of Kirsten Bell funniness for you all:

If you thought the Beverly Hills series couldn’t get any worse, guess again. Here’s the poster for the upcoming movie:

I wish I could tell you this was all a joke, but from what I can gather it’s a real movie coming out next year. The plot outline of Beverly Hills Chihuahua on IMDB is:

While on vacation in Mexico, Chloe, a ritzy Beverly Hills chihuahua, finds herself lost and in need of assistance in order to get back home.

Chloe will be voiced by Drew Barrymore and her owner will be played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Other voice talents will include Salma Hayek, Edward James Olmos and Andy Garcia.

Right…so judging by the poster somehow this dainty little chihuahua ends up in a Aztec tribe of chihuahuas? And they’ve got temples with chihuahua figures on them? And the tagline is The chihuahuas will rise? The worst thing on this poster though? The chee’ WOW wa under the title.

Seriously?

[Via /Film]

Update: There’s also a trailer out on Apple.com.

I’ll dive right in by saying that so far this is the best movie I’ve seen this year. Now I know 2008 is far from over, but I have a feeling that by the end of this year Son of Rambow will still be in my Top 10.

Set in the early 1980’s in England, Will Proudfoot is part of the Brethren religion and has been kept away from watching movies, listening to music and making friends with outsiders. After seeing a bootleg version of Rambo (First Blood) at school terror Lee Carter’s house though, Will is completely blown away and Lee gets him involved into making a sort of sweded version of the movie. Add a busload of French exchange students, a flying dog and an evil scarecrow and you have a pretty damn amazing film.

Son of Rambow is the movie I was hoping Be Kind, Rewind would be (yeah, I didn’t like BKR, if enough people want, I’ll write a review). The sweding is great, but there is more to the movie than only those parts. The story is so sweet and there are a couple of brilliant moving scenes. It’s also full of funny moments; I was giggling throughout the entire film.

Will and Lee are superbly portrayed by newbies Bill Miller and Will Poulter. I was surprised to see that both of them haven’t been in that many other films (Poulter in none actually), but I’m guessing that after this films is released that’s going to change. I also loved Will’s innocence. Especially at the start of the movie there are things that he’s doing that at first glance you just don’t understand. Then when you find out, you just can’t help but find it cute.

I also have to give a special mention to the visual effects and sound effects. There aren’t that many (it’s not that type of movie), but when they are used it works so well. For instance, at the start of the movie a group of kids run by, but from the sound of it they seem more like a giant stampede. Then next to that Will’s daydreaming is brought to life in a very unique type of way (I won’t explain how otherwise I’ll ruin it).

This is a definite must-see cinema movie. In contrary to most other movies, Son of Rambow is worth every penny and you’ll come out of the cinema with a smile on your face. By the way, stay seated till after the credits. There’s a little extra you won’t want to miss.

[rating: 4.5/5]

Yesterday I finally took some time to hang up a couple of posters, some of which were lying around for months. The two big posters were both of Heroes, which I got from Cristiano for my birthday. One of them is the “main” poster of the show; the one with the faces on the bottom and the clouds and the skyscrapers. You know, this one:

I don’t think the image works that well when you see it like this “on screen”, but as an actual poster it looks pretty impressive. The second poster is (in my eyes) extremely cool and as far as I can tell it’s quite difficult to find. It’s the cover of the fourth 9th Wonders, the Heroes webcomic, featuring Claire coming out of the flames:

Next to those large posters, I got a couple of smaller ones. A few months ago I managed to get some promotional posters (Fearless, Aeon Flux, Ratatouille and Transformers ) for about $2 at the London Film and Comic Con. Now I finally put them up:

I love the design of these small ones and am hoping I can find more of these in the future. I’ve got a couple of awkward pieces of wall that desperately need to be covered. Here are some overall shots of how the posters are:

Yes, that’s a Spiderman 3 poster there. I bought it before the movie came out and haven’t got around to replacing it with something better (aka almost anything else). There are two particular sets of posters I’ve got my eye on, but I don’t have that much space in my room. Maybe someday later when I got a place that’s bigger than a single room. Anyhow, the first set contains Battlestar Galactica propaganda posters, including the cut-off edges:

The second set is of a similar vein, but this time they’re travel agency adds from Firefly:

I’ve fallen in love with these posters and every time I come across them I want them even more. Each of them is so different than the others, but still you can see that they form a set together. And don’t you just love the “Visit tranquil Miranda”? So Santa, Birthday Bunny, Tooth Fairy, could I please have these for my next Christmas/birthday/wisdom tooth removal?

I haven’t done this type of post for a while now and a lot of trailers have come out since then. I’m hoping I’ve got most of them covered, but one or two might have slipped through my fingers. There are 14 trailers in total. If you don’t want to go through them all, check out at least The Fall, Step Brothers and The Incredible Hulk.

Madagascar: The Crate Escape
Wow, what a clever title! Cause it’s like in the first movie they were in crates, but then they escape, but it also means like great escape; it’s just so smart! The trailer to this sequel of Madagascar is just as awkward as the previous sentence. Instead of having a normal trailer, they had to bring in a live-action Ben Stiller to tell us what the film is about. Why?? The movie looks just like more of the first one. As long as the penguins get more screen time though, I’ll gladly watch this movie. [Trailer]

Pathology
What was the person that made these two trailers thinking? The first one came out back in September and, while it captures the idea and feel of the movie, it gave way too much away. There are parts in the trailer that I think spoil the movie. Why would a studio do this? Don’t they want people to go to their movies? I should write a post purely on this; studios do this way too often. The movie stars Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia as part of a group of pathology students playing a secret after-hours game of committing the perfect murder. Although I think it will turn out to be predictable, it sounds interesting enough. The second trailer seems a bit meh; you get no idea at all what the movie will be about and just seems a bit pointless. My tip: skip the first trailer, watch the second one and hope there will be a third trailer coming soon. [Trailer 1] [Trailer 2]

Iron Man
Again another Iron Man trailer. I’ve been psyched for this movie for ages and it’s definitely going to be a showdown between Iron Man and The Dark Knight as THE comic book movie of the year (although my bet’s still on The Dark Knight). [Trailer]

The Love Guru
It’s been six years since Mike Myers‘ last original character Austin Powers and I was quite curious to see what he would come up with next. While I wasn’t that much of a fan of Austin Powers, it did have it’s funny moments. Judging from this trailer though makes me think The Love Guru will come nowhere near the antics of Austin Powers. It looks absolutely afwul! Add Jessica Alba as love interest and Justin Timberlake as a French gyrating something and you’ve got yourself a movie I’ll avoid like hell. [Trailer]

Meet Bill
Oh no, take cover! Another Jessica Alba movie! Run for your lives! Talentless bimbo aside, Meet Bill could turn out to be a sweet little movie. Aaron Eckhart plays Bill, a guy who’s fed up with his job and cheating wife, but takes on the role of mentor for a kid (known throughout the movie only as The Kid). Besides Alba and Eckhart, the film stars Elizabeth Banks (Scrubs, Definitely, Maybe), Timothy Olyphant (Die Hard 4.0, Hitman), Logan Lerman (as The Kid, 3:10 To Yuma) and SNL regulars Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis. [Trailer]

10,000 B.C.
This movie is coming out today here in UK, but here’s one more final trailer to convince you why not to see this movie. Egyptian pyramids built with the help of mammoths; a tribe full of white people with dreads, eskimos and Native Americans; Scandinavian/Egyptian/Viking demon warriors; this movie is full of stuff that historically don’t make sense. /Film sums it up pretty good: “if you can understand titling this movie “The Jurassic Apocalypto Pathfinder the Day after Tomorrow”, you’d understand it completely and not need to see it.” [Trailer]

The Visitor
This is a small indie film that made it’s debut at Sundance in January. If you like emotional life stories with a touch of tear-jerkiness, this film is for you. It’s about a widower who after a long stay away finds two squatters in his apartment. Instead of kicking them out, he let’s them stay and becomes friends with the two. It’s not my type of movie, but I know a couple of you out there who would like this film. [Trailer]

Sex and the City: The Movie
I kind of feel obliged to also list this trailer, but I am definitely not one of those woman who are jumping up and down hysterically for this movie. I was never a fan of the TV show; I tried to watch a couple of episodes, but failed to see what all the fuss was about. Anyhow, for of all you girls out there that loved the series, here’s the trailer. [Trailer]

Wanted
Yes, again another Wanted trailer. They don’t really show any new clips; you’ve got the same “shoot the target, bend the bullet” scene, the “Angelina Jolie hangs out of a car” scene and the “Angelina Jolie on a train bending backward to fit under a tunnel” scene. But somehow the trailer feels more coherent, with a bit more backstory than the previous ones. [Trailer]

The Fall
Once in a while you come across a trailer of a movie you’ve never heard of and it blows you away. There’s such a magical and enchanting vibe coming from this trailer, kind of a cross between Hero, The Princess Bride and Equilibrium. It stars Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) as a bedridden man in a hospital who tells a girl a fantasy story, picturing hospital staff, other patients and themselves as the main characters. You can find the trailer on the movie’s website, along with some beautiful screenshots. [Website]

Funny Games
The first (normal) trailer for Funny Games appeared a while ago [Trailer 1], but I like this second one more. It’s got this quirkiness to it, which seems so contrary to the actual atmosphere of the movie. Funny Games is about two psychopaths that take a family hostage, forcing them to play all kinds of nasty games. I’ve heard a lot about this movie, with half of the people hating it and the other half loving it. I’m curious to see how it all will turn out. [Trailer 2]

Step Brothers
This is one of those movie that just seems so silly, so stupid, you just can’t imagine it could ever be funny. I have no idea how the actual movie is going to be, but the trailer of Step Brothers got me laughing. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play
two spoiled jobless living-at-their-parents guy, who become step brothers after their single parents get married. [Trailer]

A Necessary Death
This film debuted at SXSW last weekend and I heard that not everybody understood it was a work of fiction. Three film students place an add to find someone who wants to commit suicide, so they can follow the person in his/her final days and make a documentary about it. The whole process of placing the add, holding auditions and so on, is filmed by a fellow student (the real director of the movie). So it’s a fake documentary about the creation of a controversial documentary. [Trailer]

The Incredible Hulk
Remember that bad movie a couple of years ago about this guy that turns into a big green monster? Yeah, just forget that entire movie. The Incredible Hulk isn’t a sequel, but a complete retelling of the comic hero’s story. With Edward Norton and Liv Tyler on board the acting should be fine, but after watching the trailer I’m not sure about the rest of film. I still find the visual effects of the Hulk not up to scratch; it stills seems completely out of place. [Trailer]

Here’s a roundup of all the interesting tidbits of movie news I’ve heard this week:

Sly Back For More
I never watched the Rambo or Rocky series, so I wasn’t that interested in the new installments of those series. I loved almost every other classic Sly action movie though. Now, Sylvester Stallone has signed up to direct and star in two more action films and rumours are that the first will be a sequel to Cliffhanger. Coolness! Although, I do have got my heart set on a second Demolition Man or Judge Dredd. “I Am The Law” [Via FirstShowing]

Smurf Alert
The film you’ve all been waiting for: The Smurfs in 3D. Seriously, do we need this movie?? Somehow this movie is going to suck big time. I’d much rather have a live action movie. Now that would be hilarious. Coming Soon has some production stills up, showing some of the new computer models. [Via ComingSoon]

Peacock
Ellen Page (Juno) and Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins, Sunshine) are set to star in the psychological thriller, Peacock. Set in the town of Peacock, Nebrask, Murphy will play a man with a split personality, who fools the town into believing his alter egos are a married couple. Page will play a “struggling young mother who holds the key to his past and sparks a battle between the personalities.” It sound like an interesting concept and if anybody can pull off a creepy split personality androgynous role, it’s got to be Cillian Murphy. Add Page to the mix and you’ve got one hell of a movie. [Via Variety]

CBS Series Renewed
Yes, this is TV news, not movie news, but I couldn’t let it slip by without mentioning it. CBS has renewed 11 TV shows for the 2008-2009 season: Big Bang Theory, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Ghost Whisperer, NCIS, Numb3rs, Two and A Half Men and Without A Trace. The most surprising absentee from this list How I Met Your Mother. This doesn’t mean the show has been canceled, only that it hasn’t been renewed yet, hopefully with the emphasis on “yet”. I find it weird though that Big Bang Theory gets renewed before HIMYM. As much as I like the Big Bang it’s not as funny as HIMYM. [Via AICN]

The Many Faces of Dr. Parnassus
After the death of Heath Ledger, the fate of his last movie The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus seemed uncertain. In the story Ledger’s character falls through a magic mirror into different worlds and there was a rumour that they would use different actors for the different worlds. Now it’s been confirmed that three actors have stepped up to offer their interpretations of Ledger as a way of tribute: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. I can’t imagine a more appropriate homage to such a talented actor. And damn, how much hotness could you put in one movie? [Via AICN]

Yesterday I got to go to a free screening of The Bank Job. Here’s my review:

The Plot

What in heavens would a movie called The Bank Job ever be about? Seriously, though, the answer is not a simple “a bank job”. The movie is set in 1971 and is based on a true unsolved bank robbery of a bank in Marylebone, London (I have no idea which elements of the plot are true). Jason Statham plays small-time criminal/mechanic Terry Leather who receives a proposition from former flame Martine (Saffron Burrows) of a “simple” bank job, targeting a roomful of safe deposit boxes. Terry agrees and puts together a crew of friends, all amateurs, to rob the bank. What Terry and his crew don’t know though is that the boxes contain all types of secrets. Martine is secretly working for a MI:5/6 faction, desperate to get their hands on the content of one of the boxes: compromising photos of a certain Royal, that are being used by black activist Michael X to get out of being prosecuted. Besides that, there are other people who don’t want the contents of their boxes to see the light of day and before Terry knows it, he’s in deep trouble.

The Good and The Bad

The main problem I have with this movie is that it lacks tension and suspense. The movie tries to give a historical account of the bank robbery and reveals everything from the start. Even before Terry gets the proposal of the bank robbery, the viewer knows everything about the compromising photos; who they are from, what they are being used for, who wants them and that Martine is supposed to get them. There are no twists and turns whatsoever and everything that happens in the movie is fairly predictable. The writers could have easily made it a bit more exciting: why did we as the viewer have to know what Martine was up to from the start? Why did we have to know from the beginning what was in the boxes? It would have worked so much better if the viewer found out each thing at the same time as Terry, adding a whole lot more surprised to the story.

The pacing of the movie is also slightly off. After a perfect introduction of all the players and the plot (not confusing, structured and to the point), the film continues to show how they rob the bank for about 30-40 minutes with not much exciting happening during that time. It finally picks up some pace once they open the safety deposit boxes, but the film still feels at least 20 minutes too long.

For those of you expecting some cool action movie, I’m warning you it isn’t. You won’t find any gun fights, car chases or explosions in this movie. It’s meant as a thriller and as I said before, it even fails in this aspect.

What I did love of The Bank Job was the look and feel to it. The clothes, the hairdos, the furniture; it captures the vibe of that era perfectly. I also liked trying to recognize which parts where actually filmed on location. There are a couple of scenes at underground stations (Tottenham Court Road, Edgeware Road, Baker Street) and at Paddington Station and now and then I was going: “Hey, I know that place”.

The Verdict

The Bank Job left me a bit disappointed. It’s an okay movie, but there was so much potential in it to be a whole lot greater. The story of the bank robbery is intriguing and the film just doesn’t do that story justice. Instead of a riveting suspense movie, we get a solemn account of the events. My tip: wait for the dvd; it’s not worth going to the cinema for.

[rating:3]