Scorsese and DiCaprio Reunite – The Wolf of Wall Street Trailer

UK Release Date: 17th January 2014

Stars: Martin Scorsese (director), Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, Jon Favreau, Spike Jonze, Jean Dujardin

Plot: A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration.

The partnership of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio have been responsible for some of the greatest films of recent years: Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island. They never bring a dud to the floor and this is why The Wolf of Wall Street is a must see already! It’s been three years since the pair worked together and now they’re working with a script from one of modern television’s great writers, Terrence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire).

Recently, Leonardo DiCaprio has been performing out of his skin with his performances in Django Unchained and The Great Gatsby earning him bucket loads of critical acclaim. The wonderful thing about his performance in the former is that he was allowed to just let loose and run with it: it looks as though he’ll be allowed to do the same here and it looks to be one of his more comedic roles…but just as brilliant.

A few years ago, Matthew McConaughey could only have dreamed of being in a film like this. Now, with resurgence complete, he seems an obvious candidate. Joining an all star cast in this biographical crime drama about the life of Jordan Belfort. Expect Oscar buzz, but whether nominations or wins will arrive remains to be seen.

Was that a DeLorean?

Who Should Direct Star Wars: Episode VII?

With the shock announcement that Disney have bought Star Wars and plan to release a completely new trilogy beginning in 2015 it is no wonder that speculation has already begun about who would be the best choice for director. Let’s look at some of the contenders:

Christopher Nolan

Fresh from directing one of the most lauded trilogies of all time in The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan could pretty much get any gig that he wanted which, let’s be honest, makes complete sense. Every one of Nolan’s films so far has gone down a treat and with Inception he certainly showed that he is more than capable of making a truly magnificent science fiction piece and this is something that the next instalment of Star Wars needs to be!

 

Bryan Singer

In a world as big as the one that Star Wars has built for itself the ability to handle and direct an ensemble cast is a must. With X-men and X2 Singer took on a similar challenge and managed to make a couple of the best superhero films to date. Therefore, this shows that Singer has what it takes to work with a large cast and bring out specific characters. Although, with the recent announcement he is set to helm Days of Future Past then he may be out of the question.

 

Brad Bird

Bird made his name at Pixar where he was given the go ahead to direct The Incredibles and obviously because it is Pixar, as well as the fact that it is brilliant, he received a lot of praise for his work. Earlier this year Brad Bird was responsible for reviving the Mission: Impossible franchise with Ghost Protocol and made the Tom Cruise franchise a relevant and important one once more; could he do the same for Star Wars?

 

Guillermo Del Toro

The fan knows fantasy, he knows special effects and can create huge blockbusters. Del Toro is well known for his ability to draw up strange creations and to let him loose on the world of Star Wars would be, for want of a better word, pretty orgasmic. Most notable for Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth Del Toro is set to announce his return to the world of huge blockbusters with Pacific Rim next year.

 

Jon Favreau

It was Favreau’s work with Iron Man that convinced Marvel (and importantly Disney) that superhero films were worth backing and proceeding with, culminating in The Avengers. With Iron Man 2 perhaps Favreau did have too much to do and it may be a case of that happening again with Star Wars: it would be a risk but one that could be worth taking, especially as the name of Star Wars is going to bring in the audience anyway.

 

Joss Whedon

A God among geeks. Does much more need to be said about the man’s talents? It is practically impossible for Whedon to direct Star Wars unfortunately as he has a pretty tight schedule with Marvel’s Phase 2 in place at the minute but a future Episode of the huge science fiction franchise, why not?

 

Duncan Jones

The least well known of all of my choices but not at all less talented. With Moon and Source Code in his back catalogue Jones has shown that he is more than capable of telling some brilliant science fiction stories. I would love to see Jones achieve some success and get a chance to show mainstream audiences his talent although maybe this would be a step too far a little too early.

 

Obviously, most of these directors are very commercial and well known to audiences already with a proven record of directing hit films and creating believable and memorable characters whilst exploring the world that their films inhabit. This is an important trait when deciding who is going to continue the Star Wars franchise but there may be some hidden gems hiding in cracks and crevices somewhere… or even in plain sight. So let me know, who would you like to see direct the seventh instalment of Star Wars?

Ant-Man Finally Gets Release Date – Marvel’s Calendar

After years and years in development the realisation that founding comic book Avenger Ant-Man will be starring in a solo film has got a bit more real today with the announcement, from Marvel, of a release date. However, it is bad news for anyone hoping to see Hank Pym pop up in The Avengers 2, or is it? Let’s look at Marvel’s Phase 2 calender and see just where Ant-Man fits in.

 

Iron Man 3 – 26th April 2013

As expected, the next instalment of the Iron Man series comes sooner than other sequels and will complete a trilogy set in motion back in 2008 by Robert Downey Jr and Jon Favreau. This time round Shane Black will be directing and the storyling will borrow heavily from the Extremis comic book arc. The Mandarin, Iron Man’s most famous villain, will also be featuring after being teased in the first movie, then forgotten in the second.

 

Thor: The Dark World – 8th November 2013

It’s quite surprising to me that Marvel have gone for this release date with Thor’s next outing. Obviously Marvel still want to keep to their plan of getting two films out per year and moving Thor to later in the year allows them to do this as well as make it seem like less time has passed before the next film. However, Thor went down very well and, along with Iron Man, is among most fans favourite Marvel films so a summer release, I think, would have been more beneficial. Thor: The Dark World will see the return of Natalie Portman as well as more exploration of the nine realms.

 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 4th April 2014

Almost a year after Iron Man 3 fans will see Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers back on the big screen in his ‘man out of time’ political drama. This is one of the films I am most looking forward to because it will be interesting to see how Cap comes to terms with the fact that he is now living in a completely different place and everybody that he knows/knew is dead. I don’t think Captain America came out of The Avengers all that well so hopefully The Winter Soldier will put him right back at the top!

 

Guardians of the Galaxy – 1st August 2014

You would think that after their success Marvel would want to build on that with more familiar-ish characters and try and play it safe a little bit. Instead, they have opted for their next addition into their multi-string franchise will be a cosmic super team that features a raccoon with a gun! As a stand alone film I think Guardians of the Galaxy has bags of potential and it will be very interesting to see how this new team fits into the multiverse alongside the Avengers.

 

The Avengers 2 – 1st May 2015

The Avengers are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and they proved that this summer. Joss Whedon put together the third highest grossing movie of all time and arguably the best comic book movie ever! The huge amount of it’s success came as a surprise to everyone and it is great news that Marvel are not just pushing out the next one. The second team feature will be released in three years and hopefully will be bigger, bolder and just as good as the first!

 

Ant-Man – 6th November 2015

So today Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man finally got a release date, Hooray! But as you will notice, Ant-Man comes AFTER The Avengers 2, meaning this is where Phase 3 begins. However, by the time that The Avengers 2 will be filming Ant-Man will have been cast and so could easily fit into The Avengers 2 and then break out for a solo film afterwards, whether this will be the case or not remains to be seen but the announcement that Ant-Man has, at long last, got a release date can only reassure fans of the Marvel films juggernaut.

Latest Iron Man 3 Casting Rumours

The release of The Avengers is nearly upon us and now Iron Man 3 will be the next film that Marvel fans have to look forward to. Recently, there has been a lot of discussions about Iron Man 3, who will be in the film and who will be the villain are the main topics of debates among fans and moviegoers.

Ben Kingsley has been strongly linked with an unknown role. Rumours are that he could play Iron Man’s most famous villain, the Mandarin. This villain is the one that Jon Favreau has claimed that he was working towards but it is unknown if this is the direction in which Shane Black will be taking his vision of the film. There is no doubt that Kingsley would be a great addition to the cast but if he was cast as Mandarin I could see this pleasing a lot of fans who hope to see the famous bad guy on the big screen.

The latest casting rumour to circle on the net states that Guy Pearce is close to signing on to play geneticist Aldrich Killian. In the comic books Killian co-creates the Extremis technology and Iron Man 3 will be loosely based on the Extremis storyline. Pearce has recently returned to big budget films with Lockout and is set to star in Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus. Anyone who has seen Memento knows that this guy can act and I would certainly look forward to seeing him in Marvel universe.

Iron Man 3 is being written and directed by Kiss Kiss Bang Bang creator Shane Black and will certainly star Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and of course Robert Downey Jr. If these two actors do join the cast it could be Marvel’s best cast ensemble to date (minus The Avengers).

How do Marvel’s Movies Rank so Far?

With the UK release of The Avengers, or Avengers Assemble, just one week away I have decided to look back over the films that Marvel studios have made in the lead up to this huge movie event. Ranking them from worst (which is a horrible word to use, especially in this case as none of the films are exactly bad) to best. Here we go:

 

5. Iron Man 2

It seems fairly obvious that this is the worst, sorry 5th best, of the lot. It had too much to do, trying to tie in The Avengers with another storyline meant that the inclusion of Nick Fury and Black Widow felt almost too forced and Jon Favreau really annoyed me with his desperate plea for attention by giving himself more screen time. Iron Man 2 just fell short of capturing the essence of wit, style and charm that had won over audiences with the first film.

 

4. The Incredible Hulk

This is incredibly harsh on the big green fella. It’s just a testament to the high standard Marvel have set themselves with their films. The Incredible Hulk places Ed Norton in the role of the scientist with huge anger management issues and Norton is superb in the role. The film also left itself open for a sequel, although that probably won’t be happening, with the hint at The Leader. Ending with an appearance of Tony Stark himself, it got fans drooling at the thought of a connected movieverse.

 

3. Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America is the big one really. Eventually becoming leader of The Avengers in the comic books, he is a well loved hero across the world. The film brought us the morale compass that is Steve Rogers and introduced one of the best love stories in comic book movie history which eventually ended in heartbreak as Steve said goodbye to Peggy Carter just as he managed to save America from Red Skull. The final film before The Avengers, everything was tied up as Steve woke up in the modern day and was found by Nick Fury himself.

 

2. Thor

There were worries about how it was possible to make a Norse God into a  character that would fit in with the realism of the world established in Marvel movies that came before this. These such worries were put to rest as Chris Hemsworth took over the mantle and brought everything to the role. Over the course of the movie we saw this arrogant, war hungry young prince become a well rounded, real noble person as he fought to save his friends, both God and human, from his evil half-brother Loki.

 

1. Iron Man

It couldn’t be anything else. Iron Man was what started the whole franchise. If Iron Man was not a success then The Avengers sure as hell would not be happening this year or any time in the near future. Iron Man became one of the greatest comic book movies so far; the characters were great, the special effects on the Iron Man suit itself were outstanding. Where Marvel’s characters had appeared in films before (not mande by the studio itself) they had either gone too cheesy (Fantastic Four) or dark and gritty (X-men), but Iron Man managed to combine the two and instantly became a classic. We got Tony’s charm, his wit, his playboy lifestyle combined with the underlying story of terrorism and arms dealings. Iron Man is brilliant and we all have this to thank for The Avengers.