What to Watch – March 2013

What a fantastic month for films. You’re going to have some tough decisions to make when deciding what to go see in the coming weeks!

 

Arbitrage – 1st March

Arbitrage sees a Golden Globe nominated performance from Richard Gere as a powerful magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire whilst trying to cover up a horrible accident that puts his career and life at risk. Gere is supported by a fine supporting cast including the likes of Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth and Brit Marling.

 

Stoker – 1st March

Here we have a bit of a creepy looking horror/thriller film featuring Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska. Stoker is the last film to be produced by the late Tony Scott and the script was ranked number one on the list of the best unproduced scripts doing the rounds in Hollywood back in 2010. And who is the script written by? Wentworth Miller!?! Yes, Prison Break‘s very own Michael Scofield.

 

Oz: The Great and the Powerful – 8th March

Despite apparently being the third choice for the role as the title character early reports suggest that James Franco is the perfect man to lead this journey into Oz. Accompanied by three witched played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams (two very good actresses) this looks to be an epic and beautiful journey.

 

Side Effects – 8th March

There’s not a lot to say about this. It features two very successful stars at the minute in the forms of Channing Tatum and Rooney Mara accompanied by the improving-with-age Jude Law. Side Effects looks like one of the most exciting films to hit the screen so far this year.

 

Jack the Giant Slayer – 22nd March

Bryan Singer is returning to the X-Men series for the next installment but this is his latest CGI clad film based on the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. This is Nicholas Hoult’s first attempt at being a leading man in a big budget Hollywood flick but whether he has what it takes or not I am unsure.

 

The Host – 29th March

We didn’t have to wait too long for a Twilight replacement to come around as Stephanie Meyer’s other novel The Host is now adapted with one of the best young actresses around, Saoirse Ronan, in the lead role. An alien invasion film with a difference.

First Look at A Good Day To Die Hard

UK Release Date: 14th February 2013.

Stars: John Moore (director), Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Amauray Nolasco, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Cole Hauser, Sebastian Koch

Plot: John McClane, who finds himself in Moscow, Russia and gets caught up in a terrorist plot with his estranged son.

A Good Day to Die Hard goes up against Star Trek Into Darkness for the worst name for a sequel next year and probably wins this contest, although on the big screen they will both be aiming for very different audiences. Here is the first tease of the fifth instalment of John McClane’s journeys.

This sequel has cast a couple of people I am very excited about. First up we have Jai Courtney playing McClane’s estranged son John ‘Jack’ McClane Jr and this is a fine casting choice. I have only seen Courtney once before and that was in the first series of television show Spartacus: Blood and Sand where he played Spartacus’ best friend Varro and it was obvious from this series that Courtney has enough ability to hold his own in an action film and he was clearly built for the genre. Then we have Amauray Nolasco, best known as Prison Break‘s Sucre who you couldn’t help but like and feel sorry for – my favourite character.

I’m not a big fan of the Die Hard series (aside from the original) or Bruce Willis in general but I think this teaser gives enough in its minute to entice old fans back to the cinema again; there is plenty of quick action scenes and a line from Willis at the end which I think is supposed to be a bit funny but I couldn’t really tell. And in true action film fashion there’s a quick glimpse at a woman showing off her body for no apparent reason.

I don’t think people who like Die Hard go and see these films for the story, they just want to see Bruce Willis killing foreigners and blowing shit up and there is clearly going to be plenty of that here. The addition of Courtney as McClane’s son also gives the franchise a chance of continuation once Willis departs.

Thriller in ‘The Loft’

Stars: Erik Van Looy (director), Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller, Eric Stonestreet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Rachael Taylor, Margarita Levieva.

Plot: Five married men share ownership of an upmarket loft, which they use to discretely meet their respective mistresses. When the body of a murdered woman is found in that loft, the men begin to suspect each other of having committed the gruesome crime, as they are the only ones with keys to the premises.

The Loft is an upcoming thriller remake of the 2008 Belgian film ‘Loft‘ also directed by Erik Van Looy and also starring Matthias Schoenaerts in the same role he plays in this version. The original became the most successful Flemish movie ever at the box office so this could be quite a good film, even if it doesn’t get that much attention.

The cast, while without many notable names, brings together actors and actresses from some of the best loved films and television shows of the last few years: Urban (Star Trek), Marsden (X-Men), Miller (Prison Break), Taylor (Charlie’s Angels), Levieva (Revenge). While few have acted in feature films before they have all proved their talent and it should make for a good watch.

The premise is very interesting and it has a good story and amount of characters, friendship and trust which will make for a good whodunnit storyline. The film pieces the truth together through a series of flashbacks intertwined with scenes from the present day and hopefully will keep the audience guessing who committed the crime and why until the end of the film (because films are rubbish when the audience knows the truth from the start). It looks very good but doesn’t yet have a distributor in the UK but depending on how it does in the United States upon it’s release at the end of the year we could see it come over to Britain mid 2013.

‘The Good Doctor’ Gets a Good Trailer

Okay, so it’s got Orlando Bloom playing the lead role and we know he is not a good actor in any sense of the word, but just watch the trailer before you completely dismiss this film already.

The Good Doctor tells the story of a young, anxious doctor by the name of Martin Blake who has spent his life looking for respect. When he meets 18 year old patient Diane who is suffering from a kidney infection Blake gets the much needed self-esteem boost that he has been after as he takes care of her and makes her better. However, as her health keeps improving Blake becomes scared at the thought of losing her so begins to tamper with her treatment, keeping Diane sick and in the hospital with him.

This is a thriller and I think that the story line is a really interesting one and will raise plenty of questions about the seriousness of the actions that the main character takes and may even force people to question if this happens for real. Orlando Bloom, what is there to say? A storyline this good deserves an actor just as good. Unfortunately in this case it doesn’t have one and so Bloom has had to step in but in the trailer he looks as though he does an average job, and anything has to be better than The Calcium Kid.

With a supporting cast including Riley Keough (The Runaways), Wade Williams (Prison Break) and J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man) The Good Doctor could turn out to be a surprisingly decent film upon its release. I think the trailer does well to inject a sense of excitement and suspense into the audience and it really does well to portray the themes and topics that the film will put across as it deals with such sensitive and quite frightening issues.

Man On A Ledge Review

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

I had my reservations about seeing this film: the title is lazy, the cast doesn’t excite me at all and the trailers did absolutely nothing to sell this film to me. However, I really wanted to go to the cinema today and the only film on in the time slot available was Man On A Ledge, so I ended up watching it, and I have to say, despite it’s flaws, it surprised me.

Sam Worthington plays Nick Cassidy, a cop turned convict, who has escaped from prison and is now the man on a ledge, protesting his innocence and wanting everybody to know that he is innocent. But whilst the police are negotiating with what they think is a suicidal man Nick’s brother, Joey Cassidy (Jamie Bell) and Joey’s girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) are using this cover to attempt a robbery from a building across the street in order to steal a diamond which Nick has supposedly stolen, cut down and sold on. Therefore, stealing this diamond would prove Nick’s innocence. Got it?

So I guess we have to talk about the acting, unfortunately. Sam Worthington is again given the lead role in a movie and again puts in an average to poor performance. Up until his character actually has something to do Worthington doesn’t really do enough to keep the audience interested in his character. I still like Jamie Bell from his days in Billy Elliot and I really do think he is a talented young actor but I think he needs to be wiser when choosing which films to appear in; his performance is below par and I was really hoping for something stronger from him. And as for Genesis Rodriguez, she is apparently only there to provide an eyeful of cleavage and to get a few shots of her body in the film to keep men interested. It’s as if the makers of this film doubted they could keep the attention of the audience themselves. The one bright spark in this film though, both in character story and portrayal, is Lydia Mercer played excellently by Elizabeth Banks and quite frankly I was interested in her character and her scenes a lot more than any other character of this film.

The story doesn’t really offer up anything we haven’t seen before. It plays out with a lot of back story, trying to create some mystery for the audience, but it fails. From the fight at the funeral I managed to guess every single twist the film had in store and I don’t want to be able to do that when I’m seeing a film for the first time! The film does pick up, however, once Nick is forced to run from the attempts to get him off the ledge and the sequence with him running around the edge of the hotel before jumping through a couple of windows was very enjoyable, as were the rest of the action scenes. Okay, so there’s a few things that are VERY unbelievable (when he jumps from the building, lands on the pad at the bottom and then manages to still get the diamond from Englander for example) but they can be overlooked in this film as it clearly isn’t trying to take itself seriously by this point.

And as for the ending… it seems very rushed and very ‘Hollywood’. One minute the film is still going on, he’s just got the diamond back, he’s proved his innocence, what’s going to happen now? Oh right, you’ve got the girl, you go to a pub and another twist is revealed that I managed to guess the second time of seeing that character. Well, thanks for that. And as for the proposal at the end… give me a break! The relationship between Joey and Angie made me cringe all the way through the film, the pair clearly had no chemistry and it just seemed forced.

But if you can overlook the bad acting and the routine story then you will enjoy this film as it does have a lot to enjoy. Just make sure you don’t go expecting to see something that’s going to make you think.

My rating: 5/10