12 Years a Slave Trailer

UK Release Date: 24th January 2014

Stars: Steve McQueen (director), Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, Michael Fassbender, Scoot McNairy

Plot: In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

Films about slavery seem to be becoming the new Western. Every year there are now high profile stories of slavery being told on the big screen and 2014 will be no different with Steve McQueen gunning for Oscar glory. Perhaps the most noticeable thing about this trailer is in fact Brad Pitt’s beard, just for the sheer ridiculousness of how it looks… but that might just be me.

However, if you can look past Pitt’s beard what you’ll find is this really touching, almost unbelievable true story about one man’s descent into slavery and his fight against it. Chiwetel Ejiodor is not a name that everyone will be familiar with but he has starred in a huge number of films over the years and finally takes centre stage in a star studded cast.

Established stars Pitt and Fassbender, who looks like he’s playing an incredibly nasty piece of work and doing it so well, join rising star Paul Dano and the incredible Scoot McNairy who I am a big fan of!

Who Should Play Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider Movie Reboot?

Lara Croft is the most recognisable female video game character in the world. At the beginning of this century two Tomb Raider films were released with Angelina Jolie taking on the role and, despite the original film still being the most successful film adaptation of a video game in the United States, both this and its sequel were not too well received by critics. Also, in recent years, the video game side of the Tomb Raider franchise has been waning. Until 2013. Earlier this month a reboot of the video game series hit the shelves, simply titled Tomb Raider. It received huge critical acclaim, is one of the best games I have ever played and obviously went on to sell more than a million copies in less than 48 hours. So it seems the time is right to reboot the franchise on the big screen, but who should play Lara Croft?

Here are my candidates:

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Gemma Arterton

Arterton has had experience in big action films before: Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia, Clash of the Titans. While none of these films were exactly brilliant it has given Arterton the skills necessary to be let loose on her own big action franchise. She is currently one of the best British actresses working today and her talent is undeniable. I would definitely like to see her given a chance as Lara Croft.

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Hayley Atwell

Atwell is more of a television actress but made her break in Hollywood recently in Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger where her performance as Peggy Carter won her a lot of fans. She has shown her skills in Pillars of the Earth and The Duchess. However, her stock as a leading lady is yet to be tested and helming the Tomb Raider franchise could be a leap too far so early in her film career.

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Camilla Luddington

You may not know who Camilla Luddington is but she is the voice behind Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider reboot of this year. On screen she has been in Californication, True Blood and Grey’s Anatomy but is yet to make her break in the film industry. However, depending on how closely involved the game’s publishers and producers are in making the film (my guess being not very) then she may have an outside shot at landing the role.

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Alice Eve

This is a long shot and probably won’t be considered. She is set to appear in Star Trek Into Darkness later this year so will be getting a lot of exposure both on screen and off it (if you’ve seen the new trailer you’ll know what I mean) and so she may be worth the risk?

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Bryce Dallas Howard

As the only non-Englishwoman on the list she would probably be my least favourite for the role (I just think that as Lara Croft is English it would be nice to see an English actress take the part this time) but Bryce Dallas Howard could be a nice fit. Previously appearing in Spider-Man 3, Terminator Salvation, 50/50 and The Help she has shown off her action credentials as well as her acting abilities.

For me, it’s between Gemma Arterton and Hayley Atwell with Arterton just winning in my mind!

The Man With The Iron Fists [Red Band Trailer]

Stars: RZA (director), Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Jamie Chung, Cung Le, Byron Mann.

Plot: In feudal China, a blacksmith who makes weapons for a small village is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers.

The Man With The Iron Fists is the directorial debut from Grammy award winning Wu-Tang Clan rapper RZA, co-written by him and Eli Roth, produced, in part, by Quentin Tarantino. The trailer doesn’t really give much away but it looks as though it has enough to entertain fans of Tarantino’s style of directing and it reminds me strongly of Tarantino’s Kill Bill; Lucy Liu features in both and the style of Kill Bill was reminiscent of Asian martial arts films I think.

As we don’t get much plot from the trailer it is difficult to tell who will be the main characters of the story but with Russell Crowe signing on you would expect him to play a rather key part. Although the film is in the English language and is from the United States it clearly wants to try and capture the essence of the Asian martial arts films which always feature fantastic fight scenes and stunts which are always incredible to see and the trailer shows that there is a lot of potential for that style here.

The films original cut was over four hours long and there were talks of splitting The Man With the Iron Fists into two film however it was eventually cut down to just an hour and a half. And though I think the trailer looks exciting this news makes me wonder just how good the film will really be; sure if they cut down from four hours to ninety minutes then what is left should be the very best but if they were able to just discard two and a half hours of the film will what’s left just be average too?

No release date has been stated yet for release.