The Amazing Spiderman Pics!

Spidey Pics Here!

The Thing trailer!

John Carter of Mars Trailer

Bombur, Bofur and Bifur Revealed.

A pretty ecelctic looking bunch of dwarves, I must say!

Movie Review: Ironclad

Blood. Will. Run. Boy, they weren't kidding. The award for limb shearing, skull cleaving, flesh rending, bone shattering movie of the year goes to this siege film.

In the year 1215, King John "Lackland" lays siege to Rochester Castle in retaliation for having to return it under terms signed in the Magna Carta. Paul Giamatti plays King John with pure hammy goodness, almost stealing the show from it's first star: the unfettered violence.

There's only two movie scenes that made me feel the visceral thrill of flashing steel against flesh: 

1. When the Scots stormed the field in Braveheart.

2. King John's army storming Rochester Castle in Ironclad.

Trebuchets fling stone, smashing castle walls and flattening skulls. Boiling oil is splashed mercilessly on ladder climbing invaders. Axes and swords disemember limbs, throats are hacked open, men are flung from catapults. There's even one jaw dropping scene where a two-handed sword literally cuts a man in half. It's the Rochester Chainsaw Massacre.

Unfortunately, aside from those eye popping scenes, there's not much to soak up from this movie, outside of Giamatti's performance. Despite a huge cast of stars, it's filled with cliche characters and dialogue. Even screen vets like Charles Dance, Derek Jacobi and Brian Cox cannot save the worn out and unimaginative script. James Purefoy doesn't seem ready yet to be cast in a starring role, albeit he does have some flashes of talent. Kate Mara stalks Purefoy's character with a sexual longing that borders on ridiculous. Even the wildy entertaining Jason Flemying (Brad Pitt's red haired pal in Snatch) seems lacklustre and grey. The one plus, outside of Giamatti, was the return of the viking king, Buliwyf, from The Thirteenth Warrior. Vladimir Kulich, the most criminally underused actor Hollywood never capitalized on, returns in full flowing lock greatness as Tiberius, King John's Danish general. Great to see him return; imposing still, with his magnificent screen presence.

Action fans, this is a must. There's no escaping the sheer brutal magnificence of the battle scenes. It's unfortunate the rest of the movie never funneled the same zeal into character and script. Giamatti 's talent in full bloom fully accentuates everybody elses weak performances.

Still, for mindless bloody fun, this one delivers. 7.5/10

Fewdio Videos

Ha ha! All kinds of Awesome! Check out Fewdio's Horror collection at: Fewdio Horror

George RR Martin Reveals Upcoming Dunk & Egg Collection

In a recent interview with Chapters/Indigo, George RR Martin revealed an upcoming collection of the Dunk and Egg novellas, otherwise known as The Hedge Knight series.

"As for other series, other things, well, I have signed a deal.  I just signed a contract with Bantam to do a collection of my Dunk & Egg novellas, which take place in Westeros a hundred years before.  We’re going to do a collection of the first four of those (three of which are already written).  The fourth one I have yet to write, and that one will appear in the anthology “Dangerous Women,” which I’m editing with Gardner Dozois.  And then after “Dangerous Women” it will be reprinted in this collection.  And there will be more Dunk & Eggs.  Four does not tell the entire story.  I want to take these two characters through their entire lives and that will probably require, I don’t know, eight, nine, ten, twelve novellas.  Written over the years, I sort of slipped them in between the books so it’ll take me a while.  But, you know, that’s more Westeros material."

In an earlier post, I mentioned such a collection would be forthcoming. George, I didn't know you followed my blog!

Here's a link to the whole interview: Chapters/Indigo interview with GRRM.

Sherlock Holmes 2: Game of Shadows Trailer

More Dwarves from The Hobbit

Fili and Kili

Posters for The Thing, Conan, and The Dark Knight Rises.

Five Great Serial Killer Movies You May Have Missed

Citizen X

Based on the real account of serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, aka. The Rostov Ripper, this film illustrates one man's struggle to track down an elusive murderer in Russia in the late 70-80's. Hampered by a system of bureaucracy and red tape in the Soviet Union at the time, Stephen Rea portrays the immensely patient and sensitive detective, Viktor Burakov, with a performance worthy of the many awards he was nominated for. Also, Donald Sutherland brilliantly portrays Col. Mikhail Fetisov, a performance that won him an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. Ranks up there with Seven and Silence of the Lambs as one of the greatest serial killer movies ever.

Nightwatch

Boasting a superb cast of a young Ewan McGregor, Patricia Arquette, Nick Nolte, Josh Brolin, John C. Reilly, Lauren Graham and the always creepy Brad Dourif, McGregor takes a job as a security guard in a morgue while a serial killer is on the loose. The killer starts playing mind games with McGregor and he begins to suspect everybody. Truly creepy, sometimes hilarious; but what really makes it worth watching is Brolin's brilliant performance. A sign for things to come.

Switchback



Dennis Quaid is a FBI agent searching for the serial killer who kidnapped his son. In a parallel story arc, Danny Glover and Jared Leto are two drifters who meet up and take a short trip on the road. How will these stories come to a point? Great acting by Leto and Glover, and with the combined effort of such memorable supporting actors as R. Lee Eremy (Full Metal Jacket), William Fichtner (The Dark Knight) and Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs), with a soundtrack provided by the great Basil Poledouris (Conan the Barbarian), and some breathtaking scenery of the Rocky Mountains, all covered in a fine layer of genuine suspense and mystery, make this a serial killer film worth watching.

Breakdown

Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan are the Taylors who are moving to California. Their vehicle breaks down in the desert and they are left stranded on the road. A trucker comes along and offers Amy Taylor a ride, as her husband stays with their vehicle, awaiting their return. They never do. Suspense and mystery are the key elements in this film, as we plunder along with Russell as he tries to figure out what happened to his missing wife. Russell and JT Walsh are terrific; we find ourselves getting frustrated with Jeff Taylor and intimidated by a truly scary Walsh. With a downright grab your seat ending, score another one for underrated gems.

Lonely Hearts



This is film noir done well, with such staple ingredients as: a femme fatale played by a chilling Salma Hayek, a 40's setting, two plodding gumshoes (John Travolta and The Soprano's James Gandolfini, dressed consistently in black and rumpled overcoats), a con man, acted superbly by Jared Leto (again!), a broken romance (Travolta's 'dame' played by the always great, Laura Dern) and some great humour and camaraderie between cops. The film twists into a pretty nasty and bleak tale; so much so, you may find yourself shocked they went there. But it is based on a true story. And not to be missed. Noir for the 2000's.

Bioshock Infinite Demo

A full 15 minute demo of this beautiful game here:
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/gamenews.php?id=79639

The Hobbit, Production Video 2

This is the second production video of The Hobbit, featuring an introduction to some of the cast and some beautiful shots of remoter regions in New Zealand.

Absentia

Kind of digging the trailer for this new Indie horror from Mike Flanagan.

Dracula 3D

The site for Dario Argento's Dracula 3D has been launched. The horror film stars Thomas Kretschmann as Dracula, Asia Argento as Lucy, and Rutger Hauer as Van Helsing. It looks like they are taking lessons from the Hammer school of horror. Lots of pics in the gallery, folks.

http://www.dracula3d.it/

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey --- Dwarves

Dori, Nori and Ori

Oin and Gloin

Trailer for Juan of the Dead

Well played, my Cuban friends.

The Theatre Bizarre

Warning: Contains disturbing images and definitely NSFW.

A new trailer has been released for the horror anthology, The Theatre Bizarre, a collection of tales by seven horror filmmakers in the vein of Paris' early 20th century 'Theatre du Grand Guignol'. It will premiere on July 16 in Montreal's 2011 Fantasia Film Festival.

Game of Thrones Casting, Season 2

6'3 actress, Gwendoline Christie, has been cast as fan favourite, Brienne of Tarth, in the second season of Game of Thrones. Brienne is a member of Renly Baratheon's personal guard and one of the sturdiest fighters in the world of Westeros.

Also cast is Gemma Whelan, as 'Yara' Greyjoy, sister of Theon Greyjoy and daughter of King Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands. There is no Yara Greyjoy in the book series, Yara having replaced the name 'Asha', probably to avoid confusion with 'Osha', a wildling woman in captivity to Winterfell and the Starks.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I'm not a fan of John le Carré's writing, but damn, this trailer looks good! Directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), it has a superb cast with such big names as Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, Ciarán Hinds and John Hurt. Gary Oldman will be playing the lead part of George Smiley, originally played in the TV miniseries by Sir Alec Guinness (better known as Obi-wan Kenobi). It will be hitting theaters on November 18, 2011, in the US, and two days earlier in the UK.

Conan the Barbarian (UK Trailer)

I don't know if it's just me, but the line delivery in this seems awful. Aww well......

GRRM Socking it to the NY Times Best Seller List

NY Times Best Seller List Paperback Fiction

Also on topic, Jason Yang chewing up the Game of Thrones theme song:

Tyra Banks Releasing Fantasy Novel.

Have you ever seen her? The girl whose face you'd never in a million--no trillion--years describe as beautiful? The girl whose eyes are too wide, hair too wild, head too enormous to ever be noticed? Well, she's been chosen for something girls only dream of . . . to be a part of Modelland . . . a place where dreams come true and life can change in the blink of a smoky eye. . . .

Inspired by Tyra's real-life experiences and her creative imagination, the story centers on an awkward teen girl who gets selected to attend the exclusive Modelland academy, where magical Intoxibellas, the world's best models, are trained. A spot at the academy is woefully out of reach for most girls, so why has quirky Tookie De La Crème, of all people, been selected?

In response to this, I would just like to post this:

Here's a rejection letter for THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK:

"The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the 'curiosity' level."

Hmm....where did we go wrong?

The Hedge Knight Short Stories

George RR Martin's tales of the adventures of Dunk and Egg, a hedge knight and his squire, make for some highly enjoyable reading. It is set in the world of Westeros, roughly 100 years before the events of Martin's epic, A Song of Ice and Fire.

The first tale, The Hedge Knight, relates the events of Dunk's rise from inexperienced squire to rubbing shoulders and battling some of the realm's most famous figures in a giant tourney. This is a real page turner, one I devoured in one sitting. Here Martin opens the dam and fully lets flow his enthusiasm for the medieval world of knights and tournaments. Gone are the inherent nastiness and cruelty of the ASOIAF series and instead replaced with a good old storytelling in the vein of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round table. It was great to see this side of Martin, and I highly recommend this who find the grimness of his Song of Ice and Fire series just too much.

The second tale, Sworn Sword, is probably the masterpiece of the three tales. A stunning plot, with realistic and colourful characters, this story just hums along with classic adventure telling as Dunk and Egg try to settle a dispute between two nobles. I loved this story. It will resonate in your brain for some while after, morseo than the first, which flows along at a breakneck pace. Mind, there are various info dumps in certain points, which I found sometimes hindered the pace, but I imagine would be huge cheeseburgers to fans of the history and families of Westeros. Still, one cannot fault Martin for this, as his enthusiasm for his layered Westeros world must be hard to contain. A grand tale.

The last story, The Mystery Knight, is perhaps the one I enjoyed the least. Here, Martin definitely gets bogged down in his exploration of names, houses, and world history to the point where it becomes detrimental to the story. In such a short medium, these vast explanations are probably unnessecary. I also believe Martin uses this tale as a vehicle to give some background on an important character in his latest ASOIAF novel, A Dance With Dragons. Still, it's not a bad read by any means and there are certainly some rousing fights and moments, as well as an introduction to a relatively inconspicous character that eventually I found myself rooting for. Unfortunately, back are the bleakness and oppressive class structure of ASOIAF that are so frustrating. The story seems broken and uneven, especially when compared to the smoothness of the first two tales.

Still, any fan of Martin's Westeros world should rightfully gobble up these tales. Short and sweet, unlike Martin's sprawling epic, they are lighter in tone with an emphasis on the yarns of fairy tale knights of old. Couple that with Martin's genious and his realized world, and I am much looking forward to the compiliation of these ongoing tales in a certain-to-come collection further down the road.

James Purefoy IRONCLAD interview

Great new interview of Solomon Kane's James Purefoy on his new medieval siege movie, Ironclad.

Collider.com's Interview with James Purefoy

Trailer for Ironclad:

Three Horror Movies You Might have Missed

THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE
From Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy movies, comes this ghost story set in an orphanage during the Spanish civil war. With some genuinely chilling scenes and a masterful plot, the story deftly weaves mystery, horror and drama together in an unforgettable tale.

THE HOST
No, not the Stephenie Meyer film. A horror movie unlike any other, this Korean monster film blends together science fiction, horror and comedy in a truly unique experience. A great movie all around.



TRICK R' TREAT

In the spirit of Creepshow comes four tales of horror that have some of the best twists, turns, chills and laugh out loud moments put together in a collection. This one should be a real guilty pleasure for horror fans with some big star appearances by Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin, and Brian Cox. The take on Little Red Riding Hood is just brilliant.