The Showreel | 12 [Ft. Magic Mike XXL]
Our weekly look at the latest news and trailers from the world of film, featuring some abs, a few more abs and Channing Tatum’s abs… it’s The Showreel!
Film News
And the BAFTA goes to…
With the Oscars less than two weeks away, award season is reaching its ego massaging climax with the BAFTAs having their time in the limelight on Sunday night, with everyone’s favourite atheist Stephen Fry hosting. “The British Oscars” are seen as a good indicator of where the all important gold statues will go, along with celebrating some of the best British films of the year.
Boyhood scooped the Best Film and Best Director nod with The Theory of Everything winning Best British Film. Its star, Eddie Redmayne, won Best Actor whilst Julianne Moore continued her roll and picked up Best Actress for Still Alice. J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)and Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) picked up the Best Supporting Actors nods (again) and Citizenfour won best documentary. The Lego Movie picked up Best Animated Film which is great because it’s just great and should have been nominated for many, many Oscars.
Ben Wheatley Gets Scorsese’s Backing for Big American Break
Prolific British director Ben Wheatley has been building on the success of each film he has made since debutising with the darkly toned Down Terrace in 2009, followed by the superb Kill List and Sightseers in 2011 and 2012. His latest film High Rise is out later this year and combines a fantastic cast (Tom Hiddlestone, Jeremy Irons, Luke Evans) with the dark, dytopian writing of J.G. Ballard (Crash, Empire of the Sun).
Now Martin Scorsese has signed on as an executive producer for Wheatley’s first American film, Free Fire, a tough crime thriller set in 1970s Boston and starring Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde and Armie Hammer. The film is due to start shooting in the coming months and if his previous work is anything to go by then Wheatley will certainly be making a big name for himself with the backing of an American cinema legend like Scorsese.
Trailer Watch
Magic Mike XXL Dir. Gregory Jacobs
Warning: may contain abs
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I’m not sure I’m quite the target audience for Magic Mike XXL considering I’m not a heterosexual female but I can still appreciate a fine pair of abs when I see them, and Channing sure does rock some good abs.
I will admit I have not seen Magic Mike. I will also admit I will probably not see Magic Mike XXL. That said I am a Channing Tatum fan and while Jupiter Ascending may be languishing in box office disaster, I feel he knows how to pick a good film, and working with Steven Soderbergh is usually a good choice. Although Soderbergh isn’t directing Magic Mike XXL, his influence will be visible on screen considering he is the cinematographer and producer of the sequel to the very successful 2012 hit. Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer are not returning for the sequel which picks up a few years after the events of the first film and sees Mike returning to stripping for a convention in Myrtle Beach. Channing actually used to be a stripper so this is bread and butter stuff for him really.
Magic Mike XXL is out in Ireland on July 31st.
The Odd Couple
Ok this is a TV show rather than a trailer but just look at it…
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That was only 31 seconds long. 31 seconds! Yet it pretty much epitomised everything that is wrong with comedy sitcoms in the modern world… literally everything. It is so so so bad that I hope it’s a subversive twist on the traditional sitcom and will meta-style reinvent the entire medium of television comedy. But it wont. It will air in a primetime slot for CBS and will be cancelled shortly after. It will be forgotten about almost immediately and we can all preserve our memories of the wonderful source material on which it is based. I know this because of one thing and that is the song in the trailer. I quote…
“Down with O-D-D, on your TV. Down with O-D-D, the one to see. Down with O-D-D, most defin-etly. You’re down with O-D-D, now that’s comedy.”
Are there four sentences anywhere in the world that are as bad as those four sentences that you just read? The slime trails of Mongolian otters show more creativity and wit than that. It’s just horrible and cruel to everyone on Earth.
So What Films Are On TV This Week?
Byzantium (2012) – Film Four – Wednesday 11th 9.00pm
Residents of a coastal town learn, with deathly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought shelter at a local resort.
Our very own Neil Jordan teams up with our very own Saoirse Ronan in this stylish story about a mommy and daughter vampire team having the craic by the seaside. It’s not to the same level as Jordan’s classic Interview With The Vampire but he still shows he has a good knack of setting an eerie tone and establishing a mood.
Shame (2011) – Film Four – Thursday 12th 11.00pm
In New York City, Brandon’s carefully cultivated private life — which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction — is disrupted when his sister arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.
Michael Fassbender and his penis star in this very, very dark psychological drama about the effects of sex and addiction in modern day New York. Fassbender is mesmerising and really quite scary in director Steve McQueen’s second film following the brilliant Hunger. Not one to be watched with the parentals… that’s for sure!
Tron Legacy (2010) – BBC2 – Friday 13th 11.05pm
The son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. He meets his father’s corrupted creation and a unique ally who was born inside the digital world.
I once bought a hoodie that made me look like a character from Tron. I thought I was shit cool. Then Tron Legacy came out and I feared that if it was terrible I might have to retire my cool hoodie. Turns out it was actually not bad. It is stylish to a point of nausea but the Daft Punk soundtrack and some very cool action scenes make up for the slightly sterile storyline, and I still get to wear my Tron hoodie. Boom!
Tropic Thunder (2008) – BBC3 – Saturday 14th 9.00pm
Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.
Ah Valentine’s Night… why not drown your lonely sorrows in this hilarious comedy that blends straight up gags with a brilliant mix of satire and self deprecation. Robert Downey Jr. steals the show as the method actor taking things too serious while Jack Black wins so many scenes as the drug-addicted actor getting pushed to his limit in the jungles of South East Asia.
Stardust (2007) – Film Four – Sunday 15th 1.00pm
In a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he’ll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm.
Escape to a world of fantasy and adventure with Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro and Charlie Cox in this well made adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel by director Matthew Vaughn. While Vaughn is probably better known for the violent and biting Kick-Ass and his more recent X-Men reboot, Stardust shows his great storytelling abilities and mixes a great cast with a witty and charming script.
