Film News (24/04/2010)

This week the news came in a fortuitous drip drip with each day bringing in a different story that caught my eye. There's a fair selection of children's films, comedies and biopics, with inspired on true events being up there too. Nothing that you could reasonably call a new drama mind, which is a shame, but you can't have everything.

Oz: The Great and Powerful

With the news that Bond 23 has been postpones indefinitely by MGM comes the unexpected gap in Sam Mendes schedule. Depending on which rumours you listen to he might end up returning to the theatre, or he might be be directing this origins story for Disney about the beginnings of The Wizard of Oz and his perilous journey from Omaha to Oz. Robert Downey Jr. is in line to play the lead. Apparently this will not interfere with the highly anticipated movie version of Wicked, which is certainly a relief.



The Wizards entrance in the 1939 film.

Read on for catchy pop music, Gothic fairy tales, British explorers, American Cops and Woody Allen surprising everyone. As well as the latest changes in the UK release schedules.



Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson

Spike Lee's joints haven't been doing so good lately. The Miracle at St. Anna failed to secure a UK release and since then he's been focusing on New Orleans documentaries and hanging out with Kobe Bryant. For those of you who have missed him the good news is that he will be returning to mainstream movies with Brooklyn Loves, a project that will look at both the response to the death of the king of pop and the changes in Brooklyn society over the last 20 years. The cast looks to include regular Samuel L. Jackson as well as Anthony Mackie, Julianne Moore and Rosie Perez.

The Girl with the Red Riding Hood

Pre-production on Catherine Hardwicke's moody teen upgrade of the classic Grimm fairytale is moving on with a tentative cast being announced. Amanda Seyfried (Dear John, Mamma Mia - left) will be taking the lead with Shiloh Fernandez (Cadillac Records) as the hunky Woodcutter she has a thing for. So far so blah, but the intriguing news is that Julie Christie and Gary Oldman are circling major supporting roles and as we all know every film improves when you add quality British thesps.

Mallory

The English explorer and mountaineer George Mallory (right), who famously disappeared whilst attempting to climb Everest in 1924, is due to have his life story transformed into film. It's certainly a tale that should be told, with Mallory's instinctive passion for rock climbing (he's behind the extraordinary "Because it's there" quote) and chronicling the upper middle class family he's left behind will make a nice counterpoint. Julia Roberts and Kevin Townsend are producing.

Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen's next film has a name. Now there's a shocker that deserves thinking about for a while. A long time before he needs to, and a long time before it is his habit too Allen has started to announce some of the details: including the title and the plot which revolves around a family trip to Paris where a young couple yearn for a more interesting life. Sounds like Rebecca Hall's part in Vicky Cristina Barcelona to me.

Rampart

Oren Moverman will be reteaming with his Messenger stars Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster for the big screen adaptation about the successes and failures of the Rampart division of the LAPD and the CRASH project (insignia of which is on the left), including references to it's infamous late 90's scandals. The script is by crime writer James Ellroy so expect some clever plotting and lots of characters.

Release Date News

Brooklyn's Finest - If it's dirty cops you want to see, he says nicely segueing from the last news story, then you could certainly do worse than this Antoine Fuqua movie with Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke all on the wrong side of the right side of the law. It's time to hand in your badge on 11 June 2010.

Tetro - We were first promised Francis Ford Coppola's Argentina based familial drama last summer, but at least we have a chance to watch it this summer. Reminisce about your distant parents on 25 June 2010.

Tamara Drewe - Fresh from the news of it's Cannes premier comes a UK release for Stehen Frears' modern update of Far from the Maddening Crowd. Choose between the town and country on 10 Spetember 2010.

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps - Moving again is Oliver Stones 25 fives years later sequel with Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf - this time it's forwarda few weeks so you can't read anything too negative in that. Make a fortune on the markets on 01 October 2010.

Another Year - It's our third Cannes premier in a row as we get a release date for Mike Ligh's latest slice of British miserableism. Find your inner hurt on 05 November 2010.

Love and Other Drugs - Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway reteam for this viagra based comedy from director Ed Zwick. Pick yourself up with a pill on 31 December 2010.

Morning Glory - Unfortunate run of titles but the Harrison Ford/Diane Keaton newsanchors getting a dose of humility comedy has moved to early 2011 following from it's shift in US release dates. Read the news with no trousers on 07 January 2011.

I'm going to end with the music video for Michael Jackson's They don't really care about us. Purely because it's the last time that Spike Lee worked with Jacko: