James Absolon explains how this Pope-themed film, despite its risky premise, works
Alex Pollard reviews Hollywood's biopic of the controversial Margaret Thatcher
-After the success of Black Swan and ditching Wolverine Darren Aronofsky is in talks for his next project Noah, a retelling of the famous biblical tale. Whether he will find the funding though is debatable as he is asking for a hefty $130 million budget, over ten times that of Black Swan and The Fountain, making it his most expensive and ambitious work to date.
-Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum) has received an offer to direct the real life story of Captain Richard Philips, a man who along with his crew was held captive by pirates. With Tom Hanks set to star this could be a rather interesting project.
-Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to star as the villain Calvin Candle in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming Spaghetti western Django Unchained. The rest of the cast is as yet unknown, though rumour has it Will Smith is going to be the lead.
-The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) has achieved something nigh on impossible in recent years in attaining an outright ban by the BBFC, which considering it contains graphic scenes of sexualised torture is perhaps not so surprising. However, director Tom Six has criticised the BBFC for not allowing people to watch his art and that they should realise it is only a movie.
Tonight there is a chance to catch Terry Gilliam’s outstanding science fiction vision of a world of terrible bureaucracy in Brazil at 23:50 on BBC2. Whilst perhaps the greatest Western ever made, Sergio Leone’s 1968 masterpiece Once upon a Time in the West, is on Film4 at 00:40 on Sunday morning and is definitely worth staying up for. Much later on Sunday at 22:00, BBC Four gives us a chance to see brilliant folk horror Witchfinder General, whilst Film4 on Monday is showing the hugely popular Johnny Cash Biopic Walk the Line at 21:00.
-Kung Fu Panda 2
Originally called The Kaboom of Doom, this 3D follow up to the remarkably successful 2008 animation is pretty much what you would expect. The story follows overweight martial artist Panda Po (Jack Black) having to save the land from the villainous Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), who aims to conquer the world with explosives. With the same voice artists as the original, it looks to be retreading similar ground and as such is getting similarly positive reviews, in what appears to be a by the numbers sequel.
-Mother’s Day
No, not a heart-warming affair about how wonderful mothers are, but instead a full-blooded 1980s horror remake from the director of Saw II-IV (Darren Lynn Bouseman). Just what we need considering the fact they seem to have already remade most of the well-known 70s and 80s horror films in infinitely inferior versions. Now it is the turn of the largely forgotten ones. The story focuses on two evil men following their mums’ orders to kill and rampage, though apparently unlike most remakes this is not actually that bad.
-Honey 2
Belated sequel to the 2003 dance flick seems to have little or no relation to the original with no returning characters or cast. Instead it follows Maria Ramirez (Katerina Graham), a dancer just out of juvenile detention setting out to dance her way to success. Cue standard plot clichés and terrible reviews.
-Point Blank
Tense French thriller in which, after his wife’s kidnapping of a nurse, the protagonist Samuel (Gilles Lelllouche) has three hours to get a patient out of police custody. The result is a race against time as he attempts to evade rival gangs and an angry police force in a desperate attempt to save his family, in this short but supposedly rather well made picture.
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