James Absolon explains how this Pope-themed film, despite its risky premise, works
Alex Pollard reviews Hollywood's biopic of the controversial Margaret Thatcher
Releases: Future franchise ahoy! The much-awaited adaptation of the video game series The Prince of Persia sees a release this week. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role, this looks set to be one of the big blockbusters of the year, especially if the computer game crowd get their act together and swamp their local cinemas.
If Kick-Ass was the beginning of a career recovery, then new release Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans may help bring Nicolas Cage out of his recent slump as he tackles the role of a drug-scoring cop in post-Katrina New Orleans. Having received great reviews stateside for his performance as this hard-boiled cop, maybe this will lead to better roles coming his way?
News: The Cannes film festival is well underway with 19 films all vying for the top prize coming from the cream of Mexican, Japanese, French and Korean cinema (as well as other entrants) all out to play. Early buzz appears to be with the Korean film The Housemaid but with his festival track record there has to be a lot of expectation for Takeshi Kitano to finally take a prize at Cannes after scooping multiple gongs at Venice during his career.
Cancellations: Across the pond, it’s been a very busy week for television networks as they’re lining up their fall (i.e. autumn) schedules to be unveiled next week. This means TV news is full of renewals and, more importantly, cancellations. Shows which have been confirmed to be facing the axe include mystery drama FlashForward, Scrubs 2.0, stalwart Law & Order and the troubled Heroes, which is currently in negotiations for a TV-movie to tie up its loose ends. Unofficial cancellations have also been declared for the Melrose Place reboot, and though CBS has yet to announce the majority of its official cancellations, these are likely to include Cold Case and Numb3rs.
Renewals & New Series: But it’s not all bad news! Newly announced renewals for next season come in the form of sci-fi series V, human lie-detector drama Lie to Me and Chuck. Fans of Life Unexpected and One Tree Hill can also relax for now, because they look likely to face some sort of pick-up too, even if just for 13-episode seasons. Fans of both Friends and Green Wing will be interested in the cast for new BBC2 comedy Episodes. The 7-part programme, starring Matt LeBlanc, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig will air later in the year. Further new TV show pick-ups have been announced by NBC and ABC; look out for a full delve into them and trying to spot the duds from the hits sometime later this week on The Yorker!
Listings highlights: BBC2’s Eighties season, which kicked off on Sunday with Worried About the Boy, will continue with Royal Wedding (Monday, 9pm). Set in a rural Welsh village, the one-off drama will follow events surrounding a celebration Charles and Diana's wedding that will change villagers' lives forever. Next Sunday at 9pm will see the first part of Money, an adaptation of Martin Amis’ cult novel, with an impressive cast that includes Nick Frost and Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser.
Series/season finales: It’s a week of endings, as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s quest to find Dorothy (and Toto) finishes with the final episodes of Over the Rainbow on Saturday BBC1 at 7pm and 8.55pm. The current series of Outnumbered ends on Thursday (9.30pm, BBC1) and Gossip Girl also bows out for its 3rd season (Wednesday 8pm, ITV2). But the biggest farewell has to be reserved for Ashes to Ashes, which concludes on Friday (9pm, BBC1). We’re promised the truth about Gene Hunt, but will we want to hear it?
You must log in to submit a comment.
