James Absolon explains how this Pope-themed film, despite its risky premise, works
Alex Pollard reviews Hollywood's biopic of the controversial Margaret Thatcher
- Fans of the shuffling undead have cause to rejoice this week; both Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen will appear in The Curse of the Buxom Strumpet. Based on the short film E’gad Zombies, The Curse of the Buxom Strumpet will reportedly focus on a seaside town in the 1700s which is mysteriously struck down by an epidemic of cinema’s favourite plodding antagonists.
- Baz Luhrmann, probably best known as the director of Moulin Rouge! has reportedly cast Joel Edgerton, last seen in Animal Kingdom, as Tom Buchanan in his upcoming adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby. Already cast are several cinema greats such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan.
- Everyone’s favourite upcoming Tolkien two-part epic The Hobbit has some fresh casting news this week. Director Peter Jackson has announced that the QI master himself, Stephen Fry, will play The Master of Laketown. Fry joins a host of other British actors already cast in the fantasy romp such as Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage.
- Rather disturbingly controversial filmmaker Lars Von Trier (Antichrist, Breaking the Waves) has been kicked out of the Cannes film festival alongside his new film Melancholia after ‘jokingly’ claiming to be a Nazi.
The classic James Bond film Moonraker (1979) is on ITV1 at 3:05pm tomorrow. Tomorrow evening there are three choices for film fans - Cutting period drama Far From Heaven (2002) is on Channel 4 at 10:20pm, the mind-bending action adventure Déjà vu begins nearly immediately afterwards (at 10:25pm on BBC1), straight after that comes the beginning of the critically-acclaimed Cinderella Man, which is on BBC2 at 10:30pm. The Western-style film in the sci-fi trilogy, Back to the Future: Part III (1990), is on ITV1 at 4:20pm on Sunday.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
By far the biggest release of the week is the return of Captain Jack Sparrow and company as they face off against Blackbeard, mermaids and other problems whilst attempting to find the mythical Fountain of Youth. Casting overboard Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly alongside director Gore Verbinski in exchange for Penelope Cruz and Rob Marshal one may hope for an improvement on the last two films.
- Win Win
This rather enjoyable if forgettable indie drama stars Paul Giammatti as a troubled family man who, after making one bad decision, ends up looking after troubled teenager Kyle (Alex Shaffer). Hardly the most exciting premise ever conceived, but the film makes good use of it to create considerable humour as shown in some very good press.
- Julia’s Eyes
Produced by genre maestro Guillermo Del Toro, this disturbing sounding horror sees a woman suffering from a degenerative disorder become increasingly endangered after she investigates her sister’s apparent suicide. Judging by the reviews and the recent surge in Spanish horror, this should be rather good.
- Blitz
Jason Statham stars as a tough cop taking down a serial killer of fellow officers. Expect the standard Statham formula in what is apparently a relatively entertaining ride, with a rather average critical response.
- Vidal Sassoon: The Movie
A documentary charting the exploits of a London hairdresser may sound irrepressibly dull. Yet considering this follows Vidal fighting Oswald Moseley’s fascists to the army and to his enormous success in his chosen profession, the man has clearly done enough to make for a rather interesting film.
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