Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2015 i Empire Australasia

BEING THE BIGGEST MOVIE MAGAZINE IN THE WORLD DOESN’T MAKE US IMMUNE TO THE hot glamour of details. When it comes to details, the smaller the better. This is why you and we embark on this compact every month: filmmakers reveal the process of making the world’s biggest films to us, who in turn revel in the finer details of the magic with you, who pay us for it. Details is what we — you and us — are all about. So it’s with genuine satisfaction that of the 40-odd abnormally-powered heroic types destined for (further) screen adventures discussed in our Superhero Special, it is the tiniest who graces our front cover. Ant-Man is another roll of the dice for the very considered gamblers at Marvel, albeit a flutter not…

ROBERT DE NIRO TO STAR IN MIKE NEWELL’S THE COMEDIAN PETER SARSGAARD WILL BE THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN’S VILLAIN GEORGE MILLER HAS CONFIRMED MAD MAX: THE WASTELAND ANDREA RISEBOROUGH CONSIDERING THE CROW ED ZWICK IN TALKS TO DIRECT JACK REACHER SEQUEL IT’S A JUNO REUNION! ELLEN PAGE AND ALLISON JANNEY JOIN CAST OF COMEDY TALLULAH VINCENZO NATALI NO LONGER DIRECTING NEUROMANCER MIMI ROGERS CAST IN ASH VS. EVIL DEAD CINEMATOGRAPHER ROGER DEAKINS TO SHOOT BLADE RUNNER 2 BAD SANTA SEQUEL MAY FINALLY SHOOT IN SPRING GEORGE A. ROMERO’S EMPIRE OF THE DEAD ZOMBIE COMIC IS COMING TO TV…

MC REN Aldis Hodge picks up Ren’s mic. He was Samuel L. Jackson’s young nephew Raymond in Die Hard With A Vengeance and, coincidentally, more recently appeared in A Good Day To Die Hard. DJ YELLA Non-rapping deck-jockey Yella is played by Neil Brown Jr.. A martial artist with some stunt credits, he’s been in Battle: Los Angeles and Fast & Furious. EAZY-E New Orleans actor Jason Mitchell is the ill-fated Eazy, who died from an AIDS-related illness in 1995. Previous gigs have included bit parts in Contraband and Broken City. ICE CUBE O’Shea Jackson Jr. plays his own father. “I had to screen test with two other Cubes!” he laughs. Prior to this, he was studying screenwriting at USC. DR. DRE Corey Hawkins plays the producing powerhouse Dre. You…

If you see Will Poulter hanging around drains dressed as an evil clown, it’s rehearsal for his role as Pennywise in Cary Fukunaga’s It. Keanu Reeves will return in John Wick 2, presumably flying into a rage when someone posts a nasty Instagram about his chinchilla. Martin Freeman has joined Captain America: Civil War in a key role. Watch out, Cap — he’ll stick your stapler into jelly! Sela Ward could be about to show Hillary Clinton how it’s done as a female President in Independence Day 2, filming right now.…

What’s your favourite word in the English language? I don’t know, really. I don’t like any of them. On a scale of one to 10, how famous are you? I would say about a five. I’m pretty much a sort of, “Oh, it’s that guy,” person. When I get recognised, it’s probably once a week and someone will come up to me and say, “Excuse me, I’d just like to say…” and I have a little roulette in my head about what they’re going to say. Shaun Of The Dead was such a well-loved film, so it’s sometimes that. Sometimes it’s Couples Retreat. One time it was Miss Marple. People were saying, “Miss Marple was great.” You know what? It wasn’t that good. Have you ever kept any souvenirs from…

RELEASED JUNE 18 RATED M DIRECTOR Alex Gibney CAST Lawrence Wright, Mike Rinder, Marty Rathbun SUBTITLED SCIENTOLOGY AND THE Prison Of Belief, Alex Gibney’s (We Steal Secrets: The Story Of WikiLeaks) documentary digs deep into the history and practices of L. Ron Hubbard’s controversial religion. Featuring a slew of revealing interviews with ex-high ranking Scientologists (including writer-director Paul Haggis), it’s a disturbing expose on not only the religion itself, but the way in which human beings desperately wanting something to believe in can descend into self-delusion. Cruise and Travolta would not approve.…

RELEASED JUNE 18 RATED G DIRECTOR Philippe Muyl CAST Baotian Li, Xiaoran Li, Hao Qin AN OLD MAN AND HIS SPOILED granddaughter journey cross-country to fulfil a promise by setting a pet nightingale free. If this Philippe Muyl-directed piece seems a little familiar it’s because it sort of is — his film The Butterfly (Le Papillion) offered a strikingly similar odd-couple, generation gap, bond-forging tale. But even though it’s a well-known tune, spectacular scenery, engaging performances and relevant social commentary give this French-Chinese co-production a slightly new riff, only occasionally veering into hokey territory.…

RELEASED JUNE 11 RATED TBC DIRECTOR Kim Farrant CAST Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Joseph Fiennes OUR NIC’S FIRST AUSSIE INDIE SINCE Dead Calm (1989), this psychological mystery about missing kids serves much to absorb and ponder. Kim Farrant’s feature debut is an atmospheric mosaic, deftly using Outback locations and vibe to ensconce us within the myriad effects of disappearance. Performances land, amid carnal and relational gut-punches. Sadly, the kaleidoscopic array of suspicions, reactions and underlying issues tends to evade substance. Ambiguity is favoured over potent determinations.…

WARCRAFT OUT: JUNE 9 Duncan Jones (director of Moon and Source Code; son of David Bowie) brings the popular video game to life in this big budget fantasy epic starring Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton and Toby Kebbell. There will be swordplay. Hopefully. NOW YOU SEE ME: THE SECOND ACT OUT: JUNE 9 The sequel to the surprise hit original about a bunch of illusionists fond of pulling off bank heists, this has a mega cast including Mark Ruffalo, Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Caine, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. FINDING DORY OUT: JUNE 16 John Lasseter recently offered up some titbits about the sequel to 2003’s Finding Nemo, including that it’s set six months after the original and follows memory-impaired Dory’s (Ellen DeGeneres) quest to find her family. INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 OUT:…

THE HELMET Suit designers Sammy Sheldon and Ivo Coveney, who’ve been on board since the Edgar Wright days, were still tweaking the look during shooting. As for why Lang needs a helmet, Sheldon explains: “When you shrink, the molecules in the air are too big for your lungs. He has to be fully contained or he’d die.” THE TUBES Mysterious chemicals whizz around Scott’s body, via tubing. “We had a long discussion about the two cables going into his helmet,” says Coveney. “They’re a massive weakness — Yellowjacket could just rip them off and he’s dead. But, in the end, it just looks cooler with them on.” Adds Sheldon: “The fact that he’s shrinking is enough to get away with anything else, really!” THE GLOVES A red, thumb-operated button is…

AFTER THE DISAPPOINTMENT of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony ditched plans to create a shared universe around the wallcrawler. Enter Marvel. The Sony email hacks revealed Kevin Feige had been courting the studio for co-ownership, but to no avail. “Everything usually works out for a reason,” he told Empire back in December 2014. “We’ll see.” What happened was, after Sony head Amy Pascal stepped down, Marvel swooped, striking a deal that will see Spider-Man join the MCU for Avengers movies while Sony releases his solo ventures, keeping Feige involved on the creative side. Marvel will have a teenage Spidey, likely to be played by Brit Asa Butterfield, bouncing off the older, wiser, richer Avengers, while Sony continues its exploration of the Spider-brand: original producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach will…

IRON MAN 2008 DIRECTOR JON FAVREAU • PLAYERS ROBERT DOWNEY JR., SAMUEL L. JACKSON Tony Stark returns home to discover Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who wants him in on a little thing called “The Avenger Initiative”. Jackson was smuggled onto set in complete secrecy. Naturally, news of his cameo leaked everywhere. We blame Hydra spies. SETS UP The Avengers . Right from the off. THE INCREDIBLE HULK 2008 DIRECTOR LOUIS LETERRIER • PLAYERS ROBERT DOWNEY JR., WILLIAM HURT Tony Stark shows up at a bar to tell William Hurt’s General Ross he’s putting together a super-team. Though this one actually comes before the credits. A sign of a fledgling studio perhaps still finding its feet, it feels out of place. SETS UP…

THE BLUE UMBRELLA (2013) SEE IT FOR: Photo-realistic beauty Saschka Unseld’s film about a lovelorn rain shield showcases real leaps in technique and photo-realism, but never fails to engage the heart. LUXO JR. (1986) SEE IT FOR: The birth of an icon The lamp that appears in the company’s logo first appeared here, validating John Lasseter’s theory that inanimate objects can be given life. DAY & NIGHT (2010) SEE IT FOR: Pixar going old school Teddy Newton’s short, in which Day and Night squabble like teenagers and ultimately bond, combines 2D and 3D animation to glorious effect. FOR THE BIRDS (2000) SEE IT FOR: Feathered fun A group of birds on a telegraph wire meet a large newcomer. Invested with a sense of anarchy, this is another of the studio’s…

“Oh f__k, I’ve never been on a cupcake before!” Carey Mulligan shrieks as she enters the room, instantly answering the question of whether she’ll be one of those serious, let’s-talk about-my-craft actors or one of the relaxed ones who swear a lot. Her surprise at the cupcake is reasonable. She has just been presented with a plate of cakes bearing the poster for Far From The Madding Crowd, a film that is neither frothy nor sugary. Mulligan plays Bathsheba Everdene, in Thomas Hardy’s novel, a proud, at times ruthless 19th-century woman who breaks hearts and has hers broken in turn in a complicated love quadrangle that has fatal consequences. In Thomas Vinterberg’s film (in which she co-stars with Matthias Schoenaerts, Juno Temple and Michael Sheen), she is a little softer,…

Did you enjoy making your first horror film? Yes, it is my first horror movie and I must admit I’m good at it! [Laughs] I’m a very scary dude. I think it’s my forte. Most of the horror guys are half my size. I have a very intense acting style which works well for a psychopathic killer. How long did it take to get made up as Charlie? The first time they did it took a little longer, about three hours, but once they practised a little bit and got used to it they got it down to two hours. And an hour to take it off. Does it help you as an actor to walk on set dressed as such an evil creation? Absolutely. It gets you in the…

So Jennifer Lopez and John Corbett are your on-screen parents… Oh man! I’ve been watching John since I was a kid. My favourite film growing up was My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I didn’t tell him that until we finished shooting. I didn’t want to break the illusion that he was my father! Jennifer brought a beautiful intensity on set. She was so disciplined in what she does. She’s great in shifting gear between one endeavour and the next. When I met her the second time, it was at her house. When I got there I asked ‘Where’s Jennifer?’, and she was working on her book. Of course she was working on her book! What else would she be doing? How did you land the part of Kevin? It was…

1995 -2013 / Rated M/MA15+ (Before Midnight) WHEN ASSESSING BOYHOOD BACK IN THE OCTOBER 2014 ISSUE, EMPIRE’S reviewer (full disclosure: your writer here) offered the opinion that Richard Linklater’s eventual Best Picture nominee was “possibly the director’s masterpiece to date”. In the first draft of the review, no doubt was expressed. But in went the “possibly”, added not through a faltering belief in Boyhood, but in tribute to Linklater’s semi-concurrent meditation on the passage of time, the Before trilogy: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). In 1989, Linklater had met a young woman, Amy Lehrhaupt, in a Philadelphia toy shop and, he told the Chicago Tribune, spent “from midnight until six in the morning walking around, flirting, doing things…

HEARTHSTONE  ios, Android Newly re-tooled for smartphones, Blizzard’s Warcraftthemed card battler is as fiendishly addictive in the palm of your hand as it ever was on desktop. The Blackrock Mountain expansion adds a ton of new single player content while also introducing dragon decks! SORCERY!  ios, Android An interactive adaptation of Steve Jackson’s ’80s adventure books, there are three instalments so far, each better than the last. Beautiful illustrations and thrilling adventure combine for nostalgic beast-battling fun.…

TODAY’S SMARTPHONES HAVE BECOME SO MUCH more than a device to call your pals with. They’re our umbilical cord to the digital universe, connecting us to Facebook, the ‘Net, endless streaming music collections and vast oceans of video content. Even the most optimistic technology forecasters couldn’t have predicted how essential smartphones have become to most Australians. To prove just how much you rely upon your smartphone, try going a day without it — if you’re anything like us, it’ll feel like your link to the outside world has been severed, like you’ve left a piece of you at home. With smartphones so integral to the way we live our lives, picking the right one has become more important than ever, so we’re here to check out three of the latest…

TODAY, WE ARE BLOWING SHIT up, which is always great,” smiles Paul McGuigan. “But there are more layers to this one. Though it is an action movie — no, an adventure movie.” The nature of said shit and quite how it blows up should remain a mystery until seen on screen, but there’s a sense of scale and grubby spectacle here that is refreshing in the age of green screen. Refreshing as in literally wet, as it’s hammering down on a cold night in the UK burgh of Surrey, in a castle-cum-laboratory open to all the elements… McGuigan, whose best film probably remains Gangster No.1 (though he has had great recent success directing Sherlock) wanted to give a practical edge to both the effects and the overall story. “I wanted…

“I THINK YOU HAVE TO BE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE,” SAYS BRITT Robertson. She should know. The star of Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland and this month’s Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Longest Ride, the 25-year-old is being propelled onto Hollywood’s A-List. Not bad for someone plucked from relative obscurity by Bird to play teenager Casey, whose drive leads her to the futuristic city of the title. Although “plucked” hardly reflects the lengthy audition process. “The first couple of times I auditioned it wasn’t even real pages from the movie,” she says. “They let me read the script when it was down to me and two other girls.” Making the film with Bird and George Clooney proved life changing. “Casey inspired me,” she says. “Now I try to be a better person. If…

1 HE WAS A NERD He hasn’t always been a dastardly figure of lusted after sartorial elegance. He used to be an animation nerd! “I’ve been a fan of cartoons for a long time. During college and when I was trying to become an actor, I would go to local animation film festivals. So it could be said that my passion for animation has been there for a long time.” 2 HE WAS A TALKING TOILET Hamm loves lending his vocal talents. “Yeah, it is something I enjoy. I am continually amazed by it. I’ve been fortunate to work on some really cool stuff. From doing the big hits like Shrek and The Simpsons, to voicing minor roles in smaller cartoons like Captain Murphy in Archer and voicing the talking…

RELEASED OUT NOW RATED M DIRECTOR Elizabeth Banks CAST Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow ELIZABETH BANKS MAKES HER directing debut with a sequel that’s funnier than the last film and even more knowing, with a central plot in which the Bellas have changed from underdogs to big hitters who can only disappoint. Visually, Banks’s direction lacks energy, but she has faultless comic timing, and the script this time is more tuned to the individual talents of an excellent cast. A glut of sub-plots sometimes smother the central story but the whole is never less than great fun. If this is the Bellas’ last encore they’re going out with a hit.…

RELEASED OUT NOW RATED PG DIRECTOR Hiromasa Yonebayashi CAST Hailee Steinfeld, Taylor Autumn Bertman STUDIO GHIBLI’S RENDITION OF BRITISH author Joan G. Robinson’s 1967 novel-for-youngsters is a curiosity. The dreamy treatment of self-loathing Anna (Hailee Steinfeld) and her epochal friendship embraces the tough stuff of live-action dramas. The odd, traumatic and tender all surface, during a beguiling emotional mystery. As forgiveness confronts Anna, wondering how everything fits is probably the wrong way to approach another kids’ movie for adults. Watch to experience, not decipher.…

RELEASED JUNE 18 RATED MA15+ DIRECTOR Zaza Urushadze CAST Lembit Ulfsak, Elmo Nüganen NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THIS YEAR’S Tangerine about a prostitute on the warpath, Tangerines is an Oscar-nominated allegory about war’s pathway to inhumanity. Set during a real 1990s conflict, this subtle protest movie begins with Ivo (Lembit Ulfsak), who lives in the disputed Abhazia region. Fighting is escalating between Loyalist troops and Georgian military, leading to Ivo housing wounded soldiers from each side. While fresh critique emerges, impact softens as potent concepts often are relied upon more than profound execution.…

AS DC’S BIG-SCREEN JUSTICE League stirs to life, its small-screen universe is mushrooming. The current crop began with Arrow, which has pitted the League of Shadows against Stephen Amell’s Oliver McQueen. Season 4, due in October, will centre on a new villain and see McQueen’s continued evolution from flawed vigilante to hero. Its spin-off The Flash has earned its second season after a storming debut. The tone is brighter but still dramatic, with Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen trying to find his mother’s killer. Season 2, also due in October, is expected to introduce another Flash in Wally West. Ambitious 13-episode superteam spin-off series Legends Of Tomorrow will arrive in early 2016, featuring Arrow and Flash supporting characters including Brandon Routh’s Atom and Robbie Amell’s Firestorm. Arrow/Flash…

WHILE THE MCU HAS ONLY GROWN in power, its network TV strand is still finding its strength. But the future is looking bright, with flagship series Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. riding a revitalised plotline in the wake of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and confirmed as returning for a third season in the States this year. A mooted spin-off has turned out to be a non-starter, but 12 Years A Slave writer John Ridley is still pushing ahead with his own Marvel project at ABC. The smart money’s on that being new hero Ms. Marvel — aka Kamala Khan, a Muslim-American Inhuman. Meanwhile, Hayley Atwell’s Agent Carter has been confirmed for a second season in the States, even though the first is still to be picked up by anyone in Australia.…

Death Race 2 , The Condemned 2 , The Scorpion King 3 , Iron Fists 2 — you make a lot of sequels! I believe in the 10,000 hours rule. So I want to direct for 10,000 hours and become a really good director. I try to do an original, then a sequel, then an original, then a sequel — it’s kind of what I do. I eat, drink and sleep movies, and I liked The Man With The Iron Fists. I really liked the first one. It was the same with Death Race, so for me, doing a sequel in that universe gives me an opportunity as a viewer to see more of that world. Then I get…

Are you worried about being typecast as the serial killer guy? No. I’ve played two recently so I guess I’m more well known for playing crazed serial killers, but Wolf Creek was a bit of a downer for this role. Robert Weinbach, who wrote and produced Shiver, saw Wolf Creek. He really liked what I was doing and loved the maniacal character I’d created but it was far too butch for this Rood character. He approached me and sent me a script anyway, despite the fact he didn’t think I was right for the role, and I rang him and almost auditioned on the spot. I started talking in a high, buck-toothed tone. And he was sold. I guess creating characters is why you want to be an actor? I…

1 TEST DRIVE Take your smartphone for a test-drive at your local phone store. Unlike many products, these devices are readily available for a hands-on demo, so spend an hour or so testing out the various models. Look for the following features during your time with each handset. 2 SCREEN SIZE AND QUALITY Screen size and quality is of paramount importance when figuring out which smartphone is going to call your pocket or bag home. It’s the primary way that we interface with the many different functions now offered by smartphones, so it needs to be easy to read, accurate to the touch, and display video and images with beautifully rich colours and contrast. Super AMOLED screens are the latest technology type to improve screen quality, and it’s excellent for…

IT’S HARD TO MAKE A HORSE improvise, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try. It’s a late July evening on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and a huge, grey stallion tied up outside a small café is attracting a lot of attention. Passers-by seem less bothered by the two actors with it, or the director shouting to them, because this is New York and celebrities are as abundant as pigeons. “The horse can see the fear in your eyes, Bill. It’s going to kill you. Work with it!” Judd Apatow hollers at Bill Hader, while Amy Schumer slumps faux-drunkenly opposite. Hader opens his mouth to speak, at which the animal rears up and nearly pulls down the tree to which it’s tied. The horse, the big prima donna, has the least…

1 Yes, that is Tom Cruise, and not his stunt double Tom Crooze, in the last shot of the Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation trailer, clinging to the side of a giant cargo plane as it takes off. “Tom Cruise does things that almost no actor on earth would do,” says Rogue Nation’s writer/ director Christopher McQuarrie . “Tom and I don’t embrace realism as a working concept!” 2 At all times, Cruise was in mortal peril. “The concern was less about whether or not Tom was going to stay on the plane. The concern was any debris on that runway. At that speed, it would become a bullet. A bird strike would kill him.” 3 The plot sees the Impossible Missions Force threatened by The Syndicate, a rogue nation…

HARD HITTING Three great movie punches: George McFly v. Biff, Back To The Future; Die Hard’s Holly jabs Dick Thornburg; decapitation by fist in Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. HE LAST TIME EMPIRE SPOKE TO Antoine Fuqua, he was ostensibly promoting The Equalizer. But as he left the room, he took out his phone and showed us a pic of Jake Gyllenhaal, shirt off, pecs bulging and veins popping. This was not, it must be said, Fuqua’s wallpaper, but his way of showing how giddy he was about Gyllenhaal’s turn as a champion boxer in his new film, Southpaw, which he had just finished filming. Several months later, Fuqua is still beaming about Gyllenhaal’s transformation. “When I met Jake, he was 140-something pounds…

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. Iron-suiting up as Tony Stark for Captain America: Civil War. CHRIS HEMSWORTH Battling a whale in In The Heart Of The Sea; interrupting the Griswolds in the Vacation reboot/ sequel; hunting as The Huntsman; and hammering in Thor: Ragnarok. MARK RUFFALO Drama Spotlight, about a cover-up of child molestation in the Catholic Church; then Now You See Me: The Second Act. SCARLETT JOHANSSON The new Coen Brothers movie, Hail, Caesar!; pining for Bruce in Civil War; voicing Kaa for Jon Favreau in The Jungle Book; and kicking butt in Ghost In The Shell. PAUL BETTANY Getting his Vision on again in Civil War before making his directorial debut with Shelter, which also stars his wife, Jennifer Connelly. CHRIS EVANS Grabbing Captain America’s shield and facing off against…

CROWE BY NUMBERS 5 Possible interpretations of the ending of Vanilla Sky, as listed by Crowe on his director’s commentary. 85 Cuba Gooding Jr.’s shirt number in Jerry Maguire. 3 Future Oscar-winners in Fast Times At Ridgemont High (Cage, Whitaker, and Penn). 4 Number of times a character says, “We bought a zoo,” in We Bought A Zoo. ARTISTS MOST OFTEN HEARD ON CROWE MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS CAMERON CROWE MOVIE SETTING MAP Best and worst U.S. Box Office (adjusted for inflation) 16 THE AGE CROWE WROTE HIS FIRST ROLLING STONE COVER STORY (ON THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND). A FORMER MUSIC JOURNALIST, CAMERON CROWE HAS WRITTEN FOR… Creem, Paste, Rolling Stone, New York Times, Los Angeles Times , The Guardian, NME, Playboy, Penthouse, The Telegraph, Empire Great Cameron Crowe…

James Jennings on the one piece of film future tech that sadly hasn’t come to fruition… When most people bemoan the sci-fi wizardry that has appeared in films but never in real life, the go-to answer is usually flying cars. Frankly, those people can keep their imaginary high-flying Hyundais — the only piece of fictional futuristic transportation to really lament the lack of is the jetpack. Seriously, think of the wonderful conveniences this gizmo would afford you: stuck in a boring conversation? Rocket upward into the sky. Being approached a man-eating lion while on safari in Africa? Rocket upward into the sky. Being arrested for public indecency? Rocket upward into the sky. We’ll take self-lacing shoes and hoverboards if we must, but really: jetpacks. Snap to it, science boffins.…

RELEASED JUNE 11 RATED TBC DIRECTOR Michael Winterbottom CAST Russell Brand, Bankers COMEDIANS WEIGHING IN ON SERIOUS stuff isn’t laughable. Also, Russell Brand has spruiked socio-political salvos for years. But his teaming with UK maverick Michael Winterbottom for a fervent invective against wealth inequality undermines itself due to who is bringing the noise. Brand machineguns facts, contrasts and obvious atrocities that deserve to spark the revolutionary fire. But RB as Michael Moore strains credibility, as much as his ignoring the room’s elephant — Russ, YOU ARE RICH.…

RELEASED OUT NOW RATED M DIRECTOR John Maclean CAST Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender MACLEAN HAS MADE A WESTERN OF such confident ease that it’s hard to believe this is the director’s first feature film. Riding over well-worn genre ground, featuring a lovelorn kid (Smit-McPhee) crossing the Old West looking for his girl with the help of a quiet bounty hunter (Fassbender), he salutes but never copies, playing with a tone that will casually mix fairytale visuals, sudden violence and Bugs Bunny-esque comedy all in the same scene. The final dazzling shoot-out is a masterclass in how to tell story without once pausing for exposition.…

RELEASED JUNE 11 RATED M DIRECTOR Pierfrancesco Diliberto CAST Pierfrancesco Diliberto, Alex Bisconti LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL MEETS GOMORRAH IN a quirky, funny flashback to growing up under the shadow of organised crime in Sicily. Writer-director-star Pierfrancesco Diliberto boldly has a cheeky go at The Mob, through a kinda-autobiographical tale of the growing pains of everyday bambino Arturo (Bisconti). The novelty is that Arturo isn’t Michael Corleone. He symbolises the surreal normality of a society subdued by widespread corruption. Points for talking up those who fight back.…

150mm approx. NAME: Alice Kingsleigh (Alice In Wonderland, 2010) SHRINK METHOD: “Drink Me” potion 115mm approx. NAME: General Decker (Mars Attacks!, 1996) SHRINK METHOD: Martian ray 25mm approx. NAME: Scott Carey (The Incredible Shrinking Man, 1957) SHRINK METHOD: radiation/ insecticide cocktail 19mm approx. NAME: Nick and Amy Szalinski, Ron and Russ Thompson (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, 1989) SHRINK METHOD: shrink ray 3.5mm approx. NAME: Scott Lang (Ant-Man, 2015) SHRINK METHOD: Pym particles 7.5 µm approx. NAME: Lt. Tuck Pendleton (Innerspace, 1987) SHRINK METHOD: shrink ray 5.5 µm approx. NAME: Agent Charles Grant, Captain Bill Owen, Dr. Michaels, Dr. Duval, Cora Peterson (Fantastic Voyage, 1966) SHRINK METHOD: shrink ray…

SAGA CREATORS BRIAN K. VAUGHN, FIONA STAPLES PUBLISHER IMAGE Epic space opera in which two warring alien races hunt down the members of their tribes who dared fall in love and have a baby. Someone’s already described it as “Star Wars meets Game Of Thrones”… GRENDEL CREATORS MATT WAGNER PUBLISHER COMICO, THEN DARK HORSE Novelist Hunter Rose by day, criminal mastermind Grendel by night, this series has a strong undercurrent of morality. It’s a little like 1998 Denzel Washington serial killer movie Fallen, but way more stylish. FRAY CREATORS JOSS WHEDON, KARL MOLINE PUBLISHER DARK HORSE Set centuries after Buffy, this Joss Whedon story imagines a future where vampires are again on the rise but the one girl who can stop them is ill-equipped to meet the threat. SLAINE CREATORS…

JOY “Joy has had most time at the wheel with regards to Riley, so to speak, and she’s played by the wonderful Amy Poehler. I think this film is perfectly cast. Joy is kind of a cross between Bugs Bunny and Amelie a little bit, so she’s quirky and fast, and very sweet.” SADNESS “And then we have Sadness, she’s the quietest. She’s voiced by Phyllis Smith [from the U.S. version of The Office], who is amazing. We have fallen in love with Phyllis, she gives such an amazing voice performance in the film.” FEAR “Fear’s job is obviously to keep Riley safe, so if there is a dog that’s scared us in the past, he is going to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Played by Bill Hader, who…

Medellin IN ENTOURAGE : Vincent Chase beats Benicio Del Toro to the role of Pablo Escobar. It’s booed at Cannes and ultimately flops. IN REALITY: Benicio Del Toro finally got his shot at the Colombian drug lord — Escobar: Paradise Lost is out now on DVD. Ferrari IN ENTOURAGE : Frank Darabont shoots this race-car-inventor biopic in Italy. Vincent Chase plays the young Enzo Ferrari. IN REALITY: Robert De Niro will play the not-so-young Enzo Ferrari in a film rumoured to be directed by Clint Eastwood. It will be shot in Italy. Aquaman IN ENTOURAGE : James Cameron directs. Vincent Chase stars opposite Sharon Stone. It makes $117 million on its opening weekend. IN REALITY: Jason Momoa will play Warners’ kelp-draped…

DENOTES ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY DENOTES ALSO AVAILABLE ON 3D BLU-RAY DENOTES ALSO AVAILABLE FOR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD DENOTES ALSO AVAILABLE FOR ULTRAVIOLET LOST RIVER 2015 Economic Downturn: The Movie Out Digital: June 10 DVD: June 17 / Rated MA15+ / Director Ryan Gosling / Cast Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Iain De Caestecker, Matt Smith THE TOWN OF LOST RIVER LOOKS AS IF it’s suffered the sort of disaster seen in science fiction films like the Planet Of The Apes movies. Whole neighbourhoods are abandoned, nature reclaims empty zoos, cinemas and schools, and vicious predators have gained power bases which afford them opportunities to abuse poor folk with excess. However, in Ryan Gosling’s first film as writer-director, a simple downturn in the economy has created this brutal,…