Last year at San Diego Comic-Con we got our first look at season one of His Dark Materials, BBC and HBO’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s popular fantasy novels, so it’s no surprise the second season trailer premiered at this year’s Comic-Con@Home. Logan star Dafne Keen returns as Lyra to lead a cast including Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariyon Bakare, Andrew Scott, Amir Wilson, and newcomers to the series this season, Terence Stamp, Jade Anouka, and Simone Kirby.
Despite every other war of the 20th century being well covered, audiences are still waiting for the great modern movie to depict World War I in a realistic and believable way. Will Sam Mendes′s next film be the answer? The director of Road to Perdition and successful James Bond movies Skyfall and Spectre is next bringing us 1917, with Universal Pictures releasing its first trailer for the film this week. The film follows two British soldiers at a key point in the war. Soldiers Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) must complete a mission that takes them across enemy lines to deliver a vital message that could save another band of British brothers from walking into a trap.
If the two young stars of Game of Thrones and Captain Fantastic don’t excite you, then the actors that anchor the film might. Looks for supporting characters played by a current Who’s Who of British film: Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange, Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit), Colin Firth (Kingsman, The King’s Speech, Pride and Prejudice), Mark Strong (Kingsman, Shazam!, Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass, Green Lantern), Daniel Mays (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ashes to Ashes, The Bank Job, Doctor Who), and Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Spectre, The Hour, Saving Private Ryan).
Beyond that, the cinematography shown in the trailer, filmed by the great Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, A Beautiful Mind, No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Skyfall, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049) should get you across the line. And finally a film depicting the era has the clothing right, thanks to Academy Award-winning designer Jacqueline Durran (Darkest Hour, Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Beauty and the Beast). With music by Thomas Newman (Real Genius, The Great Outdoors, Finding Nemo, The Adjustment Bureau, Skyfall, The Highwaymen), this is quite promising.
Take a look at the trailer for the new Sam Mendes film, 1917:
When Jon Favreau matched up Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” at the end of the first Iron Man film the all-encompassing coolness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe emerged and the classic 1970 rock tune came full circle. So Tim Burton bringing the voice of Grace Slick with Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 classic “White Rabbit” into a trailer for Alice Through the Looking Glass is something that was simply meant to happen.
Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass is of course based on Lewis Carroll’s 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass, with Tim Burton producing this time around and James Bobin (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted) in the director’s chair. (We previewed the first trailer for this fantasy film here at borg.com back in November).
The return of the original cast–and an all-star cast at that–points to another winner ahead for fantasy fans. Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, and Helena Bonham Carter are back, with Rhys Ifans and Sacha Baron Cohen joining the cast. Danny Elfman will again be producing the musical score.
Here’s the latest superb trailer for Alice Through the Looking Glass:
Review by C.J. Bunce
If you’ve been too busy buying your advance tickets for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and forgot to get to the theaters to see the latest James Bond film, here’s your wake-up call. Get thee to the theatre before it’s gone! For every new Bond actor there is a handful of films that are forgettable. SPECTRE is not one of those Bond movies. In fact SPECTRE is on the heels of being as good a James Bond formula piece as Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale. It will be hard for any Bond movie to top that one, since it was as close to perfection as an action vehicle can get.
So why is SPECTRE a cut above the rest?
Let’s start with the required action scene opener. We begin with Bond and his attractive companion Estrella, played by Stephanie Sigman, at the Day of the Dead festival in Mexico City. Bond is in pursuit of an assassin, for a reason yet to be disclosed to the viewer, and the result is some of the best action in any Bond movie. Ever. Bond in a skeleton suit is still unmistakably Daniel Craig’s Bond. We get an inadvertently blown-up building. A foot chase through a parade culminating in a hand to hand fight in a helicopter over the crowded festival. Want exciting? This scene has it all.
Gone is the tired, old, worn-out Bond emphasized in the plot of Skyfall. Gone is the disheartened Bond of Quantum of Solace. This is Bond as he is supposed to be–confident, cocky, and calm. And physically Craig could still out-match all prior Bond actors at any age.
Bond’s main “Bond Girl” is a well-developed character this time around.
Léa Seydoux’s Dr. Swann is compelling and interesting, closer to Eva Green’s engaging Vesper Lynd than any Bond Girl since.
The villains are perfect, starting with Dave Bautista’s Mr. Hinx and his Groot-like single word of dialogue, and Christoph Waltz’s mastermind is as classic a Bond villain as you’ve ever seen. He’s creepy, but not too creepy like Javier Bardem’s villain in Skyfall. Also well-written are the classic Bond supporting roles: Ben Whishaw’s Q gets more, key screen time than any prior Q, Naomie Harris’s Moneypenny gets more backstory, and Ralph Fiennes’ M gets to take on his own parallel fight against villainy.
The same agency that taunted James Bond in five classic James Bond films (Thunderball, Dr. No, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice) is the subject of SPECTRE, the 24th in the current franchise and 26th to feature Bond (if you include David Niven’s Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again). Two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz will star as the next Bond villain, “Oberhauser.” SPECTRE is also the agency led by fan favorite Bond villain Blofeld, which has led to speculation that Oberhauser is really an alias for Blofeld. With the last trailer released a few hours ago and the release date almost upon us, we’re that much closer to learning the truth.
Have you voted yet in out our James Bond – Bond Girl poll? Check it out here.
Skyfall director Sam Mendes again directs Bond in SPECTRE. New cast members include the BBC Sherlock’s Moriarty, Andrew Scott, as Denbigh, Monica Bellucci and Léa Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour) as the new Bond girls Lucia Sciarra and Madeleine Swann, with Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista as Waltz’s henchman Hinx. Returning cast includes Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, and Ben Whishaw, reprising their roles from Skyfall as well as Jesper Christensen as Mr. White.
Here is the final trailer for SPECTRE:
As to sheer volume of remakes, via books, film, or other media, Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein have gone head to head for decades. Why not another remake of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the original seed of the science fiction genre and the original cyborg? Our only question is: Why wait for Thanksgiving when it is such an obvious draw for the box office at Halloween?
The latest incarnation, the big screen’s Victor Frankenstein, stars X-Men’s James McAvoy as the Doctor opposite Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe as assistant Igor. It’s directed by frequent BBC Sherlock director Paul McGuigan. From the first trailer released this week, this new film has all the requirements of the Gothic horror tale–a slightly mad doctor, his quirky minion, some steampunk techno-machinery, a creepy castle, storms and lightning, and, of course, the Doctor’s latest creation.
It must be better than last year’s I, Frankenstein, right?
No doubt the most fun likely will be the banter between the popular British leads. check out this first trailer for Victor Frankenstein:
The same agency that taunted James Bond in five classic James Bond films (Thunderball, Dr. No, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice) is the subject of SPECTRE, the 24th in the current franchise and 26th to feature Bond (if you include David Niven’s Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again). SPECTRE, which stands for “SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion,” is the movie incarnation of the less gritty sounding SMERSH, a Russian acronym for “Special Methods of Spy Detection” in the original Ian Fleming Bond novels. Two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz will star as the next Bond villain “Oberhauser.” SPECTRE is also the agency led by fan favorite Bond villain Blofeld, which has led to speculation that Oberhauser is really an alias for Blofeld. Soon we shall see.
Skyfall director Sam Mendes again directs Bond in SPECTRE. New cast members include the BBC Sherlock’s Moriarty, Andrew Scott, as Denbigh, Monica Bellucci and Léa Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour) as the new Bond girls Lucia Sciarra and Madeleine Swann, with Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista as Waltz’s henchman Hinx. And of course, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, and Ben Whishaw will reprise their roles from Skyfall as will Jesper Christensen as Mr. White.
Here is the latest trailer for SPECTRE:
It’s Comic Con weekend so why not release a clip from the next episode of the BBC’s Sherlock? That episode, featuring a throwback to Arthur Conan Doyle’s original incarnation of the world’s greatest detective and his trusty companion Dr. Watson, is going to air… well, someday. Like Doctor Who, the only thing unanimous that we all hate about these productions from Steven Moffat & Co. is the fact that we never know when they will air and they simply produce too few episodes for audience demand.
Yet we still can count of each new episode to be great fun, and from this new clip Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman will again be in prime form.
Check out this first preview from the BBC of the next episode of Sherlock, followed by a message for attendees of San Diego Comic-Con from stars Andrew Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Gatiss:
The same agency that taunted James Bond in five classic James Bond films (Thunderball, Dr. No, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice) will be the title of the next Bond film, SPECTRE, the 24th in the current franchise and 26th to feature Bond if you include David Niven’s Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again. SPECTRE, which stands for “SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion,” is the movie incarnation of the less gritty sounding SMERSH, a Russian acronym for “Special Methods of Spy Detection” in the original Ian Fleming Bond novels. Two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz will star as the next Bond villain, named Oberhauser. SPECTRE is also the agency led by fan favorite Bond villain Blofeld, which has led to speculation that Oberhauser is really an alias for Blofeld, like the much ballyhooed, almost-surprise villain Khan in the last Star Trek movie.
Although all Bond novel titles have been used for Bond films, unused titles for original Fleming authored Bond works include “The Hildebrand Rarity,” “Risico” or “The Double Take,” “007 in New York,” and “The Property of a Lady.” You Only Live Twice, Never Say Never Again, Licence to Kill, The World is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day, Goldeneye and Skyfall were sourced from concepts within the novels, and A View to a Kill taken from the story “From a View to a Kill.”
Even a slick new Aston Martin, the DB10 (shown above) is being rolled out for Bond for the next film. After the break check out the new title teaser video for the film.
BBC announced yesterday that Matt Smith’s last episode as the 11th Doctor on Doctor Who, the oldest series on television, will be this year’s Christmas episode to air on Christmas Eve. He’ll also appear in the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who episode this fall. For those of us who never would have given Doctor Who a try but for Matt Smith, he will be sorely missed. Without Matt Smith’s energetic and brilliant performances, we wouldn’t have seen how awesome David Tennant was as the 10th Doctor, met Christopher Eccleston’s 9th Doctor and his long-running companion Rose, or checked out the numerous audio books, or even peeked at those earlier “other” Doctors.
But just as we quickly have embraced his new companion with Jenna-Louise Coleman’s Clara (Amy Pond who?) after we thought we’d met the best companion ever, life goes on and so will the Doctor’s next incarnation as he takes the form of another actor… or actress?
So who should be the next Doctor? Matt Smith has given us some brilliant performances. If you aren’t a Doctor Who fan and wanted to sample some of the best of Matt Smith’s Doctor, try these:
The Eleventh Hour. We meet Matt Smith’s Doctor for the first time as he must save the world in 20 minutes with a wrecked TARDIS and broken sonic screwdriver and with the help of Amy Pond–the girl who waited.
The Beast Below. The Doctor and Amy travel to a future where residents live on a spaceship called Starship UK. We meet a future Queen and learn the terrible truth about what keeps the ship–and all its inhabitants–alive.
