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Stan Winston 1946-2008

Few of cinema’s ‘backroom boys’ become household names in their own right. Directors and Actors may get their names up in lights but very few moviegoers could name a creature effects creator or animatronics supervisor. If they could name one, it would almost certainly be Stan Winston who died this week at the age of 62. Stan Winston originally trained as a painter before moving to Hollywood in 1968. Initially he aimed to become an actor but decided after a year of unsuccessful auditions to use his artistic experience to secure an apprenticeship in the Makeup Department at Walt Disney Studios. He first crossed into the limelight with his pioneering work in 1984’s The Terminator, which featured several shots of star Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face partially shot away to apparently reveal a glinting robot skull beneath. The final robot endoskeleton which emerged from The Terminator’s cyborg skin became a cinema icon and is set to stalk the ravaged Earth yet again (without its creator) in next year’s Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.

Winston excelled at robotic effects, unlike his werewolf-creating rival Rick Baker, as can be seen at the cinemas right now in Iron Man, where the gap between live action and CGI is seamlessly blended using Winston’s signature animatronics. Nevertheless his very biological-looking dinosaurs for Jurassic Park and his giant Alien Queen for Aliens are counted among his greatest achievments.

He was a restlessly creative, constantly busy man, working on dozens of movies in various capacities and winning 4 Oscars. As he once said:

 

"I have two comic books series that are out and that are developing screenplays based on them. I've got a toy company. My production company has about twenty projects in production, pre-production or in-development. I've started, as of last year, SW Digital, under my roof. Other than that, I'm not doing anything."

As a master of practical effects in an increasingly digital age Stan Winston will undoubtedly be missed but the companies he founded have trained dozens of young animatronics effects specialists who will continue his creative legacy into the far future.

Coming Soon: Atlantis Rising

Dreamworks studios have today announced that they have commissioned a  big screen adaptation of  Platinum Studios comic book Atlantis Rising . Never heard of it?  try a sample here.

It tells the story of a war between humankind and a race of very damp, very angry aliens who have been living in the ocean depths. Which would annoy anyone.

The movie, to be penned by regular JJ Abrams scriptwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Mission Impossible: III, Alias) currently has no cast, release date, or water-wing budget. More details on all those key facts as they come in.

And you thought you loved movies?

Not as much as Carl Kelly does. The Times reports this morning that he managed to talk his way onto the set of Iron Man, bluffed his way through a scene with Gwyneth Paltrow, and even appears in the background of one of the posters.

Now that, my friends, beats any action figures, limited edition maquettes or replica props as the best piece of movie memorabilia ever.

 

War! What is it good for? Good Movies. Yeah!

Everybody's favourite scruffy leading man, John Cusack, looks finally set to release his long-awaited anti-war satire War Inc.

In it he plays a conflicted hit man called Brand Hauser, which is a shame because it would have been so nice if he'd been called Martin Blank, who has been hired by a well-connected US corporation to eliminate a troublesome Middle-Eastern politician.

Of course complications ensue, in the form of a romance with a sassy journalist. Expect sharp dialogue, comical misunderstandings, and a moderate amount of gunplay.

As well as bringing his sister Joan along for the ride, Cusack also plays alongside Marisa Tomei and the miraculously successful pop starlet Hilary Duff.

Cynical satire, war, appealing young ladies and the always watchable Cusack? We're there.

Da da da daaahhh, da da duuuh. A-Team movie finally scheduled.

June 12, 2009 - schedule a duvet day, tattoo it on your forearm and tell your mummy you won’t be home for tea because Twentieth Century Fox has finally scheduled the A-Team remake, making me and at least three other people I know happier than a deaf X-Factor judge.

So what can we expect? Well, it’s got a great writing double-act in Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (Wanted and 3:10 to Yuma) and if John Singleton can return to Boyz in the Hood form it’s be an unalloyed directing triumph.

Then again, even if he’s just channelling his form from Janet Jackson flop Poetic Justice it would be hard to screw up the golden formula of four ex-special forces soldiers, wanted for a crime they didn’t commit, on the run and finding time while clearing their names to save small businesses from organised crime. Am I right?

Now the casting is yet to be announced but back in 2001 when it was a rumoured Universal pic and Kevin Brodbin was writing the highly unlikely line up was rumoured to look like this:

B.A. Baracus – Ving Rhames
Murdock – Jim Carrey
Face – Christian Bale
Hannibal – Mel Gibson

Seriously, Jim Carrey alone charges over 20million per pic - it ain’t gonna happen.

IMDB is reporting the more likely scenario that Woody Harrelson will step into the role of Murdock and Ice Cube will play B.A.Baracus.

So, that leaves two roles unaccounted for: Face and Hannibal.

Your nominations please.

Jack Ryan: Clear and present danger of his return

Variety's reporting today that Evil Dead and Spiderman director Sam Raimi is being courted by Paramount Studios to revive the moribund Jack Ryan franchise, based on Tom Clancy's bestselling series of books.

Played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and latterly Ben Affleck President John Patrick Ryan, Ph.D.CPA,USMC (Ret.), KCVO is a near-superhuman CIA operative turned action man and eventually President of the USA.

The new movie series would be based around a younger Ryan at the beginning of his career, allowing for a long and lucrative franchise. The only issue there of course is that if Ryan is scripted too young, then it would be impossible for Bruce Campbell to play him, which would surely make the dream director/star partnership.

The projected Jack Ryan movie is scheduled for a Summer 2010 release. That looks like being a busy Summer for Paramount.

Arthur C Clarke: 1917-2008

Arthur C Clarke was, if we’re being honest, a bit too brainy ever to have written the kind of story that Blockbuster Buzz might have covered. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he eschewed the temptations of rip-roaring Space Opera in favour of thoughtful ruminations on the way a future world might actually work.

 His best-known work, 2001, was a stately examination of the next step in mankind’s evolution as we are ushered by godlike aliens into a more advanced phase of existence.

Or something.

Honestly I don’t know anyone who pretends to completely understand it, but that’s hardly the point.

Robocop: Your move, creep

Ain't it Cool News is running the contents of an MGM press release jam packed with familiar names from the past being touted as movies of the future.

We already know that we're getting more Bond, and that one way or another The Hobbit will be made, but you can also expect sequels for The Thomas Crown Affair, The Outer Limits, Death Wish, and Eighties legwarmer jamboree Fame.

The biggest surprise in the list of upcoming projects though is Robocop. As Merrick over at AICN sagely observes:

Needless to say, it's an extremely safe bet that a resurrected ROBOCOP franchise would be nowhere near as ballsy, edgy, or socially satirical as its source material (especially Verhoeven's film)- our age of hyper-sensitivity and over-amped political correctness would never allow it.

We should never overestimate the quality of imagination demonstrated by today's Hollywood executives but I do sometimes find myself hankering for a movie without a number in the title. If MGM are so hard up for ideas though perhaps I should send them my Doomsday template.

 

Dark Knight: "I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger"

The mighty Drudge Report has the hot Dark Knight news today, with a report from AP about a trade screening of new footage from the forthcoming Batman adventure.

With interesting and revealing quotes from the star, the director and (as in our headline) the Clown Prince of Crime himself the piece focuses on Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in the second Christian Bale-led Batman movie.

Director Christopher Nolan said that of all Batman's rogues' gallery the Joker was the one who almost had to feature in the sequel:

"The psychopathic clown, that's an icon to stand with the guy with the ears and cape...it's just a wonderful visual relationship, and it's a terrifying image."

Ledger himself was reportedly astounded by the intensity of his own performance. Add this to the studied crazinesss of Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of doomed DA Harvey Dent and you can't help feeling that, despite the best efforts of Tim Burton, this is going to be the first Batman movie that really explores the magic and the madness of the Batman mythos.

Dark Knight: To the Dentmobile!

The Dentmobile is not, as you might have imagined, the dilapidated jalopy that transports impecunious journalists to movie screenings. It's part of the imaginary campaign to make Harvey Dent District Attorney of Gotham City which is currently forming the main thrust of Warners' marketing build towards the release of the next Batman movie Dark Knight. 

If you log in to Harvey's 'campaign site' you can submit video messages of support for the clean-cut young litigator who will eventually be transformed into Batman villain Two-face.

Aaron Eckhart, who plays Dent in the film, has said that he played all his scenes in Dark Knight twice - once as calm, rational Harvey Dent and once as the manic inner personality that manifests itself after the courtroom acid attack that 'kills' Harvey and gives birth to Two-face.

It's an interesting approach and one which the few commentators who have seen the footage describe as powerfully unsettling to watch. Add in the mixed emotions most viewers will feel at seeing Heath Ledger's Joker on screen and you have the makings of one of the strangest, most memorable, comic book adaptations ever.

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: 2 movies confirmed

It's been the subject of discussion on movie rumour sites for months, but now Warners have officially announced that the forthcoming movie adaptation of JK Rowling's seventh (and apart from a couple of bijou art projects) final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be divided into two movies to be released in November 2010 and May 2011 by which time star Daniel Radcliffe will be 22 and have been playing the boy wizard for fully half his life.

Monsters versus Aliens: Best title ever

Another CGI animation for kids? Based on a comic book? 'Why should I care?' I can almost hear you ask.

 You should care because Monsters versus Aliens cannot fail to be absolutely great. It has a sensational plot (Monsters defend the Earth against Alien invaders that are disrupting our TV signals) and a fabulous cast (Hugh Laurie as a doctor, Kiefer Sutherland as a general, Reese Witherspoon as a teenage girl turned 50 Foot Woman and Stephen Colbert as the President of the USA!).

 OK, Dreamworks let us down a little  by not using the original title from the comic (Rex Havoc and the Ass-Kickers of the Fantastic is fairly cool, let’s face it) but redeemed themselves by coming up with a deliciously Ronseal headline that Times Online’s SEO guru would be proud of: ‘It’s about Monsters. They fight Aliens. Let’s give it a title that explains that!’

The movie's in 3D too. It's a mystery why that feature isn't flagged up in the title.

One sour note: Dreamworks are predicting that MvA will cost a little extra at the box office. To cover the cost of the 3D glasses? Or do they honestly believe that they've come up with a title that's so crazy awesome that audiences will pony up an extra buck to see the movie?

Monsters versus Aliens will be released, in glorious 3D, on March 27th 2009. Ticket prices TBA.

Iron Man: On Wheels

Once the Iron Man movie's actually out, there'll probably be Happy Meals and all sorts of other low-end merchandising opportunities. That's months away though (although maybe not as far off as you thought). In the meantime, there's just this rather hip-looking Audi commercial. And you know I like a movie that's a secret Audi commercial.

Terminator 4: You hadn't got too used to that title had you?

Christian Bale's other blockbuster franchise has taken one small step backwards today. The movie we were all getting used to calling Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins has, according to Coming Soon, lost its title. Appropriate, you might think, for a movie that's being directed by a chap without a name.

I quite like 'Terminator 4 - Future War' as a title, but maybe that's just because it has that rhyming ' Gone with the Wind 2 - Electric Boogaloo' sound to it.

What do you think? Leave your best title ideas in the comments and I'll see if I can't pass them off as my own.

Dark Knight: If you really need to know what happens now, read the New York Times

If you actually want to see this movie as nature intended, with few clues as to the twists and turns of the script, then do not under any circumstances click here. The New York Times ran a major Dark Knight feature over the weekend and in doing so let slip some major plot points for the forthcoming Batman adventure.

It's a great piece of writing but I can't in all conscience recommend that you read it. There's just too much great stuff in there that  people should be gasping at in cinemas, not inadvertently stumbling over on their computers.

There are a couple of lovely stills though, so I've taken  the liberty of running the best one here.

I Am Legend: The ending could have been worse

Because it nearly was.

This alternative ending to Will Smith's apocalyptic zombie shocker is, in my view, markedly inferior to the one that made  Francis Lawrence's final cut. Perhaps that's why Warner Bros. are taking the it down every time some enterprising soul pops it onto YouTube.

This example is working - for now:

I thought the bleaker ending was a better choice, and that despite what others may have said I Am Legend was a pretty good movie, marred only by some rather superfluous CGI zombie work.

After all, you have to love the film that gave us this piece of fanboy porn.

Get your dogfight on with the Red Baron

It's a violation of Blockbuster Buzz principles to run a story about a foreign-language film. They all too often tend to be excessively brainy and to feature insufficient explosions.

I'm making an exception in this case because The Red Baron looks great. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, I loved The Blue Max and I paid actual money to go and see James Franco's Spads-and-cheekbones epic Flyboys.

Besides, as the article over at Cinema Blend points out, the movie was filmed in English, features our own Joseph Feinnes and Lena Headley, and the trailer is only in German because no US distributor has picked it up yet.

If you have any affection for WW1 aerial combat (and especially if you have an appreciation of the sleek design of the Albatros) you should probably pop over to Cinema Blend now and take a look.

Quantum of Solace: The most trivial post ever

Did you love Sir Richard Branson's cameo/product placement opportunity in Casino Royale? You did? In that case we have great news for you. Filming took place in Panama last week for a similar Branson popup in the next Bond adventure, Quantum of Solace.

It's a tricky one: on the one hand Sir Richard is an undoubted national treasure, on the other his presence seems slightly out of kilter with the new, grittier 007.

You can fault the chap's enthusiasm for promoting his company though: He told us on Monday that he's just finished filming in an (as yet unspecified) Bollywood move where he played a gangster who gets shot, only to have the bullet stopped by his Virgin mobile.

Outrageously silly, of course, but fun. You can't quite imagine Steve Jobs getting up to those kind of japes to sell an iPhone can you?

Iron Man Exclusive: New trailer & stills from one of 2008's hottest movies

Our exclusive new Iron Man trailer offers all the joyous moments that US audiences saw in the much-talked-about Superbowl Spot last month, but add more detail that further humanises the Armoured Avenger and fleshes out more of alter ego Tony Stark’s character arc.

It’s even more evident now from the earlier scenes in the trail that our hero starts out as something of an ass. Showboating shamelessly through his Lord of War moment he sips whiskey in a combat zone and generally acts like God’s gift.

He becomes a hero through adversity, as a result of disability, and that’s ultimately why people will love Iron Man. None of us can come from Krypton like Superman, nor (we hope) be bitten by a radioactive bug like Spiderman, but any of us could – in theory – strap on some high-tech armour and accidentally write off a priceless sports car.

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The biggest surprise from Dark Knight yet: Harley Quinn?

UK Management company RDF has added the role of 'Harley Quinn' in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight to the bio for one of their clients, Sarah Jayne Dunn.

Sarah Jayne is best known in the UK as aspiring model Mandy Richardson in the long-running teen soap Hollyoaks

In the DC comics canon, Harley is The Joker's therapist, Harleen Quinn, who gets mixed up in a weird folie a deux love affair with the Clown Prince of Crime and joins his gang.

How much of this story will be included in Dark Knight? Warners aren't saying.

ShoWest Award for Dark Knight director

And they say the awards go to films that appeal to critics, rather than fans. Well, I say that actually. Because it's true.

It's not true in this case though: Christopher Nolan, director of gems like Batman Begins, The Prestige, Memento and (soon) Dark Knight is to be awarded the coveted ShoWest Director of the Year gong in Las Vegas next month.

Read the full story in Variety's rather exotic language here.

The film that would not die: Justice League still on

Now that the dispute between screenwriters and the major film studio studios has been resolved, a lot of movie projects are being dusted off and reappraised.

The most surprising of these though is Justice League. According to a report in Variety this morning the superhero team up movie is being prepared a Summer '09 release. Writers Kieran and Michele Mulroney are taking another crack at the script while several reliable sources report that principal photography is being relocated from Australia to Canada

 In a comparatively star-free cast OC alumnus Adam Brody will be appearing as the Flash. Every action movie has to have at least one rapper somewhere in the cast and Justice League offers us Common in the Green Lantern role. The rest of the League is made up of relative unknowns like Armie Hammer Jr. (Batman), Megan Gale (Wonder Woman) and DJ Cotrona (Superman). Former Farscape and Mad Max actor Hugh Keays-Byrne is rumoured to be in talks to portray J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Keays-Byrne will of course already know Justice League's director, George Miller.

Arriving as it will a few months after the expected success of Zack Snyder's Watchmen Justice League will need to measure up both in terms of script and effects.

I'm stunned that this project is still alive. Notwithstanding my own rather frivolous views on the casting the JLA are DC Comics' premier asset and to see it limp forward in this fashion, when Marvel are taking an ever more inspired and confident approach with their own properties, makes long-time DC nerds like me very sad indeed.

Ben Chapman: 1928-2008

Although you probably wouldn’t recognise his face, Ben Chapman was one of the enduring icons of cinema. He died this month at age 79 but we remember him here because when he was 25 he played The Gill Man, the strange amphibian protagonist of Creature from the Black Lagoon.

To be accurate, he was one of two actors who portrayed the creature: Ricou Browning was responsible for most of the underwater scenes but it is Chapman’s imposing 6’5” frame that fans remember as the misunderstood monster.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon spawned a couple of lesser sequels, but its impressive creature design ensured it a cultural longevity that outstripped most other sci-fi flicks of the era. It’s remembered even in serious scientific circles: When Jenny Clack of Cambridge university discovered a hitherto unseen fossil amphibian in 1998, she named it Eucritta melanolimnetes, Greek for "the creature from the black lagoon."

Ben Chapman was a regular on the movie fan convention circuit, and though he had many other achievements to his name, including a distinguished Korean War record, he will always be remembered as the guy who was The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The Transporter transports us again. (plus an interesting Hulk snippet)

Entertainment industry journal Variety reports this morning that Jason Statham, the thinking woman's Ross Kemp, has signed to reprise his role as taciturn hero Frank Mitchell in a second sequel to The Transporter.

Louis Leterrier, the director of the first two instalments of the franchise, is passed over in favour of improbably-named French director Olivier Megaton. It will be Megaton's first English-language movie as director although he did run the second unit on video game adaptation Hitman.

Meanwhile, Leterrier is busy completing The Incredible Hulk, and  I note that Robert Downey Jr. has been added to IMDB's cast list for that film as 'Tony Stark'. If that information proves to be correct, and IMDB are rarely wrong for long, then the much rumoured cross-fertilisation between Marvel properties to prepare us for an Avengers movie in 2009 just  became a reality.

JJ Abrams interview: A new creature for Cloverfield 2?

In this intriguing interview with ReelzChannel, production flavour-of-the-month JJ Abrams reveals a few interesting hints about Cloverfield 2. He suggests that maybe the unique 'First Person' angle may be ditched, and that he has another interesting angle to explore on the followup to the much-discussed monster movie - or does he mean another monster?
 

Dailies | J.J. Abrams

"I think that to some degree I think it can be a good thing. I think that there are a lot of movies that seem to be doing that so I think that you know, no gimmick is good once its been done again and again and again. So I feel like you know, I loved it when I saw it in Blair Witch and I thought how cool to sort of take that idea and kind of do a monster movie through that kind of prism. But you know at a certain point it's the kind of thing... A monster, yeah, another sort of a interesting way in but we have some cool ideas and Drew Goddard, the writer and Matt Reeves the director have sort of cooked something up so we're . . . you know hopefully that'll get a chance to happen"

Favreau talks Iron Man at WonderCon

A number of sites are reporting on the delicious new Iron Man 'armour evolution' poster being given to select attendees at this year' WonderCon in San Diego. io9 has probably the best coverage though, snatching a short, snappy, and very silly interview with a clearly ebullient Jon Favreau. Still probably best known for 'Swingers' Favreau directed Iron Man and, as long as box office on the movie matches the current buzz generated by a series of dynamite trailers, probably has the inside track on the forthcoming Avengers movie too. The Avengers (not to be confused with the British TV series of the same name) is Marvel's premier superhero team, with a rotating membership that has varied over the years but traditionally features Iron Man along with Captain America, Thor, and The Hulk.

Favreau wouldn't be drawn on the rumours that the Avengers move will be presaged by casting links between Iron Man and the upcoming Hulk movie, as this quote from io9's interview demonstrates:

When asked about the rumors on the internet about a scene with Nick Fury as Samuel L. Jackson appearing in both this movie and The Incredible Hulk, Jon said "Yes, it's true. There are rumors on the internet."

The real news from the Oscars

Of course the big awards went to those 'all talk, no explosions' films, and as usual the noisier, more entertaining movies were fobbed off with the 'editing' and 'sound' statuettes.

This year's token populist entry was the latest, and we thought until today last, entry in the Bourne series.

However, Variety today reports that there will be a fourth entry in the successful franchise, to be again directed by Paul Greengrass and with Matt Damon as the forgetful superspy.

The key quote, for readers who haven't time to scroll through the lengthy article, is:

"...more recently, Shmuger and Linde landed Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon for a fourth "Bourne" movie, even though the director and star seemed ready to wrap it up after three pics"

Akira: The Movie. Again!

Akira is one of those comic books, like Watchmen, that totally revolutionised the medium when it was published in the early 1980s. The animated movie, released a few years later, was the breakthrough Manga movie that introduced Western fans to the rich, exotic, and frequently weird culture of Japanese animation.

Now, 25 years later, Warner Brothers have announced a live-action take on the still highly regarded tale of futuristic motorcycle gangs, psychic supermen, and baby universes.  A three movie series is planned at this stage, with at least the first instalment directed by Ruairi Robinson and scripted by Gary Whitta . Both are comparatively unknown quantities, although Robinson’s sci-fi short The Silent City certainly boasted plenty of the barren post-apocalyptic atmosphere  you might hope for in the latter stages of the Akira saga.

There's some suggestion that Leonardo DiCaprio will be appearing as the teenage protagonist Shotaro Kaneda, although  that seems the least likely element of the report. It seems to be based on the involvement of DiCaprio's production company rather than any official announcement so far. Purists will probably be more outraged by the ‘future New York’ setting of the forthcoming movie rather than the ‘future Tokyo’ of the original Manga, but as long as they can get that big red motorcycle right, it’ll probably still be worth a look. The first movie in the trilogy is due in 2009.

New Watchmen image online

It's the final day of shooting on Watchmen, and Zack Snyder's production blog offered a special treat for the faithful. A massive new hi-res still of Rorshach to add to the one he sneakily inserted in the 300 trailer. It's an action image this time that is uncannily faithful to the comic, as Watchmen fans might hope. It looks exactly like a frame from Chapter 5, Fearful Symmetry, when the Ginger Avenger is breaking out of master-criminal Moloch's apartment.
This film looks better and better. Colour me excited. In a sepia sort of way.

Exclusive interview: 10,000BC star Steven Strait

Don’t be fooled by the darkly Byronic publicity photos. Steven Strait is a very happy fellow.

Throughout our conversation he was chuckling away to himself about something or other. It’s not too surprising really: He’s starring in Roland Emmerich’s prehistoric epic 10,000 BC which is out in the UK this month, he’s also in highly regarded drama Stop Loss which is released in April and his forthcoming vampire thriller Priest is due out in 2009.

Ever since his appearance as brooding outsider Warren Peace in the superhero comedy Sky High he has had an ever-growing legion of (mainly female) fans sighing over his publicity photos and as a crowning achievement he’s now been interviewed by The Times’ lightweight film blog Blockbuster Buzz. No wonder he’s laughing.

Our interview with one of Hollywoods’ fastest-rising stars is after the jump:

Heath Ledger as the Joker: Action figure finally revealed

One product range notable by its absence from last month's London Toy Fair was the expected avalanche of Dark Knight swag. The logical inference was that, out of respect for the recently deceased Heath Ledger the heat had been turned down underneath that particular merchandising opportunity.

Business is business however, and as the New York Post reports the first Joker figures are now being exhibited. The paper quotes Cliff Annicelli, editor of toy collector's bible Playthings, as saying that he expected that it will be a hotter collectible than it otherwise would have been before his death.

In the same article, an unnamed family spokesman is quoted as saying: "Heath was very proud of his work in the film, and his family is aware and supportive of Warner Bros. and its partners' plans for the movie" 

James Bond: Gang War?

I really can’t put it better than Erik over at Cinematical has: Either Daniel Craig and the rest of the Quantum of Silence cast are in mortal danger, or the story has been blown out of all proportion by a combination of Chinese whispers and overexcited reporting. Personally I can’t believe that any studio executive in their right mind would risk the astonishingly punitive lawsuit that would arise from a real shooting incident on a motion picture set, but what do I know? Read the story for yourself and see what you think.

If you really can't wait to find out what happens to James Bond next, here's what happens in Quantum of Solace...

Some movie fans like to know everything about the film they're about to see. Others go through a complex Likely Lads ballet to avoid any spoilers so they can experience it without any preconceptions. If you're a type A movie fan click though to read the official Quantum of Solace synopsis. If you're, like me, a type B moviegoer: I wish you the very best of luck...

10,000 BC: Exclusive stills gallery

Independence Day and Godzilla director Roland Emmerich has turned his attention to the distant past for his latest epic 10,000 BC. It tells the story of a young mammoth-hunter’s quest to save his tribe, taking in epic struggles with sabre-toothed tigers and a mysterious ancient civilisation. We were already sold on the movie when we saw its huge action set pieces in the luscious trailer but these new stills give an even better sense of how Emmerich has evoked the atmosphere of a mysterious antediluvian era. 10,000 BC is out on March 14. Join us in the cheap seats.

More pics after the jump.

Move over 007: Here comes Mitch Rapp, superspy

After having read the disappointing news about Star Trek XI this morning I delved deeper into Variety to see if there was any good news for fans of the noisier kind of movie. I didn’t have to delve far. CBS film have today announced that they have bought the rights to a series of novels by Vince Flynn which feature CIA super-operative Mitch Rapp. Rapp is the kind of Jason Bourne/James Bond/Jack Ryan/…Dirk Pitt chap who is limitlessly resourceful in his quest to put down terrorism, international crime syndicates and (for all I know) gangs of teenagers in bus shelters.

CBS are optimistic about launching a new franchise with this purchase, which they see as something apart from the usual run of loud and silly action-fests. Variety quotes CBS ‘prexy-CEO’ (whatever that is) Amy Baer:

"I feel like we have the only postmodern franchise action thriller hero out there ... a product of a generation touched by terrorism,"

Candidly, as long as he can drive a car spectacularly well, has one of those special guns that never quite runs out of bullets, and displays a preternatural ability to improvise deadly weapons out of household objects, we’re there.

Star Trek: Mission Delayed

Sad news for Star Trek fans this morning as Variety reports that JJ Abrams' Star Trek movie has been delayed until at least May 2009.

The delay appears to be more an issue of schedule-balancing and profit maximisation, rather than a sign of problems with the production, but it will still be quite a disappointment for Trek fans, and lovers of big noisy sci-fi flicks in general.

More on this as we get it.

Transformers 2: Michael Bay is ready to rock

Pre-empting the ultimate conclusion of the Writers’ Guild strike, Michael Bay has today told Rotten Tomatoes that he’s already written an outline of Transformers 2. Cynics might say that can’t have taken long but coming up with eye-catching new robots that convert into other things is harder then it looks, and Bay’s come up with quite a few:

"When you do your first movie, you break the back of it. Now we can have a lot more fun. We can actually make the depth of these characters more fun and a lot more interesting characters. To see actually what you can achieve visually, you never know. When you go into a movie, you never know visually. I think I've got a lot of fun, interesting, funny characters."

The movie is set for a June 2009 release, assuming Bay doesn’t get drummed out of Hollywood for jotting down ideas for brilliant new robots while the strike was on. His first Transformers movie was a lot better than most of us expected: let's hope he remembers what he did first time.

New movie museum for London

Celebrating Britain's contribution to the movies The Movieum opens for business in London's County Hall on February 22. Exhibits will include original costumes and props from movies like Batman Begins and The Golden Compass.

Visitors can green-screen themselves into movie scenes to fly like Superman or shrink like The Borrowers. There are also extensive exhibits about Beatrix Potter, Dangermouse, Bagpuss, Mr Be