Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

The sequal to the 2009 film is set to appear in theatres in December of this year. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows will star Robert Downey JR.who will reprise his role as the famous detective Holmes. Jude Law will also return as his sidekick  Dr. John Watson. Guy Ritchie (Madonna's ex) will be directing.

Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room...until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large-Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris, who played the boss of inside access in Mr. Deeds) and not only is he Holmes' intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective. When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder-a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by Professor Moriarty. The cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead of Holmes as he spins a web of death and destruction-all part of a greater plan that, if he succeeds, will change the course of history.



The film won't be shot or converted into 3D. It will be a standalone movie, meaning that you won't need to have seen Sherlock Holmes to understand proceedings. Game of Shadows commences several months after the events of the first film. The hunt for Moriarty will take the team on something of a European tour, taking them from London to Paris to industrial Germany and then finally - and most intriguing of all for Holmes' fans - onto the Swiss Alps.

Here is the trailer, which does a great job of showing the viewers the extent of action that will be featured in this film.

J. Edgar

 

J.Edgar is an up-coming biographical drama film directed by the infamous Clint Eastwood. The film will focus on the career of FBI director J.Edgar Hoover. It includes an examination of his private life as an alleged closeted homosexual.
Leonardo DiCaprio will pay Hoover. Armie Hammer (from the Social Network) will play Clyde Tolson, Hoover's protege. Naomi Watts will play his secretary. Jeffery Donovan will play John.F.Kennedy and Judi Dench will play Hoover's mother. The film will open at the beginning of November this year.

As a bit of a background for all those who are unsure of who exactly he is (I thought he was an ex-president).
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation (predecessor to the FBI) in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972. Hoover is credited with building the FBI into a large and efficient crime-fighting agency, and with instituting a number of modern innovations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.
Late in life, and after his death, Hoover became an increasingly controversial figure. His critics have accused him of exceeding the jurisdiction of the FBI.He used the FBI to harass political dissenters and activists, to amass secret files on political leaders, and to collect evidence using illegal methods.It is because of Hoover's long and controversial tenure that FBI directors are now limited to 10-year terms.

Arguably the most powerful man in the U.S. until his death, this film looks amazing. Smart but a thriller at the same time. Could this be the one that brings DiCaprio within grasp of that ever difficult Academy Award? Take a look a the trailer and I'm sure you'll all agree.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It seems everywhere, both readers and non-readers alike have heard of this novel called 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. It is an award winning crime novel and room mystery by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. Larsson died in November 2004 and left three unpublished novels that made up the trilogy. It became a posthumous best-seller in several European countries as well as in the United States. Larsson witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. He never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth – like the young heroine of his books, herself a rape victim, which inspired the theme of sexual violence against women in his books.

The basic plot of the novels for all those who haven't read them is, Mikael Blomkvist a disgraced publisher of the Swedish political magazine Millennium, lost a libel case involving allegations about billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström and is sentenced to three months in prison. Blomkvist steps down from the magazine's board of directors. At the same time, he is offered a freelance assignment by Henrik Vanger, the former CEO of Vanger Enterprises, which he accepts — unaware that Vanger commissioned an investigation into Blomkvist's personal and professional history carried out by private investigator Lisbeth Salander.
The old man draws Blomkvist in by promising not only financial reward for the assignment, but also solid evidence against Wennerström. Blomkvist agrees to spend a year writing the Vanger family history as a cover for the solving the case of the disappearance of Vanger's niece Harriet some 40 years earlier. Vanger believes that Harriet was murdered by a member of the Vanger family. Each year on his birthday Harriet gave Henrik a pressed flower, which Vanger continues to receive by mail every year - which he believes is done by the murderer in order to taunt him. Blomkvist moves to the Vanger estate and becomes acquainted with the extended family, most of whom resent his presence.
Without going any runining it for anyone who is yet to read, basically Salander and Blomkvist work together to trace down what happen to Vanger's niece and the killer behind everything.

Film poster for 2009 version

In 2009 the novel was made into a Swedish film. The film was been met with critical acclaim. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a normalized score of 86%.
The purpose of this blog is to give information on the latest interpretation of the novel. To be released on 21st December 2011, this up-coming English film with see Daniel Craig play Blomkvist and  Rooney Mara as Salander. George Clooney, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt were interested in playing the central role of Blomkvist, but Daniel Craig was in more serious talks for the lead in June. On July 26, 2010, it was confirmed that Craig would play the lead.
The film is being directed by David Fincher who was the mastermind behind Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network. With Fincher attached, there are high expectations but with his credentials, things look good for this up-coming film.

Below is the trailer. I would also recommend anyone interested in seeing this film to definitely read the novel.
All these trailers have been thanks to Trailer Download. Check them out!

The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers is an upcoming reinterpretation of the famous novel. The film actually has already been released in a few European countries, so for any of you living in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, you may go see it!. For the rest of us, the film will be released on the 21st of October. The film has been shot in 3D so if you enjoy watching films with the added accessory of the 3D glasses, then you have that choice.

The plot of the film at the heart follows that of the novel. D'Artagnan, a hot-headed young man, joins forces with the three Musketeers to prevent the villainous Cardinal Richelieu from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war. Though unlike previous films, mainly the 1993 with Keith Sutherland, that is where this films plot goes off and adds a new story.
In this film, the three Musketeers Athos played by Matthew Macfayden (from Death at a Funeral), Aramis played by Luke Evans, and Porthos played by Ray Stevenson steal highly coveted airship designs from a high-security vault. Though their beautiful partner in crime, Milady de Winter played by Milla Jovovich, drugs the trio and sells the designs to a higher bidder, the Duke of Buckingham played by Orlando Bloom. It's a major blow to the famed swordsmen. So when, three years later, the young D'Artagnan journeys to Paris to realize his dream of becoming a Musketeer, he finds them a shadow of their former selves, working menial jobs and seeking a cause worth serving.
This change of story i believe was needed as the have been so many interpretations of the novel and nowadays with CGI, producers have any opportunity to really show some impressive visuals.

Logan Lerman will play D'Artagnan

Besides Bloom and Jovovich, the other famous faces are Christoper Waltz who rose to fame winning the academy award for best actor in Inglourious Bastards, will play the Cardinal. D'Artagnan who can be said to be the main character will be played by young and upcoming actor Logan Lerman. For the people who are unsure of Lerman, he was in the Butterfly effect, 3:10 to Yuma and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, so we know he has experience with commercial movies that have famous stars in them and personally am looking forward to see how he performs as the lead in this film As well I'm excited to see Bloom play a villain for the first time.

 Here is the trailer, which does a great job of explaining the new story and showing some action packed sequences. Until next week.

The Amazing Spiderman

The Amazing Spiderman? That's right it is not the same as the Spiderman movie's. The franchise has been rebooted with a new director and new cast. The new film set to come out July 2012, will be about Peter Parker developing his superpowers while at high school. Though you may be asking yourself hasn't this movie with the same plot recently being done?
Well yes it has in the 2002 adaption of Spiderman with Toby Maguire as Peter Parker. After the success of that film two followed, Spiderman 2 in 2004 and Spiderman 3 in 2007. So why start all over again?

What happened was in 2007, Spider-Man 4 entered development, with Sam Raimi attached to direct and Maguire, Kristen Dunst and other cast members set to reprise their roles. Raimi expressed interest in portraying the transformation of Dr. Curt Connors into his villainous alter-ego, the Lizard; and producer Grant Curtis was also enthusiastic about the idea. It was reported in December 2009 that John Malkovich was in negotiations to play Vulture and that Anne Hathaway would play Felicia Hardy, though she would not have transformed into the Black Cat as in the comics. Instead, Raimi's Felicia was expected to become a new super powered figure called the Vulturess.

Though the studio and Raimi didn't agree on most things which threatened to push the film of the intended May 6, 2011 release date. Sony Pictures announced in January 2010 that plans for Spider-Man 4 had been cancelled due to Raimi's withdrawal from the project. Raimi reportedly ended his participation due to his doubt that he could meet the planned May 6, 2011 release date while at the same time upholding the film creatively. Raimi purportedly went through four iterations of the script with different screenwriters and still "hated it".

So instead of letting an amazing franchise to end, Sony decided to put a fresh new spin on it and call it 'The Amazing Spiderman'. This is a very brave move, basically Sony is expecting for the public to go see a movie they have already seen in 2002. Well that is not entirely true, there are same differences besides the cast and this includes the main villain which is not the Green Goblin but instead Dr Curt. Conners or Lizard (probably due to Raimi's influence). As well Mary Jane will not be the main love interest for Peter Parker instead, it will be Gwen Stacy played by Emma Stone, you know Emma Stone the girl who is in practically everything these days.

The main cast change is of course with Peter Parker. The new film will have an Andrew Garfield, a relatively unknown actor playing the role. Garfield sticks with the sort of nerdy image of Peter Parker, and if your unsure about how his acting is, maybe try watching him in the 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which was made famous by it being Heath Ledgers last film. In my opinion his not a bad actor I just feel like the public don't like the same same when it comes to films so the new director Marc Webb needs to ensure the film is completely fresh just like the franchise. My fingers are crossed.

Toby Maguire will be replaced by Andrew Garfield

Unfortuately there was an error trying to uplad to trailer but here is the link:
http://www.trailerdownload.net/movie/spider-man-4/trailers/trailer-6517.html