The “leave your brain at the door” argument, and why it’s wrong

You hear it all the time, often wailed in defence of Michael Bay’s latest crime against humanity: “you just need to leave your brain at the door of the theatre, and then you’ll have the time of your life.” It’s spoken (or written) in a friendly but ultimately condescending manner, and is often...

Call Sheet: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Scream 4, Demi Moore, Angela Bassett and someone will finally be Spider-Man

Call Sheet: A weekly run-down of movie casting news and rumours from around the web. Undoubtedly the biggest casting news of the week was the appointment of Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in the all-new upcoming Spider-Man franchise reboot, being directed by Marc Webb. THR revealed the second biggest...

THE THING prequel gets a release date

Matthijs van Heijningen’s The Thing prequel has been slapped with a 29 April 2011 US release date. If you already forgot, Iron Man 2 opened in that slot this year and did pretty good business. But Iron Man 2 had Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlet Johanssen’s chest going for it. What does...

Autumn review round-up: some duds, some gems, and a couple of shrugs

It’s winter again. I can tell because I have a cold, my cats look more woolly than your average sheep, and it’s starting to rain every time I go to put the washing out. That can mean only one thing: the dreary cinematic graveyard season of autumn is finally passing. And what a mixed season it...

IRON MAN 2 review: no girls allowed

Julie Andrews suggests I start the very beginning (which is apparently a very good place to start), so I’ll do that: Iron Man 2 starts off bad. There’s an awkward opening scene establishing Mickey Rourke’s “Whiplash” character that comes off hideously awkward and unnecessary,...

New poster for the next Megan Fox movie features JONAH HEX

Megan Fox will play a prostitute, wear busty tight dresses and carry small guns (is she compensating for something?) in her new film which also stars Josh Brolin and Jon Malkovich, called Jonah Hex. If you’re like me and don’t read comic books (this is another comic book/graphic novel...

High hopes for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET reboot

When I think of 80s cinema two things in particular come to mind: science fiction, and adventure films. Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Back To The Future, The Thing, Blade Runner — these are the classics that spring to mind. What I don’t usually think of is the horror franchises spawned in the 80s,...

Ah, crap: Joss Whedon’s doing something again

Just when I thought Joss Whedon would go back to TV forever and leave us cinephiles alone, here he comes to potentially ruin another few promising franchises. The purveyor of all things smug and sarcastic, Whedon  has been called in to rewrite the Captain America and Avengers scripts. This comes hot on...

Q: Why was I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS’ release indefinitely delayed?

A: Homophobia. Probably. I’m just guessing. A movie in which Jim Carrey falls in love with and shares several intimate scenes with Ewan McGregor, written and directed by the writers of the deliciously black Bad Santa, should have enough box-office draw to warrant a serious release, but we’ve...