OK, so we're running through a few films here, but with good reason. With Summer just around the corner, we're seeing a lot of trailers for big brainless summer movies. Three of the films we're showing you the trailers for are "team of badasses on a mission" movies: The Losers, The A-Team, and The Expendables.
But first, let's look at the trailer for Dinner for Schmucks. A remake of a French film, Dinner for Schmucks stars Paul Rudd as a guy who needs to bring a huge idiot to dinner at his boss's house to get a promotion. Rudd finds Steve Carrell, a well-meaning simpleton who stuffs dead mice and puts them into dioramas. There's not a lot in the trailer that's laugh-out-loud funny, but Rudd and Carrell are two of the most likeable comedians around, and the supporting cast is strong, including Zach Galifianakis, Bruce Greenwood, Kristin Schaal, Ron Livingston, and Jemaine Clement. We'll wait for another trailer before we make up our minds about this one.
Right, let's look at our men on missions. First up is The Losers. Based on the Vertigo graphic novel, The Losers are a badass special ops team that is betrayed by the government and left for dead. However, they decide to get payback. Produced by Joel Silver, who produced movies like Predator and Lethal Weapon back in the day, and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Sherlock Holmes and Orphan more recently, the film seems to be going for fun more than anything else. The film stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who came out of Watchmen with reputation enhanced, action queen of the moment Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek), newly crowned Captain America Chris Evans (Sunshine, Scott Pilgrim), The Wire's Idris Elba, and Jason Patric as bad guy Max. Director Sylvain White's resumé isn't great, but it's only his third feature. At the moment, this looks like the film with the greatest potential to not be a disaster
Now onto the A-Team. As we all know, they're four men imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit, who promptly escaped and if you can find them maybe you can hire them. They can also use whatever's in a room to create something destructive with the help of a quick montage. This movie version of the series is written and directed by Joe Carnahan, who must be looking for some of the pedigree he got with gritty cop thriller Narc, and lost with overblown muddled assassin movie Smokin' Aces. The cast is good, with Liam Neeson getting paid handsomely for playing Hannibal Smith, Hangover star Bradley Cooper as Face, and District 9's Sharlto Copley as Howlin' Mad Murdock. They're joined by Watchmen's Patrick Wilson as the villain, and Jessica Biel as the love interest. Ultimate Fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson stars as B.A. Baracus. The trailer looks like they're going for fun, but it's a sad fact that, despite what Seinfeld taught us, most movies that feature anything falling out of a plane and shooting back at the plane are normally crap.
And now for The Expendables. Sylvester Stallone has managed to get almost every action star to sign for this men on a mission movie. Sly himself leads his team of bad-ass mercenaries, made up of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture into South America to take down evil CIA agent Eric Roberts. Oh, and he gets the jobs from Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenneger cameo as shady government guys. With this cast list, I'm going to see it no matter how bad the reviews are. It basically looks like a Rambo film, but with a bigger supporting cast. Let's just hope that Stallone wrote his co-stars actual characters, rather than just having them stand in the background. I'm still looking forward to it!
Finally, to counter the big budget stupidity, here is a trailer for a little indie film called The Good Heart. It stars Brian Cox as a grouchy New York bar owner who takes in homeless Paul Dano to groom him as his successor. This trailer shows off Cox and Dano, who look like they're giving excellent peformances, and it looks like a nice mixture of Jim Jarmusch-style humour and Hal Hartley-esque dialogue. This may well be worth seeking out.
Adventureland Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Reynolds Written and directed by: Greg Mottola
1987. After graduating college, James Brennan is told by his parents that they can't afford to pay for his summer trip to Europe, not to mention Columbia University. Looking for a summer job to pay for tuition, he discovers that the only job he can get is working at Adventureland amusement park. While doing his crappy job, James falls for Em Lewin, but she's more complicated than he realises.
As you can probably tell from the above description, Adventureland isn't big on plot, but then it doesn't have to be. It's a fairly straight-forward, gentle coming of age tale that is funny, sensitive and touching. Mottola has said that the story is very personal to him and that a lot of it is based on his own experiences. It does feel heartfelt. While there are occasional nostalgic pangs for a different time (mostly through the soundtrack), it's not maudlin, and the film is often harshly critical of the late 1980s. Adult figures are either clueless or alcoholic, and everyone's getting laid off. James also realises that his college degree has left him undesirable for any job. "I majored in Comparative Literature and Renaissance Studies! Unless someone needs help restoring a fresco, I'm screwed!"
The strong ensemble cast is led by Jesse Eisenberg, who's been doing sterling work since the underrated Roger Dodger. James isn't quite as nerdy and socially awkward as some of the leads in recent comedies, he's believable and likeable. He's supported by Kristen Stewart, who handles the difficult role of the troubled Em well. Apatow regular Martin Starr shows that he can work wonders when given a character rather than a cameo as the bookish Joel, a character who has more depth than the usual "nerdy best friend". Ryan Reynolds gets to show off his dramatic chops as Connell, the handsome, cool repair-man who's something of a legend to the carnies because he once jammed with Lou Reed. Seemingly an older-brother figure to James, Connell quickly turns out to be less benevolent than he appears. Under-used but wonderful are SNL stars and blog favourites Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader as the park's managers, who are essentially used for comic relief. Apparently husband and wife, they're both not-all-there, and adorably committed to the park rather than the cruel tyrants you'd expect from a movie about a young character forced to work a crappy job. They're good enough to make you wish they had more screen-time.
Adventureland certainly isn't a straight-up comedy, in fact it's often quite dark. There are characters who are just there to add laughs when needed, such as Hader and Wiig, and James' friend Frigo (Matt Bush) who hits James in the nuts whenever he sees him. However, given the cheesy tag-line about the worst job ever leading to the best time of their lives, and the understandable wish to trade on the fact that Mottola directed Superbad, some viewers may be surprised that Adventureland isn't a raunchy teen comedy. Yes, there are scenes of drunken parties and weed-smoking, but the main thrust of the story is James realising that his time in college has barely prepared him for the real world. He's left open to bad advice from Connell, and sometimes does the wrong thing. This is not exactly a new structure for a film, but it's one that is very effective when done right. Here, Mottola knows and loves his characters and it comes through. Adventureland isn't going to change the genre,but it makes for a very enjoyable ninety minutes
CBS Sex, violence, swearing: No. Although, with heavy involvement from Jerry Bruckheimer, many of the primetime drama have slow-motion, scantily-clad gun-fights and punch-ups. Past programmes: Some of the biggest old shows: Dallas, The Incredible Hulk, Magnum P.I., T.J. Hooker, Hawaii Five-O, Mission Impossible, Walker Texas Ranger, Rod Sirling's classic The Twilight Zone, Lost in Space, The Jeffersons, M*A*S*H*, and lunch-time favourite Diagnosis Murder. More recently they had success with James Woods' legal drama Shark, and surprisingly watchable crime drama Numbers. On the air: CBS is the network that spawned CSI and all it's spinoffs. It also has CSI-alikes Cold Case and NCIS, Criminal Minds, and supernatural dramas Ghost Whisperer and Medium (which it imported from NBC). There's acclaimed drama The Good Wife, for which Julianna Marguiles won a Golden Globe. Comedy-wise there's the geeky The Big Bang Theory, the inexplicably popular Charlie Sheen vehicle Two and a Half Men, although there's better fun to be had with both How I Met Your Mother (with Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, and Jason Segel) and The New Adventures of Old Christine (starring Julia Louis Dreyfus) Upcoming: Another Bruckheimer-produced drama, which is imaginatively titled Miami Medical. Bizarrely it stars Jeremy Northam. Early word is not good. Must see TV?: Well, CSI used to be groundbreaking television. Now, it's actually amazing that they have three of them going and that they're all so average. Well, apart from CSI Miami, which is hilariously awful. Medium is occasionally excellent, and How I Met Your Mother is a lot of fun. You could do worse.
HBO Sex, violence, swearing?: What, on HBO? Past programmes: HBO got its start with shows like Tales From the Crypt and Mr Show, as well as airing stand up comedy specials. The network made a big impact with prison drama Oz and The Wire's precursor The Corner, but really found its feet with The Sopranos and Sex in the City. The Wire and Six Feet Under soon followed, bringing a huge amount of acclaim. They stretched their wings a little with period shows like Daniel Knaufe's Carnivàle and David Milch's Deadwood, which lasted two and three seasons respectively. Rome was briefly entertaining but lost its way, and Milch's John From Cincinatti sadly disappeared up its own arse after a few impressive episodes, and was cancelled after one series. They've had big successes with combat drama mini-series, with Band of Brothers and Generation Kill. They also aired Extras, and took our favourite New Zealand folk parody duo Flight of the Conchords into the mainstream. On air: A lot of shows. Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage are still going, as are dramas like Mormon drama Big Love and Gabriel Byrne-starring In Treatment. Everyone's favourite guilty pleasure True Blood is returning for a third series, and Thomas Jane's gigolo dramedy Hung secured a second season. We're very excited about second seasons for Danny McBride and Jody Hill's Eastbound and Down, and Jason Schwartzman/Ted Danson/Zach Galifianakis noir-comedy Bored to Death. They're also currently showing Band of Brothers follow-up The Pacific. Upcoming: Two very big, star-studded series in the shape of Martin Scorsese-produced period gangster drama Boardwalk Empire, and David Simon's post-Katrina look at music in New Orleans Treme. Also on the way is Game of Thrones, a fantasy drama with Sean Bean and Lena Headey, and Stitch and Bitch, a comedy created by Juno herself: Ellen Page. Must see TV?: Yes! HBO box-sets have been occupying our Christmas and birthday wish-lists for years. Their stunning programming at the start of the last decade is perhaps the biggest reason why TV has evolved.
NBC Sex, violence, swearing?: No, no. Past programmes: NBC is another one of the big broadcasting companies. They gave us Bonanza, Columbo, The A-Team, The Bionic Woman, Dragnet, Wings, Miami Vice, , ER, Homicide: Life on the Street, Knight Rider, LA Law, Quantum Leap, Quincy M.E., St. Elsewhere, the original V, The West Wing, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Cheers, The Cosby Show, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friends, Frasier, My Name is Earl, NewsRadio, Sanford and Son, Scrubs, Seinfeld, Taxi, and Star Trek. On the down-side, they cancelled shows like Southland, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Freaks and Geeks, Kings, Kidnapped, Journeyman, The Book of Daniel, Life, and My Own Worst Enemy (justifiable). On air: A lot of good stuff. Somehow, Law and Order and its spinoffs are still going, as is Heroes (although that surely must be ending soon). Football drama Friday Night Lights and nerdy action sci-fi Chuck get rave reviews, if not necessarily massive viewing figures, but are definitely worth watching. New series include the star-studded Parenthood remake (Peter Krause, Craig T. Nelson, Lauren Graham), and medical drama Mercy. But NBC's best shows are its comedies. Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey's 30 Rock, The Office (which I actually think is funnier than the British version), Office-spinoff Parks and Recreation, and the hysterically funny Community. Upcoming: Sci-fi Day One, Persons Unknown (about which little is known), and a new sitcom called 100 Questions. 30 Rock and Community have been confirmed for another season. Must see TV?: Yes. While SNL is hit-and-miss, 30 Rock is still worth watching despite a slip in quality, and Community is just wonderful. Chuck and Friday Night Lights are up there with the best network dramas.
Well, this concludes part 2! Look out for part 3, which will include Showtime and TNT.
So, we've finally seen the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who. A new show-runner in Steven Moffat, a new Doctor in Matt Smith, a new companion in Karen Gillan's Amy Pond, and new title music, title sequence and a new Tardis. And it's a pleasure to report that episode one of this new series is a success. While it's certainly not on the same level as Moffat's contributions to previous series, it was never going to be. The Eleventh Hour is a chapter one; setting up a new story-line and introducing these new faces to viewers who were either sceptical about Matt Smith's ability to step into David Tennant's converses, and viewers like me, whose expectations were really rather high.
We start from where the last series left the Doctor, getting used to his new body while the Tardis crashes. It comes to earth in the garden of young Amelia Pond, a little girl who's home alone and scared of the crack in her wall. As the Doctor points out, "You're not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of the box, man eats fish custard, and look at you! Just sitting there! So you know what I think? Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall." They discover that the crack is dimensional, and "Prisoner Zero" has escaped through it. The Doctor realises that the Tardis is about to explode and runs out, promising to return in five minutes. When he gets back, he realises that more time has passed than he thought, and that Prisoner Zero is still very much a problem.
First of all, Matt Smith gives a very good performance. He's quirky and full of energy, but isn't just a collection of tics and mannerisms. He is "A mad man with a box", but he brings enough weight and seriousness to remind us that the Doctor isn't just a comic character. That said, this episode is fun. There's no mention of the last of the Time Lords, and while he is called lonely, it seems more of a friendly jibe than the maudlin refrain that it became towards the end of Tennant's run. Also impressive is Karen Gillan as the grown-up Amy Pond. She spends much of this episode angry at the Doctor for abandoning her as a child, and confusion over how exactly what she grew to believe was an imaginary friend has returned, but the chemistry between them is excellent, and she gives Smith a run for his money.
The monster plot, admittedly, isn't exactly classic stuff. It's set up to give us information about Amy Pond and the people in her life, including her boyfriend Rory, a friend called Jeff who needs to delete his internet history, and Annette Crosbie. It's fun enough, though, despite a dodgy CGI snake thing. The script has a good balance of gags to spookiness, and Patient Zero works well when using the form of real people, including Peep Show's Olivia Colman who does a good job handling the bulk of the evil exposition. There are a couple of sour notes, including a clumsy last minute revelation about Amy, but overall it's an excellent set-up that leaves us very excited for episode two.
The episode also ended with an extended preview of what we can look forward to in upcoming episodes, which includes Daleks and Cybermen, which I'm not thrilled about, and the return of Alex Kingston's River Song, the Weeping Angels, which I'm very excited about, and a guest appearance by Bill Nighy, which everyone should be excited about. Now that the introductions are out of the way, here's hoping that the ensuing series will be as good as the first chapter promises.
It's about ten years since we started to realise that it was fine to admit that we watched TV. Shows like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and 24 changed our expectations of what a television series could accomplish. Since then, several television networks have been striving to create their own must-see programmes and conquer the monopoly that HBO had, and still has to some extent. It used to be that only HBO had shows filled with sex, violence and foul language (Seemingly the holy trinity of the "It's not TV. It's HBO" ethos.). Now, networks like Showtime and FX are pushing boundaries. It's not just the quality of the shows themselves either. Advertising for televisions series has become more and more eye-catching, putting lackluster movie posters to shame. We're going to be looking at several television series in detail, and talk about what they represent for the medium and how they compare to similar films. But to start with, we're going to look at each network and what they have to offer, and how they compare to each other
ABC Sex, Violence, Swearing?: No. ABC is family friendly. Even the more adult-themed shows feature no cussing. Of course, after the watershed there will be a bit of violence but nothing HBO-worthy Past programmes: ABC is one of the big networks, airing comedy, drama and sci-fi since the 1960s. Their impressive roster includes Twin Peaks, Alias, Ellen, Happy Days, Sports Night, Spin City, Pushing Daisies, Boston Legal, Kingdom Hospital, The Middleman, and the original Battlestar Galactica. This barely touches on the golden oldies like Charlie's Angels and The Addams Family. But how are they doing now? On the air: Definitely skewed towards the mainstream. On the decent end of the scale we have Nathan Fillion-starring crime drama Castle, and family dramedy Brothers and Sisters. They're also responsible for some of the biggest shows on TV. JJ Abrams' Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, the V remake, Ugly Betty, and Flashforward. But Lost, Grey's, Housewives, and Ugly Betty are all coming to an end. Flashforward and V were huge investments but have been critically scorned. Comedy-wise, ABC have Scrubs' creator Bill Lawrence's Cougar Town, starring Courtney Cox, and Modern Family Upcoming: There's some promising darkness with Happy Town, in which a small town has it's first crime for months after a series of kidnappings, starring Sam Neill, Stephen Weber, and Amy Acker. Also coming soon is Copper, a less-starry, more generic sounding drama. Must see TV?: Hmmm...Castle is good, silly fun, but it relies heavily on the chemistry between Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic. Otherwise we're really just waiting for Happy Town.
AMC Sex, violence, swearing?: Yes, indeed. While Mad Men is pretty restrained, owing to its period setting, Breaking Bad is very much an adult show. Past programmes: Not much. AMC seems to have only started making their own shows fairly recently On the air: Ah, here is where it gets interesting. In 2007 AMC aired Mad Men, the 1950s set drama about ad men in New York. Now gearing up for it's fourth series, Mad Men drew critical acclaim and has entered into pop culture thanks to it's style and superb cast. In particular, it has catapulted blog favourite Jon Hamm onto the A-List. AMC followed Mad Men with Breaking Bad in 2008. Now on its third series, Breaking Bad quickly drew similar levels of adoration as Mad Men, albeit at a slower pace. Starring Bryan Cranston (The dad from Malcolm in the Middle and sleazy dentist Tim Whately on Seinfeld) as a high school chemistry teacher Walter White, who starts cooking crystal meth when he discovers he has cancer, it's edgy, violent, and utterly compelling. It's also given Mad Men a run for its money in the awards stakes. The network also made the surprisingly decent mini-series reworking of The Prisoner, staring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen. There were rumours about expanding it to a full series, but at the moment it doesn't look likely Upcoming: AMC have committed to a full series for Frank Darabont's adaptation of popular graphic novel series The Walking Dead. This shows an impressive level of confidence, and, if it works, could well lead the way for more TV versions of comic books. Must see TV?: Yes. Mad Men and Breaking Bad are two of the best shows around.
Fox Sex, violence and swearing: No, it's not a cable company. The big hitters go by network guidelines. Past programmes: Cancelled cult favourite Arrested Development, Malcolm in the Middle, That 70s Show, cancelled cult favourite The Tick, The Tracey Ullman Show, Judd Apatow's cancelled cult favourite Undeclared, our favourite cancelled cult favourite cartoon Futurama, King of the Hill, Ally McBeal, cancelled Nathan Fillion-starrer Drive, The OC, Prison Break, cancelled cult favourite Wonderfalls, cancelled cult favourite Dollhouse, The X-Files, Millennium, prematurely cancelled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and, perhaps most importantly, cancelled cult favourite Firefly. If you think you see a pattern here, well done. There's a reason that Fox have earned the hatred of nerds everywhere. They commission great series, then cancel them. They also own the rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, both of which were originally broadcast on The WB. Currently airing: Keifer Sutherland-starring 24, which is finally coming to an end, solid hits such as House, Lie to Me, and Bones, JJ Abrams' erratically excellent sci-fi Fringe, and this year's monster success Glee. They're also still the big animation network, with The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad. Upcoming: Not much. Maybe people are finally starting to realise that Fox isn't the safest place to be. We don't understand why they would invest so much in shows that show so much promise, then shut them down before they have a chance to get going. Must see TV?: It would be foolish to write off Fox, and chances are you're probably already watching Glee. They've shown they're very good at capturing zeitgest shows, such as The X-Files, 24, The OC, Prison Break (so good in season 1, so bad afterwards), and House. But the best shows they have are currently on FX
FX Past programmes: Not much of interest. FX has been around for a while as a spin-off of Fox, but has only recently been producing adult-themed, acclaimed shows. The first big one was The Shield, followed by the just-finished Nip/Tuck. Also no longer running are Courtney Cox tabloid drama Dirt, Andre Braugher-starring Thief, and Eddie Izzard/Minnie Driver con-men show The Riches. Currently airing: Denis Leary's controversial firefighter drama Rescue Me has proved consistently popular and is going into season 6, and acclaimed legal drama Damages, starring Glenn Close, is currently in its third season. The big new things are the excellent biker crime drama Sons of Anarchy, starring Ron Perlman, which has just finished its second season, and just-premiered Justified, based on an Elmore Leonard book and starring Timothy Olyphant as a US Marshal forced to return to his home town. There's also the fantasy football comedy The League, and offbeat animated comedy Archer. Upcoming: Not much at the moment, with Justified only very recently having started. Sons of Anarchy, The League, and Archer have all been given another season. Must see TV?: Yes. Sons of Anarchy is very good, uncompromising television. Justified has a lot of hype and pedigree. However, Rescue Me went off the boil a while ago, and Damages is starting to get some iffy reviews.
Well that's it for part one. See you soon for part 2, where we'll look at NBC, HBO, and Showtime!
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist, Lena Endre, Peter Haber, Sven-Bertil Taube Screenplay: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) is contacted by old, incredibly wealthy industry tycoon Henrik Vanger (Taube). Henrik wants to find out what happened to his beloved niece Harriet, who disappeared 40 years ago, and has narrowed down the suspects to the members his family, many of whom have ties to Nazi groups. As Blomkvist relocates to the small village of Hedeby, where the Vangers live in wealthy isolation, troubled computer hacker and loner Lisbeth Salander (Rapace) gets wind of the investigation and decides to get involved.
The first of three Swedish films based on the incredibly popular Millennium trilogy gets things off to a very good start. The tragic story of Stieg Larsson, who died before the publication of the books, is movie-material itself, but The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo crams enough intrigue, murder, and violence to fill its two-and-a-half hour running time.
Almost inevitably, the fact that the film is in a foreign language has placed it in the arthouse arena. While it is beautifully shot and determined to go at its own pace, it's also very much a dark, violent, thriller reminiscent of Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs. It's a murder mystery based around a rich reclusive family, the main character is a journalist, there are red herrings and sudden shocking violence. The comparison to these 1990s genre films isn't supposed to be detrimental. In fact, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is probably as close as any film's come to that quality since.
Aside from its inherent Swedish-ness (Yes, that's a thing), three things really set this film apart from the many, many other films crowding the genre. The treatment of misogyny and violence against women, the two leading actors, and the character of Lisbeth Salander. The Swedish title translates as Men Who Hate Women, and that is accurate, to put it lightly. Of course, we know that victims of serial killers are traditionally women, but the film is uncommonly unflinching in it's depiction of the violence. These scenes are graphic, brutal and hard to watch. This ties in closely with Lisbeth Salander, who is clearly, by quite some way, the best thing that the film, and the book, has going for it. Excellently played by Noomi Rapace, Salander is a tattoed, pierced, Goth loner who has been abused by the system which has kept control of her since events in her youth. As the film starts she is placed under the care of a new guardian who clearly falls into the title's category. Lisbeth fights back, and keeps fighting throughout the whole of the film.
Rapace gives a very deft peformance. Tough yet vulnerable, she also shows a keen grasp of light comedy in her scenes with Michael Nyqvist, who also does excellent work in the role of Blomqvist. A Hollywood remake would presumably soften Lisbeth's rough edges, and either make Blomqvist about ten or fifteen years younger, or cast someone more conventionally attractive than Nyqvist, who resembles a slightly rounder Mathieu Almaric. Both actors deserve the attention they've been getting. The rest of the cast give very good performances, and special mention must go to Peter Andersson as Lisbeth's repulsive guardian.
Director Niels Arden Oplev does very well creating the oppressive atmosphere of the Vanger family compound, and he and the writers should be commended for the work they did compressing the novel, which was occasionally guilty of padding, into a film that, although perhaps a little long, suffers from few dead patches. Oplev has made a gripping, tense thriller that deserves an audience beyond the arthouse.
Yesterday the first official teaser trailer for Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim Versus The World hit the interweb, with fans everywhere going crazy. The film marks Wright's first film without his Simon Pegg/Nick Frost support structure, not to mention his first film set in the US. Based on the popular comic book series, Scott Pilgrim is the story of the titular character's attempts to defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes. Realism is not the order of the day, with overblown actions sequences sure to abound. The supporting cast is impressive: Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Chris Evans (Sunshine), Mae Whitman (Arrested Development), and Jason Schwartzman are among the exes, Up in the Air's Anna Kendrick plays Scott's sister, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Death Proof) plays Ramona Flowers, the object of Scott's affections. But our two major concerns lie with the tone and the star. Knowing silliness is all very well, as long it's entertaining. If the film starts to get snarky, the goofy appeal with surely fly out of the window. And have we had enough of Michael Cera? OK, so the part does seem to fit him like a glove, but hasn't every part he's played since Superbad? Obviously, I'm being unfair as this is just the teaser trailer. But, this is, just, like, our opinion, man.
Next up is the moderately funny trailer for Saturday Night Live-spinoff movie MacGruber. The sketches were often hilarious, featuring Will Forte as an inept MacGuyver character who was constantly distracted from defusing the bomb by issues such as Pepsi sponsorship, his son's sexual orientation, and accusations of racism. But there hasn't been a good film based on an SNL sketch for a long time. Can MacGruber hold up to a feature length treatment? Well, the trailer is OK. Forte seems to be on form, there's the impressive casting decisions (Val Kilmer as a villain called Dieter Von Cunth, Powers Boothe as MacGruber's boss, Ryan Phillipe), a couple of the jokes hit the mark, and it has the fantastic Kristin Wiig. But to be honest, it's not particularly inspiring. That being said, every review of the film that's come out of the festival circuit has been overwhelmingly positive. Word is that the funniest scenes are definitely not in the trailer, the film is very much R-rated, and it's hilarious. It'll be interesting to see how the film fares on wide release, but we're looking forward to it.
Right, let's look at our men on missions. First up is The Losers. Based on the Vertigo graphic novel, The Losers are a badass special ops team that is betrayed by the government and left for dead. However, they decide to get payback. Produced by Joel Silver, who produced movies like Predator and Lethal Weapon back in the day, and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Sherlock Holmes and Orphan more recently, the film seems to be going for fun more than anything else. The film stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who came out of Watchmen with reputation enhanced, action queen of the moment Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek), newly crowned Captain America Chris Evans (Sunshine, Scott Pilgrim), The Wire's Idris Elba, and Jason Patric as bad guy Max. Director Sylvain White's resumé isn't great, but it's only his third feature. At the moment, this looks like the film with the greatest potential to not be a disaster
And now for The Expendables. Sylvester Stallone has managed to get almost every action star to sign for this men on a mission movie. Sly himself leads his team of bad-ass mercenaries, made up of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture into South America to take down evil CIA agent Eric Roberts. Oh, and he gets the jobs from Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenneger cameo as shady government guys. With this cast list, I'm going to see it no matter how bad the reviews are. It basically looks like a Rambo film, but with a bigger supporting cast. Let's just hope that Stallone wrote his co-stars actual characters, rather than just having them stand in the background. I'm still looking forward to it!
Finally, to counter the big budget stupidity, here is a trailer for a little indie film called The Good Heart. It stars Brian Cox as a grouchy New York bar owner who takes in homeless Paul Dano to groom him as his successor. This trailer shows off Cox and Dano, who look like they're giving excellent peformances, and it looks like a nice mixture of Jim Jarmusch-style humour and Hal Hartley-esque dialogue. This may well be worth seeking out.
