At the Movies

It’s the quiet before the storm at the cinema at the moment, we have time to get to see Oscar contenders that have reached Irish screens and see what the fuss was about but otherwise studios are holding out to launch an onslaught on our senses, firstly around Easter and then of course come May. In the mean time, here are 5 cinematic developments for you to consider. That done, go see ‘Venus’, Irish audiences have shamefully neglected to go see this fine film, it’s wonderful.

First up, find here a link to ‘The Simpsons Movie’ website. The most recent trailer, a choppy mix of a lot of actions and characters isn’t the best and is too busy for my liking but there is still plenty to enjoy in the earlier trailers.

To the left is the face of Shia LeBeof, the actor in final talks to play Indiana Jones' son. I don’t need to go into a diatribe about how this one piece of casting could be the ruination of a classic trilogy or should we put faith in Spielberg and Lucas? Let’s remember one of these men created Jar Jar Binks.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is set to replace Katie Holmes on the Batman Begins sequel, ‘The Dark Knight’, playing the same character rather than a new love interest. Aaron Eckhart will play Harvey Dent, the man who eventually becomes Two-Face. It has already been announced that Heath Ledger will play The Joker. I for one am much more excited about the line up of Robert Downey Jnr., Gywneth Paltrow and Terence Stamp for Iron Man.

Here is a link to the website for ‘Sunshine’, the new film from Danny Boyle (Trainspotting). With Cillian Murphy on leading man duties and the premise of a mission to reignite the sun, this could be the thinking mans blockbuster of the summer.

Finally a link to the Grindhouse website, the result of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s putting their heads together. An homage to exploitation B-movie thrillers that combines two feature-length segments into one double-bill designed to replicate the grind house theatergoing experience of the 70s and 80s. In "Death Proof," a psycho named Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) stalks and kills beautiful women with his car. In "Planet Terror," a small-town sheriffs' department has to deal with an outbreak of murderous, infected people called "sickos." A gun-legged woman named Cherry (Rose McGowan) and her martial arts-wielding partner (Freddy Rodriguez) take on the zombie army. The two films will be fused together by fake movie trailers. The possibilities here are limitless but will undoubtedly be surreal.