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Black Butterfly Trailer


Paul is a lonely screenwriter who has been suffering from a serious case of writer's block since his wife left him. As an act of charity, he picks up a hitchhiker named Jack on the way back to his wilderness home and offers him a bed for the night. The next morning, Jack makes breakfast and offers to do some much-needed chores around the house. He's an intense sort of man, though Paul thinks nothing of it until he catches him reading his unfinished script. Jack wants to help Paul write a better story and soon becomes more than a temporary guest at his house. When a series of abductions of young women hit the news, Paul starts to have suspicions about Jack and uncovers some unsettling clues. Soon he realises that he has become a hostage in his own house as Jack threatens violence on Paul and his brand new girlfriend Laura.

Continue: Black Butterfly Trailer

Antonio Banderas Reveals He Suffered A Heart Attack


Antonio Banderas

Antonio Banderas has revealed that the health scare he suffered in January was in fact a heart attack.

On January 26, the actor was taken to hospital near his home in Surrey after experiencing chest pains while working out. While the actor previously dismissed his hospitalisation as an ‘episode’, he has now confirmed that he suffered a non-serious heart attack.

Antonio Banderas Antonio Banderas (pictured with girlfriend Nicole Kimpel has revealed he suffered a heart attack in January

Continue reading: Antonio Banderas Reveals He Suffered A Heart Attack

Antonio Banderas Hospitalised After Experiencing Chest Pains


Antonio Banderas Melanie Griffith

Actor Antonio Banderas was reportedly taken to hospital on Thursday, after experiencing ‘agonising chest pains’.

The 56-year-old had been exercising when he suddenly started experiencing the pains and was rushed to hospital near his Surrey home.

Antonio BanderasAntonio Banderas suffered a ‘major heart scare’ last Thursday

Continue reading: Antonio Banderas Hospitalised After Experiencing Chest Pains

Knight Of Cups Trailer


Rick is one of the hottest screenwriters in Hollywood but after the death of his brother he finds himself becoming absorbed into a world of parties, drinking and excess. Parties are part of the norm for Rick but after the loss of his brother he finds himself evaluating his life and what it all means.

Spiralling uncontrollably his only real solace comes from short lived relationships with women, but each relationship actually brings Rick a little closer to the closure he seeks.

Knight Of Cups is the new film from Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life & The Thin Red Line)

A Week In Movies: Lively Premieres In London, L.A. And San Sebastian, Plus Trailers For Films With Kristen Stewart, Katie Holmes, Jeremy Irvine And Catherine Tate


Rosamund Pike David Tennant Elle Fanning Antonio Banderas Kristen Stewart Katie Holmes

What We Did on Our Holiday

At the premiere of the new British comedy What We Did on Our Holiday in London this week, David Tennant strolled the red carpet in a kilt while Rosamund Pike looked stunning in a lacy black dress that only barely concealed her baby bump. She's also been out promoting her upcoming blockbuster Gone Girl. Browse our Rosamund Pike and David Tennant photos at the 'What We Did on Our Holiday' premiere on Monday 22nd September 2014. Read our 'What We Did on Our Holiday' review.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, The Boxtrolls held a family-friendly premiere at which Elle Fanning surprised fans with a new brunette hairdo. She was accompanied by costars Ben Kingsley and Nick Frost, plus Ian Ziering, Kathryn Hahn, Molly Ringwold and Garcelle Beauvais, who were accompanied by their families. View our photos from the premiere of 'The Boxtrolls' - Sunday 21st September 2014. Read our 'The Boxtrolls' review.

Continue reading: A Week In Movies: Lively Premieres In London, L.A. And San Sebastian, Plus Trailers For Films With Kristen Stewart, Katie Holmes, Jeremy Irvine And Catherine Tate

A Week In Movies: Fans Line Up For If I Stay, Big Films Shoot In London And L.A., And Trailers Arrive For New Movies Starring Banderas, Renner, Marsden And Mara


Chloe Moretz Jamie Blackley Mia Wasikowska Ed Speleers Zac Efron Antonio Banderas Jeremy Renner James Marsden

If I Stay

Chloe Grace Moretz and Jamie Blackley have been out and about promoting their new teenage tearjerker If I Stay over the past week. First they premiered the film in New York, at which they were filmed chatting with fans, taking selfies and signing autographs. Then Blackley headed to London for more of the same this week. Watch the video - Chloe Grace Moretz And Jamie Blackley Greet Fans At 'If I Stay' Screening.

Also in London, Mia Wasikowska, Ed Speleers and Lindsay Duncan were filmed while shooting a sequence for the Alice in Wonderland sequel Through the Looking Glass in what looks like a bustling Victorian market. Clearly this scene is part of the framing story rather than Wonderland. Watch the video of Mia Wasikowska Seen Filming For 'Alice In Wonderland: Through The Looking Glass'.

Continue reading: A Week In Movies: Fans Line Up For If I Stay, Big Films Shoot In London And L.A., And Trailers Arrive For New Movies Starring Banderas, Renner, Marsden And Mara

Melanie Griffith Divorcing Antonio Banderas: Hollywood's Flagship Marriage Crumbles


Melanie Griffith Antonio Banderas

Melanie Griffith is to divorce Antonio Banderas after 18 years of marriage. The acting couple have allegedly been living apart for several months but have now decided to formalise their split. However, the pair are said to making an effort to handle the split carefully and keep things amicable so as not to disrupt their children's lives.

Griffith and Banderas said in a statement issued by their publicist: "We have thoughtfully and consensually decided to finalize our almost 20 years marriage in a loving and friendly manner honoring and respecting each other, our family and friends and the beautiful time we have spent together."

Griffith and Banderas' parting of ways represents a monumental crumbling of one of Hollywood's once seemingly most steadfast unions. The couple met and fell in love on the set of the 1995 film Two Much and forged one of Tinseltown's strongest and longest marriages, despite the increasing talk of issues that has arisen in the past 12 months.

Continue reading: Melanie Griffith Divorcing Antonio Banderas: Hollywood's Flagship Marriage Crumbles

"Smells Like An Old Backyard": Pharrell Williams' 'GIRL' And Other Celebrity Fragrances


Pharrell Williams Peter Andre Alan Cumming Justin Bieber Antonio Banderas Nicki Minaj

The celebs aren’t satisfied with us mere mortals wanting to just look like them, apparently we have to want to smell like them too. The craze for celebrity fragrances is still raging, with Pharrell William’s creating his own scent in collaboration with Comme des Garçons Parfums. The fragrance will be named ‘GIRL’, after his new album, which currently holds the UK Number One spot in the album charts.

pharrell williams girl Pharrell's fragrance will be called 'GIRL'

Pharrell joins the long line of celebrities that have already developed their own fragrances, some names you'll expect to see, others you won't!

Continue reading: "Smells Like An Old Backyard": Pharrell Williams' 'GIRL' And Other Celebrity Fragrances

A Week In Movies: Awards Season Gathers Pace, Superhero Movie Rumours Abound, Expendables 3 Drops A Teaser


Mark Wahlberg Taylor Kitsch Idris Elba Naomie Harris Joaquin Phoenix Dwayne Johnson Denzel Washington Harrison Ford Antonio Banderas Mel Gibson

Lone Survivor

Things always go quiet in the film industry over the holidays as everyone takes one last break before the full onslaught of awards season campaigning. Nominations for both Oscars and Baftas come in the next two weeks, and there's also action for the influential writers, directors, producers and actors guilds. 

Awards-worthy movies expanding into cinemas this weekend include Mark Wahlberg's Lone Survivor, Spike Jonze's Her, the biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and the Cambodia documentary The Missing Picture. All have picked up attention from critics groups over the past month and are looking to catch the eye of Oscar voters. Read our review of 'Lone Survivor', watch the trailer for Spike Jonze's 'Her', read our review of 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' or our review of 'The Missing Picture'.

Continue reading: A Week In Movies: Awards Season Gathers Pace, Superhero Movie Rumours Abound, Expendables 3 Drops A Teaser

E.L. James Announces Fifty Shades Of Grey Cast


Charlie Hunnam Dakota Johnson Antonio Banderas Melanie Griffith Don Johnson

E.L. James, the author of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, announced the casting for the film adaptation via Twitter.

Charlie Hunnam
Charlie Hunnam is Christian Grey.

 The author tweeted twice yesterday (Monday 2nd September). Firstly announcing who would be playing her heroine Anastasia Steele, namely Dakota Johnson, and then that Charlie Hunnan has been cast as Christian Grey. She wrote "I am delighted to let you know that the lovely Dakota Johnson has agreed to be our Anastasia in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey." Then later she tweeted the Charlie Hunnam news, describing the actor as "gorgeous and talented."

Continue reading: E.L. James Announces Fifty Shades Of Grey Cast

A Week In Movies: Star Trek Into The Darkness Excites Fans, Matthew McConaughey Premiere's Mud And Fast And Furious 6 Is Announced


Star Trek Jj Abrams Matthew Mcconaughey Pedro Almodovar Antonio Banderas Penelope Cruz Tribeca Film Festival Peter Dinklage Evan Rachel Wood Berenice Bejo Vin Diesel Paul Walker

Simon Pegg at the Star Wars Premiere

The big event this week was the world premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness in London, attended by the entire cast, director J.J. Abrams, the writers, producers and any celebrity in shouting distance of Leicester Square. The film is gaining buzz among critics who have already seen it in advance of its UK release next week. It opens in America on May 17th.

This week's big release in America is Iron Man 3, which has already made more than $300 million worldwide. In the UK, there's an eclectic mix of new releases in cinemas, from the dark action of Dead Man Down, starring Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace, to the wacky comical antics of Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited, which features cameos from his regulars Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz.

Continue reading: A Week In Movies: Star Trek Into The Darkness Excites Fans, Matthew McConaughey Premiere's Mud And Fast And Furious 6 Is Announced

I'm So Excited! [Los Amantes Pasajeros] Review


Very Good

Fans of more recent Almodovar films like The Skin I Live In or Volver should be warned about this one, because it harks back to his much cheesier 1980s films with its broad comedy, lurid production values and camp characters. But even if it looks fluffy and silly, there are some serious things going on under the surface, as Almodovar undermines stereotypes and plays with sexuality issues. Although this means that most of the humour is aimed at a gay audience.

It all takes place on a flight from Spain to Mexico, but shortly after take-off the pilot (de la Torre) announces that a mechanical fault means they need to make an emergency landing. Then the passenger Bruna (Duenas) reveals that she's a virginal psychic who sees death ahead, and everyone starts to panic. The flight crew (Camara, Areces and Arevalo) try to distract the passengers from impending doom by performing a choreographed number to the Pointer Sisters' eponymous hit. And when that doesn't work, they lace everyone's drinks with mescaline.

Each person in the first class cabin (economy is sound asleep) has his or her own crisis, including a notorious dominatrix (Roth), a businessman (Torrijo) on a quest, a shady hitman (Yazpik), a just-married groom (Silvestre) who prefers his wife to be asleep, and a man (Toledo) running from his suicidal girlfriend (Vega). And the pilots and flight attendants are also romantically entangled. All of this swirls together like a nutty 1970s Mexican soap, complete with flimsy-looking sets and a sparky mariachi score.

Continue reading: I'm So Excited! [Los Amantes Pasajeros] Review

Video - Taylor Swift, Jerry Springer And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Arrive At The Kennedy's Ripple Of Hope Awards Dinner


Taylor Swift, Jerry Springer, Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria Thomas and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were among the mass of arrivals for the 2012 Ripple of Hope Awards Dinner at The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in New York City.

Continue: Video - Taylor Swift, Jerry Springer And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Arrive At The Kennedy's Ripple Of Hope Awards Dinner

Ruby Sparks, Trailer


Ruby Sparks tells the story of a successful young novelist who starts to suffer from writer's block. Eventually, though, Calvin makes a huge development and invents Ruby Sparks; a beautiful, red-headed female character who he begins to fall madly in love with - despite her being a figment his imagination. or so he thinks. A week later he finds her casually sprawled on his couch and although Calvin tries to pass her off as the hallucinations of an over-active imagination, it soon becomes clear that his words have manifested themselves into a real-life person. More accurately, a real-life love interest.

Continue: Ruby Sparks, Trailer

Black Gold Review


Very Good
The history of the oil industry in Arabia is reduced to a fast-paced adventure movie in this lively project that probably should have been a TV series. It keeps us thoroughly entertained, but only manages to flesh out a couple of characters.

To bring peace between the two leading kingdoms in 1920s Arabia, Sultan Amar (Strong) allows Emir Nesib (Banderas) to raise his two sons. Younger son Auda (Rahim) grows up as a bookworm with a soft spot for Nesib's daughter Leyla (Pinto), which comes in handy when they are asked to marry to link the two kingdoms. But their fragile treaty is strained when Texans arrive and start to to drill for oil: Nesib rather likes the money, but Amar sees this as a violation of their treaty.

Continue reading: Black Gold Review

Haywire Review


Excellent
It's hardly surprising that Soderbergh takes such a bracing approach to the action thriller genre. What makes this film stand out from the crowd is its insistence on making sure that the action is grounded in human physicality, internalised drama and the laws of gravity.

Mallory (Carano) is a former military operative who's now a private contractor.

After working with Aaron (Tatum) on a rather dodgy kidnap-rescue in Barcelona, her U.S. Government boss Kenneth (McGregor) sends her to Dublin on an assignment with British agent Paul (Fassbender). But things quickly get messy and, when she ends up on the run, she desperately grabs a passerby (Angarano) and tells him her tale while figuring out what to do. The only men she trusts are a political puppet-master (Douglas) and her ex-military guru dad (Paxton).

Continue reading: Haywire Review

Black Gold Trailer


In the 1930's Arab states, two warring leaders come face to face. Nesib, Emir of Hobeika, lays down peace terms to his rival Amar, the Sultan of Salmaah. The two men agree that neither may claim the area of no man's land between them, dubbed The Yellow Belt. According to the tribal customs of the time, Nesib will "adopt"- or take hostage- Amar's two boys Saleeh and Auda in return; a guarantee that means neither man can invade the other.

Continue: Black Gold Trailer

Puss In Boots Review


Very Good
This Shrek spin-off continues the theme of mashing up fairy tales with movie genres, and while there's a slightly stale odour lingering through this prequel, it's also witty enough to keep us laughing.

Puss (Banderas) is a notorious outlaw looking for a way to clear his name and repay an old debt when he hears that redneck thugs Jack and Jill (Thornton and Sedaris) have some magic beans that can be used to find a golden-egg-laying goose. Then he discovers that sexy thief Kitty Softpaws (Hayek) is also after them. And worse yet, she's working with Humpty Dumpty (Galifianakis), Puss' childhood cohort who once betrayed him. When Humpty convinces Puss that he's now a good egg, the trio makes an elaborate plan to get the beans together.

Continue reading: Puss In Boots Review

Video - Antonio Banderas Would Never Be A Surgeon


Spanish actor Antonio Banderas (Zorro; Shrek 2; Once Upon A Time In Mexico) sits down to talk about his new film 'The Skin I Live In'. Antonio discusses the darkness of his character and the changes it caused in his behaviour that he didn't necessarily notice. And while he has the steady hands, he would not like to be a doctor or a surgeon, but he maintains that he has a deep admiration for their job.

Antonio can next be seen in the much anticipated animated family film, 'Puss In Boots', the spin off of the highly successful 'Shrek' films

Haywire Trailer


Mallory Kane is a highly trained freelance covert operative who works for the American Government in some of the most dangerous corners of the world. One day, she gets an assignment which is described to her as being 'like a trained holiday': she must go to Barcelona and free a Chinese journalist who is being held hostage there.

Continue: Haywire Trailer

The Skin I Live In Trailer


Twelve years ago, plastic surgeon Dr Robert Ledgard's wife was burnt to death in a car crash. Since then he has been trying to recreate a skin that will be virtually indestructible against any assault and damage, a practice that his fellow surgeons have called unethical.

Continue: The Skin I Live In Trailer

Puss In Boots Trailer


Puss in Boots first appeared in Shrek, sent by Princess' Fiona's father King Harold to kill the ogre; however, he fails in doing this and instead becomes friends with Shrek and in particular with Donkey, helping them and their friends on various quests around the kingdom of Far Far Away.

Continue: Puss In Boots Trailer

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger Trailer


After years of marriage, Alfie and Helena are getting divorced, this is mainly due to Alfie's midlife crisis and lust for a much younger woman called Charmaine. Whilst Helena seeks guidance from a fortune teller her daughter is also facing troubles of her own. Sally works in an art gallery work whilst her husband stays at home hoping to write a novel that repeats the success of his first.

Continue: You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger Trailer

Shrek Forever After Trailer


Watch the trailer for Shrek Forever After

Continue: Shrek Forever After Trailer

Chevolution Review


Excellent
This fascinating double documentary examines the legends of both Ernesto "Che" Guevara and the iconic photo of him that has taken on its own life. It's also a look at the power of a single image.

The truth is that most people have no idea who Guevara really was, but they know he's cool. This is mainly due to an image snapped almost accidentally in 1960, which was later turned into a logo for people power. The filmmakers trace both the life and death of Guevara and the production and spread of Alberto Korda's photograph with amazing detail, illustrating every point with superb archive footage, photos and interviews with experts, celebrities, politicians and first-hand witnesses.

Continue reading: Chevolution Review

My Mom's New Boyfriend Review


Weak
Grown-up son living at home becomes angry and frustrated when his mom brings a new guy into the picture. Wait, didn't I just see this movie? Literally, a week ago?

Turns out My Mom's New Boyfriend has some differences with Mama's Boy, though it sticks closely to the overall shoddy quality level. This time out it's not a straight-up case of a son feeling betrayed. Writer/director George Gallo (DysFunktional Family) throws in a crime caper too. Henry (Colin Hanks) hasn't seen Mom (Meg Ryan) in three years due to his undercover duties as an FBI agent. When he returns home with a fiancee (Selma Blair), he finds that Mom hasn't just lost hundreds of pounds, she's also turned into a raving sexual lunatic, too. No sooner has Henry made his old bed than Mom gets mixed up with Tommy (Antonio Banderas), a known art thief... who Henry's been assigned to spy on!

Continue reading: My Mom's New Boyfriend Review

Frida Review


Very Good
After withstanding a decade of development, a race between two competing projects, and the mural-sized egos of Jennifer Lopez and Madonna, a film biography of Frida Kahlo has finally made it to the screen. Who would have guessed that a film about a mustachioed, Mexican woman with a peg leg and an overweight, Communist husband would generate so much interest? Nevertheless Frida's producers, including star Salma Hayek, somehow prevented this unique story from becoming a disastrous vanity project and ended up with an unlikely Hollywood film.

Frida Kahlo's (Salma Hayek) first meeting with Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina) and her injury in a horrible bus accident set in motion the two major forces behind Frida. Bedridden for months in a full-body cast, the young Frida keeps herself busy--and learns to express her internal passions and pain--through drawing and painting. Falling in with the womanizing Rivera and his bohemian cadre of artists and revolutionaries deepens Frida's commitment to her painting and life with the loyal but philandering muralist. Their art carries them from Mexico to New York and back in the company of such impressive historical figures as David Alfaro Siqueiros (Antonio Banderas), Nelson Rockefeller (Ed Norton), and Leon Trotsky (Geoffery Rush).

Continue reading: Frida Review

Spy Kids Review


Excellent
There are few respectable filmmakers in the world that would take on the difficult challenge of creating a children's movie. I don't mean those hack directors who just sit behind the camera and yell "action" and "print," but those few who take on the challenge of writing, directing, producing, and even editing a successful film for the underage masses. Creating a fantasy world with non-abrasive violence, imaginative sets and props, and engaging characters to follow is a tough process. With Spy Kids, Robert Rodriguez proves that his handling of adult fare extends to kids' stuff, too.

My favorite films are from my childhood -- Flash Gordon, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Mary Poppins, the Muppets movies, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and The Never-Ending Story -- and they all presented an impossible world made real only by the power of imagination. Spy Kids ranks up there with the best children's films by creating implausible scenarios made from martial arts stunts, gee-whiz spy gadgets, robots built entirely of huge thumbs, a holodeck-like room filled with rolling clouds and stretches of golden sands, and providing total escapism for both kids and adults.

Continue reading: Spy Kids Review

Shrek 2 Review


Very Good
When Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) pulls off his helmet to reveal a hairnet in the first minute of Shrek 2, it's clear the sequel intends to match the wit and style of its predecessor. Fortunately it succeeds, finding new targets for its fairy-tale bashing humor. The result is the kind of summer escapism you don't need to lower your expectations to enjoy.

The sequel begins where part one left off. Ogre Shrek (Mike Myers) and his now equally ogre-rific wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) embark on a hilarious honeymoon montage, complete with mermaid-tossing. They return to find Donkey (Eddie Murphy) still fulfilling his role as "annoying talking animal." Before they can kick him out, however, they receive an invitation from Fiona's parents, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews), who want to meet their daughter's new husband. Unfortunately, they didn't see the first film, and have no idea that their daughter is now permanently of the green persuasion, as is their new son-in-law.

Continue reading: Shrek 2 Review

Assassins Review


Very Good
Okay, I admit it. I was expecting something horrible like Judge Dredd when I sat down for Assassins. Instead, imagine my surprise to find a nicely-crafted action thriller that does not feature Sylvester Stallone making a bunch of "witty" remarks.

Assassins is essentially an updating of a well-established story line. Robert Rath (Stallone) is the best in the world at what he does--killing people for money. But he's getting tired of it all and wants out of the business. Unfortunately, you can't just give two weeks notice to your faceless hit contractor; it's a bit more difficult than that. So it's understandable that Rath barely flinches when he finds out Miguel Bain (Antonio Banderas), the #2 assassin, is after him.

Continue reading: Assassins Review

Evita Review


Weak
Now I understand why Argentineans wanted Madonna to go home during the filming of Evita!

What the fuss is all about, I have no idea, because Evita is just another bad movie starring one of our worst actresses, Madonna. The catch is, this time she gets to sing sing sing for 2 1/2 hours -- sing until she can sing no more -- sing until your ears bleed.

Continue reading: Evita Review

Desperado Review


Excellent
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez seem to have two things in common: an affection for old surfer-style tunes, and an unconditional love of blood. Both play heavy parts in Rodriguez's eye-popping new flick, Desperado, the $8 million sequel to his $7,000 first feature, El Mariachi, which lives up to the hype surrounding it.

In Desperado, Antonio Banderas takes the role of the mariachi with no name who leads a charmed life while everything around him dies. This sequel is the story of his quest for revenge against the men who killed the woman he loved and shot him in the hand. El Mariachi travels from town to town with a guitar case full of ultra-powerful weapons, in search for tough guy Bucho, leader of the thugs. As he closes in, things get bloodier and bloodier until the final showdown where everything is revealed. Along the way, he encounters Carolina (Salma Hayek), his newfound love interest, who saves his life more than once through some impromptu surgeries.

Continue reading: Desperado Review

Femme Fatale Review


Bad
The only thing worse than a bad movie is a bad movie that takes itself seriously. Not only is your intelligence insulted, but the director is revealed to be a snob as well as a failure. And worst of all, the film is usually boring.

Femme Fatale is an exception to this to this rule. There is no question that Brian De Palma's latest is a steaming pile, and you can smell smug all over what he thinks are clever film techniques (split screens, operatic slow motion, etc). But just before I started throwing stuff at the screen in a show of displeasure, something magical happened--I laughed. And once I started laughing at Femme Fatale, I couldn't stop. The resentment felt for losing two hours of my life to this confused, badly acted, illogical, exploitative jewel heist-cum-meditation on fate was replaced with the giddy revelation that I had become involved in a cinematic experience on par with Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls.

Continue reading: Femme Fatale Review

Frida Review


Good

Most movies about the lives of famous artists never provide a true sense of what drove the person's creativity. Even in a strongly acted, strongly directed biopic like 2000's "Pollock," for example, the closest it came to explaining why heavily splattered canvases were a breakthrough in modern art was when the painter's wife cryptically proclaimed, "You've done it, Pollock! You've cracked it wide open!"

But in "Frida," a transporting cinematic experience about the life and work of Mexican surrealist Frida Kahlo, director Julie Taymor captures the very essence of Kahlo's creative process through a wondrously rich, freeform visual language that fuses the events of her life with the imagery in her paintings so vividly that the artist's work may take on a striking new significance for anyone who sees the film.

Passionately played by Salma Hayek, who has been personally shepherding this project for seven years, Kahlo comes to life in this picture as a complicated, dynamic, proud and intelligent woman whose frequent hardships informed her art. Opening when she was a plucky high school girl (36-year-old Hayek passes for 16 with remarkable ease), Frida is established as a young woman with a spicy individuality even before the 1925 bus wreck that irreversibly altered her life.

Continue reading: Frida Review

Spy Kids 3d: Game Over Review


Weak

Since the vast majority of the audience for "Spy Kid 3D: Game Over" has probably never seen a 3D movie with cheap, old-fashioned blue-and-red-lensed cardboard glasses, here's a three-point primer for proper enjoyment of any flick in this format:

1) Sit toward the middle of the theater. Because of the twin-image nature of 3D projection, the more off-center you are from the screen, the more you'll see eye-straining "ghosting" of images through your glasses instead of proper depth of field.

2) The left lens (red) always seems uncomfortably darker than the right (blue). Get used to it.

Continue reading: Spy Kids 3d: Game Over Review

Once Upon A Time In Mexico Review


Weak

"Desperado," the second eye-poppingly stylish and unabashedly outlandish B-movie in Robert Rodriguez's "El Mariachi" shoot-'em-up trilogy, is one of my all-time favorite action movies, in part because it has its priorities straight: The plot was simple -- a nameless mariachi avenges his girlfriend's murder with a guitar case full of semi-automatic weapons and an endless supply of ammunition -- and the action was non-stop and over-the-top.

Antonio Banderas cut an imposing, mysterious, hell-bent, dangerous and dead sexy figure in his long hair, implacable glower and black suede bandito get-up -- complete with jangling spurs -- as he performed a limber slow-motion ballet of body-twisting, two-fisted gunfire while dodging hails of bullets from evil drug-runners. And all this was set to a steamy, dynamic south-of-the-border score by the great guitaristas of Los Lobos.

But in the new installment, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," writer-director-editor-composer Rodriguez pollutes the action -- which is uncharacteristically erratic, incongruous and over-edited -- with a needlessly convoluted plot involving 1) a thorny coup attempt against the Mexican president backed by a cartel kingpin (Willem Dafoe) and his turncoat henchman (Mickey Rourke), 2) a crooked and borderline-loco CIA agent (Johnny Depp) playing both sides against the middle, 3) a former FBI agent (Ruben Blades) frustrated with not nailing the kingpin before his retirement, 4) a curvaceous, gung-ho greenhorn federale (Eva Mendez) with ulterior motives, and 5) yet another murder, played out in fantasized-action flashbacks, that the mariachi is out to avenge.

Continue reading: Once Upon A Time In Mexico Review

Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever Review


Unbearable

If it weren't for director Wych "Kaos" Kaosayananda's laughably excessive use of slow-motion, the convoluted, monotonous, mindlessly flashy, espionage-action bomb "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever" would be about 12 minutes long -- which might have made it almost watchable.

In a plot more scattershot than its endless, aimless rounds of ammunition, "Ballistic" kitchen-sinks together rival government intel agencies, microscopic assassination nano-bots, poorly faked deaths and new identities, a kidnapped kid that must be rescued in "less than 12 hours" for no explained reason, and rogue spies avenging their murdered families. It's nearly impossible to keep track of who's trying to kill whom and why, but that's of little importance to Bangkok film industry refugee Kaos. As long as somebody is getting shot or something is blowing up, he couldn't care less.

The uninspired bedlam that passes for action in this disaster isn't any more lucid than the story. Shrapnel-flying, cartwheel-turning shootout scenes are cheap, disorderly rip-offs from the "The Matrix." Wet asphalt used to give the movie a slick look makes for boring motorcycle "chases" that never exceed 40 mph (and even at that speed it's hard to say who's the chaser and who's the chasee). And Kaos seems to live by the mantra "why shoot at someone when you can set off explosions all around them -- and still miss?"

Continue reading: Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever Review

Antonio Banderas

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Antonio Banderas

Date of birth

10th August, 1960

Occupation

Actor

Sex

Male

Height

1.74


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Antonio Banderas Movies

Black Butterfly Trailer

Black Butterfly Trailer

Paul is a lonely screenwriter who has been suffering from a serious case of writer's...

Knight Of Cups Trailer

Knight Of Cups Trailer

Rick is one of the hottest screenwriters in Hollywood but after the death of his...

The 33 - Clips Trailer

The 33 - Clips Trailer

Director Patricia Riggen tackles a particularly emotional story with the new film The 33. The...

The 33 Trailer

The 33 Trailer

For most people in the modern world, they don't need to think about the consequences...

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The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Movie Review

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Movie Review

SpongeBob SquarePants has always been aimed much more at childish adults than actual children, and...

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water - Extended Trailer

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water - Extended Trailer

In the underwater realm of Bikini Bottom, an annual Crabby Patty festival in underway. Yet,...

Automata Trailer

Automata Trailer

Jacq Vaucan (Antonio Banderas) is working as an insurance agent for ROC Robotics Corporation in...

The Expendables 3 Movie Review

The Expendables 3 Movie Review

Striking a tone somewhere between the po-faced original and the silly Part 2, this rampaging...

The Spongebob Squarepants Movie: Sponge Out Of Water 3D Trailer

The Spongebob Squarepants Movie: Sponge Out Of Water 3D Trailer

When a pirate gets his hands on a long lost magic book in which anything...

The Expendables 3 Trailer

The Expendables 3 Trailer

The cast of 'The Expendables 3' discuss the upcoming action film in a short featurette....

The Expendables 3 Trailer

The Expendables 3 Trailer

Barney Ross is the fearless leader of elite New Orleans mercenary team The Expendables who...

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