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Ron Howard To Step In To Direct Han Solo Movie


Ron Howard Star Wars

After the spin-off Han Solo movie was hit by the loss of its directors earlier this week, LucasFilm and Disney have acted quickly to fill the gap vacated by announcing Hollywood heavyweight Ron Howard as its replacement.

Two days ago, it was reported that the Star Wars spin-off prequel project suffered the loss of its two directors when Phil Lord and Christopher Miller both walked off the movie, officially put down to “creative differences” with producers.

However, it’s now been confirmed that 63 year old Howard, who was named in the original reports as the favourite to take over, has officially stepped in as director on the movie.

Continue reading: Ron Howard To Step In To Direct Han Solo Movie

'Inferno' Fails To Ignite The US Box Office


Ron Howard Jemma Palmer Tom Hanks

Inferno, the third installment in the Da Vinci franchise, is having a hard time in the US Box office. The film has made a disappointing $15-16m after making $5.6m in 3576 theatres on Friday. The result of this is that the film, that was expected to make between $20-30m, is an alarmingly close battle with 'Boo A Madea Halloween' for the no.1 spot over the Halloween weekend. 

Tom Hanks at the Inferno premiereTom Hanks at the Inferno premiere in LA

Director Ron Howard's mystery thriller, starring Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones, has fallen a long way behind the $77m that 'The Da Vinci Code' made in the US, even sequel 'Angels & Demons' made $46m back in 2009.

Continue reading: 'Inferno' Fails To Ignite The US Box Office

Inferno Review

Weak

Since novelist Dan Brown wrote a new thriller featuring the symbologist Robert Langdon, Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard have reteamed to bring it to the big screen. But this second sequel to The Da Vinci Code feels like a pale imitation of the original. Gone are the clever, fake-academic revelations and rather wacky action antics, and in their place are clues that feel utterly irrelevant, accompanied by fights and chases that are incoherent.

At least it opens well, with Langdon (Hanks) waking up in a Florence hospital without a clue how he got to Italy. Then when a sexy cop (Ana Ularu) tries to kill him, Robert's hot doctor Sienna (Felicity Jones) helps him escape. She also has an unusual knowledge of antiquities, so she travels with him to figure out why he's being chased by the police, an army of World Health Organisation officials (led by Sidse Babett Knudsen), a man (Omar Sy) leading a team of violent goons and a shady businessman (Irrfan Khan). Robert traces all of these shenanigans to the recently deceased billionaire anarchist Bertrand (Ben Foster), who was plotting to release a virus that would kill off half of mankind to halt overpopulation. Is his plan still going forward? Can Robert stop it in time? The next clues are in Venice and then Istanbul.

The settings are gorgeous, and Howard knows how to use them to pack the film with old world elegance. But while David Koepp's script keeps the mayhem moving along whether or not it makes any sense, Howard directs everything at a glacial pace. So it looks like Hanks is in danger of falling asleep at any time, even in the middle of a car chase. There's also the problem that the central premise is utterly preposterous: if you're planning a terrorist attack that will kill four billion people, would you take the time to set it up as an elaborate scavenger hunt? And it doesn't help that everyone in the movie seems untrustworthy. The script sorts the good from the bad as it goes along, but it never matters.

Continue reading: Inferno Review

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years Review

Very Good

A-list director Ron Howard worked with the surviving Beatles to assemble this engaging documentary, which offers an inside look at Beatlemania, the three years when the best pop band in history toured the world. The messy title is a hint as to how compromised this film is: it's not a proper journalistic look at the band, but rather an approved portrait with the rough edges removed. But with its never-seen footage and lots of great music, it can't help but be hugely entertaining.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr spent years developing their sound before they hit the big time. And when they set off on their first tour in 1963, things immediately went crazy, with unprecedented displays of fan adoration. Fans couldn't get enough of these cheeky young guys from Liverpool, and their irreverent antics during interviews further endeared them to their audience. As they embarked on their first major tour of America, young journalist Larry Kane was sent to accompany them. Initially annoyed at this fluffy assignment, Kane was won over by their talent and the way they stood up to segregation laws in the South. But by 1966, they found that playing concerts in stadiums was simply too exhausting (they couldn't hear themselves above the screaming), so they abruptly stopped performing in public. The rest of their career took place in the studio.

All of this is recounted in a terrific range of home movies, archive footage, snapshots and interviews from the time, plus present-day recollections from Paul and Ringo. Added to this are interviews with celebrities who as children saw them perform, artists who worked with them and historians who examine their talent and impact. With access to this kind of material and a skilled editing team, Howard creates a film that's energetically gripping, offering a perspective on the Beatles that we may not have seen before.

Continue reading: The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years Review

Inferno Trailer


Professor Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital feeling terrible and suffering from serious nightmares. His dreams are lifelike and appear to predict a vicious and unprecedented attack on humanity. As the professor begins to come around, his nurse, Sienna, is on hand to treat his head injuries and inform him of his concussion and the side effects he might experience.

Before he can fully understand what brought him to Italy - Langdon's last memories were from Harvard University - a woman enters the hospital and kills the professor's doctor.  With the help of Sienna, Robert escapes and the pair retreat to Sienna's apartment. Whilst searching his pockets Langdon finds a vile with a hazardous label on it.

The vile is the start of Langdon's latest mission, he must find the source of a deadly virus that is thought to be capable of killing half the world's population. Without knowing who's on his side, it looks like Langdon is being hunted by multiple organisations all wishing to cash in on the powerful weapon.

Continue: Inferno Trailer

Inferno - First Look Trailer


Inferno comes as the third in the series of Ron Howard's film interpretations of Dan Brown's highly successful novels (Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code) and sees Tom Hanks returning to his role as Robert Langdon, a Harvard University Professor. This time Langdon is accompanied by Dr. Sienna Brooks played by Felicity Jones. The film sees its main protagonist Langdon being at the centre of a manhunt.

Continue: Inferno - First Look Trailer

In The Heart Of The Sea Review

Excellent

With a huge budget and a relatively small story, this is an intriguingly offbeat blockbuster that might struggle to find an audience. Basically, it's aimed at fans of more thoughtful, personal stories of tenacity and survival, but it's shot with a massive special effects budget that sometimes seems to swamp the drama. Still, it's involving and moving. And it's also fascinatingly based on the true events that inspired Moby Dick.

The story is framed in 1850 as novelist Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) visits an ageing sailor named Tom (Brendan Gleeson) to quiz him about a momentous event in his past that he has never spoken of. Flash back to 1820 Nantucket, and Tom (Tom Holland) is a rookie crew member on the whaling ship Essex, working under the posh, privileged Captain George (Benjamin Walker) and his able but low-class first mate Owen (Chris Hemsworth). As these these two leaders clash against each other, the ship sails off for what will be a very long journey. Eventually they head into the Pacific in search of a mythical pod of whales. But when they find it, they run afoul of a gigantic white whale that takes their arrival personally, sinking their ship and pursuing the survivors in their lifeboats.

All of this is staged as an epic battle between humanity and nature, with layers of interest in the way these men strain to survive against unimaginable odds. It's a riveting story, beautifully shot and rendered with immersive effects. And the cast members create complex characters who are profoundly changed by their experience. Not only is there mammoth action, but there's plenty of barbed interaction and even some strongly emotional moments that bring the themes home to a modern audience. Sometimes this aspect feels a bit corny, as clearly whalers at the time wouldn't feel remorse about killing one of these majestic creatures. But we would.

Continue reading: In The Heart Of The Sea Review

Chris Hemsworth's 'In The Heart Of The Sea' Sinks At US Box Office


Chris Hemsworth Ron Howard Liam Hemsworth Jennifer Lawrence

It’s only a week to go before Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theatres, so this weekend was the last chance that any new release had to make an impact in 2015. But sadly for Chris Hemsworth’s In The Heart Of The Sea audiences did not flock to see the whaling adventure, leaving it sinking at the US box.

Chris Hemsworth In The Heart Of The SeaChris Hemsworth stars in In The Heart Of The Sea.

The film only managed to bring in $11million at the US box office over the weekend from 3,103 theatres, meaning it debuted in the number two spot. The low opening was bad news for studio Warner Bros, as the film reportedly cost an estimated $100 million to make.

Continue reading: Chris Hemsworth's 'In The Heart Of The Sea' Sinks At US Box Office

In The Heart Of The Sea Was A No Brainer For Chris Hemsworth


Chris Hemsworth Ron Howard

Chris Hemsworth was filming the Formula One drama Rush at the time, and handed the script to director Ron Howard. And they reteamed to get it made.

"Very rarely do you read something and you are properly transported to another place," Hemsworth says. "It had that effect on me, and I kept thinking about it and the questions it raised and forces you to ask. It was also an opportunity to do something that's visually stunning on a big epic scale, but was a drama. That's a combination I hadn't seen a lot of, and I don't think has been made as much."

Chris Hemsworth plays the first mate on the shipChris Hemsworth plays the first mate on the ship

Continue reading: In The Heart Of The Sea Was A No Brainer For Chris Hemsworth

Ron Howard - In The Heart Of The Sea Interview


An Interview With Ron Howard about In The Heart Of The Sea

Ron Howard has always been an ambitious director but his latest film In The Heart Of The Sea is arguably his hardest production to date.

Here Ron talks about some of the modern day filming and production methods he used to try and get the maximum out of the film - in stark contrast to other sea based movies which might require the audience to slightly suspend their disbelief to get the most out of them.
He also talks about some of the predicaments they encountered whilst trying to make such a cinematic film whilst shooting on the ocean.

Ron Howard also talks about how he originally found the script (through Chris Hemsworth who also stars.)

Natalie Portman Joins Likes Of Meryl Streep & Kevin Spacey In Paying Tribute To Mike Nichols


Natalie Portman Mike Nichols Meryl Streep Tom Hanks Ron Howard Steve Carell Al Pacino Kerry Washington Kevin Spacey

Natalie Portman has paid tribute to the late director Mike Nichols.

Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman at the Childrens' Hospital Gala in Los Angeles in October 2014.

Read More: The Life and Career of Late Director Mike Nichols.

Continue reading: Natalie Portman Joins Likes Of Meryl Streep & Kevin Spacey In Paying Tribute To Mike Nichols

Ron Howard To Direct Beatles Documentary, From Cavern Club To San Francisco


Ron Howard Beatles Sir Paul McCartney John Lennon George Harrison Ringo Starr

Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is set to direct a documentary about The Beatles, following their journey from Liverpool's Cavern Club to their last concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. Crucially, the movie is being made in-corporation with Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono.

Ron HowardRon Howard [L] will direct the Beatles documentary [Getty/Christopher Polk]

Howard - known for Apollo 14, The Da Vinci Code and Frost/Nixon - called it "an astounding story".

Continue reading: Ron Howard To Direct Beatles Documentary, From Cavern Club To San Francisco

Chris Evans And Other Actors Who Retired To Become Directors


Chris Evans Clint Eastwood Ben Affleck Ron Howard Madonna Eddie Murphy

Chris Evans has told Variety that when the time comes that he is no longer under Marvel contract he plans to turn his hand to directing. The Captain America: The Winter Soldier actor explained, “I’ve known for a while I wanted to direct. But [time] never really opens up...There’s another movie to do, there’s another acting job...If I’m acting at all, it’s going to be under Marvel contract, or I’m going to be directing.”

chris evans acting Actor Chris Evans plans to direct when he is no longer under Marvel contract

Evans isn’t the first actor to feel the call of the director’s seat, some were more natural behind the camera, some should never have quit their day jobs.

Continue reading: Chris Evans And Other Actors Who Retired To Become Directors

Idris Elba Lands Shere Khan Voice In Live Action 'Jungle Book'


Idris Elba Disney Jon Favreau Ron Howard

From the mean streets of Baltimore to Mowgli’s Jungle, Idris Elba’s career path hasn’t exactly been typical of a British actor. But the versatile Hackey-born star is lending his deep, silky tones to the iconic Jungle Book story as Shere Khan in Jon Favreau’s live-action film adaptation.

Idris ElbaLooks like Elba missed the memo regarding which animal he's playing

According to The Wrap, The Wire, Luther and Pacific Rim actor is in advanced talks to voice the role of the killer tiger. Disney's “Jungle Book” movie, which was written by Justin Marks, will be a mix of live-action and VFX, a bit like Life of Pi, which landed Ang Lee the Academy Award for Best Director at last year’s Oscars.

Continue reading: Idris Elba Lands Shere Khan Voice In Live Action 'Jungle Book'

Video - Eva Longoria And Jamie Foxx Pose Together At Canon Project Imaginat10n Festival - Part 1


'Desperate Housewives' actress Eva Longoria and 'Django Unchained' star Jamie Foxx were among the star arrivals at the Canon Project Imaginat10n Festival in New York. The festival screened ten short films, five of which were projects by five celebrity directors (including those above).

Continue: Video - Eva Longoria And Jamie Foxx Pose Together At Canon Project Imaginat10n Festival - Part 1

U.K Audiences Flock To See Prisoners Over F1 Drama Rush


Hugh Jackman Jake Gyllenhaal Ron Howard

It could have been the great cast or the critical acclaim, but the Russell Crowe thriller Prisoners beat out stiff competition to take the U.K box office for its own. It made £1.37m, racing past the Formula One film Rush, which took second place with £987K.

Watch the trailer for Prisoners:

The kidnap thriller sees Keller Dover (Jackman) lose his six-year-old daughter, Anna, who is missing with her young friend. The only lead is an RV that was parked on the street hours before she went missing. Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano) but can’t keep him in custody due to a lack of evidence.

Continue reading: U.K Audiences Flock To See Prisoners Over F1 Drama Rush

Rush Can't Keep Up With Cloudy As Meatballs Predictions Are Vindicated - It's The Box Office Roundup


Bill Hader Ron Howard

Maybe it was the lack of animated competition, the niche subject matter of its closest rival, the fact that September is becoming an excellent time for comedies of its kind or a original film’s fan base to fall back on, or maybe it was all of the above, but somehow, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was always going to top the box office.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.

It was, in fact, the last option: all of the above. Disney’s Planes hit cinemas two months ago, Rush, while critically acclaimed, is probably more for film aficionados and racing enthusiasts, September – like Hotel Transylvania showed is – is a prime slot for animated comedies and there are already plenty of Cloudy fans out there.

Continue reading: Rush Can't Keep Up With Cloudy As Meatballs Predictions Are Vindicated - It's The Box Office Roundup

Ron Howard Hadn't Heard Of 'Rush' Driving Legends Until He Read Script


Ron Howard Niki Lauda Daniel Bruhl Chris Hemsworth

Director Ron Howard has admitted that he'd never hear of 1970s Formula One race car drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt until screenwriter Peter Morgan (Frost/ Nixon) handed him the Rush script and even then he had to research the legendary European drivers using Wikipedia. Why then, having no particular interest in racing, especially that which took place across the pond forty years ago, did Apollo 13 director Howard decide that turning the story of F1 rivalries into his upcoming movie, Rush, would be a good idea?

Ron Howard
Ron Howard's Latest Movie Rush Was A Bit Of A Risk.

Ron certainly took a risk; with sports movies, the storyline can get lost in the detail so it's vital that there's a passionate force behind it making sure audiences can feel every emotion. Howard explained to the Wall Street Journal how he managed to translate his learning curve into a movie that will be accessible to all audiences, including the female market, regardless of whether they follow racing or have any mechanical knowledge.

Continue reading: Ron Howard Hadn't Heard Of 'Rush' Driving Legends Until He Read Script

A Week In Movies: Rush And Diana Premiere In London, Scarlett Johansson Stuns Venice, Zac Efron Taunts Seth Rogen


Scarlett Johansson Chris Hemsworth Daniel Bruhl Olivia Wilde Ron Howard Naomi Watts Seth Rogen Zac Efron Robert Redford Christian Bale Bradley Cooper Jennifer Lawrence Amy Adams

Diana Movie Poster

Naomi Watts was on the red carpet in London this week for the world premiere of Diana, about the final years in the life of the People's Princess. There were some touchy moments as she promoted the film in the media this week and had to get defensive against journalists' questions. Critics haven't been kind to the film, which opens in the UK later this month. Watch the Diana trailer here.

Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde and director Ron Howard were also out in London this week for the world premiere of their new film Rush, an exhilarating biopic tracing the rivalry between 1970s Formula One champions James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The film opens next week in the UK, and in two weeks in America. Watch the trailer and view photos from the premiere here.

Continue reading: A Week In Movies: Rush And Diana Premiere In London, Scarlett Johansson Stuns Venice, Zac Efron Taunts Seth Rogen

Chris Hemsworth's 'Rush' Depicts One Of The Most Fierce Rivalries In Sport


Chris Hemsworth Daniel Bruhl Ron Howard

The Formula One thriller 'Rush' premiered in London last night (2nd Septmeber 2013). The biopic film follows the bitter rivalry that ensued between drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda from the 1976 F1 season.

The two protagonists share a common interest but could not be more different, as this dynamic face off is expected to give a shock of adrenaline for the viewing audience.

James Hunt, who is played by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth (Thor), is a British racer who loves the playboy lifestyle as his taste for drugs, alcohol and women were infamous. Whereas Germany's Daniel Bruhl (Inglorious Bastards) portrays the Austrian Niki Lauda who was a master tactician which allowed his ruthlessness to thrive in Formula 1.

Continue reading: Chris Hemsworth's 'Rush' Depicts One Of The Most Fierce Rivalries In Sport

The Lone Ranger Bombs At Cinemas, But How Does It Compare To The Worst Box Office Bombs?


Johnny Depp Armie Hammer Ron Howard Brian Grazer Eddie Murphy Matthew Mcconaughey Steve Zahn Penelope Cruz

Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp back together in another swashbuckling adventure, what could possibly go wrong? Unfortunately for Disney, a lot did go wrong with The Lone Ranger; no one was interested in a big screen version of a 1930s radio series. Johnny Depp is starting to lose his box office appeal and, ultimately, it was terrible. But hey, at least there's worse film right?

Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger probably wont make it into the top five

The film isn't out of cinemas yet, so we can't really say how much it will lose (who knows, it might have the best week three in cinema history), but we can assume it will sit nicely next to Disney's last big box office flop: 2012's John Carter. Speaking of John Carter, when it comes to the top box office flops, the confused martian adventure doesn't even break into the top ten. Here's the five worst performing films of all time.

Continue reading: The Lone Ranger Bombs At Cinemas, But How Does It Compare To The Worst Box Office Bombs?

Can The Upcoming Arrested Development Series 4 Meet Fans' Expectations?


Arrested Development Ron Howard

Arrested Development makes its long overdue return to our screens this Sunday (May 26) and after seven years of waiting, the main question people are asking is will it be worth the wait? The pressure is on for Mitch Hurwitz and co. to deliver, but as we've see countless times before, it is exactly this kind of anticipation that can lead to an almighty anti-climax.

The show was first broadcast on FOX in 2003 and instantly formed a cult following. Two seasons, six Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe and universal acclaim from critics later and the show met its untimely end in 2006, but as the show's first run came to an end, its lifespan was only just beginning and now the rebirthing of one of television's most loved shows is finally upon us. We've hardly gotten a chance to see what series four might be like, with only one trailer and a list of guest stars being released by the show's new owners, Netflix, to wet appetites so far. This coy tactic may work in Netflix', and the show's, favour though, as the titbits that fans have been treated to so far seem to offer hope that the series will be more X Men: First Class than The Phantom Menace.

Continue reading: Can The Upcoming Arrested Development Series 4 Meet Fans' Expectations?

Arrested Development: How Can Season Four Live Up To The Publicity?


Arrested Development Ron Howard Terry Crews Jason Bateman

In what is probably one of the most anticipated television moments to happen in recent memory, Arrested Development will make its long-awaited return to the small screen (in particular the computer screen) by the end of May. As such, the cast and crew have been hard at work whipping up even more publicity in the shape of interviews, banana stands and as many in-jokes and double entendres you can throw in a pot and make into a stew being thrown around the web.

The Bluth's famous banana stands have got to be one of the best marketing ploys by a film or TV show to date, and if the new season gains enough momentum then hopefully they will become a regularly marketed item (please God!). Recently at the Columbus Circle banana handout in New York, show producer and narrator Ron Howard and everybody's favourite beefcake Terry Crews - who will be appearing in the new series - the mixing of stars and the public typified just what makes the show so good. As Crews explained, "You really feel like they're members of your family, and that's what makes it so funny. Because you recognize all the dysfunction, even in yourself."

Continue reading: Arrested Development: How Can Season Four Live Up To The Publicity?

Rush Trailer


James Hunt is English Formula 1 champion well-known for his hedonistic life of women, alcohol and parties and who makes for a stark contrast to his number one rival, the Austrian Niki Lauda. It's the 70s, the golden age for racing, and the pair are riled up to outrun each other in the upcoming 1976 German Grand Prix. However, no-one could predict the tragedy that would soon ensue when Lauda's car fails and bursts into flames on the track, causing him severe burns to his face and body. Hunt blames himself for the accident, as he helped encourage the race to go ahead without the suggested safety arrangements. In spite of all this, the pair are determined to become champions, against all odds but as the professional lives interrupts their personal lives, becoming a champion becomes much more complicated than just winning a race.

'Rush' is a sports drama based on the shocking true story of these two real F1 drivers when their lives took a dramatic turn at the height of car racing. It has been directed by Ron Howard ('Willow', 'Apollo 13', 'The Da Vinci Code') and written by Peter Morgan ('The Queen', 'The Other Boleyn Girl', 'The Last King of Scotland'), and it is set for release this autumn on September 13th 2013.

Official Trailer For Ron Howard's Rush Revealed


Ron Howard

The trailer for Ron Howard’s Rush has emerged online. The clip offers a tantalizing teaser into the fast living, fast driving, world of Formula 1 that the director is trying to portray.

The film focuses on the real-life Formula 1 battle that took place between Austrian Niki Lauda and the Englishman James Hunt for the Formula 1 World Title back in 1976. The battle between the pair was a fraught and fierce one in real life, a tale of immense will in the face of the dangers that their high speed sport threw of them, with Lauda in particular suffering a near-fatal crash at the mid-point of the season, having built up a sizable lead. We don’t want to spoil the ending, but you don’t have to click far to find out.

The film comes out on September 20th and features Chris Hemsworth as the good looking confident Englishman, and Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, the battle-hardened champion. It has some hill to climb if it’s to be a success, with motor racing films more often than not ending up as failures. There are exceptions to the rule of course, not least the 2010 documentary Senna and Steve McQueen’s 1971 film Le Mars. However, lest we forget Sylvester Stallone’s terrible 2001 effort Driven and Tom Cruise’s Days Of Thunder. One would hope that Howard has enough wits about him as a director to ensure that Rush doesn’t end up in the latter pile. Check out the trailer below

Continue reading: Official Trailer For Ron Howard's Rush Revealed

Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel Review


Excellent
An essential documentary for movie fans, this exploration of the work of iconic filmmaker Roger Corman revels in the joy of exploitation movies made on a minuscule budget with lashings of gore, explosions and nudity. It's a glowing portrait of a man who changed filmmaking forever.

Corman's 400 films have tapped into youth culture in ways that studios never could. This documentary traces his career with interviews and clips, but also explores his impact on the industry at large. Clearly, he's not only an important filmmaker, but he's also a genuinely nice man (at one point, Nicholson breaks down and cries while talking about him). We also get glimpses behind-the-scenes on 2010's hilarious-looking Dinoshark, proving that his filmmaking methods haven't changed much in nearly 60 years. And we discover that his favourite filmmakers include Bergman, Fellini and Truffaut, whose films he distributed in America.

Continue reading: Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel Review

J. Edgar Review


Very Good
Exquisitely designed and directed, with finely tuned performances that shine even through some heavy make-up, this true story never quite succeeds in conveying its central relationship. Sure, repression is the point, but passion would have made the film heartbreaking rather than just sad.

John Edgar Hoover (DiCaprio) was only 29 when he became director of the Bureau of Investigation (later the FBI), and he ruled supreme until his death in 1972, holding eight US presidents in the palm of his hand with his notorious files of personal secrets. But he also had loyal friends, including his secretary Helen (Watts) and his right-hand man Clyde (Hammer). As a young man, his mother (Dench) instilled in him a hatred of liberalism and homosexuality, so his enemies included Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy (Donovan) and himself.

Continue reading: J. Edgar Review

Corman's World Trailer


American director Roger Corman is one of the film industry's most influential directors. Born in 1926, he is best known for the numerous low budget B movies which he has directed. Not only is he influential to many of Hollywood's great directors, Corman has also launched the careers of William Shatner; Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro, to name but a few.

Continue: Corman's World Trailer

Restless Review


Excellent
Van Sant returns to his earthy-airy style for this story of a young man coming to terms with the concept of mortality. It's effortlessly honest, with edgy humour balancing the dark themes. Although it's also diluted by commercial sensibilities.

After his parents are killed in a car crash, the thoughtful young Enoch (Hopper) becomes obsessed with death, attending random funerals and chatting to Hiroshi (Kase), the ghost of a young kamikaze pilot. The at one memorial service, Enoch is rumbled by Annabel (Wasikowska), who pursues a friendship with him. As they become closer, Enoch learns that the sparky Annabel has a fatal illness, which means he can no longer put off dealing with the fact that death is actually part of life.

Continue reading: Restless Review

Cowboys & Aliens Review


Good
With such a blatant B-movie title, this well-made film really should be more fun to watch. Actually, this is an entertaining Western that sticks very close to the genre and only incidentally features bad guys from another planet.

Jake (Craig) wakes up in the desert with no memory of who he is or why he has a strange metal bracelet clamped onto his arm. He staggers into a dusty town, where the sheriff (Carradine) helps him until he clashes with local bully Percy (Dano), the son of power-mad landowner Dolarhyde (Ford), who has a history with Jake. But when strange airborne "demons" attack the town, Jake discovers that his bracelet is a weapon that can fight them. So Dolarhyde drafts him into a posse to hunt them down.

Continue reading: Cowboys & Aliens Review

The Dilemma Trailer


Ronny and Nick are best buddies and business partners, their partners are good friends and they all spend a lot of their lives together in one way or another. When Ronny catches Nick's wife passionately kissing a younger and very attractive guy, he can't believe his eyes.

Continue: The Dilemma Trailer

Frost/Nixon Trailer


Watch the trailer for Frost/Nixon

Continue: Frost/Nixon Trailer

Angels & Demons Trailer


Tom Hanks returns as Robert Langdon in Angels and Demons, this film continues where The Da Vinci Code left off. Having cleared his name and solved Jacques Saunière's mysterious messages, Langdons life returns to normal.

Continue: Angels & Demons Trailer

Changeling Review


OK

Fit snug into the mother superior of self-reflexive roles, Angelina Jolie once again finds herself the eye of the storm in Clint Eastwood's epic melodrama Changeling. Armed with her thick, crimson lips, period duds, and that ever-present cloche, Jolie goes all gooey as Christine Collins, a single mother who finds herself a media fulcrum when she denies that a boy returned to her by the LAPD is Walter, her son who had been kidnapped five months prior.

Based on a catastrophic piece of the infamous Wineville Chicken-Coop Murders, which ran from 1928 to 1930, and the ensuing trials that yielded a major ousting of the LAPD's top tier and almost no real answers, Changeling is an exceedingly visual film yet one that lacks confidence in its imagery, relying too often on clunky language and an unsteady lead performance. This is no loose adaptation of actual events: Collins fought against the terminally-corrupt LAPD for years, became a martyr for forced institutionalization, and kept her job as a roller-skating switchboard operator while continuing the search for her lost boy. That's no small feat for a lone woman in the late 20s/early 30s.

After taking the boy the LAPD presented home, Collins begins to document inaccuracies between the delivered boy and her son, only to be brushed off by Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), the man in charge of the investigation. Support comes in the form of Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), a flamboyant radio preacher who's been hounding the LAPD for years. When Collins finally takes her story to the media, it's Gustav who starts yelling for her return as she is forced into a psychiatric hospital with a gaggle of mistreated women, the most vocal of whom is played by Amy Ryan.

In its third act, Eastwood switches focus to the trial and execution of Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner), the man who kidnapped and slaughtered over 20 children on his ranch in Wineville, one of which was Collins' son. The introduction of Northcott disrupts the tone and mood of the film, stumbling from feminist parable to legal drama. It does permit a final scene between Collins and Northcott, allowing Jolie a final, enraged plea for closure: It's later revealed that Walter might have escaped Northcott's ranch, a fact that's meant to bolster an infuriating feel-good ending.

Changeling, like most of Eastwood's excellent latter-day work, is a classy affair, but one of technical weight rather than dramatic. Shot by Tom Stern, the brilliant cinematographer who has been working with Eastwood since 2002's Blood Work, the director's latest is covered in dehydrated colors and beautifully scored by Eastwood himself with lilting pianos and blustery strings. While Jolie overplays her scorned mother, the supporting cast blends in beautifully, especially Donovan's complexly-composited policeman and Malkovich's propulsive, lively clergyman. Schematically unstable, it's J. Michael Straczynski's woozy script that proves the film's most incapable cog, handling its cerebral and narrative shifts with the subtlety of a race car hitting a speed bump.

At a hulking 141-minute runtime, Changeling suffers from more than its fair share of showy moments, none more egregious than when momma bear profanely tells off the head of the psychiatric hospital. Eastwood's direction is proficient, but he finds it impossible for his actress and his aesthetics to coalesce. Unable to internalize the drama, Jolie engulfs every scene with an utterance of "I want my son back!," often cheapening the meticulous production design, courtesy of the talented James J. Murakami. It's a gaudy, showboat performance, trading nuance and grace for simple presence; I'll eat a small fishing boat if she doesn't get an Oscar nomination. British director Michael Winterbottom tempered Jolie the starlet as another single mother left as residue after a media-centric tragedy in A Mighty Heart by centering on the procedure of retrieval. With Eastwood, however, Jolie's weeping caterwaul reduces a firebrand of corrupt politics into a work of enthused pageantry.

First we're gonna catch this Zodiac guy, then we'll find your boy.

Beyond The Mat Review


Very Good
Pro wrestling is fake, right? Absolutely. The fights are choreographed, the winners are predetermined, and everything that happens is carefully staged.

But the violence is real, like when The Rock repeatedly pummels Mankind with a folding chair. And that isn't cow's blood running down his head afterwards as he rolls around on the mat, apparently incoherent.

Continue reading: Beyond The Mat Review

Cinderella Man Review


OK
Tickets to Ron Howard's period boxing drama Cinderella Man should come with bootstraps. That way we literally could join the film's heavyweight hero, dutifully played by Russell Crowe, as he sifts through the wreckage left by bill collectors and broken bones to climb his way out of Dickens-level poverty and see the light at the end of his personal tunnel of despair.

American audiences adore underdog stories, particularly those tied to sports. From Rocky to Seabiscuit, we devour worthy longshots given a chance to reclaim such precious commodities as pride, significance, or the undying love of family. That, and anything with Darth Vader in it.

Continue reading: Cinderella Man Review

A Beautiful Mind Review


Essential
I hate math. I've always hated math. It gives me a pounding headache. It would take a miracle to convince me of its value. But A Beautiful Mind has accomplished the impossible; after watching the film, I have a new appreciation for math as an art, and for mathematicians as artists.

Seldom do movies contain enough power to influence or change our convictions. Through enormously convincing performances, a masterful screenplay, and aggressive direction, this movie takes us on an extraordinary journey into the mind of a fascinating character, providing insight on its unique subject. Move over Good Will Hunting, here comes the ultimate movie about a math wiz!

Continue reading: A Beautiful Mind Review

American Graffiti Review


Excellent
The Star Wars prequels have tarnished his rep a little, but give him his due --- George Lucas once understood the possibilities and limitations of film like few others. Lucas' second feature film, American Graffiti, was a self-assured gem that established him as a major director (though a lot of studios still didn't want to bankroll Star Wars, proving that studio execs weren't any smarter in the seventies than they are now).

A cinematic collection of slightly exaggerated memories from Lucas' senior year in high school (1962), Graffiti was well-timed; it caught a wave of fifties nostalgia that would crest with Happy Days, Grease, etc. While the iconoclasm of the sixties and seventies would continue to take youth culture in a very different direction, Graffiti helped spark a cultural backlash (or at least a flashback) after the free-love/acid-rock/anti-war era.

Continue reading: American Graffiti Review

The Independent Review


OK

Remember that great Z-grade 1969 protest picture "Brothers Divided," about the conjoined twins drafted to serve in Vietnam?

No? How about the blaxploitation classics "Venus De Mofo" and "The Foxy Chocolate Robot?" Or the tree-hugging girlie biker flick "The Eco-Angels"? Or the midget Gidget movie "Teenie Weenie Bikini Beach"?

Those don't ring a bell? Surely you've seen at least one of the 427 movies directed by schlock filmmaker Morty Fineman over the last 38 years, right?

Continue reading: The Independent Review

Ron Howard

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Ron Howard

Date of birth

1st March, 1954

Occupation

Filmmaker

Sex

Male

Height

1.75




Ron Howard Movies

Inferno Movie Review

Inferno Movie Review

Since novelist Dan Brown wrote a new thriller featuring the symbologist Robert Langdon, Tom Hanks...

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years Movie Review

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years Movie Review

A-list director Ron Howard worked with the surviving Beatles to assemble this engaging documentary, which...

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years - Trailer and Clips Trailer

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years - Trailer and Clips Trailer

In 1962 The Beatles were signed to a management deal with a local record shop...

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Inferno Trailer

Inferno Trailer

Professor Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital feeling terrible and suffering from serious nightmares....

Inferno - First Look Trailer

Inferno - First Look Trailer

Inferno comes as the third in the series of Ron Howard's film interpretations of Dan...

In the Heart of the Sea Movie Review

In the Heart of the Sea Movie Review

With a huge budget and a relatively small story, this is an intriguingly offbeat blockbuster...

In The Heart Of The Sea Trailer

In The Heart Of The Sea Trailer

In The Heart Of The Sea is the true seaman's tale based on the last...

In The Heart of The Sea Trailer

In The Heart of The Sea Trailer

In August of 1819, The Essex set sail from New England. The whaling ship set...

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