Girls Renewed For Final Sixth Season
HBO have officially confirmed that Lena Dunham’s comedy drama Girls has been renewed for a sixth and definitely final season, with the last episodes are due to finish airing in 2017.
The show has garnered a fierce mix of praise and scorn over the past five series, playing out the lives of four millennial friends living in the Hipster heart of NYC.
It’s highly likely the final series will still be comprised of the shows well established formula of casual nudity, self-indulgent angst and a catchy soundtrack.
Netflix Sets Special Correpondents Premeire Date
Special Correspondents, the feature film starring Ricky Gervais and Eric Bana will premiere on April 29, 2016 exclusively to Netflix members worldwide.
Special Correspondents, a new original feature film for Netflix written and directed by Ricky Gervais and starring Eric Bana (Deliver Us From Evil, Lone Survivor) and Gervais (Muppets Most Wanted, Derek) is about a struggling New York based radio journalist whose arrogance and decadent lifestyle has hindered his career. With his job on the line he fakes front line war reports from the comfort of his hideout above a Spanish restaurant in Queens.
The film also stars Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel, Up in the Air), Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire, Brave), Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects, Casino), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty, How to Train Your Dragon), Raúl Castillo (Looking, Cold Weather), and Benjamin Bratt (Modern Family, 24: Live Another Day).
Daredevil Season 2 First Look
The Netflix original series Marvel’s Daredevil returns with the highly anticipated second season of its epic live-action adventure. The second season debuts amidst the release of the Netflix original Marvel’s Jessica Jones, the upcoming Marvel’s Luke Cage and future release of Marvel’s Iron Fist, all leading up to the teaming of the main characters in Marvel’s The Defenders.
Blinded as a young boy but imbued with extraordinary senses, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) fights against injustice by day as a lawyer, and by night as the superhero “Daredevil” in modern day Hell’s Kitchen, New York City. Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Daredevil) is joined by a stellar cast including Jon Bernthal (Frank Castle), Elodie Yung (Elektra), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple), and Scott Glenn (Stick).
The new images and recent teaser trailer give fans their first glimpses in particular of comic book favorites Elektra and The Punisher aka Frank Castle. The first series won considerable praise from Marvel fans or embracing the darker side of the Marvel comic book universe. The next season of Daredevil looks set to continue those themes and further integrate it into the other Netflix Marvel series.
The Hateful Eight Wins Capri Festival Awards
THE HATEFUL EIGHT took the Capri Hollywood Film Festival by storm, being awarded four major honors. The festival, which is in it’s 20th year, named writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film Best Movie. Additionally, Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh were awarded Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and legendary composer Ennio Morricone received the prize for Best Musical Score.
Critically-acclaimed romantic drama CAROL also received special recognition from the festival, getting awarded Best Adapted Screenplay for writer Phyllis Nagy and Best Production Design for Judy Becker. CAROL’s three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell was given the Legend Award.
Reacting to the success of The Hateful 8 Harvey Weinstein said:
“Quentin Tarantino and the entire team from THE HATEFUL EIGHT are beyond thrilled to have been acknowledged in such a big way from the Capri Hollywood Film Festival. He is a massive fan of Italian cinema, which he often pays homage to in many of his films. I believe that this fantastic accolade is the beginning of the road to the Academy Award Best Motion Picture nomination that Quentin thoroughly deserves.”
Collecting her best actress award Jennifer Jason Leigh added:
“The experience of being in one of Quentin’s films and a part of this phenomenal cast was rewarding in and of itself, but to be honored by such an incredible institution as the Capri-Hollywood Film Festival makes it all the more meaningful,” she said. “Pascal Vicedomini and the entire organization have made this event a pillar of the awards season, and I am flattered beyond words to be recognized by them this year.”
THE HATEFUL EIGHT is due for release in the UK on January 8th 2016. The film debuted in the U.S. on Christmas Day on 100 screens in 44 cities in a special limited release, which features an extended version of the film shot and exhibited in the exceedingly rare Ultra Panavision 70mm. Since opening nationwide on December 31st, it has grossed an impressive $30.56M at the domestic box office.
The Danish Girl Review
The Plot
Eddie Redmayne stars alongside Alicia Vikander in this biopic of the first transgendered woman to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
The Good
Exactly twelve months after his Oscar winning performance in The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne returns with another award worthy film to add to his collection. Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) directs Lucinda Coxon’s script with care as the story focuses not only on Redmayne’s stunning almost double performance as both Einar Wegener and soon enough Lili Elbe, but also gives plenty of time for Alicia Vikander’s supporting wife Gerda as she comes to terms with Einar’s newly discovered personality.
With the transgender movement growing ever more in today’s more open society, The Danish Girl feels important throughout without slipping into any particular bias. While Einar searches desperately to find an answer to the questions that come with his true self, Lili grows more and more independent from the two as the film progresses despite the social pressures to hide away from the world. Coxon’s script brings some beautiful imagery to this intimate struggle with one particular scene in a dark cramped peep show standing out as a highlight.
Two equally important aspects of how the film manages to bring emotion and depth to this story that can’t go unmentioned are Danny Cohen’s visually stunning cinematography with an expertly blended mix of colours and tints brought to the screen, and Alexandre Desplat’s always moving score.
As wel as Redmayne and Vikander’s performances are that of Ben Wishaw and Matthias Schoenaerts as the respective third parties in the two love triangles that seep into the trials and tribulations of Einar’s and Gerda’s marriage. Each actor has their own half of the story to become the focus, with Wishaw’s opening half holding slightly more romance than Schoenaerts’ concluding half in which he comes across more of a friend than Wishaw’s wedge between the two.
The Bad
At two hours long however, The Danish Girl soon slips into feeling a much longer. It ever so slightly feels that Hooper is being a tad self indulgent with his camerawork, occasionally staying with scenes just a few moments longer than absolutely necessary.
The Ugly Truth
Redmayne brings another Oscar worthy performance as Einar/Lili that could well see him securing his second in a row. Fortunately this is not just a Redmayne vehicle with Alicia Vikander bringing a much needed supporting performance that at times overtakes Redmaynes. The Danish Girl looks, feels and sounds important as it rightly is. Though it could have done with some trimming to avoid feeling too self indulging, it’s not too long to diminish it entirely.
Review by Johnny Ellis