Man Of Steel European Premiere Live Stream
Check out the live stream from the Red Carpet at the European Premiere of Man Of Steel. The New Superman movie from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures Man of Steel. Directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and produced by Christopher Nolan, the new film stars Henry Cavill (Immortals,Tudors) in the role of Kryptionian superhero.
The film also stars four-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams as Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane, and Laurence Fishburne as her editor-in-chief, Perry White. Diane Lane and Kevin Costner make their blockbuster return as Clark’s adoptive earth parents. Russell Crowe meanwhile steps into Marlon Brando’s shoes as Superman’s birth father Jor-El.
Squaring off against the superhero are two other surviving Kryptonians, the villainous General Zod, played by Boardwalk Empire star Michael Shannon and Faora, Zod’s evil partner, played by Antje Traue.
Check out the Live feed below:
Black Rock Review
The Plot:
Three young women take a camping trip to the remote island they visited as children to reconnect and set aside their personal issues. However, they soon discover that the island is not quite as deserted as they thought. After encountering a trio of seemingly friendly hunters, the girls soon find themselves locked in a terrifying battle for survival.
The Good:
Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth and Katie Aselton are likeable performers that do their best to inject actual personalities into their characters, especially during the film’s opening set up. The film at least bothers to try and give its heroines some mundane drama and backstory before it plunges them into an implausible nightmare. It’s not much, but it’s more than a lot of truly awful and unwatchable horror films manage.
Male genre fans will no doubt also be pleased that the film conveniently discovers a flimsy excuse halfway through to have its pretty stars strip completely naked. It might be heavy handed fan-service but it’s well timed to peak waning interests.
Although there’s just about enough gore once the trouble really starts to keep hardened horror fans vaguely satisfied, the film doesn’t really linger on its grisly moments, like so many low budget genre movies do in an effort to be memorable and notorious. Even squeamish audiences should be able to easily brave their way to the end without too much trouble. Perhaps that’s not necessarily a desirable compliment for a true horror film.
The Bad:
The Horror genre is stereotypically guilty of generic clichés and sadly Black Rock takes a well a worn premise that feels predictably familiar and fails to add as much originality as it clearly hoped to.
Iconic 1970s film Deliverance infamously dealt with the concept of encountering violent gun wielding lunatics in a remote wilderness and his has since inspired endless lazy re-tellings. Black Rock joins the ranks of this sub-genre but does little to distinguish itself beyond making its endangered heroes women. A simple gender swap isn’t really enough on its own to turn a by the numbers tale into anything more sophisticated or intriguing.
The film’s plot is essentially a glorified game of murderous hide and seek, played out on an unfortunately small island located a little too close to civilisation. Finding a more expansive and convincingly remote setting would have made the film’s cat and mouse antics a little more plausible. Although it really doesn’t help that the film’s traumatized heroines seem to insist on casually strolling around the woods and bickering loudly, whilst supposedly hiding from deadly trained killers.
Horror films often ask audiences to suspend disbelief as characters make irrational decisions that sacrifice common sense to serve the plot. But Black Rock frequently asks far too much. Plot holes and implausible silliness instantly evaporates any real sense of tension. Watching the girls take breaks from being terrified to slap each other and squabble over boyfriend dramas is especially disheartening.
A great horror film also ideally needs a great villain. It takes a convincingly menacing threat to deliver an exhilarating rush of fear. Sadly Black Rock only delivers lazy stereotypes and inadequately bland actors. The film aims to be more tense than grotesque, but it just doesn’t pack enough psychological and emotional punches. It’s difficult to emotional invest when characters face unimaginative and predictable perils.
Though some fans may find the unnecessary nude scenes at least distracting it does suggest either a misplaced confidence or resigned desperation from director/star Katie Aselton. Despite Aselton’s presumably best intentions the film ultimately falls into many of the most obvious genre clichés.
The Ugly Truth:
Black Rock is watchable horror fare that fails to live up to other better versions of its familiar premise. Seasoned horror fans will perhaps be especially disappointed that the film fails to deliver either genuine scares or generous buckets of blood. It’s never entirely awful, but it could so easily have been so much better.
The Hobbit The Desolation Of Smaug Trailer
Check out the first Official Trailer for the next chapter in the Middle Earth Hobbit saga, The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug. The film is set for a Christmas release on 13th December and sees Martin Freeman reprising his role as diminutive Hobbit Hero Bilbo Baggins, on a quest to help a band of Dwarves reclaims their homeland from the clutches of a fire breathing dragon with a lust for Gold.
Aaron Johnson For Avengers 2 Quicksilver
Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson may be playing Quicksilver, one of the new superheroes set to join the cast for Avengers 2. A staple of many of the Marvel comic book story-lines involving both The Avengers and X-Men.
Confusingly the character will actually already be featuring in the newest X-Men movie Days of Future Past, with Johnson’s Kick-Ass co-star Evan Peters already cast by director Bryan Singer. However due to copyright issues separating the X-Men franchise at Fox from the rest of the Marvel universe, it’s looking like Joss Whedon will be creating his own version of the character with another actor for Avengers 2.
Quicksilver is blessed with the ability to run at super human speeds and although for now the studio isn’t commenting on the casting Johnson is strongly rumored to be the current front-runner for the Avengers sequel role.
Summer In February Review
The Plot:
When a beautiful young woman moves into a lively Edwardian artist colony in Cornwall she finds herself caught up in a passionate love triangle between wild artistic genius Alfred Munnings and handsome soldier Captain Gilbert Evans.
The Good:
Based on actual events and real people, Summer In February is a slow burning period drama set against a lush Cornish seaside landscape. The film’s visuals are both sumptuous and seductive, taking full advantage of the dramatic scenery of constantly crashing waves and wind swept cliff tops. It also adds an ominous inevitability of brooding melodrama. Gentle cinematography, ornate costumes and a pretty natural backdrop gives the film a particular breed of rustic glamour.
Australian starlet Emily Browning brings a convincingly fragile English rose beauty and polished plummy accent to the role of Florence. It’s entirely understandable that she has two very different men both vying for possession of her porcelain doll features. She also handles the requisite mood swings from blissful happiness to hysterical despair quite well.
Dominic Cooper has a rare gift, for looking pleased with himself. Playing a caddish womanising artist he consistently beams with that typical smug satisfaction. He’s effectively typecast, flirting as usual with the finest line between charming and obnoxious. Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens, armed with foppish hair and polite clipped tones, is a welcome contrast and likeably banal love rival.
The film’s attractive central trio do their very best to manufacture some genuine chemistry; creating plausible flashes of friendship, love, jealousy and betrayal amongst themselves.
The Bad:
Though much beloved in the UK, the slow paced subtleties of 1920’s period drama aren’t of course universally appealing. Compared to the satisfyingly explicit passions of contemporary romantic drama the polite restraint and languid pace of these proceedings won’t ignite everyone’s interest.
If you typically loath formal melodramatics then you will likely be frustrated by a collection of characters who fabricate complex social problems entirely thanks to an irrationally steadfast refusal to acknowledge or discuss their emotions. It’s difficult to witness attempts at happiness that flounder needlessly as obvious solutions are ignored merely to observe antiquated social niceties.
Whilst the film successfully captures the look of iconic period drama, it ultimately fails to deliver quite enough smouldering undertones of passions or feel-good romantic satisfaction.
The Ugly Truth:
After a bright opening full of brisk walks, poetry and sprinklings of romantic charm; Summer In February gradually turns more sullen and sombre. A well composed production boasting handsome scenery and pretty stars lends the film a little more elegance than its occasionally heavy handed Mills and Boon style plot. It should be perfect for melancholy fans of weepy romantic page turners, but won’t warm colder hearts.