Guardians of The Galaxy Casts Drax

Chris Pratt was recently cast as heroic lead Star-Lord in Marvels upcoming space franchise Guardians of the Galaxy, now they’ve added the colossal presence of former wrestler Dave Baustista to the cast.

The impressively muscle-bound actor is set to play Drax the Destroyer a hulking green sword wielding hero. Baustista’s memorable appearance in recent kung fu fantasy effort The Man With The Iron Fists was likely a deciding factor in securing him the part.

Drax The Destroyer will join the likes of Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon in tackling Thanos, the inter-galactic villain briefly introduced during the closing credits of The Avengers.

Oliver! 1968 Musical Cast Interviews

At the Memorabilia fan event in Birmingham Red Carpet News spoke to the cast of classic 1968 musical film Oliver! We talked exclusively to stars Mark Lester (Oliver Twist), Shani Wallis (Nancy) and Ron Moody (Fagan) about just what made the classic film so beloved and timeless. They share their memories of the production and their messages for fans for the film all over the world today.

The film was nominated for 11 Oscars at the 41st Academy Awards and won six, including for Best Film and Best Director for Carol Reed. Based on the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist, the film like the stage production featured music and lyrics by Lionel Bart.

Video Interviews Below:

G.I. Joe Retaliation Seoul Premiere Pictures

Check out a gallery of pictures below from the Seoul Premiere of blockbuster action sequel G.I. Joe Retaliation ahead of the UK premeire in London on 18th March. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, Jonathan Pryce, Ray Park, Channing Tatum and Bruce Willis. 

Welcome To The Punch Review

The Plot:

A legendary retired criminal Jacob Sternwood is forced to return to London when his son is shot and ends up in police custody. This gives his former nemesis, a broken young detective called Max Lewinsky, one final chance to catch him and regain his pride.

The Good:

Dirctor Eran Creevy graduates with ease from his impressive ultra-low budget debut Shifty to deliver one of the most competently composed and stylish British action films in recent years. He emulates the slick noirish visuals of the Hong Kong and American action genres, whilst managing to avoid the pitfalls of misguided imitation. It’s painfully easy for British action films to feel like cheap impersonations and you only have to look at the recent re-imagining of The Sweeny for a frankly ridiculous example of this. This film thankfully succeeds where so many others have failed.

The film delivers a view of London that is authentically dangerous, sexy and devoid of all the usual clichés. You won’t spot the London Eye or cheerfully red double decker buses, that kind of things that instantly rob so many British crime dramas of their gritty credibility. Creevy inventively captures London as a world of glittering skyscrapers and dark alleyways.

Creevy also makes clever and economical choices with his action sequences.  The film’s opening chase scene is an excellent example, creating a sense of scale and tension without relying on the expensive mayhem of explosions and countless unnecessary car crashes. Well-chosen camera angles and taunt scripting achieve the same effect.

Versatile British actor Mark Strong is very well experienced in playing memorable villains in big budget blockbusters. He’s successfully tackled that challenge many times before in Sherlock Holmes, Stardust, John Carter, Robin Hood and Kick-Ass. Strong has a captivating and commanding presence on screen that allows him to malevolently dominate scenes. In this role he combines that ruthless power with just enough efficient charisma to make his character oddly admirable.

Handsome leading man James McAvoy has his own growing army of fans, which offers the film an obvious selling point. In truth though he actually deliver an unselfish performance, playing a far more flawed and scruffy hero than the perfect super-cop you might expect.

Fellow Brit Johnny Harris is also superb as the real villain of the piece; a former soldier turned menacing mercenary. Easily the film’s most memorable moment sees the three finally squaring off against each other in an old ladies living room. It’s an indisputable flash of genius in an already strong script.

The rest of the cast is full of familiar faces like Peter Mullan, David Morrissey, Ruth Sheen, Daniel Mays and Andrea Riseborough. They all deliver competent performances with the varied screen time they’re given.  Rising star Riseborough in particular adds a touch of class to proceedings as she spars with both McAvoy and Johnny Harris.

The Bad:

Obviously a modest budget does deny audiences the type of spectacular spectacle they may have grown accustomed to. The film’s reserved action style is far more inspired by Michael Mann than Michael Bay. Those misguidedly waiting to see London devastated by the collateral damage of countless explosions will be left disappointed.

Although the film has more style and substance than any typical British gangster movie it can’t entirely avoid predictability. By about half way through it is fairly easy to map out where the story is ultimately heading. Although it still remains satisfying to watch things play out in a climatic hail of gunfire.

The Ugly Truth:

Welcome To The Punch firmly announces the arrival of Eran Creevy as a promising directing talent and defies the conventional limitations of the typically atrocious British action genre. The criminally underrated Mark Strong and Johnny Harris largely steal the show in memorably villainous performances.

Red Carpet Interviews form the London premiere below, including Mark Strong, Johnny Harris and Director Eran Creevy:

Disney Already Planning Oz Sequel

Oz The Great and Powerful is projected to take an opening weekend box office haul of a $90million. Director Sam Raimi has thus clearly proved that he still has some of the Spider-Man magic that saw that franchise consistently break box office records. The news has also reportedly convinced Disney that a sequel, remaking the classic 1939 The Wizard of Oz might not be such a bad idea after all.

The studio has acted quickly, responding to the prospect of making more Munchkin dollars by hiring Mitchell Kapner to produce a new script. He’s one of the writer’s responsible for the new Sam Raimi prequel.

It’s assumed this new sequel will essential amount to a straightforward remake of The Wizard of Oz, although there could be so slight issues as certain iconic elements of the 1939 version like Dorothy’s ruby slippers were an invention of MGM not L. Frank Baum’s original books.

Full press conference interviews with Sam Raimi, James Franco, Mila Kunis and the rest of the new cast below: