Film Preview: Shadow Dancer

From Academy Award winning director James Marsh (Man on Wire) returns with this story of a single mother, Collette (Andrea Riseborough who is a republican in Belfast during the troubles and is arrested after a failed bomb plot. She is then offered a choice by the MI5 to either go to prison for 25 years for the crime or go back to Belfast to work as an informant in the IRA. When rumours of an informant become rife she has to do what is best to protect her family.

Clive Owen plays Mac, the MI5 operative who gives her the choice after her arrest. This is a film with great potential as a story to see the troubles from the Republican perspective in Northern Ireland which I've taken a great interest in after visiting Belfast recently, lets hope were not disappointed.

Shadow Dancer is out on Friday 24th August in the UK and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Saving Private Ryan

Director: Steven Spielberg

American Soldiers prepare for the Normandy beach landings knowing that they are attacked a heavily manned German stronghold in the Second World War. How would you feel knowing that hundreds of bullets are waiting to pounce as soon as you are in view and there's a good chance you won't make it out alive? Spielberg produces a truly harrowing film epic that many councillors advised that ''psychologically vulnerable'' veterans should not watch the movie. It's become popular to portray war in a very dark bad light and not many films paint it in a worst light than Saving Private Ryan.

The Brutal Beach Assault at Normandy

The opening assault on the beaches at Normandy is a brutal unflinching scene with hundreds of soldiers cut down by enemy bullets before they even get off the landing craft. The directing and effects are superb, Spielberg literally invites us to watch some of the worst atrocities committed by man. Hanks is admirable as Captain Miller who leads the party who go in search of Private Ryan as they encounter different problems en route.

Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks)

Unfortunately it falls into the familiar Hollywood trap of being too patriotic in altering history to make it look like the Americans did everything and many other nations are marginalised. The Normandy beach landings were performed by the Royal Navy with the Americans arriving on their ships rather than the American Coast Guard ones depicting in the film. A small criticism but considering this film was all about historical accuracy it's a shame the Americans after overplay their role. This aside it's a very realistic look at a mission during the Second World War which feels like a film version of Band of Brothers or The Pacific which is high praise indeed.

3.5/4 stark realism provides a harrowing watch

More Jo Nesbo adaptations

After the phenomenal success of 'Headhunters', the big screen version of Nesbo's book of the same name and the similar success of the Steig Larsson books that were adapted to the big screen in their native language (not the English speaking version which actually struggled). It was inevitable that more of these incredibly popular dark murder mystery books from Scandanavia would be bought up and made into films.

The first up is a film based by Norwegian director Magnus Martens who is making 'Jackpot' which Jo Nesbo helped write the screenplay for. The director described it as "that his adaptation channels the black comedy of the Coen brothers and films such as Fargo" which is also something that 'Headhunters' was compared to. The film is about four men who win a huge amount of money on the Football Pools and we see how they come about winning the money as well as what happens afterwards. The structure is richly complex with numerous narratives running simultaneously and is actually released in the UK on Friday 10th August.

The Snowman book cover

The second film is the book that made Jo Nesbo a famous author. The Snowman followed detective Harry Hole who features in a number of Nesbo's books but had the most intriguing and surprising plot of the series. Hole must find the sadistic serial killer lose around Oslo who builds Snowmen outside of people's houses before killing them on the first day of the snow in the winter. With many plot twists and nerve-jingling moments it really is a pleasure to read which should make the film a joy to watch. Oh and I nearly forgot, Martin Scorcese is directing the film so expect an impressive cast and a big budget.

Film Review: The Bourne Identity

Director: Doug Liman

An action-spy film which is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Ludlum. Despite Ludlum's death in 2001 he is still credited as one of the producers for the movie and his books continued to be the basis for the other films in the franchise.

It felt necessary to watch these films to get me back into the mood before The Bourne Trilogy is released in the very near future; my enjoyment of this film has only raised my expectations though.

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon)

A man (Matt Damon) is plucked from the sea in the Mediterranean having been shot in the back twice and is suffering from amnesia as he has no idea who he is. The only clue is a safe deposit box that is stored at a bank in Zurich but as the man goes the property from the box he realises that he is being chased by people for reasons he doesn't know. He pays a local woman named Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente) to drive him to Paris to the address on his passport that says he is Jason Bourne amongst other fake passports.

The second asset, The Professor (Clive Owen)

The mystery surrounding what happened to Jason Bourne and why he is inexplicably able to speak different languages that he didn't know about and is an expert in hand-to-hand combat is intriguing as the film plays out. We see the battle from both sides as we watch Chris Cooper and Brian Cox plan to bring down Bourne from within the CIA to cover up their tracks. Naturally with action films of this type the film becomes a bit slow and uninteresting in the middle after the fascinating start and explosive ending.

Matt Damon is excellent as Bourne whilst Franka Potente is decent as the love interest who becomes wrapped up in the hunt. Chris Cooper also stands out as the man ruthlessly trying to capture and/or kill Bourne to cover up his tracks from a previous CIA operation. The whole film is about being one step ahead of your opponents and has some interesting twists before concluding.

3/4 intriguing and fresh take on the spy drama

This week's releases 03/08/2012

Another slightly sparse week as they expect everyone to be on holiday or out enjoying the sunshine which is currently non-existent in the North of England.

Salute: One of the most powerful images in recent history is of athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in a silent protest to the oppression they felt during the civil rights movement. A protest that would go on to ruin their athletic careers but make them idols amongst millions of people throughout the world. This movie looks at the protest and what happened to the athletes following the 1968 Olympics.

Ted: A film I was unimpressed by having already seen it, a full review is posted here: Ted Full Film Review

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days: The latest installment of the series that I hadn't heard about until I saw this movie being released sees Greg have his summer holiday plans ruined but looks to make amends with varying schemes to help him enjoy his summer with his dog.

Why are they being released? (August edition)

A new segment where I question why certain films were ever given a budget to be made and released to the general public. These films will no doubt make money for the people that financed them which makes me worry about the decline of Western civilization as this means a lot of people will have paid good money to see these films at the cinema.

The Expendables 2:

Explosive action with a bunch of over the hill actors with a wafer thin plot if the first film is anything to go by. They have added Liam Hemsworth and Yu Nan as if that will solve all the problems the first one had. The only thing missing is Steven Seagal and his knitted hair.

Keith Lemon: The Film:

Keith Lemon realistically has only a few jokes that eeks out over a 40minute show (with adverts) on Celebrity Juice so it's going to be difficult to make something that is funny throughout for 90mins. If you are going to watch this film then you know exactly what to expect but don't be surprised if you are disappointed.

The Three Stooges:

An updated version of the classics that had a charming and likeable quality whilst the new version just seems to be over the top slapstick. The film features cameos from member of the TV show Jersey Shore for reasons I don't think anyone can explain. By the way, that is not Jim Carrey on the left of the picture above.

Total Recall:

As far as remakes go this year, Hollywood will do well to make a worse choice than this. Colin Farrell takes the tiny amount of acting talent he has into a remake of a very popular film first time round. Do yourself a favour and just buy the original on Blu-Ray.

Film Preview: The Bourne Legacy

With the lack of original ideas in Hollywood at the moment it seems inevitable that the Bourne franchise would return even without Matt Damon in the lead role, the question that remains is whether it can live up to the originals. The man in the directing chair is Tony Gilroy who wrote the screenplay for the original three whilst the lead role this time goes to Jeremy Renner, who was excellent in The Town and more of an after thought in Avengers Assemble. Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton make up the other lead roles with Norton playing the primary antagonist.

It has already been confirmed that Matt Damon who played the original Jason Bourne will not feature in the film (sorry) but it is based on ''Operation Blackbriar'' which is a program mentioned at the end of the first film, The Bourne Identity, by Ward Abbott (Brian Cox).

Movie Poster

The film is released on 13th August in the UK and the trailer is embedded below: