Upcoming Films

Last week, Twentieth Century Fox was the first major studio to release a trailer tailored for Vine, Twitter’s six second video service.

The Vine trailer was the first glimpse of the movie, due for release 26 July. It created a huge buzz on the internet, with over 600 retweets from followers of the @wolverinemovie account, reaching over 20k people. With a predicted box office of £15m in the UK, The Wolverine is set to continue the commercial success of the X-Men franchise, which has now taken over $1b worldwide. The audience are predicted to be predominately affluent males, aged between 25-34.

Read More

Although May to July is traditionally known as Summer blockbuster season, this year sees an unusually high number of upmarket arthouse releases.  Coming out on the same weekend as Iron Man 3 (April 26) are two all-star features with a strong comedic slant. Bernie earned a Golden Globe nomination for Jack Black’s performance and is [...]

Read More

This April is notable for two things that are great for cinema admissions: the bulk of the Easter school holidays and later in the month, the start of the summer blockbuster season. It may not feel like summer in late April but the first of the year’s big superhero films, Iron Man 3 3D is released on April 26 and after that the tent-pole releases come thick and fast.

Read More

Following the 85th Academy Awards ceremony last month, Digital Cinema Media’s (DCM) Simon Rees shares his highlights and looks ahead to what promises to be another strong year for the film industry.

The great, the talented and the beautiful of the world’s film industry gathered just over a week ago for the 85th Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars. Some surprises were in store on an unpredictable evening, with the top categories (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress) all going to different films. This demonstrates the variety and calibre of the films and acting talent in contention this year.

Read More

“It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to”, wise words from Jean-Luc Godard. Hollywood has never been afraid to take a successful novel and translate the magic to the big screen.

There’s a good reason for Hollywood adapting novels, attracting an upmarket audience. This is good news for advertisers as research shows that these audiences prefer premium products, have a 10% higher than average income and are predominately AB consumers. They are early adopters and key influencers in their peer groups.

Read More

Film fans and stars took to the red carpet on Sunday 21st October for the BFI’s glittering closing gala at London’s Odeon Leicester Square featuring the European Premiere of Great Expectations.

With a stellar cast showcasing Britain’s next generation of acting royalty, this home grown remake of the Dickens classic was a fitting conclusion to the London Film Festival 2012. David Lean’s 1946 version, starring John Mills, is viewed by some as one of the most perfect films ever made and there have been numerous TV and film adaptions since. The challenge for any director taking on the costume drama was therefore to bring something new and fresh to the Big Screen. Director Michael Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), however, draws on the rich tones and production values we see in Potter, reuniting some of the franchise’s stars Helena Bonham Carter (Miss Haversham), Ralph Fiennes (Magwitch) and Robbie Coltrane (Jaggers). This production style, combined with strong comedic performances from a supporting cast, including the superbly Pumblechookian David Walliams, delivers a movie that encapsulates the very best of Dickensian characterisation and spirit in a real, but raw environs. Jason Flemyng is likeable as the kind, but modest blacksmith Joe Gargery, who reminds Pip of his lowly origins as his city life of a gentleman distances him from those who brought him up.

Read More

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to attend a media screening of the highly anticipated, 23rd Bond instalment, Skyfall. Whilst spending my lunchtime speaking to BT and reheating the previous night’s pasta bake was a flawless plan, I felt attending the screening was something I couldn’t pass up on.

Left with a sour taste in my mouth from the last bond venture, A Quantum of Solace, I was feeling sceptical about Skyfall. Whilst it’s been one of my most anticipated releases of the year, I was hesitant to throw my full enthusiasm into it in the interest of avoiding disappointment.

After entering the plush Sony screening room with dubiety squashing my child-like excitement, I am happy to confirm that I left the screening grinning like a 6 year old that’s overdosed on Sunny Delight.

Read More

The young characters of My Brother the Devil live in a world of perpetual violence, gang feuds and abuses both chemical and physical. It’s a world where a legitimate road to success is all-but invisible, and brash machismo – often backed-up by cold steel – is an ugly substitute for ambition. They’re pawns to their generals, men in their late-20s whose council houses are decked out like City Boy bachelor pads, except that for every set of iconic black-and-white photographs in a frame cluster, there’s a pair of antique machetes.

This is the world that Sally El Hosaini presents, and it’s one we’re all familiar with. Over the last decade, British cinema has indulged in something of an angry love affair with ‘the endz’, pushing out a steady stream of ‘gritty crime dramas’ with a tendency to feel like washed-out retreads of Boyz N the Hood with more muddled Afro-Caribbean patois and fewer barbeques. This recent tradition is carried over into My Brother the Devil but, thankfully, there’s something else going on underneath…

Read More

Billy Connelly (nearly Headless Nick), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), and Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbledore)…no I’m not talking about a top secret Harry potter project but Quartet, the directorial debut from Dustin Hoffman (aka Captain Hook for the 90s kids out there).

The film centres on a retirement home for the old and extremely talented. From the start, you instantly get a taste of the characters and what’s in store as Gambon, head of the choir, shouts and instructs, the choir sing at the top of their lungs and Billy Connelly takes the mick!

Read More

On the rainiest of Wednesday nights, the DCM faithful padded over a sodden red carpet into a packed-out UK premiere of End of Watch – the new cop thriller by the writer of Training Day, David Ayer. The influences really show too – the action is stark and brutal, with sombre down moments and tension hitting fever pitch at the grand finale.

This is no mindless shooter mind you, and underneath the gritty handheld realism and harrowing subject matter this is a buddy cop movie with a sincere heart. The magnetic on-screen chemistry of Jake Gyllenhall and Michael Pena (present on the night to welcome the crowd) would be enough to carry the audience through from start to finish, displaying a friendship that is layered and believable. They even make mention in the script that they are beyond friends – they are brothers.

Read More