Film Spotlight: Assassin’s Creed
Director: Justin Kurzel
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Michael K Williams, Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson.
Plot: The Assassin’s Creed movie follows a character by the name of Callum Lynch who, through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, is able to experience the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day.

Thoughts: Let me start off by saying I am a HUGE fan of the Assassin’s Creed games. Lately they have sort of regressed with the move to next gen; Unity had to deal with some bad pre-release buzz due to a graphics glitch. Syndicate was a bit disjointed in its missions and gameplay. I enjoyed both but they never came close to how good Black Flag was. Fans of the game have long thought that the series is probably more suited than any other video game to be adapted into a film. The view of videos games not getting great adaptions might be broken with Assassin’s Creed. First of all Ubisoft who make the game set up their own production company to make sure they get the film right. Secondly they have gathered some great talent in the casting and hiring of the director and finally and perhaps most crucial is they decided not to adapt any of the games, instead they have gone for an original story but it is still set in the same universe as the games. That is something which I thought Warcraft got wrong this year, adapting a story from the games instead of creating one.

Now there is still a chance that it might not work but from the trailers that have been released the footage looks very promising. They have captured the essence of the games from the parkour running, the combat and that final shot from the trailer of the iconic leap of faith. Even the modern day sequences of Fassbender’s Callum Lynch inside an Abstergo facility. The redesigned Animus which is the tool that allows the present day Lynch to access his genetic memory of his ancestors looks pretty bad ass. I expect there will be some cool little mentions and Easter eggs in reference to games. I am pretty hopeful this will break the trend of bad video game movies and hope it will kick start a new era in video game movies.

Assassin’s Creed is out December 21st, 2016.

Release Date: July 20, 2012
Studio: Warner Brothers
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine.
Plot: Eight years after Batman took the fall for Two Face’s crimes, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham’s finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy. (via IMDB)

Thoughts: Well the end is in sight for a journey that began eight years ago and is arguably one of the greatest cinematic trilogies of all time. Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise took comic book movies to a new level. Placing the character in the real world and giving the characters and story that sense of realism that could make you believe that this could actually happen. The Dark Knight Rises is shaping up to be THE movie of 2012.

The Dark Knight Rises, like it predecessors, boast an impressive cast. Joining the returning Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I think out of three films, this cast seems to be the best by far. Nolan has said that he didn’t want to save anything from this movie and this looks like it. While not a lot is known officially about the story, that hasn’t stopped the fanboys and internet writers from speculating.

From the trailers and other footage that’s been released, It seems like Nolan is sticking true to his word. There’s already a sense of epicness to this and a feeling that this will easily top anything that’s been done in the two previous films. Hardy and Hathaway look impressive as Bane and Selena Kyle/Catwoman. I like the fact that the film is set quite a while after the events of The Dark Knight. (8 years is official figure I keep hearing). Not only is this a great story setting but this could be a great move for Warner Brothers. With Nolan definitively stating this is the last Batman film he is directing. It’s been rumoured that he will be on the reboot as a producer much like his role on next years Superman Reboot “Man Of Steel”.

If that is the case, this reboot or next series of films could take place in those eight years. Bale has recently said he would up for a fourth film if the story is right- but we’ll have to wait and see. The Dark Knight Rises will be giving an epic conclusion to this wonderful journey and I think it will be the best movie of the summer. I’ve seen The Avengers and loved it, but I just think that TDKR will be better. Nolan hasn’t let us down yet and I think he will be able to top everything else we’ve seen. Either way, July 20^th can’t come quick enough for this Bat-Fan.

I recently watched the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s new sci-fi thriller Inception, and I honestly have no idea what it is about. Dream invasion and manipulation? Mind-f#&$ing? Visually it looks amazing, and it is Nolan, so I’m there. A few new character posters have been released. This first one features Leonardo DiCaprio…

And this next one is of Joseph Gordon-Levitt…

The rest of the film’s stellar cast includes Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, and Sir Michael Caine.  What do you think about the posters? Excited about Nolan’s next flick?

Nine, the new musical from Rob Marshall is just three weeks away. Earlier today, three new posters for the flick showed up online. This one is easily my favorite.

The musical stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a middle aged film director who is struggling to complete his next film due to having too many women in his life (what a problem to have).  These women include Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson and Fergie. The movie looks very much in the vein of Chicago, and is also based on a Tony Award winning musical. It looks vibrant and energetic.  You can check out the film’s trailer here.