May Movie Reviews and Round up

In May I've watched a measly 10 movies but reviewed 8 out of the 10 so that's not bad. I've also spent a weekend in Paris, read and reviewed a book, been appearing on the radio lots and just today interviewed the director of The Last Exorcism Part 2. Also known as The Really Last Exorcism... We Mean it this Time... Maybe... Unless this One Makes a Killing at the Box Office. Apparently that title was considered too lengthy so they made a last minute change to help it fit on the posters.

Anyway the films I watched this month were:

A Hijacking (Reviewed for Filmoria)
Ruby Sparks
Bellflower
Motel Hell (Reviewed for Filmoria)
Black Sabbath (Reviewed for Filmoria)
The Great Gatsby (Reviewed for Filmoria)
Fast and Furious 6
Behind the Candelabra (worth seeing for a pair of mesmerizing performances from Matt Damon and Michael Douglas)
Blow Up (Reviewed for Filmoria)
Sweet Vengeance (Reviewed for Filmoria)

My reviews for Our Children, Side by Side and Everybody Has a Plan were also published this month.

The book I read and reviewed is called Boy Nobody. I also saw and reviewed The Book of Mormon, the musical from the South Park guys.

I did a couple of box office reports for Tastic Film: one on Iron Man 3 and one on Star Trek Into Darkness.

I also got a few news stories written for both Starburst Magazine and Filmoria:

Sharlto Copley and Neill Blomkamp Reteam for Sci-fi Comedy CHAPPIE

Sweet Vengeance Trailer Promises Bloody Revenge

PACIFIC RIM Banner Promises Sydney Harbour Bridge Destruction!

First Poster for Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac Bares All

I've also written two features to be included in the latest edition of Starburst Magazine, one is a preview on Pacific Rim and one is a preview on The Wolverine so if you don't already subscribe to Starburst Magazine, please go do so now!

Also this month I finally finished Game of Thrones series 1 (and wrote a hit list) and have raced to about the half way mark of series 2 now. I'm absolutely loving it. Netflix offered me a second free month trial this week so I immediately started to take advantage of it. I'm about half way through Arrested Development series 4 already and plan to get up to date with Breaking Bad by watching series 4 and the first half of series 5 before the month ends!

 I wrote lots of articles about Fast and Furious for Yahoo Movies, practiced for the day the media (inevitably!) come knocking at my door to interview me about found footage movies and also applied for lots of jobs. As usual it's been a busy month.

 On the plus side, I'm only a couple of chapters away from finishing my book on The Blair Witch Project and am just about to finish a first draft of another chapter of my thesis on found footage movies.

This month I've already got preview screenings of This is the End and Summer in February lined up and also have to write a director retrospective on Roland Emmerich for Filmoria. I've also got a couple of DVD's to review; Come as You Are and To the Wonder.

Best film of the month was Ruby Sparks! Worst was Motel Hell. What did you see this month? Any recommendations? 

You can check out more of my monthly round ups by clicking here.

Trio of Trailers: The World's End, Captain Phillips, The Great Gatsby

Three trailers have caught my attention today and I thought I would share them just in case you haven't seen any of them. They are The World's End, Captain Phillips and The Great Gatsby.

The World's End

The hugely anticipated trailer to the Cornetto trilogy closer is finally here. The World's End has possibly one of my favourite casts ever and almost certainly the best British cast in a very long time. Joining Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Martin Freeman making up the group of mates on an epic pub crawl that just might also be the end of the world. I also noticed a very brief moment of Mark Heap (who was excellent in Pegg, Wright and Frost's TV show Spaced and also appeared with Pegg in the brilliant sketch show Big Train) who is a legend and will no doubt be hilarious. This is the first time I've seen all the shiny eyed people and so the trailer has got me more excited than ever for this.



Captain Phillips

Ever since I heard Paul Greengrass was making another based on real life drama, I was excited. I thought his United 93 was one of the most gripping, terrifying, realistic, horrifying and emotional films I have ever seen. His record with real life events is impeccable with his movies being more like documentary reconstructions than fiction films. Check out Bloody Sunday if you haven't. The story of a real life hijacking of a ship by pirates, Tom Hanks stars as the titular Captain Phillips. I hadn't heard of this story until I read about the film but it sounds like a perfect narrative for a blockbuster and I couldn't think of anyone better than Greengrass to bring it to the screen. Check out the trailer:



The Great Gatsby

Finally I bring you the trailer for Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Not because this is a new trailer but because I believe it is opening the Cannes Film Festival tonight and also I'm seeing it in Leicester Square tonight. I don't really know what to think about this. I love Leo and I loved Romeo and Juliet but other than that, I'm not a big Luhrmann fan. I know nothing about the book or the older adaptations so am going into this with only the little knowledge I have from the trailer. It certainly looks and sounds pretty!