Welcome to The Jungle... Book Trailer

The first of two incoming adaptations of The Jungle Book is on its way in 2016 and Disney have just released the first trailer. The trailer follows hot on the heels of director Jon Favreau’s seconds long tease of the trailer on Instagram yesterday.

Favreau’s Disney funded adaptation is going to beat Andy Serkis’ own adaptation, titled Jungle Book: Origins to screens by over a year. However, the pedigree of talent involved in each means that they may yet both be worth a look.

The trailer for Favreau’s version shows jungle-boy Mowgli skipping along tree branches, facing up to his rather large snake mentor Kaa, and running for his life from villainous tiger Shere Khan. There’s even time for a quick float down the river on the belly of Baloo as the bear whistles the Bare Necessities. 

Favreau directed the first two Iron Man films as well as modern Christmas classic Elf. Unknown actor Neel Sethi will make his feature debut as Mowgli and will be the only actor appearing on screen in live action. The locations and all other characters have been created using CGI and the voice cast includes Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera and Christopher Walken as King Louie.

With that cast, you’d think Serkis’ own version wouldn’t stand a chance but don’t worry too much for him. Serkis has Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Benedict Cumberbatch all on board for his version.

Watch the trailer for Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book here:

Ender's Game Review

I wonder if Ender's Game is what George Melies imagined science fiction cinema would become one day in the future. Hugo's George Melies Sir Ben Kinglsey reunites with Hugo himself Asa Butterfield in this frequently spectacular voyage into space that sees a young boy trained for command in a war against a deadly alien race.

It is light years ahead of Melies stop/start special effects and contains contemporary relevance that has clearly not been lost even though the book it is adapted from is nearly 30 years old. After Earth is attacked by a huge swarm of aliens, the population of the planet is decimated then swiftly saved by the sacrifice of one great warrior. Humans, including Harrison Ford's gruff Colonel Graff, are not about to let another massacre occur again should the 'evil' alien race return and so for some dubious and far too quickly explained reason, have decided to train children into warriors to tackle the threat.

It seems an implausible set up and the future Earth is brusquely brushed over in order to get the action into space. Ender Wiggin (Butterfield) is a bullied kid who beats the crap out of another kid to ensure the bully never picks on him again. That's all it takes for Harrison Ford to think Ender is the next John Connor, great military leader and saviour of the planet. So off to space they go for a film about training kids in future space warfare and zero gravity shoot outs.

Ender quickly rises in the ranks and becomes a commander of the other kids in their space training facility. He forms some bonds, particularly with Hailee Steinfeld's Petra and also makes a few enemies. All the while Harrison Ford and Viola Davis (as some kind of psychologist) battle for Ender's soul, Ford wanting him to become a heartless killer and Davis concerned that Ender will be pushed too far.

The training scenes zip along but amount to little and it is never really clear why Ender is the chosen one. What makes Ender's Game a must see for gung-ho let's go to war and nuke the bastards types is the bleak message it pounces on the audience at the end. The politics of heroics are replaced by sacrifice, shame and genocide as Ender learns the true cost of war. However, then the producers and writer/director Gavin Hood clearly get a bit nervous about such a downbeat ending so they attach a pointless grab for a more hopeful sequel.

Nevertheless Ender's Game makes up for an occasionally clunky script with some impressive spectacle and weighty themes that lift it slightly above the average soulless science fiction extravaganza.

Check out my videos from the Ender's Game Q&A in London:













More on Ender's Game:

Ender's Game Q and A with Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Hailee SteinFeld and Gavin Hood

More reviews at I Love That Film:

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The Lone Ranger

You're Next

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Ender's Game Q and A with Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Hailee SteinFeld and Gavin Hood

Ahead of the release of Gavin Hood's sci-fi epic Ender's Game, the stars were in London's Leicester Square for a Q&A event and to share some clips from the film with a huge crowd of expectant fans. After screening the trailer and two clips from the film released on October 25th, the stars took to the stage to answer questions from fans.

It got off to a rocky start with some unexpected delays but finally producers Bob Orci, Gigi Pritzker, stars Sir Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld and director Gavin Hood took their seats to much applause. Harrison Ford appeared to be in a good mood, if a little slow sadly these days as he speaks and thinks. Sir Ben spoke at length about his character while Asa Butterfield also had plenty to say on his experience of making the film. While Steinfeld was quiet, she was charming whenever she spoke. Director Gavin Hood and the producers all demonstrated their passion for the film and the book it was based on.

Nothing was mentioned on the whole Orson Scott Card homophobic controversy unfortunately as I would have been interested to see what would have been said on it. I completely understand people wanting to boycott this movie if you feel strongly about what Card has said in the past but on  the other hand, whether the guy is homophobic or not makes no difference to his talent as a writer. It's difficult as I don't want to make the guy even richer or give his views any more publicity but I think the film looks interesting and I hope it has some important points to make about war.

The book is nearly 30 years old and seems to have been very prescient. Gavin Hood gave us Tsotsi and adapted Card's much loved book for the screen. Producer Gigi Pritzker has been trying to get the film made since buying the rights 13 years ago so it's been a pretty epic struggle to get it made. Along with Butterfield, Steinfeld and the big guns Sir Ben and Mr Ford, the film also stars Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin and The Help's Viola Davis.

It could be Starship Troopers without the satire or it could be a serious Independence Day with added moral ambiguity and complex themes about the ethics of war. Either way it was an interesting Q&A and I hope you will check out my videos from the event below and at the bottom is the trailer:

Harrison Ford on Special effects from Star Wars to Ender's Game:

Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield and Gavin Hood on Ender's Game adaptation

Hailee Steinfeld on Ender's Game characters




Director Gavin Hood talks casting Ender's Game




Ben Kingsley discusses his character in Ender's Game




Asa Butterfield & Harrison Ford talk Ender's Game

What can fans expect from Marvel’s The Mandarin in Iron Man 3? (NO SPOILERS!)

The Mandarin appears in Iron Man 3 as the main villain opposite Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark. A familiar face from the comics, The Mandarin has often been called the archenemy of Iron Man but what will Oscar winner Ben Kingsley bring to the character?

Read my Iron Man 3 review here.

The Mandarin has traditionally been of Chinese descent and primarily uses ten power rings on his fingers to blast and beam his foes into oblivion. These magic rings were forged from alien technology of a crashed spaceship. However new Iron Man 3 director Shane Black has confirmed that though Ben Kingsley’s incarnation of the villain does indeed have fingers full of jewellery; they will not be magic, from space or capable of shooting flames or ice and any other substances. For that matter he is no longer Chinese either so fan boys expecting a very literal interpretation of the character of the comic should think again.

Martial arts skills

Despite this, The Mandarin should be a force to be reckoned with. In the comics he is a genius scientist and has martial arts skills of superhuman levels. Whether the approaching 70 year old Kingsley will be able to handle complex and incredible fight scenes without the need for a great deal of computer generated trickery is open to debate. However Marvel superhero films are full of spectacular effects and a showdown between The Mandarin and Iron Man could be created through immense amounts of digital rendering. Expect at least one fight

Genius scientist

The Mandarin is also known for being an intellectual genius in the field of science. With the addition of Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, there could be the potential for a team up to take down Iron Man. Killian is the man behind Extremis, a super soldier serum that could unleash of an army of superhuman villains against Stark and his alter ego. The Mandarin is likely to be involved with such a nefarious plan and two scientists would make a perfect fit for each other and a credible threat to our hero.

Anti-American Iconography

Both Kingsley and writer/director Shane Black have hastened to appease those expecting magic fire shooting rings by promising an altogether more sinister and crucially more real version of The Mandarin. An assortment of anti-American iconography, The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 uses media manipulation to cause terror. He hacks phones, broadcasting networks, has an Bin Laden style beard and sends anti American videos out with jihad style logos on them. He has the appearance of an American nightmare come to reality and works hard to promote this image to the world.

With the crew of Iron Man 3 reportedly applauding Kingsley on his last day on the set of shooting the film, what we can certainly look forward to is an outstanding performance from Sir Kingsley.  Just because The Mandarin is not everything you had expected from the comics, does not mean he cannot be iconic and memorable villain for the Iron Man franchise.

What do you think about Ben Kingsley’s appearance as Iron Man’s latest nemesis?