POSTER FOR NEW SEAN PENN THRILLER “THE GUNMAN” ARRIVES

Poster looks really freaking cool and the supporting cast are just as awesome with Ray Winstone, Idris Elba, Javier Bardem and Mark Rylance.

From the director of Taken and The Transporter. Now, is that a good thing?? Well I thought Taken was great when it it first came out. If you turned off your brain then it was a great bit of escapism… However stupid and unbelievable/realistic it was.

Now for The Transporter…… Ok, thats enough about The Transporter.

If it didn’t have such a talented cast then I’d probably wouldn’t be giving this the time of day. Let’s hope there is a solid thriller here and not just guns blazing, nice cars and a high body-count.

I must say though, I am looking forward to seeing Sean Penn make a come-back. The man is a fine actor, as is his entire supporting cast.

Official Plot (IMDB)
An international spy must clear his name in order to save himself from the organisation he used to work for.

“THE LIVING” Is Independent Cinema At It’s Very Finest

The Living is one of those films that doesn’t waste anytime establishing the storyline. After the opening credits roll accompanied by a beautiful and haunting track “The Werewolf Song” by Michael Hurley we meet Teddy, who wakes from a heavy night of drinking. He is surrounded by the aftermath and carnage from the night before, the room is trashed and he has bloodied knuckles, but has no recollection of what happened. He searches the house for his wife, Molly, but she ain’t nowhere to be seen. He gets in the pickup and heads towards his in-laws. His wife is there, but Molly’s mother is hostile and threatens Teddy with a shotgun if he doesn’t get off the premises . Molly then comes out of the house, bruised and beaten. Teddy has no memory of what happened but it’s soon clear that in his drunken, animalistic state he has savagely beaten his wife.

The first 10 minutes of the film made me realise how relevant the opening track to the movie was. Teddy wakes up and has no memory of what happened, he turned into a monster, which in a way was like David from American Werewolf In London waking up in the zoo, having no memory of what happened, not realising that he has torn people to pieces. So The Werewolf Song was a perfectly fitting opening track that quickly set the mood for the film.

Later that day, Molly’s brother,Gordon, is working at the local supermarket – his friend tells him that he knows of someone that could take care of Teddy – Gordon doesn’t have much cash, but this hitman comes cheap enough..

And from this another plot is born and we get introduced to ex-con, Howard the hitman played brilliantly by Brian Mulkey. When Howard arrives on the scene I had no idea where the story was going to go, from that moment on, I was kept guessing right up to the end.

That’s all I’ll say about the plot of the movie. This was one of the best independent films made in 2014. We have two stories that meet at the start and then go their separate ways, then cross paths again at the end.

The acting and character development was fantastic. Everyone involved had an important role to play, and story to tell, and everyone did it with striking realism. The story played really well as a realistic drama that focuses on the effects of domestic violence, and then we meet ex-con, Harold, and a beautifully crafted thriller is born with both stories playing brilliantly into each other.

Director/writer Jack Bryan created something really special with this film, it just goes to show you just what can be done if you have a a solid story, powerful script, good direction, and the acting talent to bring it all to life. The movie was shot for an estimated $500.000 and on the scale of things that’s not very much. This is a prime example of classic independent cinema – absolutely fantastic filmmaking in every sense of the word.

The movie stars Fran Kanz (The Cabin In The Woods, Training Day, Donnie Darko, The Village, Dollhouse), Jocelin Donahue (The House Of The Devil, The Burrowers, Insidious Chapter 2, Summer Camp), Kenny Wormald (clerks 2, By The Gun, Footloose, Kid Cannabis) Chris Mulkey (Rambo: First Blood, Captain Phillips, Mysterious Skin, The Purge, Boardwalk Empire) and Joelle Carter ( Justified, Jessabelle, American Pie 2, new tv show Constantine)

The movie produced by Shooting Films, and if this is the caliber of movies that will be getting released via this company, then we’re gonna have to keep a close eye on all upcoming releases. No doubt Shooting Films is a name to watch out for.

NIGHTCRAWLER – A MOVIEHOOKER REVIEW

This is another film that I feel that I’ve been following forever. As soon as the first stills surfaced of Jake Gyllenhaal screaming into a mirror, I just knew deep down that this was gonna be his best performance to-date. No matter if you’re a fan or not of Jake Gyllenhaal there is no denying he has been growing into a fine actor with some memorable recent performances in movies like End Of Watch, Prisoners, Enemy

Although the film didn’t play out exactly how I imagined, I have to say that I was genuinely frightened of Gyllenhaal. There was just something about him that made your skin crawl and you constantly feel that he could explode and start murdering people at any stage of the film.

My brother pointed out to me last night that his character Lou Bloom was based on a Marvel character. He was fucking right!! From what I’ve read, Lou Bloom is a character called Nightcrawler from the X-men universe but i think it stops there, the similarity is just the name.

Gyllenhaal plays a petty thief who stumbles on a freelance news team filming a car crash so they can sell to the news stations. Lou Bloom says something like “does someone pay you for this stuff?!” And the cameraman replies “if it bleeds, it leads!”.

The next day Lou Bloom gets his hands on a camera and a police scanner, and starts up his own freelance business. He sits in his car at night, listening to the police scanner – when a crime or accident is called in, he tries to make it on the scene before anyone else. Not to help in anyway but to take footage of the injured or dying so he can make some easy cash. It’s not long before his thirst for blood and carnage starts to spiral out of control and takes over. He plays an absolutely fantastic sociopath who is genuinely unpredictable, you just never know how far this guy is willing to go.

As I said, the film didn’t play out like I imagined it would, but in saying that I was still blown away by both the writing and Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance . I wanted blood and guts and murder and was expecting it to be vicious as hell. By the end of the film I had completely reset my expectations and took it onboard as a dark drama which deals with the fear of God that the media pumps into you!!!

Very relevant in this day and age if you ask me.

Defo one of the best films of this year!!

Kevin Bacon Has An Uzi And One Hell of A Moustache In first Stills From New Action/Thriller COP CAR

Seems that every time we’ve seen Kevin Bacon in recent years was on tv playing cop Ryan Hardy in The Following. When I first heard the premise for The Following I got real excited. kevin Bacon playing a cop hunting a serial-killer. But I couldn’t even make it through season one, I really wanted to like it but there was just something about it that didn’t click. Kevin Bacon was great, as expected, but i felt the show just didn’t have any depth, it seemed shallow and hollow, but that’s just my opinion. So if you ain’t a fan of The Following then Kevin Bacon has been pretty much non-existent.

A few stills have surfaced from new action/thriller starring Kevin Bacon called Cop Car which will have it premiere at next months Sundance Film Festival

The only available premise at this time is “Two-10-year old boys steal an abandoned cop car”

So who knows what the fuck it's going to be about. Kevin Bacon could be hiding in the trunk, high on drugs with loaded automatic weapons, or…. there could be loads of drugs in the car left by crooked cops and kevin Bacon is the pickup guy… or maybe Kevin Bacon just has a thing for cop cars and the boys won't sell him the one they found so he decides to break out the automatic weapons and go on a rampage until he gets what he wants.

The one thing we do know is that Kevin Bacon has an Uzi one hell of a serious looking moustache!! Thats enough for me… Im sold!!

The News THE STAND Fans Have Been Waiting For

The Stand is a remake that I want to happen. I’m not usually a fan of remakes but sometimes, they get it right. I think that the story for The Stand is way more fitting in this day-and-age than it was back in the the nineties when it was first released.

It’s no secret that the project has been in development-limbo for years. They knew they wanted to make the movie, but I think they underestimated exactly how much detail and plot was in the story, not to mention, the commitment that would be required for any actor or director who agreed to take-on the project.

Anyone who visits my site regularly will know that I’ve been trying to keep you all up-to-date with its progress. And every time I post about this movie on my Facebook page, there is always the same comments (from hardcore fans of the book). People always say that this film “is impossible to do without breaking it up into multiple movies.” And you know something?, there is no chance in hell that I’d argue with them because they are right!, it’s that simple.

The most recent news was that Josh Boone (Ben Affleck was previously attached) had written an impressive script that broke the story down and had a approx runtime of 3hrs. That still sounds like one hell of a film, but it still felt that the story couldn’t be told in its entirety.

I haven’t read the book, but I’ve seen the tv series, and I loved it. I actually watched the whole series again recently, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it had aged…… Ok I’ll retract that comment, Randall Flagg looked dodgy as fuck with his cowboy boots, mullet, completely suited out in his blue devil denim…. Plus… Mother Abigail is shite on the guitar… But the effects were impressive and the virus was still damn frightening!!

Josh Boone must have had one hell of a fucking script, man. Warner Bros has approached him and asked him would he do 4 films. It was reported that his 3hr feature-length was getting close to $90 million, so if they are prepared to do that that for each instalment then we could be looking at an estimated $360m project, and for a virus outbreak movie, that’s gonna be some high-end production value.

Here’s what Mr Boone said…
They came back and said “would you do it as multiple films?” and I said “fuck yes!” I loved my script, and I was willing to drop it in an instant because you’re able to do an even truer version that way. So I think we are going to do like four movies. I can’t tell you anything about how we’re going to do them, or what’s going to be in which movie. I’ll just say we are going to do four movies, and we’re going to do The Stand at the highest level you can do it at, with a cast that’s going to blow people’s minds.

More to follow as it’s announced!

FIRST LOOK AT PATRICK STEWART AS NEO-NAZI BOSS IN “GREEN ROOM” – THE NEW FILM FROM “BLUE RUIN” DIRECTOR/WRITER JEREMY SAULNIER

I think you’ll all agree with me when I say that Blue Ruin was one of the finest independent thrillers to come out in recent years. It had a superb script, a powerful lead in Macon Blair and some really solid direction, it looked fantastic, and just hit home on so many levels. It was a prime example of what can be done if you have a great script and the talent to back it.

It was announced some time ago that Jeremy Saulnier’s follow-up to the awesome Blue Ruin would be another thriller called Green Room.

Not an awful lot has been revealed about the story…but I can you , it’s about neo-nazis and a punk band who get trapped in a building together. By the looks of things, I’m pretty sure they’re not going to forming a band band playing on stage together. I can only imagine that’s things will get pretty fucking ugly, and a punk vs neo-nazi war will commence!

Here’s the synopsis from IMDB
A young punk rock band find themselves trapped in a secluded venue after stumbling upon a horrific act of violence.

The cast include – Patrick Stewart, Imogen Poots, Anton Yelchin, Macon Blair, Mark Webber, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole

Here’s the first pic of Patrick Stewart as the neo-nazi boss.

No doubt this is gonna be another powerful film Saulnier, and may he have many more to come.

More to follow as it’s announced.

TOP PICKS FOR TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PART 2

Part 2 of my top picks for Toronto International Film Festival . If you missed part 1 then just check previous posts and you’ll be hooked up .

1:?HAEMOO
A film that was adapted from a play of the same name, and a play that was based on a real-life incident about 25 Chinese/Korean stowaways who suffocated onboard a troubled fishing vessel.

There was a scene in another Korean movie calledThe Yellow Sea that has stuck with me to this day. It was a smuggling scene, it was very realistic and harsh. Although the scene was over before you could blink, it showed how desperate these people were. The harshness of the conditions no doubt added to the intensity of the scene. The reason I’m mentioning The Yellow Sea is because, if one scene in one film has stuck in my head for so long, then you can only imagine what I’d be like after watching a movie that’s entirely about smuggling. And judging from the plot, it ain’t gonna end well, so it’s safe to say there is a 99.9% chance ll be like a blubbering idiot by the time the credits roll.

The acting will be superb, this will be drama at it’s very finest. And from the writer of korean classic Memories Of Murder I know this going to be something special.

2 NIGHTCRAWLER
OFFICIAL PLOT
A pulse-pounding thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling — where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou thrives. In the breakneck, ceaseless search for footage, he becomes the star of his own story.

MOVIEHOOKER’S THOUGHTS
This one stars Jake Gylenhaal, I think he’s made some fine choices in the past and has come a long way since Donnie Darko . The premise of the movie sounds dark and right up my street. I could be wrong though, but I doubt it. This has all the ingredients of a great, dark noir type thriller.

3: THE DEAD LANDS
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
After his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery, Hongi – a Maori chieftain’s teenage son – must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honor to the souls of his loved ones. Vastly outnumbered by the band of villains, Hongi’s only hope is to pass through the feared and forbidden Dead Lands and forge an uneasy alliance with the mysterious ‘Warrior’ a ruthless fighter who has ruled the area for year

MOVIEHOOKER’S THOUGHTS
No doubt this will be another fantastic entry from XYZFilms. The production company behind The raid, The Raid 2, Tusk, Killere, The Night Comes For Us. These guys know what they’re doing and I have yet to see them take on a bad movie. They just keep going from strength-to-strength. As soon as I heard XYZFilms were behind this film, I’ve been following it as closely as I can. Reviews have started surfacing and they’re all fantastic.

“BLUE RUIN” DIRECTOR GETS GREEN LIGHT FOR NEXT MOVIE “GREEN ROOM”

BLUE RUIN was a brilliantly written revenge thriller with a memorable lead performance from lead character Dwight-played by Macon Blair. His character was just 100%. He was nervous, terrified, uncertain, and very unpredictable.  This just added to the realism of the storyline, and with a solid script, good direction, and some nice stunning cinematography. The film has all the right ingredients to become a cult classic.

BLUE RUIN writer/director Jerry Saulnier has now been given the go-ahead for his next feature film which will be called THE GREEN ROOM.

This film will focus on a punk band who finds themselves trapped in a venue fending off a pack of blood thirsty neo-nazi skinheads (bet ya thought I was gonna say werewolves).

Already I am loving the storyline, so keep your eyes peeled for more info on THE GREEN ROOM

INK

It don’t get much more unique than this, and this is a film that was made on such a extremely low budget ($250.000).
when you go to sleep there is two types of warriors that will determine if you have a dream or a nightmare. If you have a nice dream then you have been visited by “the storytellers” who will come and firmly place their hand on your forehead and you will have the nicest of dreams, but if you’re having nightmares then you have been visited by “the incubi”.”The incubi” are a faceless and horrible distorted presence.
So the story follows a character called “ink” who is trapped in limbo between dreams and nightmares.”Ink” steals the soul of a young girl and tries to earn his place with “the incubi”.
A remarkable piece of filmmaking. If you can appreciate a good story then you’ll soon see past the low budget. If this film had the financial backing it deserved, then I think everybody would know about this film. So when you’re watching it, think about what it could be.

MY TOP 5 AMERICAN INDIE COMEDIES

1: THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
This film is up there with my all time favourite comedies. This is a very clever comedy full of top performances from a really great cast featuring, Aaron eckhart, rob Lowe, Sam Elliot, Robert Duvall, Maria bello, William H Macy
The film follows “Nick Naylar” a spokesman for a large tobacco company, as he travels around promoting tobacco by telling lies and twisting arguments, and at the same time he still has to try and remain a role model for his 12 year old son. This film just shows us how easily we are led from truth and the lies we will believe if we they are spun right.
Extremely funny and really intelligently written “thankyou for smoking” has become a classic since its release in 2005.

2: LOVE LIZA
This film is just remarkable . Phillip Seymour Hoffman and the legendary Kathy bates star in what can only be described as a comedy about suicide. Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays a young web designer who’s wife suddenly commits suicide . He finds a suicide note under his pillow and can’t bring himself to read it . Although it doesn’t sound that funny and maybe I’m describing it wrong but what happens in this film is so believable and the events that happen are often hilarious . This film is a classic in my book and was the first leading role for Phillip Seymour Hoffman , who I believe to be the finest actor alive today.

the trailer

3: LARS & THE REAL GIRL
Ryan gosling stars in this strange and unusual American comedy about “LARS” a pleasant but strange office worker who lives in a modified garage that’s next to his brothers house in a small quiet American town. when surfing the web one night he stumbles across a sex doll and has it delivered to his house. When the dolls arrives “Lars” immediately starts up a relationship with the doll, and what happens is a very unusual but pleasant chain of events.
A really good, heartfelt comedy suitable for all ages (I think) the acting is fantastic and the story has a really good meaning behind it. Will have you feeling sad about a sex doll in the same way we all nearly cried when “Tom hanks” lost “Wilson” his only friend in “cast away” willllllllllllllsssssssssssssooooooon.

4: SIDEWAYS
A ordinary comedy about ordinary guys who go on a wine tasting trip across California. This film is genius and laugh out loud funny and very believable, which makes it all the more enjoyable. Fantastic performances from “Paul Giamatti” and “Thomas Hayden Church” sideways is one of the finest comedies to be realeased in the last 20 years.

5: JACK GOES BOATING
Anybody who knows me personally, knows that I am a huge “Phillip Seymour Hoffman” fan. I think of him to be the finest actor alive today, he always delivers us some very unusual but absolutely stunning cinema, and in my opinion he was the only fucking good thing about the entire “mission impossible” franchise. Ever since I watched “love Liza” I have been so intrigued by his sorrowful, yet loveable and colourful characters he plays onscreen.
So, “jack goes boating” puts “Phillip Seymour Hoffman” in the directors chair for the very first time, and it seems very clear from the start that the man has learnt some amazing techniques over the years.
It’s the very simple story of “jack” a limo driver in NYC who agrees to go on a date with a woman he has never met called “Connie”. They immediately hit it off and “jack” agrees at the end of the night to take her boating when summer arrives. “Jack” can’t swim and Is terrified of water so he turns to his best friend to teach him how to swim and overcome his fear. That’s all you really need to know about the story. Anybody who is a fan of any of “hoffman’s” previous work will be nothing less than blown away by another unique performance, only this time we get to see the film as he imagines it and the result is near perfection.
A very simple story acted out by the finest actors, and an astonishing soundtrack that features some of the greatest artists around today.