The Golden Compass Trailer Goes Live
Any fans of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy will be excited to learn that a trailer has been released for the first movie adaption in the series, The Golden Compass (based on the book Northern Lights). Handled by the same studio as Lord of the Rings, the trailer begins with a rather well-known golden ring turning into a similarly dazzling compass; no doubt a marketing stunt emphasising what we should be expecting. But, whilst not looking as ‘epic’ as Lord of the Rings, it certainly does look relatively entertaining. The effects appear to be rather spectacular (apart from, perhaps, the polar bear) and Nicole Kidman could be described as agreeable as well. Did I say agreeable? You know what I meant. The trailer is online in various formats over at Yahoo Movies.
Hot on the tail of Stallone’s fairly average revival of the Rocky series, comes his equally unexpected attempt to prolong the life of John Rambo. Rambo 4 (actually entitled John Rambo, but I’ll call it Rambo 4 because that’s what it is) follows a geriatric Stallone as he attempts to save a group of - let’s face it - foolish Christian missionaries who venture into a Burmese war zone in a desperate bid to save innocent civilians. A special 3 and a half minute teaser has been compiled for some of the journalism folk at Cannes and it makes the film look absolutely hilarious. The clip features exploding heads, dismemberment, asphyxiation and some good old fashioned gun play - all of these things are categorised under the ‘bad-ass’ column in my book. Of course, there’s obviously a lot of fake emotion alongside this to lead you into (and give a point to) the action; but we all know that Rambo just likes to kill people for fun anyway. 
73 year old director, Roman Polanski, shocked journalists and colleagues today as he stormed out of an important Cannes press conference. In his opinion, the prestigious event - which gathered 32 of the world’s most accomplished directors - was marred by the poor quality of questions from the journalists, who, admittedly, had some rather simple and shallow queries. “This is a rare and unique opportunity to see a gathering of such important directors and it’s a shame to have such poor questions,” Polanski bellowed. “You’re not interested in cinema, you don’t even type. You just transfer things from your computer. I suggest we go for lunch.” Needless to say, the other directors sat still and he left. Well, don’t say Polanski isn’t an exciting character, first he raped someone and now he’s shaking it up in Cannes - what a guy eh?
In Wong Kar Wai’s debut English language feature, the internationally acclaimed director takes his audience on a dramatic journey across the distance between heartbreak and a new beginning. After a rough break-up, Elizabeth (played by songstress Norah Jones in her screen debut) sets out on a journey across America, leaving behind a life of memories, a dream and a soulful new friend; a café owner (Jude Law)—all while in search of something to mend her broken heart. Waitressing her way through the country, Elizabeth befriends others whose yearnings are greater than hers, including a troubled cop (David Strathairn) and his estranged wife (Rachel Weisz) and a down-on-her luck gambler (Natalie Portman) with a score to settle. 
Despite the first two becoming firm favourites amongst both the public and critics, it seems that the third Shrek film isn’t destined to be as successful, receiving poor reviews across the board. 
The 60th annual Cannes Film Festival has commenced and opening the proceedings this year was Wong Kar-Wai with his new film My Blueberry Nights. Starring Jude Law, Norah Jones, Tim Roth, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman, Blueberry is the story of a young woman who travels across America in search of enlightenment with regard to the rather complicated subject of love - she wants answers to her questions. The critical consensus is not yet confirmed, but I assure you that I shall post any relevant updates with regard to Cannes as soon as I..umm…can. 
A spot from the guys over at 
After 2001’s decidedly average The One, Jet Li and Jason Statham are now back alongside each other again in the upcoming War. Since 2001 Statham’s rise from supporting actor to full-blown action star has been pretty rapid, with The Transporter franchise taking centre stage and other films such as Crank performing well at the box office. On the other side of the billboard, Jet Li’s career really hasn’t changed much, his name still remains a crowd pleaser and he has headlined in a number of martial arts features such as Hero, Unleashed and Fearless. So ultimately it seems that War is more of a studio money spinner than anything special (I just stated the obvious). Anyway, the film seems to be made up of the same formula we are accustomed to: evil villain (Li: an assassin) versus the virtuous everyman (Statham: FBI renegade - rebel!) with a few flaws but ultimately the grit needed to kick the crap out of the bad guys. 
Sometime towards the end of last year I posted the news that Brendan Fraser had signed up to do The Mummy 3 and that there had also been a number of other previous cast members linked with the project too. Since then there have been a few developments, the most notable being Rachel Weisz’s recent choice to opt out of the film. This tragic piece of news was met with disappointment by many, but at least someone decent has been drafted in as a replacement. Maria Bello, whom you may remember from A History of Violence or even Coyote Ugly (if you have no taste), will assume Weisz’s old role of Evelyn O’Connell (Brendan Fraser’s wife) and will hopefully bring a similar amount of talent and charisma to the table too. Fortunately she was good alongside old Viggo in A History of Violence so I’m feeling pretty positive about the swap…not that I’m actually excited about this movie, The Scorpion King didn’t exactly get my juices flowing. 
Chris Tucker returns to the big screen after a six-year absence as he reunites with the all-star team of co-star Jackie Chan, director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2, X-Men: The Last Stand, Hannibal), and writer Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour 2, Catch Me If You Can) to deliver the third installment of the blockbuster Rush Hour franchise. Arriving in theaters on August 10, 2007, Rush Hour 3 sees the beloved action comedy duo of Tucker and Chan reprising their roles as LAPD Detective James Carter and Chinese Chief Inspector Lee respectively. This time around, the two must travel to Paris to battle a wing of the Chinese organized crime family, the Triads. Rush Hour 3 is being produced by Ratner, Jay Stern, and Arthur Sarkissian and executive produced by Roger Birnbaum (Memoirs of a Geisha) and Jon Glickman (The Pacifier - I shall break the official description to laugh at this, haha!). 
