David Pawsey
Having worked as a financial and consumer journalist over the last eight years David decided to stick it to the man by going freelance in 2010. Since then he has mainly been commissioned to write about, er, finance and after a hard day dissecting the latest chapter in the ongoing economic meltdown rather than sticking a gun in his mouth he likes to relax by watching films. His favourite films of all time are Heat, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Aliens and can't wait for Hollywood to remake those classics. Hopefully that's a joke that he won't live to regret making...
With the film world reeling from the sudden and tragic death of Tony Scott it is unclear which of the many projects he was working on will continue. As a director, Scott had been developing a handful of projects including "Narco Sub" and "Lucky Strike", both at Fox, and remakes of "The Wild Bunch" and "Warriors."
Also heavily rumoured to be working on a sequel to Top Gun, you have to wonder whether this is something Tom Cruise would want to continue considering this was the film that made them both Hollywood heavyweights.
Die-hard comic book fans can often be quite precious about big screen depictions of their favourite characters. While Christopher Nolan’s take on the Dark Knight is certainly the grittiest superhero adaptation yet, it can still be quite galling to see the kiddy friendly tie ins, such as Christian Bale adorning the side of a lunch box.
One (soon to be) film franchise that has unashamedly embraced the more "mature" outlook of its literary inspiration is Kick-Ass.
This weekend will see another “most hotly anticipated film of the year” hit the big screen in the form of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Unless you have been stuck in the cinema repeatedly watching Avengers since Easter, you will already know that Prometheus is a return to Ridley’s sci-fi roots, and to the Alien universe, where he made his name more than 30 years ago.
However, with numerous viral videos, TV spots, trailers, trailers for trailers and general publicity for Prometheus it might have slipped your mind that Mr. Scott has also set his sights on further instalments to his other sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner.
With all the hullaballo surrounding superheroes at the moment you could be forgiven for forgetting that another cultural icon is set to return to our screens this year. Therefore please feast your eyes on this gentle reminder that gentleman spy James Bond will be returning in 2012 with Skyfall.
With the Avengers Assemble juggernaut rolling on, breaking further box office records, it seems that the pressure is on for other superheroes to deliver a similar cash return later this summer.
While I cannot wait for the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, I was initially indifferent to the reboot of Spider-Man. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two instalments of Sam Raimi’s take on the web slinger, was disappointed by the third chapter but was looking forward to the director making amends in a fourth instalment with Tobey Maguire once again playing the eponymous hero. I was therefore aghast at the announcement that a reboot was in the works. However, the trailers completely spun me around, it didn’t seem to be a rehash of the origin story we’ve already seen and it got me intrigued enough to swing down to my local multiplex when Marc Webb’s effort hits in July.
However, after seeing part of the latest four-minute “Super Preview” which hit the web this week, I’m now wondering once again if there’s any point.
