Newsbite

Star of the Hobbit films and last years Dracula Untold is being eyed for the role of Gaston in Disney's live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. The film is already starring Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens is roumered to be playing the Beast. The film is the most recently announced live action Disney classic after next months Cinderella.

Cast announced for Independence day 2. Liam Hemsworth has been cast in a leading role along with the relatively unknown Jessie Usher who will be playing Will Smiths son from the first movie. Jeff Goldblum will reprise his role from the original film, while Independence Day director-producer Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin will also return.

Avengers Age of Ultron trailer 3 Review

Yeah so that happened. Marvel just dropped the 3^rd and presumably final trailer for Avengers Age of Ultron.

For those who like me complained about the second trailer being too similar to the first you will find almost all new footage here and some epic moments. The trailer is narrated mostly by Ultron explaining how he was created to be a saviour for mankind and he believes to bring peace to the world he must destroy the virus that is mankind. It's basically extreme SKYNET. On the topic of Ultron we get to see much more of him in his final form in this trailer as he fights with Captain America and then summons his army for what looks like the final showdown. 

There is also this moment. Worth the price of a ticket alone?

This is the first trailer with a slightly more light hearted tone however that's not saying much as the previous trailers were about as uplifting as Schindler’s List and ruined a beloved Disney classic song for everyone.There is a bit more action from Scarlet witch and Quicksilver showcasing their powers and yet more of the Hulk vs Hulkbuster fight.

As the title closes we get our first peak at the Vision played by Paul Bettany who is curiously also the voice of Jarvis so the Vision may be Jarvis in a physical form.

I loved this trailer and it got me even more pumped for the movie. Roll on April 23^rd.

Incase you haven't seen this trailer yet here you go.

                                                                                                                                           

Top 10 Greatest Movie Villians

A film is only as good as its villain. The gift of an iconic villain is the gift that keeps on giving, elevating even the most mediocre of films to cult status, and transforming good movies into truly great ones. This top ten was hard to create as I have to leave out many iconic villains such as Voldemort, Gollum, Jack Torrance, Roy Batty and Freddy Krueger. These picks are my personal preferences and some are simply nostalgic for me so let’s get started.

10. Judge Doom – Who framed Rodger Rabbit?

Judge Doom is on this list for the simple reason that no villain has cost me as much nights of lost sleep as him. As a child he terrified me and to honest he still does. THOSE EYES !!

9. Scar – Lion King

The most evil Disney villain deserved a place on my list. Scar kills his own brother and then blames his nephew. Need more reason to hate him? He then turns the pride lands into a wasteland. he gets his comeuppance in the end though with one of the most brutal deaths in a Disney movie.

8. Howard Payne – Speed

Probably one of the more personal choices on my list is Howard Payne. The main antagonist of Speed who is constantly on top of Keanu Reeves until he loses his head. Literally. A truly menacing villain who has everything so prepared at some points you do question if the good guys can win.

7. Smaug – The Hobbit Trilogy

Yes I chose him over Gollum. Sure Gollum is a great villain but he is nowhere near as menacing and articulate as Smaug. His sheer size is scary enough but it’s his booming voice from Benedict Cumberbatch that truly make him the greatest movie dragon ever and a great villain.

6. Xenomorphs  –  Alien franchise

In space no one can hear you scream. The xenomorphs are the deadliest aliens in cinema history. They are relentless and infect you with their young. Yeah you’re screwed.

5. Hannibal Lecter  - Hannibal franchise

The quintessential psychopath. Hannibal Lecter is brilliantly portrayed by Anthony Hopkins and is one of the most uncomfortable movie characters to watch as you never know what he is up to. That scene with the man’s brain. Yeah that’s what I mean.

4. T1000 – Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Hardly speaks a word but is equally as terrifying as Hannibal. The T1000 is relentless in his pursuit of young John Connor and it takes everything from Arnold to bring him down. After seemingly killing him two or three times he returns and is eventually melted in a furnace.

3. The shark – Jaws

If you have seen my top ten films of all time post this may not surprise you. The villain that kept people out of the sea and I believe is the main cause of my fear of open water.”3 tons of him”

2. The Joker – Dark Knight

I can appreciate how good Jack Nicholson is in the original Batman movie however the definitive Joker to me is Heath Ledger and even though the Dark Knight is not my favourite superhero film he is by far my favourite super villain on screen to date.

1. Darth Vader – Star Wars original trilogy   

It’s Darth Vader. Do I need to explain?

I would love to hear everyone else’s top 10 villains so leave your list in the comments section.

Dragonball Z Battle of Gods Review

As a kid in the early 2000’s I was a huge fan of Dragonball Z. I remember many summer evenings watching episodes with my friends then spilling into the garden and pretending we were our favourite characters from the show. It wasn't just a great kid’s show but it was also a show with a lot of adult themes which went straight over my head as a child. Recently I have been watching old episodes again for nostalgia purposes and have remembered just what made this show great which is the fantastic combination of humour and epic action. I was made aware a few weeks ago that a new Dragonball movie had been made called Battle of Gods and it had been made due to the creators own personal hatred of the horrendous live action Dragonball movie from 2009 (Dragonball Evolution), so I decided to check it out.

Firstly I would say if you know nothing about Dragonball Z do not watch this without checking out the show first as you will be totally lost. The film presumes you are caught up with the show and know the situations all characters are in. If you are like me though and are a fan of Dragonball Z you will find a great deal to love in Battle of Gods. It has those classic Dragonball moments we love and some hilarious moments from the movies villain Lord Beerus. Without going into spoiler territory the final showdown between Goku and Beerus is worth purchasing the film alone.

For my final verdict I want to make it clear if you are a Dragonball Z fan this is definitely worth a purchase you should make however if you have not seen Dragonball Z before I can’t recommend it before you have watched the show. Which you should. NOW!!!

8.5/10

Power Rangers fan film. Watch it while you can !

If you are like me and enjoyed the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers back in the day then you may want to check out the dark fan film made by Adi Shankar while you have the opportunity. SCG Power Rangers LLC, the company who own the Power Rangers licencing want it taken down immediately. I have included the video in this post in the hope it works around posting time. The video is a futuristic depiction of the old guard power rangers who are being hunted down and killed brutally. Yes word of warning this is not for the squeamish. I think we are all hoping for the 2016 Power Rangers movie to be even half as cool as this and we may get one hell of a movie. To anyone who is reading this who has always thought of Power Rangers as a bumch of campy nonsense and explosions ? You may want to rethink that. 

Fifty Shades of Grey Review

Fifty Shades of Grey is the long anticipated movie adaptation of a novel which originated as Twilight fan fiction...................dear god.

If you are reading this hoping for a scathing review of the film you are in the right place. Now I am aware I am not the target audience for this film or the books it is based on but that doesn't excuse the fact that this is one of the largest atrocities I have ever seen in my life.

The main selling point of the movie is putting it simply is sex and in particular Mr Grey's odd behaviours in the bedroom. This is the films first flaw as these scenes are timid. There is no sexual chemistry between the two leads so these scenes are actually quite hilarious rather than sexy. They somehow manage to have less chemistry than Edward and Bella the very characters they are based on. The story is blatantly based on Twilight there is even a ridiculous love triangle with a character who is near enough identical to Jacob from Twilight although he doesn't transform into a werewolf which would have at least made the story interesting. 

The films only saving grace is that it is well directed. It looks very nice but it is fairly pointless when the contents are total garbage. It's like having to lovely fresh baked slices of bread filled with out of date fish. Just disgusting.

1/10

My top 10 of all time as of 23/02/15

 I would like to make it clear that I put a lot of thought into this list and changed it multiple times even though the top five stayed intact. I'm going to give my brief thoughts on each to attempt to explain why they are in my top 10. Before we begin I have a few honourable mentions which were in my top 10 at some point in the planning of this post.

• ·         Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark
• ·         The Dark Knight
• ·         The Godfather
• ·         Saving Private Ryan
• ·         Rush
• ·         Back to the Future

Now that’s over its time to start the list from 10-1

10.

There are few top ten lists complete without Fight Club. It is not a film which you can explain to people without breaking the first rule. A great look on society today and it also happens to have Brad Pitt as one of the great renegades of cinema,Tyler Durden.

9.      

Contrary to popular opinion this is my favourite Lord of the Rings film. I feel like Return of the King drags slightly towards the end whereas Two Towers being the middle film can leave things open ended. It also has the battle at Helms Deep which is one of the single greatest battles in movie history.

8.

Jurassic Park is a film which still holds up perfectly today. Its ground-breaking creature design paved the way for so many films to come afterwards. It also has one of the single greatest soundtracks in film history. I wanted it to be lower on my list but I couldn’t move any back up.

7.

The Prestige is my favourite Christopher Nolan movie. It causes me great distress that this film is not appreciated as much as Inception which I believe is a much inferior film. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are Victorian magicians constantly trying to one-up each other which climaxes in one of the greatest plot twists of all time.

6.

While I can appreciate the Dark Knight is a better technical film I just don’t consider it to be as         re-watchable and as much fun as the Avengers. When I first saw Marvels “A-team” finally unite on screen I could barely contain myself and it is to this day the best cinema experience I have ever had.

5.

As stated in my Big Hero 6 review to which I have linked (http://reidsmovieround-up.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/big-hero-6-movie-review.html) a film which had a huge impact on me as a child was Toy Story. To this day I still find something truly special with this film and I don’t ever see it losing that appeal to me.

 4.

Before there was 300 there was Gladiator. A film that takes you through so many emotions and ends on a sad but triumphant note. It is the pinnacle of films of this era which we don’t get enough of nowadays.

3.

To be honest it was a toss-up between New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. The only deciding factor was the Death Star tunnel run at the end of A New Hope which is my favourite scene in the saga.

2.  

I am not a keen horror fan but Jaws is a film that is more than a shark movie. It is about the characters and the bond between Brody, Quint and Hooper. I have owned Jaws in three formats: VHS, DVD and Blu-ray and that is because it is a film that I can watch every month and I enjoy it more and more every time. It came close to being number 1 however my number 1 has been my there for years and it’s not moving.

1.

If you know me at all you would have known this was coming. The Shawshank Redemption left me speechless the first time I watched it and continues to every time since. It is a film which is great for lifting me out of a depressed or stressed mood and fills me with hope. I simply adore this film and as I am typing this I think I’m going to go and watch it now.