Review of the Year – The Eleven Best Action Sequences of 2014

Today we celebrate our favourite chases, fights or all out battles of this year. There’s been plenty to choose from so we’ve tried to whittle the numbers down and include a few more out of the box suggestions. We must warn you of spoilers ranging from minor to major taking place in each film mentioned. Enjoy!

11) Zero kills Willem Dafoe – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Our real hero, Zero (newcomer Tony Revolori), comes to the rescue of Ralph Fiennes’ concierge in this mountain-top chase. With director Wes Anderson, screen legend Willem Dafoe plays Adrien Brody’s horrific henchman (who in fact bumps off Jeff Goldblum earlier) flees from the slopes of a monastic village and almost kills the extravagant M Gustave before Zero arrives with a shamefully gleeful kick off the mountain-side.

10) Attack on Cloud Cuckoo Land – The Lego Movie

The year’s undisputed surprise hit shines best in this glorious destruction of Uni-Kitty’s (Alison Brie) sugary-sweet homeland. When Emmett’s (Chris Pratt) attempt at a rousing and heroic speech gets a mixed response from the Master Builders (Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Cobie Smulders, Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum), the forces of Lord Business (Will Ferrell), led by passive-aggresive secret agent Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), launch.

9) The final chase – The Two Faces of January

Hossein Amini’s directorial debut concludes in this gorgeously shot chase sequence through Istanbul. The brewing tensions of the potential criminals (Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Isaac) culminate in a pursuit prompted by the secret service arriving on the scene. It wasn’t too surprising though that only one would survive.

8) Tidal waves – Interstellar

Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi passion project Interstellar isn’t strictly an action film and the it’s more overwhelming sequences are in the tremendous emotional gut punches of the later scenes but this phenomenally crafted landing on the first of three planets the crew of Endurance explore. The mountains of Miller’s world are soon revealed to be waves that makes us winder if we can put our lives in the hands of robots before things really get dark with the first of the astronaut’s lives claimed, Doyle (Wes Bentley). Then the science really comes into play when Cooper (Matthew MacConaughey), Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway) and TARS (Bill Irwin) return to the Endurance to the realisation that Miller died just minutes ago and that Romilly (David Gyasi) has waited twenty years for them.

7) Kyln prison break – Guardians of the Galaxy

When Quill (Chris Pratt), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) foil Gamora’s (Zoe Saldana) attempts to backstab her master Ronan (Lee Pace), Corpsman Dey (John C Reilly) transports them all to the Kyln, a high security prison dominated by the fearsome warrior Drax (Dave Bautista). To save their own skins they recruit Drax to assist them in their breakout. Groot’s unintentionally adorable sabotage of their efforts seemingly sets them back at square one before a mad scavenger hunt for the Orb (one of the six most dangerous objects in the entire universe) and a prosthetic leg.

6) The second beach assault – Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow’s (besides making Emily Blunt as good an action star as co-star Tom Cruise) greatest achievement is sustaining the thrill of seeing the same battle take place over and over again but this Doug Liman helmed sci-fi hit takes flight in the second incarnation of the Private Ryan-style beach assault as we finally get the just of what’s going on in Cage’s blood. Bonus points for Liman’s excellently executed action.

5) A skirmish of multiple forces – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The barrel chase remains the series’ best moment but Peter Jackson turns the stereo to epic in The Defining Chapter’s finale. Thankfully Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Gandalf are no passengers when these five forces converge on Erebor: the Dwarves (Richard Armitage, Aidan Turner, Dean O’Gorman, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, Billy Connolly), Elves (Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace), Men (Luke Evans, Ryan Gage, Stephen Fry), Orcs (Manu Bennett) and Eagles.

4) Quicksilver VS the Pentagon – X-Men: Days of Future Past

You may have been wowed by Nightcrawler’s White House raid in the opening of X-Men 2 but new fan favourite Quicksilver (Evan Peters) blows that out of the water. Escapee mutant Erik (Michael Fassbender) and his rescuers Charles (James McAvoy) and Logan (Hugh Jackman) are seemingly doomed at the hands of Pentagon guards until we get a rare view at how Peter Maximoff perceives our slow world. The music, the brilliantly appropriate Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce, is what defines this sequence from Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer.

3) Koba HIJACKS A TANK

We presumed Apes on horses and Serkis’ note perfect Caesar would be the highlight but here Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves creates truly iconic cinema magic with a masterful swivelling shot as lead villain Koba (Toby Kebbell) hijacks a tank, loses control and veers it into the doors of the human fort.

2) “Let Them Fight” – Godzilla

Like all great horror films, Gareth Edwards’ new incarnation of Japan’s greatest legend, Godzilla, built up the tension with style and suspense before a genuinely breathtaking pay off. Descending into San Francisco in the stunning HALO jump set-piece, Ford (Aaron Taylor Johnson) witnesses Godzilla’s power with a mighty fire breath to finish off the MUTOs.

1) Elevating tensions – Captain America: The Winter Soldier

“Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?”

Our number one is Captain America’s finest hour yet. Idealist Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is unphased by the threats of Robert Redford’s new SHIELD head Alexander Pierce and enters a life, soon to the occupied by Brock Romlow (Frank Grillo) nine of his new agents. Eleven enter the elevator and only one leaves: pure action awesomeness.

The Best Films of 2014 – the Half-Way Point

Looking at any annual film schedule, its evident that the first half of the year can never quite live up to the second and 2014 is no exception. This year really did get off to a rotten start with 47 Ronin, The Legend of Hercules and I Frankenstein dragging their heals at the box-office but this did pave a way for others; The Wolf of Wall Street and Ride Along both enjoyed three consecutive weeks at the top of the UK and US box-office respectively. Following that came some genuine surprises. Wes Anderson’s ensemble comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel reached 1st and 3rd in the UK and US against all odds and The Lego Movie, one of the most poorly marketed films in recent years, was an unexpected treat and certainly and future cult classic.

The biblical format seemed to increase in popularity around Easter with the low-key Christian dramas Heaven is For Real, Son of God and God’s Not Dead taking nearly thirty times their micro-budgets but these religious flicks aren’t proving successful outside of America, besides Aronofsky’s star-driven epic Noah. The “Katniss-effect” of The Hunger Games has evidently given studios the faith to put stronger female characters into the fray of action and adventure with Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent and Shailene Woodley’s Divergent winning out over Johnny Depp’s Transcendence or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Sabotage financially. Edge of Tomorrow even managed it to the extent of Tom Cruise needing saving from Emily Blunt’s ultimate warrior.

In the last six months, certain individuals are lighting up the box-office left, right and centre. Former comedian Kevin Hart has lead a trio of success, Ride Along, About Last Night and Think Like a Man Too, while the Jump Street quartet (director Phil Lord and Chris Miller/stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill) have a cinematic Midas-touch. It’s evident that Lego’s Chris Pratt can do no wrong and, with Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy coming soon, he’s well on his way to man-of-the-year status. The biggest winners of the year have to be Marvel. Even though their heroes are divided across Sony, Fox and Disney, Stan Lee’s creations of Spider-Man, Captain America (kind-of) and the X-Men are currently the three biggest films of the year so far and they’ll only continue to grow bigger.

Below you can find the international box-office top ten followed by our own personal picks of the year so far as well as the ten to look for in the rest of 2014:

International Box-office Top 10:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Director: Anthony and Joe Russo – Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp, Samuel L Jackson, Hayley Attwell, Toby Jones – Box-office: $710.8 million
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper – $703.3 million
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Josh Helman, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Lucas Till – $700 million
4. Maleficent – Robert Stromberg – Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville – $531.8 million
5. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche – $478.7 million
6. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Bruno Mars, Jemaine Clement, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am – $469.4 million
7. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders – $467.2 million
8. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Anthony Hopkins – $356.2 million
9. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton, Lena Headey, Jack O’Connell, Rodrigo Santoro, Callan Mulvey, David Wenham – $331.1 million
10. Edge of Tomorrow – Doug Liman – Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong – $298.8 million

Tuorhoth’s Top 10:

1. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Josh Helman, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Lucas Till
2. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp, Samuel L Jackson, Hayley Attwell, Toby Jones
5. Edge of Tomorrow – Doug Liman – Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong
6. The Two Faces of January – Hossein Amini – Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac, Kirsten Dunst
7. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – Justin Chadwick – Idris Elba, Naomi Harris
8. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Kenneth Branagh – Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Costner, Nonso Anozie, Gemma Chan
9. RoboCop – Jose Padilha – Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Abbie Cornish, Michael Keaton, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Ehle, Jackie Earle Haley, Aimee Garcia, Michael K Williams, Samuel L Jackson
10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper

Top 10 Anticipated:

1. Interstellar – Christopher Nolan – Matthew MacConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Topher Grace, Casey Affleck, David Oyelowo, John Lithgow, Matt Damon
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Sylvester McCoy, Lee Pace, Manu Bennett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee
3. Gone Girl – David Fincher – Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris, Rosamund Pike
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Samuel L Jackson, Mark Hamill, Mark Strong
5. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, John C Reilly
6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – Jason Clarke, Andy Serkis, James Franco, Judy Greer, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit McPhee
7. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Jena Malone, Sam Clafin, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Natalie Dormer, Philip Seymour, Hoffman
8. Fury – David Ayer – Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Jason Isaacs, Michael Pena, Shia LeBeouf
9. Exodus: Gods and Kings – Ridley Scott – Christian Bale, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley
10. The Judge – David Dobkin – Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga

Chris McKay hired for Lego Movie 2 and Domnhall Gleeson, Toby Kebbell and more rumoured as Doctor Doom

You can find our review of the excellent Lego Movie just here but the saga continues with the new sequel which has now given directing precedence to Chris McKay. Don’t get disappointed that the first film’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller aren’t in charge; McKay was both the original’s editor and animation director. Also, he shares a vague similarity with the pair in that he’s transferred from more adult material (Robot Chicken in this case) to the kids’ animations genre, like Lord and Miller did with 21 Jump Street. Nothing is known about the plot but we can’t wait to see the next adventure of Emmet and the Masterbuilders. We can hop for it to star Chris Pratt, Elizbaeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie and Will Ferrell.

Months of rumours ended in the recent confirmation that Michael B Jordan (Fruitvale Station), Kate Mara (127 Hours), Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) and BAFTA winning Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, The Eagle, The Adventures of Tintin, King Kong, Jumper) will portray Fox’s new rebooting of The Fantastic Four, brought to us by Chronicle’s writer/director Josh Trank. However, the FF have always come with a certain Latverian dictator. The first official casting net for Doctor Doom has been released and one of the names is hugely exciting.

First up, there’s Toby Kebbell. The English star is well liked for Prince of Persia, RocknRolla and Dead Man Shoes and has Warcraft and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes coming up. Next, we’ve got BAFTA nominee Eddie Redmayne who impressed with Les Miserables, were he played Marius, and My Week With Marilyn and raises his star profile with Jupiter Ascending and The Theory of Everything soon. He’s followed by the BAFTA nominated indie actor Sam Riley, acclaimed for the likes of Control, On the Road and Brighton Rock but my personal pick of the quartet is Domhnall (son of Brendan) Gleeson, an excellent Irish star from the likes of Harry Potter, About Time, Dredd and True Grit. You may have recognised a common theme: young tall actors from the British Isles. Fox seems to be building a much younger cast which could be both a curse or a path to success.

The Lego Movie 2 – May 16th 2017

The Fantastic Four – June 18th 2015

Weekend box-office – 6th to 13th of March 2014 – will Non-Stop take flight?

It’s a good time to be Liam Neeson! As if starring in Star Wars, Taken, Schindler’s List and Batman Begins wasn’t enough, he’s following the huge box office success of Taken 2 with the brilliant Lego Movie, were he plays the face-switching lawman Good Cop/Bad Cop, and new box office candidate Non-Stop. The plane-set thriller seems to be lauded by some and loathed by others but the true success of a blockbuster lies in the money but it faced, in the UK, the debut of America’s three-week number-one smash hit Ride Along and, in the US, biblical epic Son of God, which was tipped to follow in the footsteps of The Passion of the Christ to become a surprise box-office sweep. Let’s see how they did.

US:

1. Non-Stop – Director: Juanne Collet Serra – $28.9 million
2. Son of God – Christopher Spencer – $25.6 million
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – $20.8 million
4. 3 Days to Kill – McG – $5 million
5. The Monuments Men – George Clooney – $4.9 million

UK:

1. The Lego Movie – Chris Miller, Phil Lord – £3.2 million
2. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – £2.7 million
3. Ride Along – Tim Story – £1.4 million
4. The Book Thief – Brian Percival – £1.3 million
5. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff – £0.8 million

Non-Stop has cracked the box office this week but the Lego Movie held firm at the top against three major new entries in the UK. Non-Stop made nearly three times less than Taken 2. Compared to its US run, Ride Along made a poor UK opening while WW2 drama The Book Thief made a modest fourth place debut. This week I scored 5/10 taking my running total to 85/180.

US:

1. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro
2. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra
3. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff
4. Son of God – Christopher Spencer
5. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller

UK:

1. 300: Rise of and Empire – Noam Murro
2. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
4. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra
5. Ride Along – Tim Story

Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore in Non-Stop, this week’s US number one.

Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie, Chris Pratt and Morgan Freeman (left to right from Batman) in The Lego Movie, this week’s UK number one.

The Lego Movie review

Directors: Phil Lord, Chris Miller

Starring: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Will Arnett, Charlie Day, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders

A dreadful error was made during the marketing campaign of The Lego Movie. Instead of teasing 100 minutes worth of hysteric, subtle satire, they’ve advertised a cheap animation complete with low brow jokes and character listing. Don’t let this put you off!

Lego City is a town of charming but narrow minded minifigure citizens who, unquestioning, follow the construction orders of their seemingly benevolent leader President Business (Ferrell). Emmet Brickowski (Pratt) is, unknowingly, perhaps the most gullible and uninteresting of them all. However, after he discovers the coveted Piece of Resistance, he is told by the determined rebel Wyldstyle (Banks) and soothsaying wizard Vitruvius (Freeman) that he is The Special, the one destined the end Business’ reign. Emmet journeys to other lands to meet his fellow Master-Builders but they all correctly doubt him to be their destined saviour.

The two generations attending this movie will know of two very different Legos. The elders recall a time of Danish bricks that called upon their owners to build whatever thy desired; the newcomers are part of a construction and gaming phenomenon that’s brilliantly tackled franchise after franchise with Star Wars, Indy, Pirates, Batman, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and now The Hobbit and The Simpsons. This excellently caters to both audiences, perhaps the parents more so.

It may sound generic but the story, scribed by the film’s directors, is organically based around Lego. Despite numerous similarities to The Matrix, the real story is of the heroes’ endeavour to restore creativity to a world dictated by orders. The message, although at times it’s so blatant it feels as if it’s a candy coloured medicine injecting itself into our hearts, is one that’ll drastically hit hard at both kids and parents, maybe the latter more so.

Secondly, nearly all of the humour is spot on. It’s vastly silly but in a bizarre way rather than just plainly immature. The supporting roles of Freeman’s dotty wizard, Ferrell’s scheming mastermind, Neeson’s personality schismed Good Cop/Bad Cop, Arnett as Batman (perhaps the best Dark Knight parody to date: “Darkness! DUN! DUN! No parents!”) and Day as the hopelessly obsessed ’80 Something Guy are just hilarious and Pratt’s quietly adorable Emmet steals numerous scenes, the head-wheel sequence in particular.

The most admirable feature is the impeccable Lego animation. The hand crafted stop-motion is delightful as it is bold and brash, CG only being used in the most distant of images. There’s a huge amount going on; a DVD viewing maybe necessary in need to pick up every joke. Miller and Lord’s humour’s brilliantly judged, varying from pop culture references (which are so good I don’t want to spoil them by referencing) to parodying its own genre with the sickly pop tunes maximised to satirical brilliance.

9/10

“Everything is awesome!”

Wonder Woman confirmed for Batman/Superman, Amazing Spider-Man 2 publishes new pics and Louis Leterrier and Sacha Baron Cohen for Grimsby

Louis Leterrier’s career has been a little sticky. His directorial debut Unleashed, starring Morgan Freeman, Jet Li and Bob Hoskins, put him forward and he was soon some lovely big budgets but all Transporter 2, The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans fell flat. However, this year’s Now You See Me was quite a brilliant magician themed thriller. Read our review here. Sequel talk has been floating around a bit but his project after that is today’s focus.

Grimsby is the unambitious title of the new spy comedy that Leterrier’s now attached to direct. The premise, written by Borat’s Baron Cohen and Wreck It-Ralph’s Phil Johnston, is of a couple of comedic spec ops brothers on a secret mission. I think it’s going for less of the James Bond/Jason Bourne parody road that’s been well covered by Johnny English and various other attempts so I think it’ll try and go for a satirical take on say Call of Duty. Variety says that Leterrier won the job of calling the shots over I am Number Four’s DJ Caruso.

Previous Spider-Man films have suffered from a key problem. As soon as Peter Parker gets costumed and swings around he turns into a often disappointing 3-D model. It looks as if Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 it’s trying to capture a more physical Spidey (Andrew Garfield) and these new pics unveil that a bit of that as well as Jamie Foxx as the menacing Electro. Press next to cycle through. Emma Stone, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Dane DeHaan, Martin Sheen and Chris Cooper.

Finally we’ve come the big news of the day which is a bit of news about Wonder Woman. Joss Whedon performed an Amazonian dance around the project for a while before he became Marvel’s main man and names such as Cobie Smulders, Megan Fox and Jaimie Alexander thrown into the mix. However, Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) will be the one to bring Wonder Woman to the screen but I think we guessed that. The surprise is that we’ll get to see her in 2015’s superhero clash Batman vs. Superman, as it’s titled for now.

In addition, Fast and Furious’ Gisele, or her actual name Gal Gadot, is now set to play her. Batman vs. Superman isn’t the only time we’ll be able to see Bat, Supe and Wonder Woman share the screen. Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s The LEGO Movie comes before and features the aforementioned trio as well as Green Lantern for good measure. The Danish figures will be voiced by Will Arnett, Channing Tatum, Cobie Smulders and Jonah Hill as well as Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pratt, Liam Neeson, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie and Charlie Day meanwhile Batman vs. Superman has Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman as well as Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane and Amy Adams.

Batman vs. Superman – July 17th 2015

The LEGO Movie – February 14th 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – April 18th 2014

Grimsby – 2015?

New Lego Movie posters and The Hobbit’s Lee Pace for role in Lance Armstrong movie

Anybody following the major sporting news of the last year or so will know the story of the former legendary, now infamous, cyclist Lance Armstrong. After recovering from cancer in 1997, he went on to seven consecutive Tour De France victories. When the truth of his use of drugs emerged, an accusation he denied throughout his career, he was stripped of those titles. January this year, he finally admitted in an open interview with Oprah Winfrey.

A biopic of Armstrong’s life may have found another key star now and Lee Pace is the man. He was the lead in fantasy adventure The Fall. He also starred in Lincoln and will have huge roles in the upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Guardians of the Galaxt. His role in the Armstrong biopic isn’t specified yet but we know Ben Foster (X-Men, 3:10 to Yuma) will have the lead role while Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids, The IT Crowd) plays sports journalist David Walsh. Stephen Frears, director of The Queen, Philomena and High Fidelity, is still attached while John Hodge (Trainspotting, Trance, The Beach) will be adapting David Walsh’s factual book Seven Deadly Sins.

We move on to the second and last of today’s news stories. We’ve got our hands on some great new character posters for the star studded stop motion animation The Lego Movie. Press next to cycle through them. Morgan Freeman, Charlie Day, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks and Chris Pratt’s characters are the focus of these teasers while Liam Neeson, Cobie Smulders, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Alison Brie also star in the new feautre from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

Untitled Lance Armstrong biopic – late 2014

The Lego Movie – February 14th 2014