Tag Archives: Cillian Murphy

Oscars 2016 first predictions: Spielberg! Tarantino! Del Toro! Stone! Boyle! Star Wars! Bond! Pixar! Mad Max!

There’s a good seven or so months until the Oscars really kick off but even now we might be able to make a few early predictions for some of the big hitters. This list will be rapidly changing over the coming months depending on the reception of some of these films. Gus Van Sant/Matthew MacConaughey drama The Sea of Trees seemed like a viable candidate until its Cannes flop. In some cases, we’re basing the predictions off their critical reception, festival buzz and hype and in other cases the popularity of a filmmaker involved. We’re ranking the selections in order of likelihood.

Best Picture:

40) The Good Dinosaur

Director: Peter Sohn (Partly Cloudy)
Starring: Anna Paquin (True Blood), Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club), Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading)
Premise: An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend.
Odds: Pixar’s second effort of the year may get overshadowed by their first but the studio’s good form might transfer into this look at an alternate history.

39) Creed

Director: Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)
Starring: Michael B Jordan (Chronicle), Tessa Thompson (Dear White People), Sylvester Stallone (First Blood)
Premise: The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Creed, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
Odds: The Rocky franchise had seriously drifted after the Best Picture winning original but, by shifting Stallone into and supporting role and bringing new hero Adonis Creed to the foreground, we might have a contender.

38) Secret in Their Eyes

Director: Billy Ray (Breach)
Starring: Julia Roberts (Erin Brockivich), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Nicole Kidman (The Hours)
Premise: A tight-knit team of FBI investigators, along with their District Attorney supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.
Odds: The Argentinian adaptation of the same book won an Oscar for Foreign Language in 2009 but this might turn ought to be another unpopular remake.

37) By the Sea

Director: Angelina Jolie (Unbroken)
Starring: Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Melanie Laurent (Beginners)
Premise: Set in France during the mid-1970s, Vanessa, a former dancer, and her husband Roland, an American writer, travel the country together. They seem to be growing apart, but when they linger in one quiet, seaside town they begin to draw close to some of its more vibrant inhabitants, such as a local bar/café-keeper and a hotel owner.
Odds: Jolie hasn’t yet cemented her position as an accomplished director but last year’s Unbroken got three Oscar nods meaning that By the Sea might follow suit.

36) Trumbo

Director: Jay Roach (Meet the Parents)
Starring: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Helen Mirren (The Queen), John Goodman (Argo)
Premise: The successful career of Hollywood screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, comes to an end when he is blacklisted in the 1940s for being a Communist.
Odds: The Oscars have a track record of stories about Hollywood and redemption and Bryan Cranston should shine in the role but communist sympathies might not sit too well with the Academy.

35) Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition)
Starring: Daniel Craig (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
Premise: A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre.
Odds: Prior to 2012’s Skyfall, Bond hadn’t had a Oscar win in nearly 50 years. If Spectre is an improvement, than the series may be on the way to a first ever Best Picture nomination.

34) Legend

Director: Brian Helgeland (42)
Starring: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Taron Egerton (Kingsman), Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind)
Premise: The film tells the story of the identical twin gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray, two of the most notorious criminals in British history, and their organised crime empire in the East End of London during the 1960s.
Odds: The main Oscar buzz about the film surrounds Tom Hardy’s performance(s) but the crime biopic might be a dark horse in the contest.

33) The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott (Blade Runner)
Starring: Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
Premise: During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
Odds: After back to back success with Gladiator and Black Hawk Down followed by the snubbing of American Gangster, acclaimed director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic The Martian may have the goods to put him back on top.

32) Beasts of No Nation

Director: Cary Fukanga (True Detective)
Starring: Abraham Attah (Out of the Village), Ama K Abebrese (The Cursed Ones), Idris Elba (Pacific Rim)
Premise: A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
Odds: The Academy may take a big step by nominating a Netflix original production for the first time

31) Everest

Director: Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaald (Nightcrawler), Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty)
Premise: A climbing expedition on Mt. Everest is devastated by a severe snow storm.
Odds: A traditional disaster flick will hopefully be elevated by the fantastic ensemble.

30) Concussion

Director: Peter Landesman (Parkland)
Starring: Will Smith (Ali), Gugu Mbatha Raw (Belle), Alec Baldwin (The Hunt For Red October)
Premise: The story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in professional football players.
Odds: It’s been years since Smith’s last major critical success but the more serious tone surrounding this true life thriller may lead it Oscar bound.

29) The Walk

Director: Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away)
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper), Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island), Charlotte Le Bon (Mood Indigo)
Premise: The story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit’s attempt to cross the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.
Odds: The fact that the same story was turned into an Oscar winning documentary (Man on Wire) several years ago proves that the premise is more Academy friendly than blockbuster cool but the fact that the story has been visited successfully before may also hinder it.

28) Freeheld

Director: Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist)
Starring: Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), Ellen Page (Juno)
Premise: New Jersey police lieutenant, Laurel Hester, and her registered domestic partner, Stacie Andree, both battle to secure Hester’s pension benefits when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Odds: Moore is on fine form after her win for Still Alice but there hasn’t yet been a remarkable amount of Oscar buzz surrounding it.

27) 45 Years

Director: Andrew Haigh (Weekend)
Starring: Charlotte Rampling (Melancholia), Tom Courtenay (Doctor Zhivago), Geraldine James (Gandhi)
Premise: In the week leading up to their 45th wedding anniversary, a couple receive an unexpected letter which contains potentially life changing news.
Odds: The low key British drama might prove to be a contender but given the recent snubbing of Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner, the Academy may have turned away from that genre the larger scale Brit flicks such as The Imitation Game

26) The Danish Girl

Director: Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
Starring: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair), Ben Whishaw (Skyfall)
Premise: The remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
Odds: The Danish Girl has all the makings of a Best Picture winner – lavish period setting, Oscar friendly cast and director – but it’ll have to overcome its so far mixed-negative reception.

25) Straight Outta Compton

Director: F Gary Gray (Friday)
Starring: Jason Mitchell (Contraband), Corey Hawkins (Non-Stop), Paul Giamatti (Sideways)
Premise: The group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
Odds: Sharing its name with the rap sensation, this unlikely candidate surprised critics and was a smash hit with audiences but that won’t necessarily translate into Oscar success for the musical biopic.

24) Macbeth

Director: Justin Kurzel (Snowtown)
Starring: Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Marion Cotillard (Inception), Paddy Considine (Dead Man’s Shoes)
Premise: Macbeth, a duke of Scotland, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
Odds: Kurzel might not be experienced with this scale of filmmaking but injecting a flavour of war epic to Shakespeare’s classic should shake things up, not to mention the roles Fassbender and Cotillard were born to play.

23) The Program

Director: Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Starring: Chris O’Dowd (Calvary), Ben Foster (Lone Survivor), Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man)
Premise: An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong’s performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will expose Armstrong.
Odds: The events depicted might be considered too recent to have a major effect on voters and O’Dowd (while talented) hasn’t yet reached Oscar appeal but Frears’ impressive back catalogue should accelerate hype.

22) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Director: Alfonso Gomez Rejon (The Town that Dreaded Sundown)
Starring: Thomas Mann (Project X), Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), Nick Offerman (The Kings of Summer)
Premise: High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
Odds: The Fault in Our Stars for the Kings of Summer audience. This charming romance with undoubtedly win the hearts of fans and critics but it might be too low key for the Academy.

21) Snowden

Director: Oliver Stone (JFK)
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt (Inception), Nicolas Cage (Face/Off), Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)
Premise: CIA employee Edward Snowden leaks thousands of classified documents to the press.
Odds: Snowden’s story was told recently in the Oscar winning documentary Citizenfour meaning the source material has awards-friendly buzz but all of Oliver Stone’s recent work (Alexander, Money Never Sleeps, Savages) has been a let down. However, anti-American undertones didn’t do Zero Dark Thirty any harm.

20) Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Director: JJ Abrams (Stark Trek Into Darkness)
Starring: John Boyega (Attack the Block), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
Premise: New heroes must fight the rising threat of the New Order.
Odds: While the reboot of a franchise that hasn’t been good since 1983 may make the Oscars treat The Force Awakens as Bantha fodder, it seems to possess the game changing level of effects that brought Avatar to success and made the original Star Wars a Best Picture nominee.

19) Hail Caesar

Directors: Joel and Ethan Cohen (The Big Lebowski)
Starring: Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men), George Clooney (Gravity), Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
Premise: A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio’s stars in line.
Odds: With four Oscar wins, the Coens are probably the most acclaimed screenwriters of our time but Inside Llewyn Davis’ snubbing might mean trouble for the pair’s more quirky efforts.

18) Silence

Director: Martin Scorsese (The Aviator)
Starring: Andrew Garfield (The Social Network), Tadanobu Asano (Thor). Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List)
Premise: In the seventeenth century, two Jesuit priests face violence and persecution when they travel to Japan to locate their mentor and to spread the gospel of Christianity.
Odds: Silence seems Oscar bound but production delays and rumours that it’ll debut in Cannes 2016 suggest that the film might not be in competition until the 2017 Oscars.

17) The End of the Tour

Director: James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now)
Starring: Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Anna Chlumsky (In the Loop), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Premise: A magazine reporter recounts his travels and conversations with author David Foster Wallace during a promotional book tour.
Odds: The new Almost Famous? Segel and Eisenberg’s pairing will undoubtedly pick up a cult following but might be a bit abrasive for the Oscar crowd.

16) In the Heart of the Sea

Director: Ron Howard (Apollo 13)
Starring: Chris Hemsworth (Rush), Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges)
Premise: Based on the 1820 event, a whaling ship is preyed upon by a sperm whale, stranding its crew at sea for 90 days, thousands of miles from home.
Odds: Ron Howard has experienced mass success with the disaster thriller genre but the merciless snub of his brilliant racing drama Rush hints at an anti-Howard agenda.

15) Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller (The Road Warrior)
Starring: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Charlize Theron (Monster), Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies)
Premise: In a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, two rebels just might be able to restore order: Max, a man of action and of few words, and Furiosa, a woman of action who is looking to make it back to her childhood homeland.
Odds: This bold action sequel received rave reviews but the fact that its plot can be sketched out on a napkin might put off some of the more traditional Academy voters.

14) Joy

Director: David O. Russell (American Hustle)
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Robert De Niro (Casino)
Premise: The story of a family across four generations and the woman who rises to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty.
Odds: Russell has a surprising three consecutive Best Picture nominees but the flop of his abandoned rom-com Accidental Love earlier this years prevents Joy from being his fourth.

13) Brooklyn

Director: John Crowley (Is Anybody There)
Starring: Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Julie Walters (Billy Elliot)
Premise: In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Ellis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
Odds: This star studded effort could be a major contender so long as it avoids the pitfalls of a procedural romantic drama (IE Anna Karenina).

12) The Lobster

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth)
Starring: Colin Farrell (In Bruges), John C Reilly (Chicago), Rachel Weisz (Enemy at the Gates)
Premise: In a dystopian near future, single people are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days or are transformed into animals and released into the woods.
Odds: Merging comedy, romance and sci-fi with a bonkers concept from a Greek director making his English language debut. The Gilliam-esque level of weirdness will attract a lot of attention but may also backfire.

11) Youth

Director: Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty)
Starring: Michael Caine (The Dark Knight), Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)
Premise: Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again.
Odds: Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty picked up a triple with Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globes in the Foreign Language category so Youth should continue form but Sorrentino’s only other English language feature, This Must Be the Place, was one of his weakest.

10) Suffragette

Director: Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane)
Starring: Carey Mulligan (Drive), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd)
Premise: The foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal state.
Odds: The all-female writing directing team may face the snubs that Ava DuVernay suffered with Selma last year but the feminist story may tie into the Academy’s own changing times.

9) Black Mass

Director: Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart)
Starring: Johnny Depp (Public Enemies), Joel Edgerton (Zero Dark Thirty), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
Premise: The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
Odds: A dark and intense modern gangster thriller akin to The Departed and Donnie Brasco. Hopefully, Pirates star Johnny Depp will prove his worth for the first time in years. The massively positive early response is greatly promising.

8) Crimson Peak

Director: Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth)
Starring: Mia Wasikowska (Stoker), Tom Hiddleston (War Horse), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
Premise: In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds…and remembers.
Odds: A lavish Gothic mood will elevate Crimson Peak from repetitive formulaic horror (The Conjuring, Insidious, Sinister, Annabelle) or even hits like the Carpenter-esque It Follows and indie smash The Babadook. Del Toro might exceed Pan’s Labyrinth’s three Oscar wins while busting the myth that horrors are Oscar immune (see Jaws, The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, Aliens, The Silence of the Lambs).

7) The Hateful Eight

Director: Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction)
Starring: Samuel L Jackson (Jurassic Park), Kurt Russell (The Thing), Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Premise: In post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunters try to find shelter during a blizzard but get involved in a plot of betrayal and deception. Will they survive?
Odds: Tarantino’s three Best Picture nominations may well be added to with this Western thriller. It’d be unlikely for this not to be an seventh consecutive hit for the filmmaker.

6) Carol

Director: Todd Haynes (I’m Not There)
Starring: Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Kyle Chandler (Super 8)
Premise: Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
Odds: Carol has been the bookies’ favourite from the start but more recently more praise has gone towards its stars than the film itself.

5) Sicario

Director: Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners)
Starring: Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow), Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men)
Premise: An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by an elected government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Odds: American Sniper, Argo, Captain Phillips, District 9, Gravity, The Hurt Locker, Inception and Zero Dark Thirty have redefined the Oscar’s favour for the action thriller genre.

4) Inside Out

Directors: Pete Docter (Up), Ronaldo Del Carmen
Starring: Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation), Bill Hader (Trainwreck), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks)
Premise: After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness – conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.
Odds: The animation has gained the best reception of any of Pixar’s work since 2010’s Toy Story 3 but it has been five years since the studio has had a major nomination besides Animated Feature.

3) Bridge of Spies

Director: Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List)
Starring: Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Amy Ryan (Birdman), Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall)
Premise: An American lawyer is recruited by the CIA during the Cold War to help rescue a pilot detained in the Soviet Union.
Odds: Spielberg’s career has had nine Best Picture films (including Jaws, The Colour Purple, Saving Private Ryan, War Horse and Lincoln) and 118 Oscar nods are most likely to be added to but the acclaimed director isn’t immune to snubs (Catch Me if You Can, Jurassic Park). Also, Hanks hasn’t had an Oscar nod since 2001’s Cast Away and even his career best in Captain Phillips didn’t sway the Academy.

2) The Revenant

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)
Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio (Inception), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises)
Premise: The frontiersman, Hugh Glass, who in the 1820s set out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.
Odds: Considering the grueling shoot and huge budget, the civil-war era epic could be the new Dances With Wolves (multi-Oscar winner with Kevin Costner) or the new Heaven’s Gate (world renowned flop with Jeff Bridges). Either way, the footage is incredible.

1) Steve Jobs

Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Starring: Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), Kate Winslet (Titanic)
Premise: The true story of the life of visionary Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Odds: While it suffered major development issues – loss of cast members (Christian Bale, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo Di Caprio, Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise, Matthew MacConaughey, Charlize Theronl, Jessica Chastain, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman) and director David Fincher – we reckon Steve Jobs is your next Best Picture winner.

Here’s a quickfire of the directors and stars we reckon will make the cut.

Best Director:

  1. Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies
  2. Denis Villeneuve – Sicario
  3. Danny Boyle – Steve Jobs
  4. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – The Revenant
  5. George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
  6. Oliver Stone – Snowden
  7. Guillermo Del Toro – Crimson Peak
  8. JJ Abrams – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
  9. Scott Cooper – Black Mass
  10. F Gary Gray – Straight Outta Compton
  11. Paolo Sorrentino – Youth
  12. Ron Howard – In the Heart of the Sea
  13. Sarah Gavron – Suffragette
  14. David O. Russell – Joy
  15. Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight

Best Actor:

  1. Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs – Steve Jobs
  2. Michael Caine – Fred Ballinger – Youth
  3. Leonardo Di Caprio – Hugh Glass – The Revenant
  4. Johnny Depp – Whitey Bulger – Black Mass
  5. Tom Hanks – James Donovan – Bridge of Spies
  6. Jason Segel – David Foster Wallace – The End of the Tour
  7. Bryan Cranston – Dalton Trumbo – Trumbo
  8. Eddie Redmayne – Lili Elbe – The Danish Girl
  9. Ian McKellen – Sherlock Holmes – Mr Holmes
  10. Jake Gyllenhaal – Billy Hope – Southpaw
  11. Tom Hardy – Ronald/Reginald Kray – Legend
  12. Joseph Gordon Levitt – Edward Snowden – Snowden
  13. Colin Farrell – David – The Lobster
  14. Tom Hardy – “Mad” Max Rockatansky – Mad Max: Fury Road
  15. Tom Hiddleston – Hank Williams – I Saw the Light

Best Actress:

  1. Rooney Mara – Therese Belivet – Carol
  2. Marion Cotillard – Lady Macbeth – Macbeth
  3. Alicia Vikander – Gerda Wegener – The Danish Girl
  4. Emily Blunt – Kate Macer – Sicario
  5. Jennifer Lawrence – Joy Mangano – Joy
  6. Cate Blanchett – Carol Aird – Carol
  7. Charlotte Rampling – Kate Mercer – 45 Years
  8. Saoirse Ronan – Ellis Lacey – Brooklyn
  9. Juliette Binoche – Maria Enders – Clouds of Sils Maria
  10. Carey Mulligan – Maud – Suffragette
  11. Mia Wasikowska – Edith Cushing – Crimson Peak
  12. Charlize Theron – Imperator Furiosa – Mad Max: Fury Road
  13. Julianne Moore – Laurel Hester – Freeheld
  14. Angelina Jolie – Vanessa – By the Sea
  15. Amy Schumer – Amy – Trainwreck

Best Supporting Actor:

  1. Seth Rogen – Steve Wozniak – Steve Jobs
  2. Harvey Keitel – Mick Boyle – Youth
  3. Benedict Cumberbatch – Bill Bulger – Black Mass
  4. Benicio Del Toro – Alejandro – Sicario
  5. Mark Rylance – Rudolf Abel – Bridge of Spes
  6. Jesse Eisenberg – David Lipsky – The End of the Tour
  7. Robert De Niro – Rudy Mangano – Joy
  8. Christoph Waltz – Hans Oberhauser – Spectre
  9. Samuel L Jackson – Marquis Warren – The Hateful Eight
  10. Tom Hardy – John Fitzgerald – The Revenant
  11. Chris O’Dowd – David Walsh – The Program
  12. Josh Brolin – Matt – Sicario
  13. Tom Hiddelston – Thomas Sharpe – Crimson Peak
  14. Will Poulter – Jim Bridger – The Revenant
  15. Harrison Ford – Han Solo – Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Supporting Actress:

  1. Rachel Weisz – Lena Ballinger – Youth
  2. Kate Winslet – Joanna Hoffman – Steve Jobs
  3. Shailene Woodley – Lindsay Mills – Snowden
  4. Amy Ryan – Mary Donovan – Bridge of Spies
  5. Ellen Page – Stacie Andree – Freeheld
  6. Jessica Chastain – Lucille Sharpe – Crimson Peak
  7. Jane Fonda – Brenda Morel – Youth
  8. Kristen Stewart – Valentine – Clouds of Sils Maria
  9. Julie Walters – Mrs Kehoe – Brooklyn
  10. Melissa Leo – Laura Poitras – Snowden
  11. Rachel McAdams – Maureen Hope – Southpaw
  12. Helen Mirren – Hedda Hooper – Trumbo
  13. Anna Chlumsky – Sarah – The End of the Tour
  14. Helena Bonham Carter – Edith New – Suffragette
  15. Jennifer Jason Leigh – Daisy Domergue – The Hateful Eight

Best Original Screenplay:

  1. Youth – Paolo Sorrentino
  2. The Hateful Eight – Quentin Tarantino
  3. Inside Out – Pete Docter, Ronald Del Carmen, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley
  4. Bridge of Spies – Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen, Matt Charman
  5. Ex Machina – Alex Garland
  6. Joy – David O. Russell, Annie Mumulo
  7. Sicario – Taylor Sheridan
  8. Hail Caesar – Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen
  9. Demolition – Bryan Sipe
  10. The Good Dinosaur – Enrico Casarosa, Bob Peterson
  11. Suffragette – Abi Morgan
  12. Trainwreck – Amy Schumer
  13. Southpaw – Kurt Sutter
  14. Crimson Peak – Guillermo Del Toro, Matthew Robbins
  15. Irrational Man – Woody Allen

Best Adapted Screenplay:

  1. Steve Jobs – Aaron Sorkin
  2. Carol – Phyllis Nagy
  3. The End of the Tour – Donald Marguiles
  4. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – Jesse Andrews
  5. The Revenant – Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Mark L Smith
  6. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris
  7. Silence – Jay Cocks
  8. Snowden – Oliver Stone, Kieran Fitzgerald
  9. Brooklyn – Nick Hornby
  10. The Danish Girl – Lucina Coven
  11. Spectre – John Logan, Neil Purvis, Robert Wade
  12. Macbeth – Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso
  13. Black Mass – Scott Cooper, Mark Mallouk
  14. The Martian – Drew Goddard
  15. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan

Tron 3 is confirmed for Autumn shoot, first look at Maze Runner 2 and Guy Ritchie reveals King Arthur

The follow up to the 1982 sci-fi cult classic Tron had mixed success commercially and critically but Joseph Kosinski has been determined to make a sequel to his Legacy – a film more renowned for the Daft Punk soundtrack. In a surprising announcement, the Oblivion director has confirmed his project is set to shoot this autumn. From what we’ve heard, it sounds as if various cast members, including Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Garrett Hedlund (Unbroken), Olivia Wilde (Rush) and Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins). Perhaps Michael Sheen (The Queen) can return as his eccentric club owner Castor.

Embedded image permalink

Next today is Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie’s first look on the set of his fantasy epic Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur. The franchise starter will star Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim, Sons of Anarchy), Jude Law (Artificial Intelligence, The Aviator), Astrid Berges Frisbey (I Origins), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, Guardians of the Galaxy), Mikael Persbrandt (In a Better World, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) and Eric Bana (Hanna, Munich, Stark Trek).

Sci-fi action The Maze Runner took us all by surprise when it significantly outgrossed fellow young adult flicks Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars, despite those film’s great success in the US. The sequel to it, The Scorch Trials, was quickly confirmed and the first stills have been revealed. The plot this time sees the Gladers enduring WCKD’s brutal second challenge. It’ll star Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf), Kaya Scodelario (Moon), Thomas Brodie Sangster (Wolf Hall), Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan) and Patricia Clarkson (Shutter Island) with director Wes Ball.

The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials – September 28th

Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur – July 22nd 2016

Tron 3 – 2017

The 2015 Preview Issue

2015 is the new 2012 (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, The Hunger Games, The Hobbit), which itself was the new 1999 (The Sixth Sense, The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, Two Story 2). Its releases should not only be huge financial successes but promise to be delightful watches as well. Here’s what we reckon will be topping the year’s box office in twelve months time.

  1. The Avengers: Age of UltronDirector: Joss Whedon – $1.7 billion
  2. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – JJ Abrams – $1.4 billion
  3. Spectre – Sam Mendes – $1.2 billion
  4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – $925 million
  5. Furious 7 – James Wan – $875 million
  6. Minions – Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin – $800 million
  7. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – $775 million
  8. Inside Out – Pete Docter – $725 million
  9. Mission: Impossible 5 – Christopher McQuarrie – $700 million
  10. Ant-Man – Peyton Reed – $675 million
  11. The Good Dinosaur – Peter Sohn – $625 million
  12. Ted 2 – Seth MacFarlane – $600 million
  13. Terminator Genisys – Alan Taylor – $575 million
  14. The Fantastic Four – Josh Trank – $550 million
  15. Tomorrowland – Brad Bird – $525 million

We reckon The Avengers sequel will edge Star Wars seeing as the former series’ commercial success is actually growing. Pixar’s double-billed return to original storytelling with Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur should score them impressively but Minions will triumph on the animation front. The only other original work we expect to see doing well is sci-fi adventure Tomorrowland. The race in the new crop of reboots will be won by Jurassic World, beating off competition from Terminator and Fantastic Four. Close to gracing the Top 15 will be sequels to YA franchises (The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, Insurgent) and there might be an upset for Chris Columbus/Adam Sandler comedy Pixels and Joe Wright/Hugh Jackman fantasy adventure Pan. Should it finally get a major release, The Interview may well be a smash hit.

Now here are our top twenty to one most anticipated releases of the year.

20) The Fantastic Four

Director: Josh Trank
Writers: Josh Trank, Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater, TS Nowlin
Starring: Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, Michael B Jordan, Toby Kebbell
Premise: For a very long time, next to nothing had been revealed about Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. Star Wars took a similar approach and that sent fans running wild with speculation but no such hype surrounded the FF, exposing a serious lack of interest. Still, Chronicle’s Trank is a promising hope and the the high-end castings of Teller (Whiplash), Bell (Bill Elliot), Mara (House of Cards), Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Jordan (Fruitvale Station) ought to liven things up.
Release: August 6th

19) Everest

Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Writers: William Nicholson, Mark Medoff, Justin Isbell, Lem Dobbs, Simon Beaufoy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, Jason Clarke, Elizabeth Debicki, John Hawkes, Emily Watson
Premise: An absolute first-rate cast from two teams who embark on an expedition to the peak of the world’s highest mountain, where they also face the world’s toughest terrain. The stills so far reveal some spectacular drama.
Release: October 2nd

18) Mission: Impossible 5

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Drew Pearce, Will Staples
Starring: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Ving Rhames
Premise: It’s hard to get excited when all we have to go on is a few on-set snaps but we can still expect a high-end spectacle of action. Uniting Cruise and McQuarrie (star/writer of Edge of Tomorrow) is a solid move and the returning cast of Ghost Protocol (Pegg, Renner, Patton) hints at more franchise continuity than before.
Release: December 26th

17) The Man From UNCLE

Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wigram, Jeff Kleeman, David Campbell Wilson
Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris
Premise: Bond and Hunt are both set in stone in their nationalities but spy reboot The Man From UNCLE pitches a teaming up of the American Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and the Russian Illya Kuryakin (Hammer). With Sherlock Holmes/Snatch director Guy Ritchie helming it ought to be a truly gripping thriller.
Release: August 14th

16) Child 44

Director: Daniel Espinosa
Writers: Richard Price
Starring: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Paddy Considine, Jason Clarke, Dev Patel, Joel Kinnaman, Charles Dance
Premise: In Stalin-era Soviet Union, a detective investigates a series of murder, the complication is that the state believes crime doesn’t exist. The cast alone is enough of a reason to get interested and Daniel Espinosa proved his action credentials in Safe House.
Release: April 17th

15) Minions

Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Writer: Brian Lynch
Starring: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton
Premise: There are very few well favoured comedy spin offs but the first trailer for Despicable Me’s spawn the Minions looked promising.
Release: June 26th

14) Untitled Steven Spielberg Cold War Project

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Matt Charman, Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Tom Hanks, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Mark Rylance
Premise: We know nothing more than the title suggests but another collaboration between Spielberg (Jaws, ET, AI, Minority Report, Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park) and Hanks (Forrest Gump, Captain Phillips, Cast Away, The Green Mile, Road to Perdition) is a huge attention grabber. The pair’s previous collaborations are Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and Saving Private Ryan.
Release: October 9th

13) Chappie

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writers: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Hugh Jackman, Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver
Premise: The director of District 9 takes on a slightly more light hearted venture as Chappie, a discarded robotic cop, us taken under the wing of a group of scientists who teach it. Soon, others realise that Chappie is potentially dangerous.
Release: March 6th

12) The Walk

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Robert Zemeckis, Christopher Browne
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale
Premise: As chronicled in the Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire, stuntman Philippe Petit begins his ultimate accomplishment by wire walking from one Twin Tower to the other. This is the first teaming up of the duo Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Cast Away) and Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception).
Release: October 2nd

11) Ant-Man

Director; Peyton Reed
Writers: Gabriel Ferrari, Andrew Barrer, Adam McKay, Edgar Wright
Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Judy Greer

10) Inside Out

Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Writers: Michael Arndt, Pete Docter
Starring: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Lane
Premise: Pixar’s second release of 2015 is the brilliantly madcap concept of emotions, symbolised as the characters above, controlling the emotions within our mind. Unlike The Good Dinosaur, this has a Pixar regular, Pete Docter (Monsters Inc, Up), at the helm as well as Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt.
Release: July 24th

9) Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevorrow
Writers: Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Omar Sy, Judy Greer, Jake Johnson, Vincent D’Onofrio
Premise: We’re well prepared for a sequel that won’t live up to the original’s same magic. Still, Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) and his new set of leads – Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy), Howard (The Help), Robinson (The Kings of Summer) and Simpkins (Insidious) – look set to give a fresh rebranding.
Release: June 12th

8) Tomorrowland

Director: Brad Bird
Writers: Damon Lindelof, Brad Bird
Starring: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Judy Greer
Premise: One f the year’s most secretive releases comes from Pixar protogee Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and, while it is a fairly original prospect, it’s in fact roughly based upon Walt Disney’s own bright and bold vision of the future.
Release: May 22nd

7) Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller
Writers: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Zoe Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult
Premise: Pleasing the die hard fans of the original will be a tough task but the footage so far revealed for this sequel is phenomenal. It’ll be massively entertaining to see Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Locke) in a rawer action role.
Release: May 15th

6) The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Drew Goddard
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessican Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kirsten Wiig, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Michael Pena, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean
Premise: The film’s tone, either epic or dramatic, has yet to have been established but it sees Damon’s astronaut stranded on the red planet. Still, we’re immediately excited to see what legendary Brit director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Black Hawk Dawn, Alien, Blade Runner) can bring next.
Release: November 27th

5) Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: John Logan, Neil Purvis, Robert Wade
Starring: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci, Andrew Scott, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen
Premise: After Skyfall became one of the undisputedly great Bond films (rivalling Dr No, Goldfinger, GoldenEye and Casino Royale) and its follow up is hoping to be just as successful. In this new adventure, Bond (Craig) tracks a mysterious signal from a previous mission and finds a secret organisation, led by Waltz’s Oberhauser.
Release: October 23rd

4) In the Heart of the Sea

Director: Ron Howard
Writers: Charles Leavitt, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Charlotte Riley, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson
Premise: Fresh off of smash hit racing drama Rush, Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) returns with a period thriller based on the true story that inspire Moby Dick. Hemsworth’s whaling crew are stranded in the see for weeks on end as the most fearsome whale they have ever witnessed haunts them. The trailer is awesome, terrifying and truly monstrous.
Release: March 13th

3) Crimson Peak

Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Writers: Guillermo Del Toro, Matthew Robbins, Lucinda Coxon
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, Doug Jones, Burn Gorman
Premise: The masterful Mexican Del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim/writer of The Hobbit trilogy, returns to properly gothic horror as aspiring author Edith Cushing (Wasikowska) moves into a new home with her sinister new husband Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston). If it’s what it promises to be, we could have a chilling masterpiece on our hands.
Release: October 16th

2) The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, James Spader, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Samuel L Jackson, Andy Serkis, Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Stellan Skarsgard, Hayley Atwell, Thomas Kretschmann
Premise: Stark’s robot peacekeeping program gets out of hand as his creation begins its own global dominations. Marvel’s other properties (Inhumans and Doctor Strange) are being set up elsewhere but this is sowing the seeds of Civil War, Black Panther and Infinity War. Still Whedon’s superhero sequel will be darker, bolder, bigger and better.
Release: April 24th

1) Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens

Director: JJ Abrams
Writers: JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Andy Serkis, Max Von Sydow, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Warwick Davis, Christina Chong, Iko Uwais, Maisie Richardson Sellers
Premise: Besides the setting (30 years on from Return of the Jedi) we know almost nothing but how could anything else be number one? Perhaps it would have been lower down before that trailer landed but it just blew 90% of our worries out the water. We’re equally terrified and excited to what JJ will produce. Others may be surefire hits but this is the one we hope for the most.
Release: December 18th

Neil Patrick Harris will host 2015 Oscars and first trailer for Ron Howard’s Heart of the Sea

With his iconic nine-year stint as Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother concluded, Neil Patrick Harris is evidently after another huge role and is getting a lot of attention after his supporting role in David Fincher’s acclaimed Gone Girl. The four time Golden Globe nominee is now officially the host of next year’s 87th Academy Awards. Previous Oscar hosts he his succeeding include Billy Crystal, Hugh Jackman, Ellen DeGeneres, Seth MacFarlane, Anne Hathaway and James Franco. This won’t be Harris’ first Oscar experience as he performed the mediocre opening number in 2010 but his Awards hosting talent was fully unleashed with his brilliant performance hosting the Tonys last year.

Above is the first trailer for In the Heart of the Sea, a new whaling thriller centred on a group of sailors stranded and haunted by a giant whale. Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Rush) directs while Chris Hemsworth (Thor, The Avengers), Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas, Skyfall), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, Edge of Tomorrow) and Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins, 28 Days Later) star.

In the Heart of the Sea – March 13th 2015

The 87th Annual Academy Awards – February 22nd 2015

Ron Howard opens Jungle Book, new pics from Guardians of the Galaxy and Steven Price for Ant-Man

With the excitement of 12 Years, Gravity, Captain Phillips and American Hustle’s BAFTA successes on Sunday, we took a brief break yesterday but we’re back online today. Sunday saw Gravity’s composer Steven Price accept the award for Best Original Score. Impressed by his incredible work on the film, director Edgar Wright confirmed on Twitter that Price had been hired to score Marvel’s sci-fi superhero adventure Ant-Man.

We thought that Brian Tyler might be the man for the job after impressing with his excellent work on Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World but Price has connections with director Edgar Wright and writer Joe Cornish having composed The World’s End, Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Attack the Block. Other Marvel composers whose upcoming work we hope to enjoy include Alan Silvestri (The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Back to the Future), Tyler Bates (Guardians of the Galaxy and 300) and Henry Jackman (Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: First Class). The film itself stars Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas while Evangeline Lilly and Michael Pena have been linked for roles in the film.

Back in June 2013, we reported that Disney were to launch a new adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. In November of that year, we announced that Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Elf, Zathura) was negotiating his way to directing it. I’m not sure when Favreau was ruled out as now Oscar nominee Ron Howard is now the favourite.

The director of Rush and Apollo 13 just recently confirmed a new crime biopic titled Mena but he had this to say at the post-BAFTAs press conference (where Rush took the title of Best Editing). “Frankly, [the news] was prematurely released as a given. I am happy to admit we are in conversations about it – to the point that I brought my Kipling along as homework. An exciting prospect, but we’re in very early discussions.” Howard is a vastly talented director, as he’s proved on numerous occasions, but he’s had as many hits as he’s had misfires, see The Dilemma and Angels and Demons. You can next see Howard’s work in 2015 with In the Heart of the Sea, starring Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson and Ben Whishaw.

The most exciting news of the day comes from the release of three awesome pics from Marvel’s action adventure Guardians of the Galaxy. The film, directed by Slither and Super’s James Gunn, stars Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, John C Reilly, Glenn Close, Djimon Hounsou and Lee Pace and recently launched official pics of the new merchandise range. If it can match the hype, GoTG could be a huge amount of adventurous fun.

Ant-Man – July 27th 2015

Guardians of the Galaxy – August 1st

The Jungle Book/Jungle Book – 2017?

Mena – 2016?

In the Heart of the Sea/Heart of the Sea – March 15th 2015

McKenzie and Pertwee for Gotham plus new Transcendence poster and new role for Ron Howard

Two time Oscar winner Ron Howard has had some huge success during his career with hits such Willow, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Frost/Nixon and, most recently, Rush under his directorial filmography. His new picture seems to be coming into shape now. Mena, named after Mena in Arkansas, is his new production which chronicles the life of pilot turned smuggler Barry Seal. Gary Spinelli is the man at the helm of the script. Howard’s next work however is on nautical drama Heart of the Sea, starring Chris Hemsworth, Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy and Ben Whishaw.

Linking in from that, Murphy is one of the cast members of Transcendence, the highly anticipated directorial debut of cinematographer Wally Pfister. Transcendence is the title of this new revelation packed sci-fi. It sees techno-scientist Will (Johnny Depp), upon the event of his sudden assassination, has his mind downloaded onto a computer by his wife (Rebecca Hall) and his best friend (Paul Bettany). The film also star Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara and Cillian Murphy. A brand new poster has been unveiled.

For a while, Gotham, an Agents of SHIELD style spin-off for Batman’s Commissioner Jim Gordon, has been in production. More recently, two major castings have been made. First, there’s been the bizarre casting of Ben McKenzie (The OC, 88 Minutes) as the lead of Jim Gordon, an ordinary cop facing the maniacal villains of a Gotham before Batman, before the even more oddball choice of Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers, Equilbrium, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and son of The Third Doctor Jon Pertwee) as Alfred Pennyowrth, Bruce Wayne/Batman’s Butler. This comes just a week after the genius casting of Jeremy Irons as Pennyworth. Bizarrely, the series seems to have hired some fairly low key stars

Gotham – 2015

Transcendence – April 25th

Mena – 2016/17?

Heart of the Sea – March 13th 2015

Anna Paquin’s Rogue out of Days of Future Past in Singer’s X-Men cuts and trailer for Transcedence

Wally Pfister is an Oscar winning cinematographer and regular collaborator of Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, The Prestige, Inception). However, he’s missing out on Nolan’s latest, Interstellar, as he’s busy making his directorial debut Transcendence. After a string of short teasers, the first trailer has taken flight. Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean), Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3), Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind), Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption), Kate Mara (House of Cards) and Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins), two of whom (namely Freeman and Murphy) are also regular Nolan collaborators, all star. The great cast and premise coupled with Pfister’s brilliant shooting and imagery should turn Transcendence into one of the hits of the year!

Rogue is one of our favourite X-Men and her portrayer, Oscar winning Anna Paquin, even featured in the trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, director Bryan Singer’s (The Usual Suspects, X-Men, Valkyrie) ruthless editing has cut Rogue out of the film.

“Through the editing process, the sequence became extraneous,”  Singer told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s a really good sequence and it will probably end up on the DVD so people can see it. But like many things in the editing process, it was an embarrassment of riches and it was just one of the things that had to go. Unfortunately, it was the one and only sequence Anna Paquin was in, the Rogue character was in. Even though she’s in the materials and part of the process of making the film, she won’t appear in it.”

So, we’ll have to wait until likely the Blu Ray for DoFP comes along in late 2014 to see Rogue. As for Paquin, the star of The Piano and True Blood is in the now about her removal from the project.”She completely understood,” Singer added. “It’s very disappointing, but she’s very professional and she knows that stuff happens, particularly with material you shoot early on in production. Films evolve.”

The film’s now gone from three to two Oscar Best Actress winning stars, Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) and Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball) also star, and an additional five Academy Award nominations thanks to Lawrence again (Winter’s Bone), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Ellen Page (Juno) and Ian McKellen (twice, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Gods and Monsters). Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Shawn Ashmore, Nicholas Hoult, Daniel Cudmore and Lucas Till reprise their roles from previous X-Men instalments while DoFP introduces fresh faces such as Evan Peters, Josh Helman, Fan Bingbing, Omar Sy, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart and Peter Dinklage, aka Game of Thrones’ Tyrion Lannister.

This time travel mash up could be the superhero hit of the year and Singer wouldn’t want to jeopardise that just for the sake of having every character in it. From that point of view, Singer is forgiven but it won’t take long for the comic book community to unleash Apocalypse onto him, get it? The X-Men saga continues with DoFP, James Mangold’s Wolverine 3 and X-Men: Apocalypse.

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd 2014

X-Men: Apocalypse – 2016

Wolverine 3 – 2016

Transcendence – April 25th 2014