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

RoboCop review

Director: Jose Padhila

Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Abbie Cornish, Michael Keaton, Samuel L Jackson, Jennifer Ehle, Jay Baruchel, Jackie Earle Haley, Aimee Garcia, Michael K Williams, John Paul Ruttan, Marianne Jean Baptiste, Patrick Garrow

The 1987 sci-fi action flick RoboCop has as big a cult following as I think is possible. The gritty, satirical and notoriously gruesome film is a fan favourite. Any attempt to reboot or remake was always going to be not the one fans wanted, with studios convinced that a 12A certificate was needed for a major audience. However, this has much more of a punch than you’d expect.

The year is 2028. Tycoon Raymond Sellars’ (Keaton) robotics business Omnicorp are establishing a war free third world with the power of robotic soldiers, who prove to be frighteningly good at their job, yet his, and media mogul Pat Novak’s (Jackson), dream is to bring his technology into American law enforcement and so he recruits scientist Dennett Norton (Oldman) to aid him. Meanwhile in Detroit,  detective Alex Murphy (Kinnaman) is a loving husband to his wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) and father to his son David (Ruttan) as well as a hard working detective. He finds himself devastatingly injured, after suffering a vengeful attack from mob boss Antoine Vallon (Garrow), and in Omnicorp’s custody: they are to put his body into a machine to create the ultimate cop. However, Norton’s moral conflicts lead to disastrous events.

There are numerous strokes of genius in this remake, Jackson’s Novak being the most noteworthy one. His seemingly minor character gets some brilliant laughs and, at the end, brings a brilliantly sinister tone into what could have easily been a dull, flag-waving and overly patriotic ending. It’s not quite mockery or parody but rather a slight exaggeration of the media dependence of the west.

One of the other notable intelligent turns of the film was the underlying drone politics which make for an intriguing discussion – this film does convey an actual political message, whether you agree with it or not.

Despite this, the quality of the acting varies dramatically; the two ends of the spectrum are Abbie Cornish’s excellent portrayal of grieving wife Clara to Kinnaman’s remarkably uninspiring turn as Murphy himself. The Killing star overcooks the emotionless Alex and never gives any kind of development. Meanwhile, Oldman captures the essence of a gradual slip into corruption, becoming the most engaging of the lot.

Some of the cast seem a little lost though; Michael Keaton in particular doesn’t supply any identifiable energy and Michael K Williams, Jennifer Ehle and Aimee Garcia never really provide much to the plot. On the other hand, the partly humorous effort of Jay Baruchel, Omnicorp’s charming but ultimately scheming head of marketing, is vastly entertaining and Jackson has his deadpan role to perfection.

Some of the action itself is blisteringly brutal but the occasional shot of iffy CG detracts from it while the weight of the political themes reinforce it. Many scenes, chiefly the one in which Alex realises the extent of his injuries, are incredibly profound and subduing. The rare but evident substance-lacking performances don’t quite match with it leading to a loss of mobility and life. It doesn’t have the gory heft of Verhoeven’s original either but, when viewed as a new piece of grounded sci-fi action, it’s extremely more bold and daring than a lot of the dull remakes today brings us.

7/10

“Forget the machines. They want a product with a conscious. Something that knows what it feels like to be human. We gonna put a man inside a machine!”

Star Wars 7 release date unveiled and Kit Harington, Jennifer Ehle and Peter Firth for Spooks: The Greater Good

I’d previously been billing Star Wars: Episode VII at a Christmas 2015 release at a rough guess. Turns out, I was only seven days off. December 18th is the day we’ll get to lay our eyes on JJ Abrams reboot of the classic sci-fi universe. “We’re very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII,” says Disney chairman Alan Horn,” where it will not only anchor the popular holiday film going season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture.” While the summer Hollywood blockbusters are usually the norm, Avatar and The Hobbit managed rare billion dollar grossings from Christmas time releases in 2009 and 2012.

Spooks went off the air after a ten season spree in 2011. It’s the fictional tales and missions of the very real MI5. A new theatrical reboot has come in the form of The Greater Good. Newcomers Kit Harington (Game of Thrones and the upcoming epic Pompeii) and Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty, Contagion and recently signed on for Fifty Shades of Grey) will be part of the cast joining the show’s lead star Peter Firth (The Hunt for Red October, Equus) while the film has Tsunami: The Aftermath’s Indian director Bharat Nalluri

“With Spooks: The Greater Good, we’ve set out to make a gripping, cinematic, contemporary spy thriller,” says Shine Pictures’ Stephen Garrett, “one that builds on the history of the show and its legacy of questioning the world around us, but which also delivers as a stand-alone film for a new, global audience,”

Spooks: The Greater Good – 2015?

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

RoboCop poster, Pattinson goes to Lost City of Z, Michael Fassbender’s Magneto costume revealed for X-Men 7 and Marvel plans more TV with Netflix

Crime has a new enemy in next year’s action reboot RoboCop. We’re starting this week with a bang and who better to do that than the Digital Detective himself. Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) stars in the title role with Samuel L Jackson, Abbie Cornish, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Doug Urbanski, Jay Baruchel and Jennifer Ehle as well as director Jose Padilha.

Our next epic new image is of Michael Fassbender playing the young Magneto (Ian McKellen) in a brilliant new outfit. This is of coarse for Bryan Singer’s (The Usual Suspects, X-Men) superhero time travel sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past.  It’s awesome stuff but you have to ask where’s the helmet?

The first of today’s full articles is casting rumours for the British Twilight, Harry Potter and Remember Me star Robert Pattinson. As well as being a teen idol for the aforementioned Twilight, he’s proved himself to critics with the recent David Cronenberg drama Cosmopolis. He could be on for the new action/adventure/biography in The Lost City of Z.

If so, he’ll be joining it’s star Benedict Cumberbatch as well as director/writer James Gray (We Own the Night) and Brad Pitt’s company Plan B. Z is the true story of explorer Percy Fawcett who left to the Amazon rainforest but never returned.

Finally, we’ve confirmation that Disney and Netflix will be teaming up for a whole load of live-action Marvel TV series after Joss Whedon’s gradual success with Agents of SHIELD. Agent Carter was one of the potential series that we’ve talked about on this blog but Marvel’s TV quartet have been revealed. It’s Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.

Here’s Empire’s guide to these heroes and who should play them!

RoboCop – February 7th

The Lost City of Z – 2015?

Marvel’s Daredevil – 2015 on Netflix

Marvel’s Luke Cage – 2016? on Netflix

Marvel’s Jessica Jones – 2016? on Netflix

Marvel’s Iron Fist – 2016? on Netflix

Disney unveil Star Wars Rebels’ villain and Avatar theme park experience plus Hunnam leaves 50 Shades and Wheatley to direct Doctor Who

As Peter Capaldi roles into the role of The Twelfth Doctor for the 8th season of Doctor Who and the 50th Anniversary Special draws closer (indeed we only have to wait until November 23rd), next years thirteen episodes are coming together with one up and coming British director signed up to direct two episodes. The director/writer behind civil war drama A Field in England and horror hits like Sightseers and Kill List.

“I am very excited and honoured to be asked to direct the first two episodes of the new series of Doctor Who. I’ve been a fan since childhood – Tom Baker is my Doctor if you are asking,” Wheatley told Screendaily. “I’ve been watching the current run of Doctor who with my son and have discovered it all over again. The work that has been done is amazing. I’m really looking forward to working with Peter Capaldi and finding out where Steven Moffat is planning to take the new Doctor.” His often murderous filming style could be bringing back some of the excellent darkness of the series opening of season 6.

Charlie Hunnam’s casting was possibly the most controversial of the year (in a 12 months that included Ben Affleck as Batman). The Pacific Rim and Sons of Anarchy star was signed up to play young billionaire Christian Grey in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s novel adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey but that deal has crumbled. They’re saying that’s because the production clashed with Hunnam’s extensive TV work but I’m hoping he’s signing on for Guillermo Del Toro’s potential sequel Pacific Rim 2. Tell us in the comments who you think should join Dakota Johnson and Jennifer Ehle in the cast of Fifty Shades and fill Hunnam’s previous role of Grey

Star Wars Rebels is Disney’s attempt at returning George Lucas’ series (which they recently acquired) into animated television after Star Wars: The Clone Wars was axed at it’s prime. David Oyelowo and Tim Curry are set to lend their voices to the project and they’ve given us a first look at their new villain: the sinister Sith Lord The Inquisitor.

Disney have also given us some concept shots of their new Avatar themed area in the Animal Kingdom Park in Disneyworld, Florida. Avatar was the highest grossing film of all time at it’s 2009 release (and still is). The film’s director James Cameron has been brought in to oversee the reconstruction of Pandora (the mystical world which plays host to the plot and their heroes). Avatar’s sequels are planned for Christmas releases in 2016, 2017 and 2018 which’ll match the 2017 opening of the Pandora area.

Doctor Who season 8 – August 2014

Fifty Shades of Grey – August 1st 2014

Star Wars Rebels – 2014

The Pandora Area of the Animal Kingdom Park at Disneyworld Florida – 2017

Rossio to write Masters of the Universe, Ehle joins 50 Shades, new Walter Mitty and Limitless TV show

Bradley Cooper’s 2011 mystery thriller was an excellent one. Two years on, Limitless, which itself was based upon sci-fi novel The Dark Fields, is set for a television remake. The plot centres around Eddie Morra, a failing writer who accepts an experimental drug called NZT from an old acquaintance who claims it to be legal and that it allows your brain to reach it’s unused 80%. His use of the drug and rising intelligence gets him noticed by those who find him a great business venture (I.E Robert De Niro’s Carl Van Loon) or those who want the drug for themselves (Andrew Howard’s Gennady). We don’t know if Cooper will star but we think the Academy Award nominee from The Hangover and Silver Linings Playbook is set to be executive producer. We still don’t know if the film’s director, Neil Burger (currently busy finishing off young-adult novel adaptation Divergent), will return though.

Next, we’ve a new casting for 50 Shades of Grey. The EL James adaptation stars Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim) as young billionaire Christian Grey while his lover Anastasia Steele will be portrayed by Dakota Johnson (21 Jump Street). Jennifer Ehle has joined the project under the directing excellence of Sam Taylor-Wood. Ehle was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress British Academy Film Award back in 1997 for biopic Wilde and won a television BAFTA in 1995 for the beloved mini-series Pride and Prejudice where she starred alongside Colin Firth. Since then, she’s starred in Contagion, The King’s Speech, Zero Dark Thirty, the upcoming sci-fi action RoboCop and now 50 Shades of Grey where she play’s Steele’s stern mother Carla whose now married to her fourth husband.

We move on to a potential He-Man reboot. Masters of the Universe tells the story of Adam, Prince of Eternia, whose granted with magical powers and sets out with a team of heroes, Battle Cat, Man At Arms, The Sorceress, Teela and Orco, who set out to take down the villainous Skeletor. Terry Russio will now script the production. He’s a regular writer on the Pirates of the Caribbean series and recently scribed Gore Verbinski’s unappreciated Western The Lone Ranger. He also won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar for his work on Dreamworks animation Shrek.

Finally, we’ve got the new trailer (on Empire because it wasn’t accessible on Youtube) for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Ben Stiller stars in and directs this comedic adventure with Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Sean Penn (Milk), Patton Oswalt (Young Adult), Kathryn Hahn (Anchorman) and Adam Scott (Friends With Kids).