We’re big fans of Ryan Gosling here at the ATTIC and we are truly impressed by his bold choice of next film, Lars and the Real Girl. Gosling plays a delusional and lonely young man whose family and friends are shocked when he introduces his new girlfriend… a blow-up doll he ‘met’ on the internet.

Judging from the trailer, this is another typical indie heart-fuelled comedy with strong, heart-achingly real characters (except the doll). That’s a good thing in our books.

That oscar will be Gosling’s yet.

Trailer

The master of oddities, Michel Gondry teams up with Jack Black and Mos Def to bring us Be Kind, Rewind. The premise behind this is simply superb. A man (Black) accidentally magnetises and wipes all the VHS cassettes in his friend’s video-store and the two decide to re-make all the lost film’s for the store’s most loyal, ageing customer.

From Ghostbusters and Robocop to The Lion King and Driving Miss Daisy, their films swiftly makes them the most popular guys in their neighbourhood. Be Kind, Rewind just made it to my personal list of films I can’t wait to see. This trailer is a MUST SEE!

Trailer

David Corkery

A live-action Transformers movie was always going to cause problems. Like all comic-book/cartoon favourites that have entered our pop culture psyche, it carried with it an extensive and devoted fan base of now grown up children. Grown up children that are as hard to please as normal children. Yet Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg laughed in the face of nerdiness and undertook the immense task of creating a big-budget motion picture spectacle that would not only satisfy the die-hard fans, but stand proud as a credible, worthy cinematic success.

They did not succeed.

In some of the most spot-on casting news we’ve seen in a long time, Zachary Quinto (Sylar in hit TV show Heroes) is apparently moments away from being cast as a young Spock in JJ Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek prequel.

The actor and his well-suited eyebrows have been campaigning for a while now for the part and looks like it’s finally paying off. And not only does he look right for Spock, but his cold, sinister role as Sylar should easily transfer over to a cold, logical role as Spock. Plus, they both begin with ‘S.’ It’ll be like he never left the Heroes set.

This news further proves that Abrams is casting Spock and Kirk as young twenty-somethings, a fact that was revealed by Matt Damon recently, who was considered too old for the part.

All will most likely be announced at Comic-Con.

Kevin Bacon plays a dad who gets TOTALLY ticked off when his son’s killer is freed without charge. Taking the law into his own hands, Bacon shows the murderer a taste of his own medicine. Then the murdered felon’s fellow gang members get REALLY ticked off and Bacon must kill every single one of them to protect his family.

It may sound like Rambo meets Boyz in the Hood, but this James Wan (Saw) helmed thriller looks very decent. Kevin Bacon is always enjoyable and the trailer is slick and heart-breaking enough to warrant some excitement.

Result: Optimistic hopefulness

Trailer

A remake of an old 60s TV spy comedy, Get Smart stars Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart, a clumsily hilarious super-spy that probably always gets the job done.

We haven’t seen the original show, but we’re hoping it could be The Pink Panther meets Austin Powers. The trailer is convincingly funny (the phone bit), but this could still go the way of crud-munchingly awful.

Result: Tentative optimism

Trailer

The latest from Roland Emmerich (director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, incase you missed the trailer shouting it in your face) follows a young mammoth hunter’s adventures in the year… you’ve guessed it… 10,000 BC. Or as they probably would have called it…. Now.

The trailer features the typical super-fancy visuals you’d expect from an Emmerich flick, but is scarce on plot details; instead ensuring us that it will most certainly feature (in this order): Life, Death, Love, Good, Evil, Hope, Betrayal, Triumph, Loss, Power, Fear and Rage. And maybe hunger.

Result: Fast-moving words flying towards our faces makes us think… oooooh!

Trailer

But don’t hold your breath; it’s called Ace Ventura Junior and follows the adventures of the pet detective’s young son, played by Josh Flitter (left). For those unfamiliar with Flitter’s work, he’s soon to appear in Licence to Wed and Nancy Drew.

David M. Evans is directing and newcomers Justin and Jason Heimberg writing. No word on whether Jim Carrey will make an appearance, but I’d say it’s about as likely as Marlon Brando returning from the dead for ‘The Godfather Junior.’

Hats off to Morgan Creek for taking the ‘Son of the Mask’ route and defecating all over a retro fan-favourite with a childish piece of crud a million miles away from a good idea. Plus, what’s the point in making kids movies based on films that were out years before they were born and have long left the public consciousness. Don’t they know that kids only want their Harry Potter or their Pokémon or whatever’s ‘hip’ or ‘fresh’ at the time?

Source: Variety

Tom Fitzpatrick

He’s back and this time it’s personal. Yes Harry and Lord Voldemort square off in the fifth instalment of the Potter franchise and as with so many ‘kids and adults both enjoy them’ films; this one is a lot darker.

Just a quick check up on the latest estimates for the US Box Office over the weekend. If you take a peek over to our sidebar on the left, you’ll see the figures.

Knocking Ratatouille down a significant notch is Michael Bay’s Transformers taking in a spectacular $67.6 million over the weekend. That makes a total of $152.5 million in its 6 days of opening. Not bad for a regurgitation of an old 80s cartoon based on a toy. With such inordinate amounts of money going Paramount way, this could easily kick off a studio flurry of snatching up retro favourites, a-lá Bryan Singer’s renewal of the comic book movie with X-Men. He-Man and Thundercats have already been snapped up by Warner Bros, further proof of this possible trend. Of course, like the comic book movies, its more than likely Hollywood will go over the fucking top and start making live-action versions of The Shoe People or The Care Bears.

On the subject of animation, still raking in a respectable amount is Ratatouille, bringing in a further $29 million for Pixar over the weekend. Overall, that brings it to a grand total of $109 million; an enormous figure, but not Pixar’s best.

Die Hard 4.0 remains in third place with a grand total of $84 million collected so far and we haven’t seen Licence to Wed or Evan Almighty, but they look like utter crud, so it would only depress one to comment on how much money they’re making.