Reynholm vs Reynholm The IT Crowd, Series 4 The IT Crowd Genre: Comedy Album Price: £1.89 Release Date: 31 July 2010

Douglas finds marriage agrees with him - for all of two weeks. He's then in court - defending himself - with the help of Jen (Katherine Parkinson), Roy (Chris O'Dowd), Moss (Richard Ayoade) and others.

© TALKBACK PRODUCTIONS LTD

Series 15, Episode 4 Top Gear, Series 15 Top Gear Genre: Non-Fiction Album Price: £2.49 Release Date: 18 July 2010

The boys build motorhomes before setting off for a bank holiday weekend in the West Country to see how each of their creations performs in the real world. Meanwhile, Jeremy is also at the track to test the new Audi R8 V10 Spyder against the latest version of Porsche's enduring 911 Turbo cabriolet. Plus, Andy Garcia takes his turn as the Star in the brand new Reasonably Priced Car.

© 2010 BBC

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We were already interested by upcoming indie drama I Melt With You given its intriguing leading trio of Rob Lowe, Jeremy Piven and Thomas Jane, but our ears (that’s right, ears) have pricked up still further at the news that pornstar Sasha Grey will also be involved.

The film will follow ex-college buddies Lowe, Piven and Jane who, unhappy with the way their lives have turned out, decide to revive an old pact that The Hollywood Reporter describes as one “they vowed to live, die and kill by.”

Sounds suitably dramatic, but where does Grey fit in? Well apparently she’ll be playing a “free spirit” (for which read “nutjob”) named Raven who convinces one of the pals that the only way they can truly achieve happiness is through death. She sounds a cheery sort then…

It’s another move towards the mainstream for “adult performer” Grey, who raised eyebrows by bagging a big part in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, in which she wasn’t half bad at all. If she keeps going like this, she could shake off the “former porn star” moniker in no time.

With a budget of a mere $1 million to play with, Pellington has assembled a genuinely striking cast for what he describes as, “a film is about four guys (dealing) with mortality, aging and friendship. It is very dark and very low budget.” Consider us thoroughly intrigued.

Looking forward to I Melt With You, or prefer Sasha’s earlier work? Let us know…

In cinemas this week…

Inception review                Salt review

The A-Team review            Predators review

Toy Story 3 review             The Karate Kid review

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We were already interested by upcoming indie drama I Melt With You given its intriguing leading trio of Rob Lowe, Jeremy Piven and Thomas Jane, but our ears (that’s right, ears) have pricked up still further at the news that pornstar Sasha Grey will also be involved.

The film will follow ex-college buddies Lowe, Piven and Jane who, unhappy with the way their lives have turned out, decide to revive an old pact that The Hollywood Reporter describes as one “they vowed to live, die and kill by.”

Sounds suitably dramatic, but where does Grey fit in? Well apparently she’ll be playing a “free spirit” (for which read “nutjob”) named Raven who convinces one of the pals that the only way they can truly achieve happiness is through death. She sounds a cheery sort then…

It’s another move towards the mainstream for “adult performer” Grey, who raised eyebrows by bagging a big part in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, in which she wasn’t half bad at all. If she keeps going like this, she could shake off the “former porn star” moniker in no time.

With a budget of a mere $1 million to play with, Pellington has assembled a genuinely striking cast for what he describes as, “a film is about four guys (dealing) with mortality, aging and friendship. It is very dark and very low budget.” Consider us thoroughly intrigued.

Looking forward to I Melt With You, or prefer Sasha’s earlier work? Let us know…

In cinemas this week…

Inception review                Salt review

The A-Team review            Predators review

Toy Story 3 review             The Karate Kid review

Share

We’ve not seen much of Vince Vaughn since the mess that was Couples Retreat, but that could all be about to change thanks to a potential collaboration with Three Kings helmer David O. Russell.

Deadline reports that the pair are all but confirmed to team-up for family saga Old St. Louis, with Vaughn assuming a double-role as both star and producer.

The film will be based around a script written by Russell himself, with Vaughn playing a travelling salesman whose life is turned upside-down when he reconnects with his estranged daughter. Chloe Moretz’s name is being touted around as the aforementioned sprog, although at this stage that’s no more than speculation.

All of which sounds like a fairly good fit for Vaughn. We can easily picture him fine-tuning his usual motormouth routine into a salesman’s patter, before grudgingly dealing with his family baggage.

It also sounds like it might be more of a challenge than the usual frat-pack fare he’s been turning up in for the last decade or so. We know he can do a bit more than high-speed wisecracking, and this could be just the vehicle to remind everyone of that fact.

Our only reservation is that it all sounds a bit conventional on paper, with a worrying chance of “life lessons” being learned from a precocious child. However, Russell is a fairly subversive influence (I Heart Huckabees anyone?), so it’s probably safe to assume that things won’t get too happy-clappy.

Looking forward to seeing Vince again, or have the frat-pack had their day?

In cinemas this week…

Inception review                Salt review

The A-Team review            Predators review

Toy Story 3 review             The Karate Kid review

Share

We’ve not seen much of Vince Vaughn since the mess that was Couples Retreat, but that could all be about to change thanks to a potential collaboration with Three Kings helmer David O. Russell.

Deadline reports that the pair are all but confirmed to team-up for family saga Old St. Louis, with Vaughn assuming a double-role as both star and producer.

The film will be based around a script written by Russell himself, with Vaughn playing a travelling salesman whose life is turned upside-down when he reconnects with his estranged daughter. Chloe Moretz’s name is being touted around as the aforementioned sprog, although at this stage that’s no more than speculation.

All of which sounds like a fairly good fit for Vaughn. We can easily picture him fine-tuning his usual motormouth routine into a salesman’s patter, before grudgingly dealing with his family baggage.

It also sounds like it might be more of a challenge than the usual frat-pack fare he’s been turning up in for the last decade or so. We know he can do a bit more than high-speed wisecracking, and this could be just the vehicle to remind everyone of that fact.

Our only reservation is that it all sounds a bit conventional on paper, with a worrying chance of “life lessons” being learned from a precocious child. However, Russell is a fairly subversive influence (I Heart Huckabees anyone?), so it’s probably safe to assume that things won’t get too happy-clappy.

Looking forward to seeing Vince again, or have the frat-pack had their day?

In cinemas this week…

Inception review                Salt review

The A-Team review            Predators review

Toy Story 3 review             The Karate Kid review

Share

J.J. Abrams isn’t big on conventional projects. It’s unlikely we’re going to find him directing Sandra Bullock in a fluffy, pink rom-com anytime soon. Which is why we hardly raised an eyebrow upon hearing his plans to make a robot movie set in the Victorian era.

HeatVision has revealed that Abrams is producing an adaptation of quirky comic-book Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel, the charmingly bizarre tale of “the world’s first robot.”

And the old rust-bucket has quite the tale to tell, having knocked about with Lawrence of Arabia, travelled to the South Pole and weighed in against the Germans in the First World War, not to mention a brief spell dabbling in silent movies.

All of which is a load of old rubbish of course, but the comic-book’s excellent gimmick is to craftily draw-in Boilerplate to pictures of the age, deceiving more than a few of its more gullible readership.

How Abrams intends to approach this one is unclear, although we’d imagine it will cost a few quid to do it properly, particularly if Boilerplate is up to his usual era-hopping antics. Hopefully he’ll still look as endearingly naff as he does on the page though.

We can only really imagine Abrams will play it for laughs, in any case. Dropping some sort of high-tech cyborg into WW1 would be rubbish, but having Teddy Roosevelt ask a walking dustbin for help…that’s more like it!

An ace idea or one for the scrapheap? Let us know…

In cinemas this week…

Inception review                Salt review

The A-Team review            Predators review

Toy Story 3 review             The Karate Kid review

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Daniel Craig is a busy man. Not content with playing James Bond and holding an option on a potential Cowboys and Aliens sequel, he’s now signed on the dotted line to star in David Fincher’s adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium Trilogy. 

Craig will play disgraced financial hack Mikael Blomkvist, who is contacted by an elderly descendent of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families to do some digging over the mysterious disappearance of one of his ancestors over forty years previously.

Deadline reports that filming will begin in Sweden this autumn, which bodes well for fans of both the books and last year’s Swedish-language adaptation, in that it suggests that David Fincher will not be looking to deviate too wildly from the source material to appease an American audience.

Craig has signed on for the entire trilogy (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and its two follow-ups, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest) with speculation turning now to who will play his kick-ass accomplice Lisbeth Salander.

Deadline currently has Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska and Sucker Punch’s Emily Browning leading the way to bag the role, although no news has yet to filter through of an official choice. We’d personally like to see Page get the chance to flex her action muscles, particularly given her strong turn in Inception, and the edge she showed in Hard Candy.

With the film slated for a December 21 2011 release date, we should have some more casting news sooner rather than later.

Who do you want to see star opposite Craig? Let us know!

In cinemas this week…

Inception review                Salt review

The A-Team review            Predators review

Toy Story 3 review             The Karate Kid review

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Charles Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters has enrolled another pupil, with Twilight star Edi Gathegi the latest name to join a cast that’s fast becoming a who’s who of young Hollywood.

Gathegi will play a character known as Darwin, so-named because his mutant power is “reactive evolution”. Basically, his body adapts to survive whatever strife it finds itself in (allowing him to breathe underwater, making him fire resistant in a blaze etc.), which is a mite cooler than your run of the mill super-strength or power of flight.

The first bi-racial mutant in the comic-book series, Darwin was one of the strays taken in by Dr. Moira McTaggert ( an old colleague of Xavier’s who you might recall making a post-credits appearance in The Last Stand), a possible hint that the film may include a storyline involving her mutant research centre, and it’s eventual corruption.

In any case, it’s another showcase in a major franchise for Gathegi, who appeared in Gone Baby Gone before taking on the role of bloodsucker Laurent in the first two Twilight films.

Meanwhile, rumours persist over Aaron Johnson’s potential casting, with the character of Cyclops one of the last major roles yet to be filled. With filming set to start next month, expect at least one more big announcement sooner rather than later.

A first class addition, or a growing case of too many cooks? Tell us!

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What’s that? Brett Ratner is sniffing around another comic-book movie? After making a total balls-up of the X-Men finale? Has the world gone mad?

Well yes, apparently so actually. According to Variety, Ratner’s Rat Entertainment production company have purchased the rights to girl-power-gone-wild saga, The Unknowns.

Written by Mark A. Altman and Steve Kriozere, the series follows the rather slinky figure of Alexis Davenport, a supposedly ordinary woman who gradually discovers that she was once the distinctly kick-ass leader of shadowy team, The Unknowns.

Intrigued (as you probably would be), Alexis sets about searching for the rest of her former team-mates and whichever shadowy government-type who’s wiped her memory.

Sounds a bit like a cross between Kill Bill and a History Of Violence to us, with the welcome addition of some eye-wateringly revealing costumes. Alexis is based on model-cum-actress Monica Olsen, so expect somebody suitably pneumatic to bag the leading role.

No director is attached to the project as yet, with Ratner in line for production duties only. With a safe pair of hands behind the camera, this could be an adult comic-book adaptation with serious potential…

Who do you want to see play Alexis? Let us know here!