February 2011 Archives

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

SELF-confessed Star Wars fan Ashton Kutcher says that bedding sci-fi siren Natalie Portman left him blushing.

The Hollywood heart-throb has steamy clinches with Portman, who played Queen Amidala, in new movie No Strings Attached.

It seems that the world's wishes for a Ghostbusters 3 film rest purely on the shoulders of Bill Murray.

Director Ivan Reitman has revealed that he is keeping his "fingers crossed" that Murray will accept an offer to star in the film. Reitman confirmed that Murray has the script for the sequel: "He's seen it and we're waiting to hear."

He also said that it was 'absolutely possible' that the star of his latest film 'No Strings
Attached' Ashton Kutcher could have a role. Let's just hope it is better than the awful
Ghostbusters 2.

Being Human stars Russell Tovey and Sinead Keenan are to be special guests at the Spring Memorabilia Show, which takes place at NEC Birmingham, from March 26-27.

The pair, who play reluctant werewolves George and Nina in the hit BBC supernatural drama, will be hosting a Being Human panel on the Saturday of the show, as well as meeting fans and signing autographs.

Both actors have also made appearances on Doctor Who; Sinead's other TV credits include Moving Wallpaper and Silent Witness, while Russell has starred in The History Boys and Ashes To Ashes.

Other stars attending the memorabilia show include The A Team and Battlestar Galactica's Dirk Benedict, Bond beauties Britt Ekland and Honor Blackman and sportsmen Joe Calzaghe, Ossie Ardiles and Andy Cole.

For more information, visit www.memorabilia.co.uk

There's no denying the fact that most of us have pretended to be actors.

Photographer Howard Schatz took this idea one step further, place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters.

Here's Michael Douglas acting.

Left: You're a man whose daughter has been missing for two months. You've been called in by the police to identify the body of a young murder victim. The sheet is pulled back ... and the victim isn't your daughter.

Center: You're a boy at a freakish carnival, watching a pierced performer munch live cockroaches.

Right: You're a 14-year-old girl who's just opened her 18-year-old sister's bedroom door to find her having sex with her boyfriend.

Click here for many more.

Don't crouch or hide, stand up and be proud!

The film is a foreign language martial arts movie and a very good one at that, but it's the underlying love stories that really flesh this out into more than a kung fu film. The story begins with a warrior giving up his sword to a friend to take a step back from fighting but the sword gets stolen and him and his secret love set out to get it back. In this time they stumble across a teenage daughter of an aristocrat who is lost in her life, but possesses great fighting skills.

The film has a beautiful peace to it, even the fight scenes are so well choreographed that they flow Zen like. The characters fly through the air, fight on tree tops and perform amazing technical jumps and rolls.

The love stories will appeal to the non Kung Fu fans although I wouldn't rely on just that. The tale of the concealed feelings of the warriors involved takes definite second place to the high wire duels and got me rather confused at stages. But being confused when you have such beautiful scenery and battles to look at slightly ease the pain.

If you like Kung Fu films then this is a great modern day version of the classics, but I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys pure fantasy.

IMDB Fact: "Crouching tiger hidden dragon" is a quote from Chinese mythology. It refers to hiding your strength from others; advice which is followed too well by the characters in the film.

Gerry Anderson MBE, famous for shows such as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Fireball XL5, Space 1999 and Joe 90, will be making a rare appearance next month.

He'll join an all-star line-up on March 19 and 20 at the National Space Centre in Leicester to celebrate all things science fiction and British.
 
Appearing on both days of the event, visitors will be able to meet the man who created the Supermarionation technique, that made the series he produced so groundbreaking.
 
Anderson will be joined by a whole host of guests and characters from the past 50 years, including Gareth Thomas, who played the lead role of Blake in the iconic TV series Blake's 7.
 

Listen up, this film is good!

The best surveillance man in the business is Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) however he is massively paranoid and when on his latest job he has suspicions of foul play, he investigates further.

The film is pure quality, right from the start we see a genius at work, with the latest equipment, if now somewhat out of date, Harry records a conversation with a couple in a crowded square. It's when after analysing the audio that he starts to suspect a murder could take place and decides to act by finding out more.

Although the film is a great spy movie the brilliance isn't the crime involved it's the study of the man at the heart of it all. Gene Hackman is simply perfect as the paranoid, suspicious and dedicated surveillance man. Francis Ford Coppola allows us to see what's behind this man at the top of his game, how he continues to shut out the real world for his work and here that the movie escalates to much more than an espionage flick.

With a big twist at the end this movie will keep you on your toes while Hackman will constantly keep you intrigued with a career best performance. If you like the Bournes and Bonds of this world then give this a try, a step up the intelligence ladder that's well worth the trip.

IMDB Fact: Francis Ford Coppola's personal favorite of his movies.

Image via Wikipedia

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Escape To Victory, six of the football legends who starred in the classic war movie will be attending next month's Spring Memorabilia Show in Birmingham, show organisers have announced.

A few quick facts for you....

* The school scenes were shot in a real high school, Franklin Regional High in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. Well, apart from the sequences where the school gets destroyed, which took place on a set built to look exactly like it.

* The Mogadorian villains are seven feet tall, achieved by wearing custommade Kangol boots with seven-inch high platform heels. That also gave them an odd, slow gait.

* Teresa Palmer, who plays Number Six, trained for months to learn the martial arts and
sword work required for the fight scenes. She also learned to ride a Ducati motorbike.

* The Mogadorian language was created just for the movie and is a combination of
ancient Latin and Slavic languages.

* The wig used by Alex Pettyfer's stunt double was lost at sea while riding a jet-ski in the
opening scenes.

A man was shot in a cinema after apparantly 'eating too loudly' in Latvia, Yahoo! News has reported. While watching a screening of the Black Swan a man fired at the cinema goer for munching on his popcorn and commenting on the film.

I know it's annoying but slightly harsh surely!