Bond production gets green light

Turns out it was the right move for Daniel Craig to pledge his loyalty to another Bond film as MGM has finally been able to give the latest Bond film in the franchise the green light after a year of uncertainty over whether the project would ever see the light of day.

Producers for the film, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson announced along with MGM that the newest flick starring Daniel Craig as Bond for his third time will start production at the end of this year.

Sam Mendes will be directing the film which will ideally be finished by 2012 leaving a four year gap in the time frame since the last Bond film, Quantum of Solace, hit theatres.

After MGM was forced to file for bankruptcy in November work on the newest film, which is the 23^rd in the franchise, was suspended indefinitely as MGM and Spyglass Entertainment, which took control over the fledgling film company, was unsure if they would have the capital to ever pick the project up again.

Hopefully the presence of Craig in yet another Bond flick will be helpful given his debut in Casino Royale made it the highest earning Bong film at the box office in the almost five decade history of the franchise.

The Radisson hotel group are running yet another online competition with a range of prizes for those winners who take part in their quiz. In terms of prize possibilities there is a weekly draw for a weekend stay for two people at one of their Radisson Blu hotels across Hamburg, Madrid, Berlin, Milan and Helsinki. In addition to this, there are also on the spot gift cards that can be used around the world. The quiz is not the most challenging, so I imagine most of you will be in with a good chance.

Here is a lovely scenic shot below of the Christmas themed quiz.

To enter the competition you have to take part in the Radisson Blue Quiz and answer three questions correctly on travel, Christmas or Radisson Blu hotels and you are then in with a chance of winning the prize draw or a Radisson Blu gift voucher. You are free to keep testing your trivia knowledge even if you are not successful after the first initial tries. In addition to the draw, you get to spin the wheel of luck for an on the spot prize of a gift voucher up to the value of 100 Euros. There are a couple of conditions to keep in mind though. The two main ones are that in order to enter you must be at least 18 years of age and living in the European Union.

Hamburg is a place that I have been wanting to revisit for quite a while now. If I could pick a city to visit out of the ones available in the prize, it would have to be the hip city in the north of Germany. Hamburg is really a beautiful city surrounded by water and a number of parks spread everywhere. It also has beautiful architecture, a vibrant coffee culture and a growing alternative scene. I have been there twice now over the last couple of years in hostels, so I wouldn’t mind staying in a bit of luxury next time if I win the prize draw. Whilst Hamburg is getting more and more affluent over the years, I think now is still a good time whilst it is still accessible to most  people. The city also has a growing film festival known as the Hamburg International Short Film Festival (IKFF) which I would love to catch in 2011.

Has anyone been to this festival before?

Sponsored Post

Share hosted by Wikio

Harry Potter Poster

The latest Harry Potter film has achieved new heights, breaking five different UK box office records including the title of biggest opening ticket sales and the largest single day of ticket sales.  In addition, the film holds the title of the largest opening on Friday, Sunday, and Saturday respectively in the UK.

Over the three day weekend the film raked in £18.3m taking in £2.8m on Friday, £5.7m on Sunday, and a whopping £6.6m on Saturday.  Previously Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (the last release in the franchise) and Quantum of Solace previously held the records.

Quantum of Solace held the record for Friday sales and for overall three day opening at £4.m for Friday and a total opening weekend of £15.3m.  Goblet of Fire held the records for both largest single day of sales at £5.6m and for the largest Sunday box office sales at £5.2m.

Managing director of Warner Bros Entertainment UK , Josh Berger, stated that the repeated high box office performances of the franchise is a testament to the amazing talent and expertise of the cast, the strength of the JK Rowling novels, and the film-makers.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows also broke opening records in both Canada and the US as the top performing film in theatres in both countries.

The film is only part one of the novel it is named after but we will have to wait until next summer for part 2.  One of the unique aspects of the films is that the cast and characters are aging with the audience, making it still highly relevant to its fans even through the passing years.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The latest trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been released.

The seventh and final chapter of the Harry Potter franchise has released it’s first trailer recently for fans.

View the trailer here.

The Last Station

The Last Station starring Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy.

The movie is based on the last months of Leo Tolstoy’s life and inspired by the novel written by Jay Parini. The all star cast is directed by Michael Hoffman and provides an intriguing yet not so academic portrait of Tolstoy’s relationship with his family and the movement that he created in Russia during the time of the Tsar. Leo Tolstoy died at the age of 82 very publicly at Atapovo train station in Southern Russia in 1910, which happened to be the end station on the line. This is the inspiration behind the novel and movie title.

The main issue surrounding Tolstoy’s death is the struggle between his wife Sofya (Helen Mirren) and Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) a disciple of Tolstoy. Both characters are battling for the rights to the money from the book ‘War and Peace’. Whilst Vladimir wants to supposedly use the money from the book rights to advance the cause of the Tolstoy movement and spread the message of universal love and passive resistance to violence. Sofya however is rightfully suspicious of Vladimir’s intentions and wants to keep the money from the book rights within the family. The struggle between these two characters is recorded by Valentin (James McAvoy) Tolstoy’s new secretary. The film is well acted by the all star cast and is worth a look.

Marion Cotillard is to star in Midnight in Paris

New details have been released about Woody Allen’s latest film Midnight in Paris to be filmed this summer

It has just been revealed that Carla Bruni-Sarkozi will take a role in Woody Allen’s latest film ‘Midnight in Paris’. However, she will not be taking the leading role in the film due to her responsibilities as first lady of France and Woody Allen’s concerns that she might have to be taken away on official duties at any time. Obviously this would have a detrimental effect on the filming schedule, something the famed director wishes to avoid.

The leading role will instead be taken by the Oscar winning Marion Cotillard, who was born in Paris and won acclaim for her role in ‘Taxi’ and ‘La Vie En Rose’. The film will also star Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams.It is fascinating to see that Woody Allen has made at least one film every year since 1971 and great to see that he is spending time away from New York. It would be interesting to see if maybe Carla Bruni can persuade the French President Sarkozy to make a cameo, then again, the film would probably lose a lot of its appeal.

The 'Prawn' Mothership in District 9

District 9  movie review of great Sci-Fi epic though using mock-documentary style

The science fiction thriller based in South Africa in 1982 is based on a short film ‘Alive in Joburg’, Directed by Neil Blomkamp and produced by Sharlto Copley. The film touches on a number of themes close to South Africa including apartheid and social segregation with regard to the Aliens who are stranded in South Africa.

District 9 successfully places a new spin on ‘Alien’ genre films. We’ve had ‘Men in Black’, ‘Independence Day’, ‘Alien’ and ‘Independence Day’, but for me these films always lacked a certain element of authenticity and were always too over Hollywoodised. The mock-documentary style really helps give the film an edgier touch which helps it seem all the more realistic.

Peter Jackson and Neil Blomkamp manages to create a new spin by adapting to the current trend of using a faux-documentary style to re-tell the build up to the main event. This is primarily explored by using interviews with people close to the protagonist Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) and documentray footage pieced together in the build to the relocation of the aliens. Sharlto Copley has hinted his desire to make a second film, however, in terms of exploring a potential prequel to the original film. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Eric Cantona in 'Looking for Eric' beside classic poster

Looking for Eric is one of those special films that perfectly captures modern working life in Manchester and the magic of Manchester United for its fans

Films based around football have never had the best reputation within the world of cinema. However, this is not so much film about football. It is more a film about how football represents an arena of joy, sorrow and comfort for fans.Particularly how Eric Cantona, even though he retired in 1997 still hold a special place in the hearts of Manchester United fans old and new.

‘Looking For Eric‘ revolves around the imaginary relationship between a postman going through a very difficult time in his life and ex-Manchester United player Eric Cantona. The film brought a real smile to my face and contained some great footage of Eric Cantona’s goals and the magic that he helped create on the field

It was indeed very nostalgic to see this film as I could really relate to the magic of Manchester United in the 90′s and the special atmosphere it created for fans. The film also captures the politics involved in Manchester United today and the corporate greed that consumes the club and excludes ‘the working man’. The postman uses Eric Cantona as a source of inspiration to find himself and win back his life that is spiraling out of control.

I won’t spoil how the film finishes for those that have not seen it yet, but I would definitely recommend it. Particularly for those people that don’t watch football as I believe it would help them understand what football means for so many people in Manchester.

Classic scene in Metropolis

Metropolis (1927) is by far one of the great classics of the silent film era

I was fortunate enough last Friday to see the directors cut of Metropolis last Friday supported by a full orchestra at the Babylon cinema in the Mitte area of Berlin. Metropolis is one of my all time favourites in terms of silent films and I was quite excited to hear about and see the ‘director’s cut’ supported by a full orchestra.

It was interesting to see how the missing segments were added to the film, however, I don’t believe that these segments really added that much to the film. Also, in certain parts of the film, these added segments did not integrate very well into the flow of the film either. The orchestra though definitely added something special to the film and the classic style of the old Berlin cinema helped create great acoustics and atmosphere to enjoy this special film.

Vintage James Bond Tarot Cards

Tarot cards played a key role in the 1973 James Bond film ‘Live and Let Die’

I was browsing through Ebay recently and came across these vintage James Bond tarot cards produced around the time of ‘Live and Let Die‘ in 1973. Roger Moore famously used a deck of tarot cards to seduce Jayne Seymour (Solitaire). Live and Let Die is probably one of my favourite Bond films, with a classic soundtrack that matches up well. I like the way Bond made sure that Solitaire predicted ‘lovers’ by having an entire deck of cards made up of the ‘lovers’ cards.

I have never met a tarot reader in person, as most of them tend to be online or on the other end of a phone. Unfortunately, the tarot readers I found online don’t resemble Solitaire (Jane Seymour), but I can’t help but wonder whether this trick would work in real life. Watching ‘Live and Let Die’ recently really reminded me how the newest Bond films miss a certain amount of charm and charisma first brought to the seen by Sean Connery. Daniel Craig definitely does a better job than Pierce Brosnan, but for me ‘Quantum of Solace’ was too much of a Hollywood action film over saturated by big explosions and car chases. I think future Bond films should look back to films like ‘Live and Let Die’ and characters like the tarot card reader Solitaire for inspiration on how to bring back some charm.