The Film Buzz » Chris Pine

Opening This Week – 26th November 2010

Alice — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:48:19 +0000

Unstoppable

Unstoppable, a 20th Century Fox drama about a runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals. Pits an engineer and his conductor in a race against time. They’re chasing the runaway train in a separate locomotive and need to bring it under control before it derails on a curve and causes a toxic spill that will decimate a town.

Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Jessy Schram

See it if you liked: The Poseidon Adventure (2005), Deja Vu (2006), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

Certificate: 12A

Genre: Drama/Action

Release Date: 24 November 2010

Machete

After being betrayed by the organization who hired him, an ex-Federale launches a brutal rampage of revenge against his former boss.

Starring: Danny Trejo, Steven Seagal, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson, Jeff Fahey

See it if you liked: Sin City (2005), Grindhouse (2007), Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Certificate: 18

Genre: Action

Release Date: 26 November 2010

The American

Academy Award winner George Clooney stars in the title role of this suspense thriller. As an assassin, Jack is constantly on the move and always alone. After a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, Jack retreats to the Italian countryside. He relishes being away from death for a spell as he holes up in a small medieval town. While there, Jack takes an assignment to construct a weapon for a mysterious contact, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten). Savoring the peaceful quietude he finds in the mountains of Abruzzo, Jack accepts the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) and pursues a torrid liaison with a beautiful woman, Clara (Violante Placido). Jack and Clara’s time together evolves into a romance, one seemingly free of danger. But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate.

Starring: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacell

See it if you liked: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), In Bruges (2008), The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Certificate: 15

Genre: Mystery/Drama

Release Date: 26 November 2010

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Lisbeth is recovering in a hospital and awaiting trial for three murders when she is released. Mikael must prove her innocence. Meanwhile, Lisbeth is plotting her own revenge against the people who put her in this situation.

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist, Lena Endre, Annika Hallin, Sofia Ledarp

See it if you liked: Zodiac (2007), The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009), The Girl Who Played With Fire (2009)

Certificate: 15

Genre: Drama/Arthouse

Release Date: 26 November 2010

Star Trek Sequel Release Date

Maz — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:09:54 +0000

The next Star Trek film by J.J Abrams has a release date for 2012. Well in the US anyway, the date is set for June 29th 2012. So it’s likely we’ll get it on our little island a few weeks after if not the same week. That’s ages away I hear you say, well I guess in the meantime we’ll just have to watch all those other films that will be released between now and then.

Star Trek

The next Star Trek film is currently untitled but you can expect Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana and Zachary Quinto to reprise their roles as Kirk, Uhura and Spock.

Carriers (2009)

Waz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:54:14 +0000

Carrier Bags? No. Zombies, in point of fact. ZOMBEEHHHSSSSS!

Waz here, your zombie blog guru blogging about a zombie flick to be released in the UK on 11th December.

Written and directed by Àlex Pastor and David Pastor, Carriers is a thriller/horror film that is set in the US and focuses on four individuals in their attempts to survive a viral pandemic.

During their struggle to survive, they come across all sorts of people looking for aid and following their rules of survival, they stay away from as many infected as possible.

Over the course of their survival each individual is faced with extreme moral decisions that no one should have to face and as the story progresses, they feel as though they are more dangerous amongst themselves than the actual viral pandemic.

Carriers stars Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp.

As you all should know, I lurve me some zombehs, so there’s nothing I’d rather review than a zombie film. After watching the trailer I found myself quite intrigued, even more so than Zombieland. Carriers seems less childish and is set in a time frame where the virus is spreading and a mass of zombies has not erupted. In a way, this film is quite similar to that of 28 Days Later (2009) about a viral pandemic. As much as I enjoyed the trailer and the idea of zombie survival, I did however question the amount of actual zombies within this film. I mean, I know that there are zombies, that’s a given, but the extent to which zombies were active during this film is to be questioned; I didn’t see any zombies crazed over with a hunger for flesh, they just seemed to pop up from a bed an go ‘boo’.

Saying this I’m questioning the true extent to which this is even a zombie film, as the plot summary suggests, they find themselves more dangerous than zombies and then end up eating at each other? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a zombie/viral pandemic film? Take away the zombies and you have any other film where it’s every man for himself. As previously mentioned in my Zombieland post, zombies are always a great start but have a habit of going pear-shaped when it comes to films.

Comparing Carriers to Rec (2007) and 28 Days Later (2009) - my two favourite zombie films, I would say that this film is worth a watch but be prepared for it to prove itself as too predictable. Also another point to add is that this film was released in the US in September and the DVD will available to rent from December 8th – yet again questioning the true quality of this film.

So based on the fact that the trailer and plot synopsis almost gives everything away, I would give this particular zombie flick a Film Buzz Anticipation Rating of… 6.5!

Originally I had it at 6.0, but I’m a sucker for zombie films I have to see.

Tell us what you think! Until next time.

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: 6.5/10

Release Date: 11 December 2009

Director: Àlex Pastor, David Pastor

Writer’s: Àlex Pastor, David Pastor

Links: IMDB, Official Site, Rotten Tomatoes

Star Trek (2009)

Maz — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:36:46 +0000

Star Trek is out now on DVD in the UK, lucky me I got mine through the post two days early so I was able to enjoy it all over again on Saturday night.

Star Trek features Chris Pine (Smokin’ Aces) as the legendary Kirk, Heroes favourite Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana (Avatar) as Uhura, John Cho (FlashForward) as Sulu and Leonard Nimoy (Original Star Trek Series) reprises his role as the ‘other’ Spock. They are all joined with a host of other stars that make this film one of the best of 2009.

Star Trek Poster

You don’t need to be a fan of the original Star Trek series or any of the subsequent films or television series to watch this film, you don’t even need to be a science fiction fan or have even seen a Star Trek episode. This story is a new retelling for all the family of how the first crew got their start in the Star Trek universe. Entertaining, funny, clever, well written with plenty of action and drama to keep everyone satisfied. Definitely a must watch!

The Film Buzz Rating: 9.5/10

UK Release Date: May 8th 2009

UK DVD Release Date: 16th November 2009

Director: J.J Abrams

Writer’s: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Gene Roddenberry

Links: IMDB, Official Site