cinema Rise of the Guardians This looks like the clear winner for children this month, and may even carry through until the festive season. The animation team at Dreamworks, who have brilliant films such as How to Train Your Dragon to their name, have turned their attention to children’s author William Joyce, who also has experience in film and animation. He is working on a series of books about the Guardians of Childhood – an Avengers-like gathering of famous names including Santa Claus (voiced by Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Sandman (who takes care of dreams) and Jack Frost (Chris Pine). They all team up to protect children when Pitch (the nightmare king, voiced by Jude Law) threatens to take over the world. So there’s a fair bit of magic and wonder involved, which allows the animation teams to run riot. This should be fun, but even more so if you’re still at that wonderful age where you believe.
Lawless Director John Hillcoat’s last major release was the achingly beautiful and appropriately sombre The Road, which also had a fitting score co-composed by Nick Cave, the musician with multiple talents. It turns out one of those talents is screenwriting, and here he has adapted a novel about prohibition-era Virginia, USA, focusing on three brothers who run a highly illegal and dangerous alcohol distribution business. As usual, the prohibition backdrop provides a perfect setting for gangster wars and depression-time drama, and the various big names on either side of the law this time around include Shia LaBeouf (Transformers), Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Guy Pearce (Memento), Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life).
The Big Wedding Yes, it's yet another wedding film. Some are funny, joyous and warm, while others tend to be a big mess hoping to hide their flaws under the matrimonial craziness. It’s hard to tell where this will go, although with all the veterans on board and Robert De Niro acting funny, it does threaten to feel like another Meet the Parents sequel. He plays a father whose adoptive son is getting married, and whose ex-wife (Diane Keaton) has turned up for the festivities. For religious reasons (overseen by Robin Williams in a white collar), the estranged couple have to pretend all is still rosy in their marriage, for the benefit of the groom’s biological mother. This doesn’t sit too well with the father’s new partner (Susan Sarandon), and we can safely predict the wedding might have a few hitches. Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia), Topher Grace (Spiderman 3) and Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up) also star.
Silent Hill: Revelation Back in 2006, the video game Silent Hill was adapted into a film, which focused on the horror aspect of the game and was not hugely successful upon release. That hasn’t deterred the progression of the franchise, and this new attempt is an adaptation of the third video game in the series. While quite a niche market, it does have the broad appeal of Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones) on board, as well as the recognisable face of Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange). It’s also great to see Carrie-Anne Moss’ (The Matrix) name pop up again. Not one for the faint of heart.
November 2012 | Issue 35 | vida.com.mt
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