News: Angelina Jolie

Everyone’s favourite fantasy figure Angelina Jolie may be wasted in this week’s The Good Shepherd, and may have been seen in the tabloids more often than on screen in the last couple of years, but that’s hopefully set to change.

She’s next up doing full-on “proper” acting in A Mighty Heart, following the efforts of the wife of murdered Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl to find out precisely how her husband ended up being beheaded on camera by Islamist fanatics back in 2002. then she’s on voice duties as the voice of the mother of the monster Grendel in the much-anticipated adaptation of the Dark Age poem Beowulf, starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins and a host of other top-notch actors, with more voice duties following in the animated comedy Kung-Fu Panda, alongside Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman and Lucy Liu, before switching back to drama for the Ayn Rand adaptation Atlas Shrugged, possibly alongside her real-world lover and father of her ultra-famous baby, Brad Pitt.

News: Alec Baldwin

His turn as Annette Benning’s alcoholic husband in this week’s Running With Scissors is just the latest in a recent spurt of top-notch character performances from the former A-lister, showing he’s well on his way to having a bit of a career revival following his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination back in 2004, and his Best Comic TV Actor Golden Globe this year for 30 Rock.

Next up – on 23rd February – is Robert De Niro’s intriguing-sounding tale of the birth of the FBI The Good Shepherd, starring Matt Damon with the likes of Angelina Jolie, De Niro himself, Joe Pesci and Michael Gambon in support. That will be followed by the less promising, yet potentially interesting, 1980s-set coming of age gangster drama Brooklyn Rules, starring Freddie Prinze Jr, Mena Suvari and Scott “son of James” Caan.

Speaking of Freddie Prinze Jr, Baldwin’s next film after that will be Suburban Girl, a romantic comedy of relationships with age differences where he gets all loved up with Freddie’s real-world better half, Sarah Michelle Gellar – who at 29 is a good 20 years younger than him. Nice work if you can get it…

Then there’s another 1980s-set coming of age flick, Lymelife, though this time it’s a family-based comedy, with Baldwin as the patriarch of a family that includes Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rory “brother of Macaulay” Culkin, before Baldwin heads back to the war film genre that has served him so well in the past for The Forbidden City, based around the post-WWII Sino-American hunt for Japanese war criminals. Could be good…

2007 – a movie preview

A small selection of some of the potential highlights of the coming twelve months – by no means an exhaustive selection, but ones we’re looking forward to…

eta 12th January – The Last King of Scotland – at last a proper release for the film everyone raved about at the London Film Festival back in November. Forest Whitaker does Idi Amin in a tale of dictatorship and disillusionment, based on the prize-winning novel by journalist Giles Foden.

eta 26th January – Blood Diamond – Leonardo DiCaprio makes another bid for an Oscar as diamond smuggler teaming up with Djimon Hounsou’s poor local in a bid for a rare pink diamond amidst civil war-torn Sierra Leone. Political, topical – and coming out over here just a month before the Oscars…

eta 16th February – Hot Fuzz – Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg team up once more after the success of Shawn of the Dead and superb sitcom Spaced, this time with a spoof cop movie. Set in rural Somerset… How could this be anything other than genius?

eta 23rd February – The Good Shepherd – This Robert De Niro-directed tale of the birth of the CIA, with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie (as well as Bob himself), looks set to be packed with political intrigue – much of which may well be relevant to our own times…

eta 23rd February – Letters From Iwo Jima – The second part of Clint Eastwood’s World War Two epic, this time the Japanese side of the story. By all accounts a far better film than Flags of Our Fathers, the American side of the tale that’s currently on release.

eta 9th March – The Good German – Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney team up yet again, this time for a noirish tale of intrigue set at the close of World War Two, with Tobey Maguire and Cate Blanchett in support. Initial reports from the other side of the Atlantic are that it’s not as good as it should be, but we still can’t wait to see for ourselves.

eta 30th March – 300 – Another overly stylised adaptation of a Frank Miller comic book after the success of Sin City, this time set in Ancient Greece (well, Sparta, to be precise). Looks like it should be visually stunning, but will it hold up as a film?

eta 27th April – Takeshis’ –  Japanese icon “Beat” Takeshi Kitano does his own version of Being John Malkovich as, playing himself, he happens across a lookalike. For fans of the cult actor, this could be something rather special, especially as it shows a side of the guy rarely seen outside of his Japanese TV appearances.

eta 4th May – Spider-Man 3 – Spidey goes evil (or does he?), so looks to build on the success of the first two in this top-notch franchise with yet another darker turn. Top stuff – especially for comics geeks who know who/what Venom is…

eta 25th May – Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End – Finally, a decnt conclusion to Dead Man’s Chest. Hopefully… Either way, another chance to see Johnny Depp do his thing, so hurrah!

eta 8th June – Ocean’s Thirteen – Yes, we know what you’re thinking – Ocean’s Twelve was horrendous. The good thing is, everyone involved seems to have realised, and have promised that this next outing is going to be the film the last one should have been. With Al Pacino added to the already star-studded cast, let’s hope they get it right this time…

eta 29th June – Shrek the Third – the team are all back, and what more could you want? Bound to be a crowd-pleaser.

eta 13th July – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix –  The films have been getting progressively better as the series has progressed, though whether new director David Yates – best known for his TV work, including the tip-top political drama State of Play – will be able to continue the trend is anyone’s guess…

eta 27th July – Transformers – Yes, a live-action version of that 80s toy classic. Giant robots beating each other up for two hours? How could you not be interested? Oh, yes – it’s directed by Michael Bay, the man responsible for the likes of The Island and Pearl Harbor… But even so – giant robots!

eta 27th July – The Simpsons Movie –  Eighteen years after the funny yellow family hit the small screen, they finally make it to the big. Will they make the transition though? Fingers crossed, eh?

eta 3rd August – The Bourne Ultimatum –  The third in the insanely good spy series looks all set to be just as good as the last two, with Paul Greengrass returning as director and Matt Damon set to do his thing once again as the amnesiac spook still trying to uncover his murky past.

eta 26th October – The Golden Age –  Nine years on, a sequel to director Shekhar Kapur’s magnificent historical biopic Elizabeth, reuniting much of the original cast to explore the relationship of an older Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) and the adventurous hero/pirate Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). Should be superb.

eta 9th November – American Gangster – Sir Ridley Scott teams up once again with Russell Crowe, with Denzel Washington also in the mix, in this 1970s-set drug-running thriller. Could be an overdue return to form for Scott after recent lacklustre outings.

eta 30th November – Beowulf – Ray Winstone stars in this epic version of the Dark Age classic, adapted by comic book favourite Neil Gaiman, and with a pretty damned impressive supporting cast. Potentially a new (one film) Lord of the Rings…

eta ? – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – Brad Pitt stars as near-legendary gunslinger Jesse James in this much-anticipated second feature from Andrew Dominik, who brought us 2000’s compelling (if occasionally horrifying) Chopper.

And then, of course, in 2008 we have Tim Burton’s Sweeny Todd,  Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo IV, comic book adaptation Iron Man and the next Bond film to look forward to, amongst others.

So then, what are you looking forward to the most?

News: Brittany Murphy

Having teamed up with her Sin City co-star Elijah Wood as the voice of the penguin love interest in this week’s Happy Feet, Murphy looks to be going back to eschewing the traditional roles for up and coming starlets for her next movie, The Ramen Girl. In what could sound like a shameless rip-off of Lost in Translation, she’ll be heading off to Tokyo as an American woman who splits up with her boyfriend in the Japanese capital and, desperately looking for direction, decides to train as a Ramen noodle cook under Japanese household name Toshiyuki Nishida’s strict master chef. Expect culture clashes galore.

After her trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, Murphy will be off to even more exotic territory in surreal comedy/fantas/drama The Other Side, pitched as a cross between Beetlejuice, Amelie and Alice in Wonderland. Based around a scientist’s exploration of strange goings on on a remote island, Murphy joins a cast that includes the impressive likes of Jim Broadbent, Tim Roth, Anjelica Huston, Giovanni Ribisi and Jason Lee – if they do it right, it could prove in interesting Tim Burton-style slice of weirdness.

Finally, Murphy will be going back to the role that first brought her to many people’s attention, that of Clive Owen’s girl Shellie in Sin City 2. Owen will return as well, alongside another impressive cast that includes actors old and new like Rosario Dawson, Michael Madsen, Jessica Alba, Michael Clarke Duncan, Devon Aoki, Mickey Rourke and – rumour has it – possibly also Angelina Jolie. Either way, if you liked the last slice of ultraviolent, super-stylised noirish action, it’s pretty certain that the wait until its release (possibly Spring 2007, possibly not) will be a long one.

News: Dustin Hoffman

The veteran star may well have been taking smaller roles in recent years, as in this week’s supporting turn in Stranger Than Fiction, but looks all set to return to the leading parts which should be his by right – he’s even talked about his desire to do sequels to his early hits The Graduate and Tootsie – though to what extent he was joking remains somewhat unclear, as he’s also recently said that he’d like to be the next James Bond…

Next up is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, based on the novel by Patrick Süskind. Set in 18th century France, the film follows a young man with an extraordinary sense of smell who, having apprenticed himself to Hoffman’s master perfume-maker, embarks on a killing-spree in pursuit of the ultimate scent. It is set for release on Boxing Day.

Due in July 2007, Hoffman will take the title role in the entertainingly-named Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. As the 243-year-old owner of the world’s most wonderful toy store hands over his business to his nervous manager, played by Natalie Portman, there may well be a fair few Charlie and the Chocolate Factory parallels. But, directed as it is by the writer of the distinctly unusual Stranger Than Fiction, there’s bound to be more to it than that…

Then, in 2008, Hoffman will try his hand at animated comedy, providing voice duties on two big-budget, all-star cast extravaganzas featuring – as seems to be the rule with CGI films these days – a bunch of oddball talking animals. First will come Kung-Fu Panda, alongside Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and Ian McShane, and then The Tale of Despereaux, from Corpse Bride co-director Mike Johnson, alongside Robbie Coltrane, Kevin Kline, Christopher Lloyd, William H Macy, Tracey Ullman, Sigourney Weaver and Justin Long.

Hardly much that could land him another Oscar for the shelf, but still – not bad.

News: Jack Black

The tubby star of this week’s Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny has gone from second-fiddle sidekick in 2000’s High Fidelity to global superstardom in less than half a decade, so little wonder he’s making the most of it, with a whole slew of projects in the offing. Next up he’ll be seen (perhaps somewhat implausibly) as Kate Winslet’s love interest in romantic comedy The Holiday, due out on 8th December in the UK, with loads more due in the next few years.

Potentially promising is the as-yet untitled project from Noah Baumbach, writer of the superb The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and writer/director of Oscar-nominated The Squid and the Whale, which will follow a family reunion over the course of a weekend. With Baumbach in charge, it’s impossible to predict what the outcome might be.

Then will come the much-anticipated Be Kind Rewind from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry, with Black desperately trying to re-make movies from Back to the Future to The Lion King for a friend’s video store after accidentally wiping his entire stock. And talking of talking animals flicks, Black will aslo voice the lead character in the upcoming Dreamworks flick Kung Fu Panda, alongside the vocal talents of the likes of Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane and Jackie Chan. He is also attached to Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright’s Them, and adaptation of the non-fiction book by journalist Jon Ronson, exploring the wacky (and sometimes downright worrying) world of conspiracy theorists. With Wright and Black on board, it’s unlikely this is going to be a straight piece of reportage, however…

Meanwhile, his semi-spoof band Tenacious D seems to be continuing with its tours and occasional gigs – so keep an eye out, and you could catch a sight of Black in the flesh…

News: Ray Winstone

Burly hardman Winstone has been doing rather well of late, with turns in this week’s Breaking and Entering and last month’s The Departed adding to his recent TV success in Vincent adding yet more points to his impressive CV. Up next, he’ll take the lead in the Robert Zemeckis-directed Beowulf, based on the ancient epic poem and with a script co-wrtten by comic book hero Neil Gaiman. With a cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, it’s certainly one to look forward to – but we’ve still got another year to wait.Other film projects rumoured to have the Winstone touch include Death of a Ladies’ Man, scripted by cult Australian songwriter Nick Cave and to be directed by John Hillcoat, who helmed last year’s top-notch The Proposition, also written by Cave and co-starring Winstone. Our dear tough guy will play a recently-widowed salesman who takes his young son on the road – so may be an interesting departure for an actor better known for breaking faces than hearts. There have also been a few rumours that he may be appearing alongside Robert Carlyle, Kevin Spacey and Twiggy in cult director Ken Russell’s upcoming King’s X – about which practically nothing is yet known

News: Anthony Hopkins

Veteran Hopkins may be about to hit his 69th birthday (on 31st December), but he’s certainly not showing his age in terms of workload, with three more films already wrapped since finishing his duties on this week’s All the King’s Men.

The one he’ll be most keen to see do well is Slipstream – largely because not only does he star, but also wrote and directed this surreal psychological exploration of a screenwriter (played by Christian Slater) who starts becoming unable to distinguish between fact and fiction. No release date has yet been set, but then again, it is still in post-production.
Next up, Hopkins looks to be moving back to his most commercially successful role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Only it seems that copyright has prevented the producers of Fracture from using that name, so instead Hopkins will be known as the altogether less sinister-sounding Ted, a psycho hounding a young assistant DA. Again, a UK release date has yet to be set, though it is out in the States in the Spring. Another familiar role will be in the recently-announced Harry and the Butler, where Hopkins will – following his acclaimed role in 1993’s The Remains of the Day – play a butler, this time hired by an aging blues man, to be played by Morgan Freeman.

Most promising of all, however, the Welsh national treasure will be cropping up as the beseiged King Hrothgar in Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis’s much-anticipated cinematic adaptation of the ancient epic poem Beowulf. With Ray Winstone in the title role and supported by the likes of John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Crispin Glover and Angelina Jolie, it looks all set to be one of the biggest films of Christmas 2007.

News: Jackie Chan

Despite now being comfortably into his fifties and having broken pretty much every bone in his body at some point or another, Hong Kong’s biggest star continues to churn out action flick after action flick, and still insists on doing all his own stunts. He has already completed work on two more Hong Kong movies since this week’s New Police Story wrapped, and is currently filming two more – this time English language – flicks.

The first of the Cantonese films was period-piece The Myth (yet to be scheduled for release in the UK), an unusual choice for Chan as he normally prefers present-day locations for his kung-fu antics, then Rob-B-Hood, again for New Police Story director Benny Chan, with Chan on more familiar action/comedy ground as a thief forced to cope with looking after a baby. It too has yet to be scheduled for a UK release.

Of his English-language movies in the works, the third installment of his popular Rush Hour series, due next summer, will doubtless be more of the same silly banter as he does all the fighting as he and the wisecracking Chris Tucker get mixed up with a bunch of Chinese Triads in – of all places – Paris. Giving himself a bit of a break, Chan is also voicing “Master Monkey” in the promising-sounding Kung Fu Panda, alongside Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane and Angelina Jolie, due July 2008.

News: Matt Damon

The Departed‘s Damon continues to be one of the hardest-working stars in film, with two films already completed and two more currently filming since wrapping on Scorsese’s latest.

Of those already completed, first up is the highly promising The Good Shepherd. Directed by Robert De Niro, Damon takes the lead opposite De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci and Alec Baldwin in this period piece drama about the founding of the CIA, written by the hugely talented Forrest Gump, The Insider, Ali and Munich screenwriter Eric Roth. After that he’ll be popping up in Margaret alongside Anna Paquin, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno in this coming of age drama about a teenage girl convinced that she caused a traffic accident.

Damon is currently busy filming the third movies in two separate franchises – Ocean’s Thirteen and The Bourne Ultimatum. If you’ve seen the last films in either of those two series, it should be fairly obvious which one’s likely to be the best…