MGM + RELEASES TRAILER FOR THE INSTITUTE TV SERIES BASED ON STEPHEN KING'S NOVEL WITH BEN BARNES IN THE LEAD

   THE INSTITUTE TRAILER   

FOR STEPHEN KING'S MGM+ TV SERIES

The Institute starts July 13th on MGM+

MGM Plus has released first trailer for their eight episode series adaptation of Stephen King's THE INSTI- TUTE with Ben Barnes in the lead role which is set to hit the streamer July 13th. When 12-year-old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped, he awakens at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, and who are all possessed of unusual abilities. In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson (Barnes) has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won’t last, as his story and Luke’s are destined to collide. Tim Jamieson is a  disillusioned ex-cop who takes a job as the night knocker in a small town, withdrawing from the world until Luke’s plight reignites him and gives him something to believe in. Mary Louise Parker will be  Ms. Sigsby, the charming but iron-willed director of the Institute and a true believer in its awful mission. She’s certain history will come to see her as a hero. 

 

SEE IAN MCKELLEN, GEMMA ARTERTON, MARK STRONG, ALFRED ENOCH, BEN BARNES IN THE CRITIC MOVIE TRAILER

    THE CRITIC TRAILER  

WITH IAN MCKELLEN & GEMMA ARTERTON

First trailer has been released for a film that actually premiered last year in Toronto but will hit UK cinemas September 13th starring Ian McKellen and

The Critic will open in UK this September

Gemma Arterton in the lead roles alongside Mark Strong, Alfred Enoch, Romola Garai, Ben Barnes and Lesley Manville. 

WHAT IS THE FILM ABOUT? 

 Based on Anthony Quinn's novel Curtain Call, THE CRITIC set in 1930s London, is a thrilling tale of ambition, blackmail, and desire with a dazzling anti-hero at its heart. When the most feared and vicious theatre critic in town Jimmy Erskine (Mckellen), finds himself suddenly in the cross hairs of the Daily Chronicle’s new owner David Brooke (Strong), he strikes a Faustian pact with struggling actress Nina Land (Arterton) who is desperate to win his favor. See the thrilling and super stylish trailer below and tell us what you think.

 

MGM + ORDERS TV SERIES BASED ON STEPHEN KING'S THE INSTITUTE WITH BEN BARNES IN THE LEAD

   BEN BARNES TO LEAD  

STEPHEN KING'S THE INSTITUTE SERIES

MGM Plus has ordered eight episode series adaptation of Stephen King's THE INSTITUTE with Ben Barnes in the lead role. When 12-year-old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped, he awakens

Ben Barnes will take the lead role

at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, and who are all possessed of unusual abilities. In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson (Barnes) has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won’t last, as his story and Luke’s are destined to collide. Tim Jamieson is a disillusioned ex-cop who takes a job as the night knocker in a small town, withdrawing from the world until Luke’s plight reignites him and gives him something to believe in. Mary Louise Parker will be  Ms. Sigsby, the charming but iron-willed director of the Institute and a true believer in its awful mission. She’s certain history will come to see her as a hero.

SEE IAN MCKELLEN, GEMMA ARTERTON, MARK STRONG, ALFRED ENOCH, BEN BARNES IN THE CRITIC MOVIE IMAGES

    FIRST THE CRITIC  

PICS WITH IAN MCKELLEN & GEMMA ARTERTON

First images have been released for a film that actually premiered last year in Toronto but will hit UK cinemas September 13th starring Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton in the lead roles alongside Mark Strong, Alfred Enoch, Romola Garai, Ben Barnes and Lesley Manville.

WHAT IS THE FILM ABOUT?

Based on Anthony Quinn's novel Curtain Call, THE CRITIC set in 1930s London, is a thrilling tale of ambition, blackmail, and desire with a dazzling anti-hero at its heart. When the most feared and vicious theatre critic in town Jimmy Erskine (Mckellen), finds himself suddenly in the cross hairs of the Daily Chronicle’s new owner David Brooke (Strong), he strikes a Faustian pact with struggling actress Nina Land (Arterton) who is desperate to win his favor.

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL PERIOD SET FILMS: CLICQUOT WITH HALEY BENNETT, LEO SUTER, TOM STURRIDGE, CRITIC WITH IAN MCKELLEN, GEMMA ARTERTON, MARK STRONG, DOUGLAS BOOTH'S SHOSHANA, VIGGO MORTENSEN'S DEAD DON'T HURT

  TIFF PERIOD SET MOVIES  

WIDOW CLICQUOT

Toronto Film Festival has started and today we are spotlighting period set films that will premiere there, starting with WIDOW CLICQUOT which, set in France during the Napoleonic Wars, tells the true story of the “Grande Dame of Champagne,” also known as Madame Clicquot after marrying the scion of a winemaking family. Though their marriage was arranged, a timeless love blossomed between Barbe-Nicole (Haley Bennett) and her poetic, unconventional husband, François (Tom Sturridge). After becoming a widow at age 27, she is determined to protect her family’s legacy. Determined to advance her husband's theories about soil chemistry, the configuring of vines, and revolutionary techniques in bottling, Barbe-Nicole wagers on the next harvest and her own blend of sparkling wine. Ben Miles, Sam Riley and our dearest Leo Suter also star.

IAN MCKELLEN'S THE CRITIC

Gemma Arterton and Ian McKellen star as adversaries forced to take desperate measures to save their careers, in THE CRITIC set in 1936. As the new steward of London’s Chronicle, David Brooke (Mark Strong) seeks to revive the financially troubled daily as the country’s most-read family paper. In the firing line is long time theatre critic Jimmy Erksine (Ian McKellen), whose extravagant prose and personal “proclivities” are distasteful to David. Jimmy has a lot to lose as an elderly gay man in a culture and legal system deeply hostile to homosexuality. Yet he cannot resist writing the flamboyantly merciless critiques that are his trademark. Actor Nina Land (Arterton), for whom the married David secretly carries a torch, is a regular target for Jimmy’s most withering remarks. As pressure to appease his employer mounts, Jimmy concocts a plot to entrap both David and Nina, herself secretly in love with a married painter (Ben Barnes). But with the Blackshirts taking to the streets amid anti-queer police raids, Jimmy may be grossly overestimating his ability to emerge from his elaborate scheme unscathed.

DOUGLAS BOOTH'S SHOSHANA

Set in British Mandatory Palestine, this tense historical thriller from Michael Winterbottom traces the origins of one of the world’s most complex conflicts. The year is 1938, and tensions run high in Tel Aviv, wherethe British struggle to maintain order among a mixed Palestinian and Jewish population. Yet English police officer Thomas Wilkin (Douglas Booth) has made his home here and is madly in love with Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum), daughter of Zionist Labour movement co-founder Dov Ber Borochov. As the paramilitary organization Irgun, led by poet Avraham Stern (Aury Alby), undertakes a violent campaign to evict the British authorities, Thomas and his superior officer Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling) adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward the resistance, intensifying their tactics to include torture. Meanwhile, Shoshana receives death threats for daring to fraternize with a member of the occupying forces. She loves Thomas, but she also believes in the pursuit of her people’s independence. She will be forced to choose between the two. Our boy Daniel Donskoy also stars!

  GUY PEARCE'S THE CONVERT

Lee Tamahori’s action-filled historical epic stars Guy Pearce as Thomas Munro, a newly arrived preacher in a colonial town in early 19th-century New Zealand whose violent past is soon drawn into question and his faith put to the test, when he finds himself at the centre of a long-standing battle between two Māori tribes. The film does not have a release date yet in cinemas.

 

THE DEAD DON'T HURT

Set in the 1860s, Viggo Mortensen directed western THE DEAD DON'T HURT follows French-Canadian flower seller Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps)

The movie premiered this week at TIFF

and Danish carpenter Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen) who meet in San Francisco. Vivienne is irreverent, fiercely independent, and refuses to wed, but agrees to travel with Holger to his home near the quiet town of Elk Flats, Nevada. There, they begin a life together, Vivienne grows roses and waits tables at a tavern and Holger builds barns, until the couple are separated by Holger’s decision to fight for the Union in the burgeoning Civil War. Left on her own, Vivienne must fend for herself in a place controlled by corrupt Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston) and his business partner, powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt). Alfred's violent, wayward son Weston (Solly McLeod) aggressively pursues Vivienne, who is determined to resist his unwanted advances.

JONAH HAUER KING IS TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ! MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE PIC WITH HENRY CAVILL, HENRY GOLDING, ALEX PETTYFER, ALAN RITCHSON! CHARACTER POSTERS FOR SHADOW & BONE SEASON 2 WHICH STREAMS TODAY AT NETFLIX!

  TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ  

ANNOUNCES LEAD CAST

Sky and Peacock have set cast for their TV series adaptation of TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ which tells the true-life story of Lale Sokolov (Jonah Hauer King), a Jewish prisoner who is given the job of tattooing identification numbers on fellow prisoners’ arms in the concentration camp. One day, he meets Gita (Anna Prochniak) when tattooing her prisoner number on her arm. They experience love at first sight, and so begins a courageous, unforgettable, and human story, told through one man’s memory and experience of Auschwitz-Birkenau; a tale of the very best of humanity in the very worst of circumstances. Jonas Nay and Melanie Lynskey will also star.

  HENRY CAVILL'S NEW FILM 

PIC WITH HENRY GOLDING, ALEX PETTYFER, TIL SCHWEIGER

I have already told you that beside Henry Cavill in the lead role Guy Richie's THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFAREwill also have Alex Pettyfer, Til Schweiger, Cary Elwes, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Alan Ritchson and Henry Golding and now we have the first photo from it. The true story covers Winston Churchill’s and Ian Fleming’s secret WWII combat organization. The clandestine squad’s unconventional and ‘ungentlemanly’ fighting techniques against the Nazis helped change the course of the war and gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit. 

 SHADOW & BONE 2ND SEASON 

STREAMS FROM TODAY!

Second season streams from today

Officially available for streaming as off today over at  Netflix is the second season of their epic fantasy adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's book saga SHADOW AND BONE which launches eight new episodes from March 16th! To celebrate the arrival of the second batch of episodes you can enjoy today in the new poster revealing characters new and old that we will follow in their new adventures. The weakest link in the cast Jessie Mei Li sadly returns as Alina Starkov, alognside Archie Renaux (Malyen Oretsev), Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Kit Young (Jesper Fahey), Danielle Galligan (Nina Zenik), Daisy Head (Genya Safin), Calahan Skogman (as the insanely hot Matthias Helvar) and Ben Barnes (as the very naughty and now also very much evil General Kirigan). New additions to the cast are our dear boy Lewis Tan (Tolya Yul-Bataar), Anna Leong Brophy (Tamar Kir-Bataar), Jack Wolfe (Wylan Hendriks) and Patrick Gibson (Nikolai Lantsov).

 

  IN THE SECOND SEASON

Alina Starkov is on the run. A beacon of hope to some and a suspected traitor to others, she’s determined to bring down the Shadow Fold and save Ravka from ruin. But General Kirigan has returned to finish what he started. Backed by a terrifying new army of seemingly indestructible shadow monsters and fearsome new Grisha recruits, Kirigan is more dangerous than ever. To stand a fighting chance against him, Alina and Mal rally their own powerful new allies and begin a continent-spanning journey to find two mythical creatures that will amplify her powers. Back in Ketterdam, the Crows must forge new alliances as they contend with old rivals and even older grudges that threaten not only their place in the Barrel, but their very lives. When a chance at a deadly heist comes their way, the Crows will once again find themselves on a collision course with the legendary Sun Summoner. 

 

TEASERS FOR VIKINGS: VALHALLA AND SHADOW & BONE SEASONS 2! THE WITCHER: BLOOD ORIGIN EPIC SPIN OFF SERIES STREAM DATE ANNOUNCED WITH A NEW POSTER!

  BLOOD ORIGIN  

THE WITCHER SPINOFF SERIES TO ARRIVE THIS CHRISTMAS 

During the Tudum even this weekend, when they announce upcoming projects, Netflix has announced and confirmed that THE WITCHER spin off series

The show will arrive this Christmas

BLOOD ORIGIN will arrive as your Christmas present December 25th! Set 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher series, the six-episode Blood Origin will focus on how the first Witcher was created and the events that lead to the pivotal conjunction of the spheres, when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one. Minnie Drives has been announced as the new addition to the cast led by Michelle Yeoh, Laurence O’Fuarain, and Sophia Brown, who all play warrior elves. The godawful Driver will meanwhile play a Seanchai, a shapeshifting collector of old lore with the abilities to travel between time and worlds. You can also check out the first poster for the new epic series and also a new photo of Michelle Yeoh in the costume of her character. The original Witcher series, meanwhile, returns with season 3 next summer.

  VIKINGS: VALHALLA  

SEASON TWO TEASER TRAILER

Tudum has also brought us an exciting first teaser for the second season of VIKINGS: VALHALLA epic series which will return sometime next year and the teaser gives us a look at  our heroes Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter), Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett) and Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson), as they make a desperate last stand against Olaf and his warriors! And, yes, there are some mighty fireballs coming from the sky to save them in the last moment! The series already has third season ordered as well!

 

 

  SHADOW AND BONE  

SEASON TWO TEASER IS HERE

Although it will arrive in March next year, Netflix has shown the first teaser over at Tudum event for the second season of their fantasy series SHADOW AND BONE which is set in the fictional land of Ravka, where teenage orphan Alina has the power of light with which she can stop the dark forces led by Ben Barnes. The teaser gives us the first look at some new characters as well: Jack Wolfe as Wylan Hendriks; Patrick Gibson as Nikolai Lantsov, the son of Ravkan king Alexander III with his own private fleet; Anna Leong Brophy as Tamar Kir-Bataar, a Heartrender and close friend of Alina’s; and our dear Warrior star Lewis Tan as Tolya Yul-Bataar, Tamar’s twin brother and another Heartrender. Check out the teaser below and see if it will wet your appetite for the continuation of the series based on Leigh Bardugo's Grisha novels. 

PERIOD SET THRILLER THE CRITIC ADS IAN MCKELLEN, GEMMA ARTERTON, MARK STRONG, LESLEY MANVILLE, BEN BARNES! THE WITCHES ARE BACK IN HOCUS POCUS SEQUEL MOVIE TEASER!

 PERIOD THRILLER THE CRITIC 

SETS A SUPERSTELLAR CAST

And my, my, superstellar it is: Anand Tucker's period set thriller movie THE CRITIC has cast Ian McKellen, Mark Strong, Gemma Arterton, Lesley Manville, Romola Garai and Ben Barnes! Based on Curtain Call novel, it is set in 1934 London, with McKellen as Jimmy Erskine, the most feared drama critic in town, and Arterton as Nina Land, the actress determined to win his favor. When Jimmy finds himself in the crosshairs of his newspaper’s new owner, David Brooke (Strong), Nina becomes entangled in a dangerous web of blackmail, deceit and murder.

 HOCUS POCUS 2 TRAILER 

BRINGS THE WITCHES BACK

Hocus Pocus is back this September

You have already seen this one since yesterday, but Disney has released a teaser for HOCUS POCUS 2 with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy back as the witchy Sanderson sisters! Out September 30th on Disney + the movie sequel takes place 29 years after the events of the beloved 1993 original, and Winifred, Sarah and Mary — witches that were executed in the 17th century — are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow’s Eve! Check out the teaser below:

PATRICK GIBSON, LEWIS TAN JOIN SHADOW AND BONE FANTASY SERIES SEASON 2! SEE TIMOTHY SPALL IN THE LAST BUS MOVIE TRAILER

 SHADOW AND BONE SEASON 2 

Patrick Gibson will be prince Nikolai

ADS NEW CAST MEMBERS

With the official start of production, season two of Netflix fantasy series SHADOW AND BONE has added some new members to the cast: Patrick Gibson will appear in the new season as Nikolai Lantsov, the son of Ravkan king Alexander III with his own private fleet and Jack Wolfe as Wylan Hendriks, one of the Six of Crows. Anna Leong Brophy will be Tamar Kir-Bataar, a Heartrender and close friend of Alina’s, while Lewis Tan will be her twin brother Tolya Yul-Bataar, also a Heartrender. Meanwhile, Daisy Head has been promoted to series regular as Genya Safin, the tailor for the Queen who conspired with Kirigan to spy on Alina and poison the King. New regulars are also fan favourites Nina and Mattias (Danielle Galligan and Calahan Skogman), a

Into the Badlands' Lewis Tan will be a new Heartrender in town

Heartrender and Drüskelle who fell in love even though they are enemies. Godawful Jessie Mi Lei and charismatic Ben Barnes are returning as leads. 

  THE LAST BUS TRAILER  

SENDS TIMOTHY SPALL ON A TRIP

The Last Bus is out this February

And a delightful trailer arrives for the film that arrives February 18th: THE LAST BUS! Life is a journey and The Last Bus takes our old soldier, 90-year-old Tom Harper (Timothy Spall) on an epic trip from his home of fifty years - a remote village in the most northerly point of Scotland - back to the place he was born – close to England’s most southerly point. Battling against time, age and fate, desperate to keep a promise to his beloved wife Mary (Phyllis Logan), our intrepid hero Tom embarks on an odyssey, revisiting his past, connecting with the modern world and a diverse, multi-cultural Britain he has never experienced. The Last Bus is a road movie;

The Last Bus will air both in cinemas and on video on demand

a film about love, loss and the human spirit. A film that reminds us we are not alone - and that we're all on this ride together... 

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON EPIC FANTASY SERIES SHADOW AND BONE WHICH HITS NETFLIX NEXT WEEK WITH BEN BARNES, TOM WESTON JONES AND LUKE PASQUALINO

  SHADOW AND BONE  

NETFLIX EPIC TV SERIES

The series hits Netflix April 23rd, next week!

Oh, sing me a sad song, spylings, the spring landscapes on the small screens have been such a tragic wasteland so far! Out of new epic shows we only had Leonardo which started this Friday and then the only next one is arriving next week: SHADOW AND BONE series, based on the Grishaverse novels by Leigh Bardugo hits Netflix April 23rd. As Bardugo described herself - the series takes place in a very different kind of fantasy world. Think Imperial Russia, not Medieval

Lead character Alina Starkov reveals she has special powers

England, repeating rifles instead of broadswords. Of course with the cast that looks as bland as the one from Twilight, and female lead charismatic as much as a lukewarm mash potato, don't raise your hopes too high!

SHADOW AND BONE SEASON ONE

 will see the story adapting two overlapping series in Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse: Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows. The eight episode series will, however, differ massively from those two sagas as they had to somehow

Judging by the photos the only plus in the series are the costumes

connect the characters in them within one TV show. The story is set in a world that is split in two by a massive barrier of perpetual darkness, where unnatural creatures feast on human flesh. The protagonist is Alina Starkov, a young

The series will consist of eight hourlong episodes in the first season

soldier and a citizen of the Russia inspired Kingdom of Ravka. She unexpectedly uncovers a power that might save her best friend and finally unite her country. As she starts to hone it, dangerous forces unite against her

Ben Barnes is General Kirigan the head of kingdom's magical elite army

and only General Kirigan seems to be willing to help. Thugs, thieves, assassins, and saints are at war now, and it will take more than magic to survive.

WHO IS IN THE CAST?

With Eric Heisserer as the showrunner, the cast of the series, which managed to wrap its production over in Hungary back in February before the general lockdown, includes (it is strange that the producers have not find it

The series is based on Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse novels

convenient to put Russian actors in the cast but they did put Asian and black actors in a Russia inspired story): Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov, Ben

Our dear Luke Pasqualino will be the eye candy of the show

Barnes as General Kirigan aka The Darkling, Freddy Carter as Kaz Brekker aka Dirtyhands, Archie Renaux as Malyen Oretsev, Kit Young as Jesper

A lethal heartrender and spy Nina Zenik and witch hunter Matthias Helvar

Fahey, Calahan Skogman as Matthias Helvar, Danielle Galligan as Nina Zenik, Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa, Sujaya Dasgupta as Zoya Nazyalensky,

Costumes in the series are inspired by Imperial Russia

Daisy Head as Genya Safin, Julian Kostov as Fedyor Kaminsky, Zoë Wanamaker as Baghra, Kevin Eldon as The Apparat, Luke Pasqualino as

Tom Weston Jones is General Zlatan of West Ravka (left)

David Kostyk, Jasmine Blackborow as Marie, Gabrielle Brooks as Nadia Zhabin. Our beloved Tom Weston Jones plays a very important character of general Zlatan.