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.

 

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.

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:

CATS TRAILER WITH JUDI DENCH, IAN MCKELLEN, IDRIS ELBA, JASON DERULO AIN'T SOMETHING YOU'VE EVER SEEN BEFORE! PLUS NEW TRAILER AND PHOTOS FOR HIS DARK MATERIALS EPIC TV SERIES WITH JAMES MCAVOY

  'CATS' TRAILER WILL PROBABLY

SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU!

Cats will meow this December, literally!

Attention, spylings, we have a special broadcast today with fresh news and updates from Comic Con which is raging currently over in San Diego. The day brought us the very first trailer for the live action movie musical version of famous CATS and I don't know what to say, as someone said somewhere in comments it looks like stuff of nightmares with people in purrrfectly terrible masks of cats. And plus an annoyingly bad rendition of legendary song Memories by infamously overrated Jennifer Hudson. If it is any consolation, at least part of the cast is amazing (if you can get over the fact that Taylor Swift is in it as well): Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Laurie Davidson, Jason Derulo, Rebel

Judi Dench leads the cast as Old Deuteronomy!

Wilson, Idris Elba, James Corden, Ray Winstone, are just some of the better known names in the Tom Hooper directed musical which is out a few days before Christmas.

CATS THE MOVIE MUSICAL 
Based on the book “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot, the musical follows the Jellicle cats, a family of felines who go before the group’s leader Old Deuteronomy to see who will be selected to travel to the Heaviside

Sir Ian McKellen is, naturally, Gus the Theatre Cat!

layer for a new life. Over the course of a single night, their tribe makes what is known as "the Jellicle choice" and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life.

  'HIS DARK MATERIALS' TRAILER

PLUS DEMON ANIMALS PHOTOS

BBC has, meanwhile, released new trailer and photos (showing all the animals in the story) for their epic fantasy small screen TV series adaptation of

James McAvoy leads the cast as Lord Asriel!

Philip Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS which will also air on HBO later this Autumn!  The first season follows Lyra (Dafne Keen), a seemingly

Lyra and her demon animal Pan!

ordinary but brave young girl from another world. Her search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children, and becomes a quest

Armoured battle polar bear Byrnison

to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. As she journeys through the worlds, including our own, Lyra meets Will, a determined and courageous

Stelmaria the snow leopard!

boy. Together, they encounter extraordinary beings and dangerous secrets, with the fate of both the living   and the dead  in their hands. James McAvoy

Mrs Coulter's golden monkey demon!

is her father Lord Asriel. The new photos show polar bear Byrnison, snow leopard Stelmaria, Lord Asriel's dæmon, the golden monkey, dæmon of Ruth Wilson’s Mrs Coulter and Pan, Lyra's demon.

IAN MCKELLEN AND HELEN MIRREN ARE TWO CONS DATING IN THE GOOD LIAR SUPER STYLISH THRILLER TRAILER WITH RUSSELL TOVEY, JIM CARTER!

'THE GOOD LIAR' TRAILER

THE LI(V)ES WE LIVE!

Sir Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren are dating! Well, at least in the stylish and super elegant trailer for THE GOOD LIAR in which they are

The lies will start November 15th this year!

playing two liars trying to outwit each other! Directed by Bill Condon (who worked with Ian before on Mr Holmes and Gods and Monsters), the film has a rather amazing cast also including our beloved boy Russell Tovey as Helen's grandson and Jim Carter as the friend of Ian's career con artist Roy Courtnay who can hardly believe his luck when he meets well-to-do widow Betty McLeish online. As Betty opens her home and life to him, Roy is surprised to find himself caring about her, turning what should be a cut-and-dry swindle into the most treacherous tightrope walk of his life. The film is out this November!

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON KENNETH BRANAGH'S ALL IS TRUE SHEAKESPEARE'S FINAL YEARS FILM WITH JUDI DENCH, IAN MCKELLEN

'ALL IS TRUE'

The movie is out May 10th in limited US cinemas

WHEN THE PLAY ENDS

This one already went through UK and US cinemas (in limited release in the pre award season) but is getting a wider US release next month May 10th! ALL IS TRUE is Kenneth Branagh's project which he not only directed, but also plays the lead role together with other two legendary British thespians Judi Dench and Ian McKellen! Written by Ben Elton, the historical movie offers a look at the final days in the life of renowned playwright William Shakespeare.

SHAKESPEARE'S FINAL YEARS

Sir Ian McKellen is Will's patron and possibly love.

This small scale movie is set  in the summer of 1613, when, just 14 years after it had been built, the Globe Theater burned to the ground due to errant sparks from a stage cannon during a performance of ALL IS TRUE, the original title of a play believed to have been written by Shakespeare and John Fletcher that a decade later was renamed Henry VIII. Evidently demoralized by the destruction of his theatre, the 49 year old playwright (Kenneth Branagh) retreated to rejoin his wife (Judi Dench) and two daughters, of whom he had seen very

Judi Dench plays Will's wife who was 8 years older than him.

little for some 20 years. Pressing even harder on him are thoughts of his son Hamnet, whom he had scarcely known before his death at age 11 a decade earlier.

JUDI DENCH AND IAN MCKELLEN

His illiterate wife Anne is played by Judi Dench! She resents his disruptive arrival after so long! Lydia Wilson plays Will's daughter Susanna Hall

Kenneth Branagh has directed five films based on Shakespeare!

accused of being unfaithful to her husband John (Hadley Fraser). Kathryn Wilder plays Will's unmarried younger daughter Judith, Hamnet's twin sister

Interior scenes were shot using only candle light!

who can't even read and thinks her father wishes she died instead of her brother. Ian McKellen is dandy Earl of Southampton, the writer's patron and maybe something more. 

FIRST TRAILER FOR WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE BIOPIC ALL IS TRUE IS HERE WITH KENNETH BRANAGH, JUDI DENCH AND IAN MCKELLEN!

   1ST 'ALL IS TRUE' TRAILER

FROM KENNETH BRANAGH FILM WITH JUDI DENCH, IAN MCKELLEN

All is True arrives next February!

1st trailer has been released for Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare drama ALL IS TRUE which also stars Judi Dench and Ian McKellen! The story is set in 1613 when Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground. Devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family. Haunted by the death of his only son Hamnet, he struggles to mend the broken relationships with his wife (Judi Dench) and daughters. In so doing, he has to examine his own failings

Isn't Sir Ian McKellen lovely as Lord Southampton?

as husband and father. His very personal search for the truth uncovers secrets and lies within a family at war. Sir Ian McKellen is his patron, the Earl of

The movie will get a limited week long release in December ahead of the awards season but will get official release date in 2019

Southampton. Official movie release is set for February but it will play in selected theatres before Christmas ahead of Oscars nomination race.

1ST 'OPHELIA' TRAILER WITH DAISY RIDLEY, NAOMI WATTS, CLIVE OWEN, TOM FELTON, GEORGE MACKAY! 1ST 'ALL IS TRUE' PHOTO WITH KENNETH BRANAGH AS SHAKESPEARE NEXT TO JUDI DENCH, IAN MCKELLEN

   1ST 'ALL IS TRUE' PHOTO

FROM KENNETH BRANAGH FILM WITH JUDI DENCH, IAN MCKELLEN

1st photo has been released for Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare drama ALL IS TRUE which also stars Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, set in 1613 when Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground.

The movie will get a limited week long release in December ahead of the awards season but will get official release date in 2019

Devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family. Haunted by the death of his only son Hamnet, he struggles to mend the broken relationships with his wife (Dench) and daughters. In so doing, he is forced to examine his own failings as husband and father. McKellen is the Earl of Southampton.

   'OPHELIA' TRAILER

STARRING DAISY RIDLEY, CLIVE OWEN AND NAOMI WATTS

Speaking of Shakespeare first trailer has been released for Claire McCarthy's OPHELIA period set drama which is arriving into cinemas next January starring Daisy Ridley as the titular character.  She plays the most

Daisy Ridley and George MacKay are Ophelia and Hamlet

trusted lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Danmark (played by Naomi Watts). She soon captures the attention of Prince Hamlet (played by George

Massimo Cantini did the amazing costumes in the movie

MacKay) and a forbidden love blossoms. As war brews, lust and betrayal begin to tear Elsinore Castle apart from within in this reimagining of the

The movie is based on a book by Lisa Klein

famed Hamlet. The movie, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival also stars Clive Owen as Claudius and Tom Felton as Laertes and Nathaniel Parker as the king! 

1ST 'KNIGHTFALL' EPIC TV SERIES SEASON 2 PHOTO WITH TOM CULLEN & MARK HAMILL! LAURIE DAVIDSON JOINS IAN MCKELLEN, JAMES CORDEN IN 'CATS' MOVIE MUSICAL ADAPTATION

  'CATS' MOVIE ADAPTATION

LAURIE DAVIDSON JOINS IAN MCKELLEN IN THE FILM VERSION

Well, he was definitely the only good thing in the offensively bad Will period set drama, and now beautifully charismatic and radiant Laurie Davidson is

Laurie Davidson will star in Cats!

joining CATS movie musical which follows a tribe of cats over the course of one night. The feature adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous musical already has Ian McKellen in the cast next to a rather silly bunch that includes Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Scheduled for December next year, the movie will probably include some new songs as well. Les Miserables helmer Tom Hooper is directing the big screen adaptation. Davidson and McKellen aside, this is really shaping up to become one of those projects nobody really asked for.Laurie is currently shooting The Good Liar movie with Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Jim Carter and Russell Tovey. Now, that one, really does have a cast to die for.

  'KNIGHTFALL' SEASON 2

1ST PHOTO FROM TEMPLARS' LAIR

After the recent updates on the casting process for the second season of History's epic series KNIGHTFALL (currently shooting in Prague), today you can check out the first photo of Tom Cullen and Mark Hamill as Talus, a tough and wise warrior responsible for training new initiates of the Knights Templar, led by Cullen's Landry. Talus has been spent ten years in captivity during Crusades.

The second season will air on History Channel around the world next spring

The second season will explore this dark time in history from the Templar perspective, embracing an authentically grittier, darker, and more brutal Medieval period than has ever been seen before. Tom Forbes joins the cast as Prince Louis of France, Clementine Nicholson as his wife Princess of Burgundy, Genevieve Gaunt is his sister princess Isabella of France.

ACTING LEGENDS TUESDAY: RUSSELL TOVEY, LAURIE DAVIDSON JOIN HELEN MIRREN, IAN MCKELLEN IN 'GOOD LIAR'! PENELOPE WILTON JOINS SALLY HAWKINS, DAVID THEWLIS IN 'ETERNAL BEAUTY'! 'KING OF THIEVES' TRAILER WITH MICHAEL CAINE, JIM BROADBENT, MICHAEL GAMBON, TOM COURTENAY!

  'THE GOOD LIAR'

LAURIE DAVIDSON, RUSSELL TOVEY JOIN HELEN MIRREN AND  IAN MCKELLEN IN THE CAST

Russell Tovey has just joined the cast!

What a sensational cast indeed! I've already told you before that British acting legends Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen will star together in Bill Condon's movie THE GOOD LIAR and now they're joined in it by two of our most beloved hunks and sweetest creatures Russell Tovey and Will's Laurie Davidson in the cast which also has another acting legend Downton Abbey's Jim Carter!

THE STORY OF THE GOOD LIAR 

You know Laurie Davidson from Will epic TV series

sees Ian McKellen playing career con artist Roy
Courtnay who can hardly believe his luck when he meets well-to-do widow Betty McLeish (played by Helen Mirren) online. As Betty opens her home and life to him, Roy is surprised to find himself caring about her, turning what should be a cut-and-dry swindle into the most treacherous tightrope walk of his life.This will, if I am not mistaken, be the fourth time Beauty and the Beast's Bill Condon directs Ian McKellen on the big screens!

  'ETERNAL BEAUTY'

 PENELOPE WILTON JOINS SALLY HAWKINS AND DAVID THEWLIS

Penelope Wilton has joined the cast

Meanwhile, a slate of amazing British actors has been added to another possibly lovely movie ETERNAL BEAUTY which will be toplined by Sally Hawkins! She has just been joined in the cast by Penelope Wilton, David Thewlis and Billie Piper. The film will see Oscar nominee Hawkins playing a woman who, after being left at the altar, had a breakdown and has spiralled into a chaotic episode of schizophrenia lasting 20 years in which love (both real and imagined) and family relationships collide. Things change when she begins a darkly comic romance with Mike (Thewlis), a failed musician and fellow lost soul.

  'THE KING OF THIEVES' TRAILER

 MICHAEL CAINE,JIM BROADBENT LEAD THE CAST OF THESPIANS

King of Thieves arrives into cinemas this September

To top the day of amazing thespians, check out the first trailer for THE KING OF THIEVES crime comedy drama in which acting legends Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Michael Gambon, Ray Winstone, Tom Courtenay play a crew of retired crooks who pull off a major heist in London's jewellery district. In the true story of the unbelievable true story of the Hatton Garden heist they are also joined by Charlie Cox, Francesca Annis!

IAN MCKELLEN & HELEN MIRREN TO STAR TOGETHER IN BILL CONDON'S 'THE GOOD LIAR'! 'FANTASTIC BEASTS 2: CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD' TRAILER WITH EDDIE REDMAYNE, JUDE LAW

  'THE GOOD LIAR' 

DAME HELEN MIRREN AND SIR IAN MCKELLEN TO STAR TOGETHER

Ian McKellen worked many times with Condon before

What an amazing duo of thespians will that be! As 'Hollywood Reporter' writes today, Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren are to star together in Bill Condon's adaptation THE GOOD LIAR based on Nicholas Searle's world wide best selling book.

A story about a cat and mouse game, THE GOOD LIAR centres on career con artist Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen), who can’t resist one last score when he meets rich widow Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) online. As the woman opens up her home and life to him, the man is surprised to find himself caring about her, turning what

Helen Mirren will try to outwit Ian McKellen's Good Liar

should be a cut-and-dry swindle into a treacherous tightrope walk as all is not what it seems.Condon worked with McKellen on Mr Holmes a few years ago and they were both nominated for Oscars for Gods and Monsters.

  'FANTASTIC BEASTS 2' TRAILER

THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD

The movie arrives into cinemas this November

1st trailer has been released for the sequel to that snoozefest FANTASTIC BEASTS: CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD which is out November.  At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was captured by Magical Congress of the United States of America, with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure blood wizards up to rule over all non magical beings. In an effort to thwart his plans, professor Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the

Jude Law plays a younger version of Professor Dumbledore

dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.