What you may need to know

1. So… How’s that World Cup working out for you?

2. United Passions tells the story of FIFA. It’s an authorised biopic.

3. Tim Roth IS Sepp Blather. Seriously.

4. The movie reportedly cost FIFA (who financed it) north of THIRTY
MILLION DOLLARS.

5. Co-starring Gerard Depardieu, Sam Neill AND Love/Hate star Jason
‘Titanic’ Barry.

6. As we know, FIFA represent all that is good and great about the
beautiful game.

7. The film featured prominently in a recent (and rather inspired) FIFA
takedown by our favourite new TV show, John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight

8. What about an FAI biopic directed by Lenny Abrahamson, with Mark
O’Halloran (alternately Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) as John Delaney? They
could call it Total Balls.

Release Date: Nevember (with an ‘e’)

What you may need to know:

1. You know those trailers that make you immediately want to see the movie? This is one of those trailers.

2. Michael Keaton power. Seriously.

3. If you want to talk under-appreciated greats, talk Keaton. Now that’s what I call Batman.

4. Birdman is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, who did Amores Perros (2000) and 21 Grams (2003). It’s his first comedy.

5. Fact: Every movie trailer should end with a shot of Ed Norton wrestling in his underpants.

Release Date: Winter

What you may need to know

1. Can it be almost 20 years since the original Dumb And Dumber (1994)? It gets
funnier ever year.

2. Jim Carrey has made a lot of bad movies since then. And a few great ones.

3. Jeff Daniels is OFFICIALLY one of the unsung greats. Squid & The
Whale (2005), anybody?

4. The Farrelly Brothers return to direct; they followed the original
D&D with There’s Something About Mary (1998), and it’s been hit and miss ever
since. More miss than hit, although Kingpin (1996) remains their masterpiece.

5. Elderly vaginas = comedy gold?

6. Broadsheet Prognosis: Cautiously optimistic.

Release Date: November

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Ttj9tXzCA

What you may need to know:

1. Liam Neeson turned 62 over the weekend. With each passing year, he
gets badassier.

2. A Walk… is based on the novel by Lawrence Block. There are over a dozen novels in Block’s Matthew Scudder series. We smell franchise opportunities.

3. How awesome is Liam Neeson? He walked away from the A Million Ways To
Die In The West (2014) with his dignity fully intact, that’s how awesome Liam Neeson is.

4. How awesome is Liam Neeson? He’s a jedi, he trained Batman, has been Oskar Schindler, Darkman, Zeus, Michael Collins and Aslan (the lion, as opposed to the band), and as a young man played one game for Bohemians FC, as a sub in a match against Shamrock Rovers, that’s how awesome Liam Neeson is. And don’t even get us started on The Lego Movie (2014).

5. He is currently filming Taken 3 (2015). There will be punching. Oh yes.

Release Date: September

What you may need to know.

1.‘Faith-based’ movies are so hot right now in the US.

2. You know they’re hot when a super-choosy actor like Nick Cage does one.

3. Cage’s career choices these days are dictated by a number of elements: randomness, quick cash, willful perverseness, and the need to pass time until he finally accepts a role in an Expendables movie.

4. It’s 32 years since Nicky Coppola made his screen debut in Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982). It’s been a wild ride.

5. In case you doubt Cage’s commitment to bad choices, watch the trailer for his next movie, which looks even better/worse/Cagier.

Release Date: available for illegal download by Friday (estimated)

What you may need to know:

1. The Rock. Obviously.

2. It’s directed by Brett Ratner, the man who made an X-Men movie (2006’s The
Last Stand) so horrible that the primary purpose of the new X-movie is to literally wipe it from history. He also gave us THREE Rush Hour movies.

3. That said, The Rock. Come on.

4. The cast includes Rufus Sewell, John Hurt, Ian McShane and Joseph ‘Ralph
said no’ Fiennes.

5. Broadsheet Prognosis: Lionwear is so hot this season.

Release Date: July

What you may need to know

1. Yes, it’s the original trailer for John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939), starring John Wayne.

2. John Ford Ireland celebrates the great (and we mean THE great) Irish-American filmmaker – it’s on in Dublin next weekend.

3. It kicks off next Friday with a 75th anniversary screening of Stagecoach at The Savoy [O’Connell Street, Dublin]. Niiiiiiiice.

4. The John Ford Ireland programme features screenings, symposiums, masterclasses and other cinephile-friendly activities: highlights include a FREE outdoor screening of The Quiet Man (1952) in Temple Bar next Saturday, and a masterclass with Ford fan Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List (2011) and A Field In England (2013). We’re big fans. More info on John Ford Ireland here.

6. Broadsheet Prognosis: The Duke Prevails

What you may need to know:

1. Ponydance are a comedic dance troupe, based in Belfast.

2. Broadsheet faves Doris/Magee made an award-winning movie about them.

3. Their new show plays in Dublin this Friday and Saturday, as part of the Dublin Dance Festival.

4. We’ve got a pair of tickets to give away to the Saturday performance, to the person who can best answer this question: How many dancers does it take to change a lightbulb? [Lines MUST close at 4.45pm]*

5. It’s enough to give modern dance a good name. Almost.

Release date: N/a

*Update: winner Psydehsow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpOINF4f27k

What you may need to know:

1. Denzel Washington is the new Edward Woodward.

2. It’s based on the classic ’80s TV show. Loosely, by the look of things.

3. Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz appears to be entering her Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver (1976) phase.

4. Can we have a movie where Denzel fights Liam Neeson? Or maybe one where Denzel and Liam Neeson punch wolves?

5. Why even bother calling it The Equalizer? Says Denzel: “The title doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s the material.” And possibly the paycheck.

6. Broadsheet Prognosis: Man On Fire 2

Release Date: September