What you may need to know

1. Here’s the first teaser for the new movie from Guillermo Del Toro. Full trailer to follow.

2. The plot, in short: Monsters Vs. Giant Robots.

3. The word genius gets flung around with gay abandon these days, but GDT is the real deal, from Devil’s Backbone (2001) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) to his Hellboy movies.

4. He’s spent the last five years trying to get a movie made, while moonlighting for Dreamworks as a creative consultant on  Puss In Boots (2011) and Rise Of The Guardians (2012), which is out today.

5. Pacific Rim stars Idris Elba, plus Sons Of Anarchy stars Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman, the latter a Del Toro regular. Wall-to-wall badasses, basically.

Release Date: Summer 2013

What you may need to know:

1. Hey, The Inbetweeners Movie made a packet, so why not?

2. It’s produced by a Hollywood studio – Universal Pictures, if you don’t mind.

3. It was shot on the lam during Euro 2012.

4. Naked Irishmen = comedy gold.

5. It’s going to make a packet.

6. Up next: Mrs. Brown’s Holiday?

Release Date: February 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R9H87zafc0

What you may need to know:

1. Rooney Mara made a splash as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011). Now she’s starring in this new Steven Soderbergh movie. Followed by the new Terrence Malick movie. She should do comedy.

2. No, Soderbergh hasn’t retired yet. He’s got this, then his Liberace movie with Michael Douglas, and he swears he’s out.

3. Channing Tatum is now a proper movie star, thanks to a trio of 2012 hits: The Vow, 21 Jump Street and Soderbergh’s Magic Mike. The latter two are both getting sequels.

4. Question: Has anybody ever gone to see a Jude Law movie on purpose?

5. Yes, Catherine Zeta Jones has got an Oscar.

6. Our Prognosis: May Cause Drowsiness.

Release Date: February 2013

What you may need to know.

1. Navan Man Pierce Brosnan doesn’t get the respect he deserves. He’s Remington Steele, and his performances in The Matador (2005) and Mamma Mia (2008) were absolutely fearless.

2. His performance of SOS in Mamma Mia  is one of the most jaw-droppingly magnificent things we’ve ever seen.

3. Oh, there was that whole Bond thing, too.

4. Love Is All You Need is a Danish production from Lars Von Trier‘s Zentropa productions. We’d love to see Pierce in a Von Trier flick.

5. Hey! It’s Martin from The Bridge! We call him the Danish Gandolfini.

6. Stick around for the movie news at the end of the trailer. NB: She’s speaking English.

Release Date: Spring 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULwUzF1q5w4

What you may need to know

1. House Of Cards is the first original TV series produced by Netflix.

2. Meaning? On Feb 1st, all thirteen episodes will be made available for viewing exclusively on Netflix. In the US, anyhow. Nexflix Ireland could try a little bit harder with its selection.

3. Kevin Spacey has been phoning in that sleepy-eyed menace thing for years, but he’s been getting his finger out lately. Check out Margin Call (2011), for starters.

4. Yes, House Of Cards is a remake of the classic BBC series.

5. David Fincher directed a bunch of episodes, marking the first time he’s worked with Spacey since Se7en (1995)

6. The second original series produced by Netflix is the Arrested Development revival, due next summer.

7. Our prognosis: The future of TV.

Release date: February 1 (US)

What you may need to know

1. The Richard Curtis formula gets rebooted by the guy who wrote Borat (2006).

2. Acting-wise, Stephen Merchant makes Ricky Gervais look versatile.

3. 0’14: Woo! It’s Neil from The Young Ones!

4. So Minnie Driver is playing mothers-in-law these days. Man, we’re getting old.

5. Olivia Colman is a genius.

6. 1’20: Way-hey! It’s The Mentalist!

7. File Under: Generic Rude-But-Sweet-Brit-Rom-Com.

Release date: Spring 2013

What you may need to know:

1. Ignore the French subtitles.

2. It’s always nice to see Tim Roth.

3. People’s Republic Of Cork calling at 0’18.

4. It’s written by genius playwright Mark O’Rowe, who also did Intermission (2003) and Perrier’s Bounty (2009).

5. Prognosis: Gritty, with a bittersweet aftertaste.

Release Date: Spring 2013

What you may need to know

1. Yes, this is a real film.

2. After The Usual Suspects (1995), Bryan Singer was the new Stanley Kubrick for five minutes, then spent the next decade doing superhero flicks like X-Men (2000), X2 (2003) and the lamentable Superman Returns (2006)

3. That said, he also created House (TV series), and gave us Tom Cruise as a good Nazi in an eye patch in the camp-tastic Valkyrie (2008).

4. Who’s Jack? It’s Nicholas Hoult, from Skins (TV series), About A Boy (2002) and A Single Man (2009).

5. Random Ewan McGregor spotting @ 1’08. Poor Ewan. We blame George Lucas.

6. Our prognosis: there’s a good reason Singer’s already signed up to direct the next X-Men movie.

7. Suggested Irish Times review headline: Fee Fi Ho Hum.

Release Date: Summer 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNfiXZzmhjw&feature=relmfu

What you may need to know

1. Well, there’s the cast, starters: Jessie Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Melanie ‘Inglorious Basterds’ Laurent, Isla Fisher, Michael Caine and James Franco’s little brother Dave.

2. It’s directed by Louis Letterier, who did the first two Transporter movies, and the Ed Norton version of The Hulk. He also did the Clash Of The Titans remake, but nobody’s perfect.

3. We’d like to see Jessie Eisenberg fight Michael Cera, armed only with rolled-up copies of McSweeney’s Magazine.

4. Suggested tagline: It’s Ocean’s Eleven meets The Prestige!

5. Our prognosis: Bollocks. but extremely watchable bollocks all the same.

Release date (Ireland): March 2013