http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceBXUyuv4Q0&has_verified=1

What you may need to know:

1. The Evil Dead movies are arguably the great horror trilogy of all time.

2. A remake is, as ever, a really bad idea. But then again remaking Dawn Of The Dead (1978) was a bad idea, and that one rocked.

3. Smart move number one: they got rid of the Ash character. There’s only one Ash, and that’s Bruce Campbell.

4. Smart move number two: Bruce Campbell and original Dead director Sam Raimi are the producers.

5. Smart move number three: they don’t play it for laughs.

6. Prognosis: Cautiously Optmistic

Release Date: April 2013

What you may need to know

1. Let’s face it, Iron Man 2 (2010) was ever-so slightly bollocks. The original still rocks, however, and Robert Downey Jr. rocked The Avengers (2012).

2. We’re excited about IM3 because it’s directed by Shane Black, who wrote the original Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight, and wrote and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Classics one and all.

3. Guy Pearce alert @ ’32. He should have kept his Lawless (2012)  look. We’re still not sure why he was in Prometheus (2012).

4. Ben Kingsley alert @ 1’08. He’s playing The Mandarin, true believers.

5. Iron Man 3 launches ‘Stage 2’ of the Marvel movie-verse. Forthcoming: Thor 2, Captain America 2, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Avengers 2 and Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man. They just got the rights to Daredevil back, too.

7. Chances of Sam Jackson cameo. Decent.

 Released: Summer 2013

What you may need to know:

1. Remember Edward Burns? The Irish-American actor-filmmaker from Queens
made a big indie splash with his no-budget debut, The Brothers
McMullen (1995), then got to co-star in Saving Private Ryan (1998).

2. What happened next? A bunch of forgettable directing vehicles, plus a
lot of brutal acting gigs. That said, he did get to play himself in
Entourage AND marry Christy Turlington.

3. Burns is calling Fitzgerald Family Christmas a ‘spiritual cousin’ of
Brothers McMullen. Translated: Remember me?

Released: Xmas (US)

What You May Need To Know:

1. Yes, it’s a new screen version of Stephen King’s debut novel.

2. The original Carrie (1976), directed by Brian ‘DePlasma’ DePalma and starring Sissy Spacek and John Travolta, is a truly iconic ’70s classic – the last twenty minutes, in particular, remain a thing of bat-shit wonder.

3. This new version is directed by Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry) and stars Chloe ‘Hit Girl‘ Moretz.

4. On the unnecessary remake scale, we give it an eight point five.

5. That said, cool teaser.

Released (Ireland): March 2013.

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

What you may need to know:

1. The writer (Mark Boal) and director (Kathryn Bigalow) behind The Hurt Locker (2008) were ready to shoot a film on the 2001 US military siege of Tora Bora – the one where Osama Bin Laden got away – when Bin Laden was eliminated. They swiftly scrapped that one, and made this one instead.

2. James Gandolfini alert @ ’40. Always a good thing.

3. We just realised that it’s 25 YEARS since Kathryn Bigalow made the sublime Near Dark (1987) – the best vampire movie you’ve never seen.

4. Suggested Alternative Tagline: ‘All it took to bring Bin Laden down was one hot redhead…And Andy from Parks And Recreation.’

Release (ireland): January

What you may need to know:

1. Here’s the latest trailer for QT’s forthcoming western, now with added Jonah Hill, channeling his inner Chris Penn. Why another Django Unchained trailer? Why not?

2. While we’re at it, here‘s a QT mash-up assembled to promote a forthcoming 8 Film collection of his Greatest Hits – basically all of his directorial outings to date, plus True Romance.

3. We would have added his episode of Four Rooms (1995), and From Dusk ‘Till Dawn (1996).

4. Quentin is the only filmmaker with two movies in the The Onion’s list of the Ten Best Films Of The ’90s, published earlier this week.

5. Still the man. Fact.

Release Dates: Xmas (Django), November (Tarantino XX)

Three cheers for the writer Mo Yan,
An obedient communist man,
Who had nothing to say,
When they locked up Weiwei,
A man who’s no longer Mo’s fan.

John Moynes

Pic Time

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

What you may need to know:

1. The Canyons is directed by Paul Schrader, who wrote Taxi Driver (1976) and
Raging Bull (1980), and directed American Gigolo (1980) and Auto Focus (2002).

2. It’s written by Bret Easton Ellis, who wrote Less Than Zero and
American Psycho (the books, not the films) but spends most of his time
these days scrapping on Twitter.

3. It stars washed-up teen queen turned tabloid mainstay Lindsay Lohan,
on the comeback trail once again at 26.

4. Twenty six.

5. It also stars pornographic film sensation James Deen. He’s got 906
credits to his name on IMDB, kids.

6. The film was funded through Kickstarter.

7. Bonus point for the John Carpenter sample.

Release Date: TBC (2013)

What you may need to know:

1. John McClaine used to be an ordinary man in extraordinary situations; these days he’s the ‘007 of Plainfield, New Jersey’.

2. The original Die Hard (1988) is still the best damn action movie ever made; the sequels have their defenders, even the decidely iffy Die Hard 4.0 (2007), AKA Live Free Or Die Hard.

3. A Good Day To Die Hard is directed by Dundalk’s very own John Moore, who previously gave us Flight Of The Phoenix (2004), Max Payne (2008) and the remake of The Omen (2006).

4. 57-year old Bruce Willis prevails: the bady bad-ass has had three hits this year alone – Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Expendables 2 (2012) and Looper (2012).

5. That’s Valentine’s Day 2013 sorted.

Release Date: Feb 14 2013

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoVhgaj6PiE

What you may need to know:

1. Johnny Depp is Tonto, and the dude who played the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network (2010) is The Lone Ranger, although he doesn’t get a look in.

2. No ‘hi-ho Silver and away’? No William Tell overture? What’s going on here?

3. Lone Ranger was briefly shelved prior to production, while they pared down the budget. Word suggests it still cost $250 million.

4. Oscar-winning filmmaker Gore Verbinski won his Acadamy Award for another Johnny Depp western, Rango (2011).

5. Yes, Johnny Depp has a crow on his head. Why? Because he’s Johnny Depp.

6. They might as well have called it Tonto.

Release Date: Summer 2013