Andy's monthly movie column

Last updated: May 2012

Quotation quiz

'Fire all things that go bang! '

From which current film does that instruction come ? The answer is at the bottom of the page.

Forthcoming attractions

Films coming out in June include on the 1st of the month, 'Snow White and the Huntsman'. It stars Charlize Theron, Sam Claflin, Chris Hemsworth, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Eddie Izzard, Eddie Marsan, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones, Lily Cole, Sam Spruell, Nick Frost and Kristen Stewart and has the Huntsman originally dispatched by the wicked queen to kill Snow White, but instead he takes her under his wing and teaches her how to survive, and also how to fight.

A week later there is 'Prometheus'. A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. Stars Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender.

And on the 15th June 'Fast Girls' is released. When talent runner Shania (Lenora Crichlow) meets middle-class athlete Lisa (Lily James), the two quickly become rivals on and off the track. The tension escalates though, as the pair head towards a major make-or-break championship. Also stars Bradley James, Rupert Graves and Noel Clarke.

Hollywood grapevine

About a month ago, it was rumoured that Robert Rogriguez was finally committing himself to the long-developing Sin City sequel but apparently it has now been confirmed that 'Sin City:A Dame to Kill For' is up and running. Frank Miller has written the screenplay with William Monahan and while details are obviously under wraps, it is thought that there will be three stories and a wrap-around as before, and that the 'A Dame To Kill For' segment will be joined by two new instalments that aren't based on pre-existing Miller comics. Official casting begins soon, and shooting starts in the summer.

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson will be reuniting, this time in 'The Internship', an office comedy to be directed by Shawn Levy. Vaughn wrote the screenplay and the story sees him and Wilson as former corporate hotshots who find themselves the victims of some unfortunate downsizing. Picking themselves up and dusting themselves off, they enrol as interns at a digital tech company, where their old-school savvy is pitted against careerist ladder-climbers half their age. Shooting is due to start on June 25.

In February, it was announced that director John Crowley's next film would be a new as yet untitled suspense thriller with Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall. It still doesn't have a proper title but does have some supporting cast members in the guises of Ciaran Hinds, Riz Ahmed, Kenneth Cranham, Jim Broadbent, Anne-Marie Duff and Julia Stiles. The plot finds Hall and Bana as legal eagles who also happen to be former lovers. They’ve largely steered clear of each other, but when they're paired as part of the defence team on a high-profile terrorism case, loyalties are tested and nerves are set on edge as their lives are put at risk.

Woody Harrelson is no stranger to the world of TV, since he got his big career boost from Cheers, but that was quite a few years ago, but now however, he's bringing Matthew McConaughey along with him for a limited run drama series called 'True Detective'. The series would see two detectives, Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson), surviving and colliding as they investigate a serial killer case across 17 years, with material set both in 1995 and the present day. While both actors have busy film schedules, the plan is for them to star in the eight-episode first series, which would wrap up the main plotline. Then the show will follow different characters and stories going forward. Theoretically, that could mean a revolving cast of big names stepping in for a few episodes.

And finally, back in the 1990s, you could hardly move for John Grisham adaptations. In the space of five years there were films of 'The Firm', 'The Pelican Brief', 'The Client', 'A Time To Kill', 'The Chamber', 'The Rainmaker' and 'The Gingerbread Man' (an original Grisham screenplay), often attracting hugely impressive casts, and directors of the calibre of Francis Coppola and Robert Altman. That hot streak burned out, relatively quickly but it looks like Mark Wahlberg is looking to produce and star in 'The Partner'. It was written in 1997, towards the end of the Grisham heyday and is about a lawyer who has become disgruntled with his lot, and sets about embezzling a fortune from his firm and faking his own death. It works for a while, but his perfect crime eventually ends up not quite going according to plan, and there's a murder charge to throw a further spanner in the works.