The film is based upon The Wardstone Chronicles series of fantasy novels from author Joseph Delaney, and follows the story of a Thomas J. Ward, the young apprentice to a renowned ‘Spook’ – someone who deals with dark and magical beings.

Jeff Bridges, who received his sixth Academy Award nomination for his performance in True Grit last year, had been confirmed to be playing the role of The Seventh Son‘s Master Gregory – an old hand in the world of demon-hunting and a mentor to Thomas. Julianne Moore is also set to star as Mother Malkin, an evil witch who has other plans for the young farmhand.

Also reported to be appearing in the adaptation is Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, who will play a Mother Malkin’s daughter, Alice. The part was reportedly first offered to Jennifer Lawrence, who was heavily nominated following her performance in Winter’s Bone, but she is thought to have turned down the role in order to appear in upcoming sci-fi adventure film, The Hunger Games.

Now it seems that Ben Barnes has been cast in the role of Thomas, having beat competition from both Beastly‘s Alex Pettyfer and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ Sam Claflin. Barnes was last seen taking on a lead role in last year’s U2-inspired comedy, Killing Bono, but is best known for his best known for his portrayal of Caspian X in The Chronicles of Narnia films.

The Seventh Son is helmed by Russian director Sergei Bodrov, and is currently scheduled for a 2013 release – we’ll keep you posted!

Booth, who you might recognise from the Burberry ads or playing Boy George in the TV movie Worried About The Boy, will play Romeo to True Grit star Hailee Steinfeld’s Juliet.

Director Carlo Carlei reportedly chose him from 300 hopefuls, all desperate to play the star-crossed lover in the remake of Shakespeare’s classic romantic tragedy.

The cast, which also includes Holly Hunter as the nurse, Ed Westwick as Tybalt and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Benvolio, will be working with a script adapted by Julian Fellowes. Fellowes is known for creating the popular TV show Downton Abbey and winning an Oscar for his Gosford Park screenplay, as well as being known as an actor, novelist and a Conservative peer.

It sounds like a pretty exciting project so far. We’re thinking this role could propel Booth to super-stardom. You may remember the Baz Luhrmann film Romeo + Juliet in 1996 starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. DiCaprio became quite the heart throb after the film and went on to star in numerous films and be nominated for countless awards.

We’ll next see Booth starring in LOL with Miley Cyrus, but who knows next year it could be the Oscars for the dashing chap? What do you think, is it good casting?

The Coen Brothers, you either love em or you are a bit odd. It’s true they have made some less good films, but their successes have shone so brightly that we can forgive them the odd fumble. Besides, an off day for Joel and Ethan probably has more to chew over than most Hollywood fare. Will Self writes in The Guardian that their movies are so likeable, resistance is difficult. Most of us look forward to an acclaimed Coen brothers movie.

This film has generally had lots of positive press and was nominated for 10 Oscars. They didn’t win any, but that could be because Hailee Steinfeld was nominated for Actress in Supporting Role and Jeff Bridges was nominated for Actor in Leading Role. Although Steinfield’s Mattie Ross employs the support of Bridges’ Rooster Cogburn in her endeavour to hunt down her father’s killers, hers is certainly not a supporting role. It would have been a shame to give her such an Oscar for a film in which she is central.

In firmly laced pony tails and felt hat crammed on her head, Steinfeld embodies a steely heroine with an almost Jane Austen-like priggishness. Her father has been shot dead by a villainous farm hand while travelling to a buy ponies. Now, as well as finishing up her fathers affairs, which involves some amusing bargaining with a horse dealer, Mattie Ross wants to track down her father’s killer. The murderer, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) has fled from Arkansas into the wilds of Indian territory – set in 1872, this was an area not ruled by the laws of the United States.

In order to bring Cheney to justice, Ross needs help. This comes in the form of Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a US marshal who possesses both the authority and experience to capture an outlaw in a lawless land. If you’re more familiar with Bridges as The Dude, this is a completely different transformation. True, he has a penchant for a tipple, is somewhat ornery and dishevelled, but this character is believably violent, stubborn and not entirely likeable. Ross hires Cogburn, someone with ‘true grit’, to track down her man.

Rooster rides with Matt Damon’s LaBoeuf (pronounced La Beef), a charming but slightly drippy Texas Ranger, also after Chaney, and Mattie Ross in tow. Crossing the river into Indian territory, they leave behind the laws of civilisation and reason – the film takes on a somewhat fable-like quality.

From the beginning the film is enlivened by the Coens’ love of curious detail. From the last words spoken by men before they are hung and Cogburn’s performance in court before they set out, to the man roaming about in a bear pelt and a hilarious shooting competition between Cogburn and LaBoeuf, the film is built from marvellous little scenes.

You might think that this True Grit is a remake of the 1969 John Wayne film. Not so, say the Coens, who maintain that they sought to make a new adaptation of the 1968 book by Charles Portis. It is a book that American author and script writer and producer for The Wire, George Pelecanos has called, “one of the very best American novels“. The film certainly contains some fairly unusual language for a movie. “It astonishes me that Mr. LaBoeuf has been shot, trampled, and nearly bitten his tongue off, and yet not only does he continue to talk but he spills the banks of English”, being an example of the great, authentically Victorian dialogue. The only trouble is that Jeff Bridges’ Cogburn often sounds like he has one of his holey old socks in his mouth and is sometimes quite difficult to hear.

The Coens are also quoted in The Guardian as saying that rather than setting out to make a Western, they just wanted to make “a story set in Arkansas in 1872.” Whether the film they ended up making is a Western or just one that happens to be set in the appropriate time and place (a non-Western?), it is definitely made by two of the most distinctive voices in cinema today.

From his wise-cracking protagonist in Tron to the exasperated stoner “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski, he’s been a solid presence in cinema for the last few decades. And with True Grit hitting cinemas this weekend, he’s going to find yet another demographic of people to convert to the Church of The Dude. So consider this quiz your religious pop-quiz, folks.



Based on the 1968 novel by Charles Portis, the Western drama tells the story of 14 year-old-girl who teams up with an alcoholic US Marshal in an attempt to avenge her father’s murder.

A previous film adaptation, back in 1969, saw legendary cowboy John Wayne in the role of the Marshal – a performance for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

This time around the character will be played by Jeff Bridges, alongside Matt Damon, who has taken on the role of La Boeuf. They will be also be joined by Milk‘s Josh Brolin, and promising young actress, Hailee Steinfeld.

The Coen Brothers are no strangers to Academy Award nominations, and this film looks like it could certainly be set to earn them a few more. It might not be set to reach UK cinemas until next January, but we’re looking forward it to it already. Check out the trailer below!

This is surely good news for Firth, whose performance as Professor George Falconer in A Single Man narrowly missed out on the Best Actor Oscar to Jeff Bridges role in Crazy Heart at this year’s Academy Awards.

Although Firth plays a king in the movie, the speech in question is not a long, tedious formal monologue, but the actual act of speaking  – George VI had a stutter.

The film covers some of the territory that Madonna is dealing with in her current movie about the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, W.E.

Madonna’s film looks at ‘the love story of the century’ (or one of them, at least). Edward had fallen in love with an American divorcee, which was very much frowned on by the British Establishment. He faced the grim choice of either remaining king and giving up the woman he loved, or abdicating in order to marry her.

Edward abdicates and his brother George is made king. The trouble is, George hasn’t been groomed for the role and is not particularly keen on it. The matter is made more complex by his speech impediment.

Luckily, help is at hand in the form of Lionel Logue, an eccentric Shakespeare-quoting Australian speech therapist played by the ever-excellent Geoffrey Rush.

Logue helps the King with his coronation speeches, and more importantly, his rousing speeches during the Second World War. The two men become friends along the way.

Are we ready for a ‘royal bro-mance’?

The story’s been expanded on a little, and we now follow one Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) into the 3D neon universe, as he’s off to find his father Kevin (Jeff Bridges). Other than that, what can I say? It’s Tron all over again!

Lightcycles, disc battles, scary floating geometric shapes – it’s all here to be marvelled at.

We could very well see the dark sci-fi alternative to the bright and endlessly over-hyped Avatar by the end of 2010, on its scheduled December 17th release date.

The best thing about the film, I’d wager, is going to be the 3D. If you’re honestly content with watching a film set in a three-dimensional virtual universe in two dimensions, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree, really.

The special effects look mindblowing in two dimensions, and if they pull it off anywhere near as well as Pixar have with the recent Toy Story 3, we’re in for a 3D treat.

Glasses on, frisbees painted, and Tron suit on and glowing – we’ve got some special effects to enjoy! Trailer below!

Despite a cryptic title, and an even stranger trailer that reveals nothing about the content of the film, Grant Heslov’s second film ‘The Men Who Stare At Goats’ is an unexpected comedy gem.

Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by UK journalist Jon Ronson, the start of the film introduces investigative reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor). It is 2003 and his seemingly perfect life has just fallen apart; his local reporting job has become mundane and his girlfriend has just left him for his one-armed boss.

In an attempt to impress his ex, Bob decides to fly to Iraq to become a war journalist. However, he has no way into the country, until he meets Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney) who claims to be a former member of the New Earth Army, an obscure branch of the US Army headed by Bill Django (Jeff Bridges).

In a series of flashbacks throughout the film, Bob learns that the New Earth Army were trained to become psychic soldiers as a means of alternative combat after the Vietnam war. The members of the regiment were trained to bend spoons, pass through walls and kill goats by staring at them. They are the antithesis of your stereotypical soldier; they wear US Army uniforms, yet they have long hair, beards and practice yoga, not push-ups. They call themselves Jedi Warriors, which is made all the more amusing by the presence of McGregor, who famously played Obi Wan Kenobi in the latest Star Wars films.

Although the film concerns itself with war, it is surprisingly funny, even to the extent where scenes of kidnappings and the explosion of a roadside bomb become moments of humour.

Perhaps due to the presence of The Big Lebowski’s Bridges, but also due to the film’s amazing landscapes that show the expanse of nothingness in Iraq, the film has a Coen brothers feel about it. Yet the humour isn’t quite so sophisticated, and the ending not quite so satisfying.

The comedy in this film is not for everybody. There are some laugh-out-loud moments that some will not find funny at all. The riotous ending is also rather unbelievable, and underpins the more subtle humour of the first half of the film. Yet when the film’s subject matter as a commentary on Iraq is taken into consideration, it does demonstrate its position that the war was a joke – particularly in the scene where Bob drunkenly watches George Bush give a disjointed speech on TV.

The film offers no resolution to the war and is a refreshing change to some of the more serious cinematic offerings of late. Although it may lack the dark political aspects of ‘Three Kings’ and ‘Dr. Strangelove’, it is still well worth a watch, even if it is just to see Clooney resemble a hairy Dave Grohl in the 80s flashbacks, or just to reminisce as you watch Bridges reprise his role as the Dude one more time.