David Chase’s Not Fade Away is already getting some very mixed notices, slightly getting buried under the weight of it being the first film from the creator of The Sopranos. It’s a very different beast to Chase’s TV show though, following a group of friends from suburban New Jersey in the 1960s who form a rock band and try to hit it big.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Not Fade Away, David Chase’s deeply felt love letter to the music of the Sixties, is a film about dreams that come true — and the ones that never do. For Chase, “It’s about anybody who has ever had a dream and about what it takes to actually realize that dream. Rock & roll is at the heart of the movie because for some of the characters, rock music is the gateway to transcendence, but it doesn’t end there.”

‘Traditionally, most rock & roll movies have focused on the agony and ecstasy of “making it” on a grand scale, usually with thousands of fans screaming in the background. As a rule, we witness some band of brothers’ rise and fall, then their crash and burn, and perhaps the eventual resurrection. As one might expect from a man best known as the creator of the groundbreaking television series The Sopranos, Not Fade Away is not your average rock & roll movie. Instead, this is an intimate, powerful, alternately painful and funny drama about coming of age and the sort of indelible memories — musical and otherwise — that end up making us who we are.’

The movie reaches the US on Friday, but not UK date is currently set.

Identity Thief looks like it could be very entertaining, and to try and get us excited for it March 1st release, a new trailer has been released.

Melissa McCarthy plays Diana, who has unlimited funds to live it up on the outskirts of Miami. There’s only one glitch: The ID she’s using to finance these sprees reads ‘Sandy Bigelow Patterson’ and it belongs to an accounts rep (Jason Bateman) who lives halfway across the US. With only one week to hunt down the con artist before his world implodes, the real Sandy Bigelow Patterson heads south to confront the woman with an all-access pass to his life. As he attempts to bribe, coax and wrangle her the 2,000 miles to Denver, one easy target will discover just how tough it is to get your name back.

The trailer suggests the film will allow McCarthy to really go wild, while Bateman can play up his trademark normal guy under extraordinary circumstances.

The title may sound like its giving everything away, but many are suggesting John Dies At The End is a cult classic in the making (just as Don Coscarelli’s previous movie, Bubba Ho-Tep did), and it certainly sounds intriguing. Now a new red band trailer has arrived via IGN for this comedy sci-fi horror.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘In JOHN DIES AT THE END, it’s all about the Soy Sauce, a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John (Rob Mayes) and David (Chase Williamson), a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can’t.

‘Adapted from David Wong’s audacious trans-genre horror novel, JOHN DIES AT THE END is written and directed by Don Coscarelli (BUBBA HO-TEP) and also stars Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman and Paul Giamatti.’

It’s due to reach the UK on March 22nd.

Last week we got an announcement teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness, and now comes a longer version, which offers more footage and further hints towards links to Wrath Of Khan – including Benedict Cumberbatch’s dialogue and the hand touching at the end – although whether than means Cumberbatch’s ‘John Harrison’ is really Khan still isn’t known.

Eagle-eyed viewers also spotted links to a viral site, AreYouThe1701.com. At the moment if you click on the link it simply allows you to sign up with your e-mail address and birthdate, and promises to ‘tell you when the search begins’. Hopefully more will be revealed soon.

Here’s the film’s synopsis: ‘In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness. When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

‘With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.’ 

Sam Worthington has gone back to Australia and gotten himself a wig (at least we hope it’s a wig) for the surf themes drama Drift. Myles Pollard and Xavier Samuel take the lead roles, with Worthington supporting.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Australia, 1970s. The Kelly brothers, Andy and Jimmy (Pollard and Samuel), have one great passion: riding big waves. As kids, their mother escaped from Sydney to Margaret River, a sleepy coastal town with some of the world’s most challenging and dangerous waves. For the next 12 years, the boys perfected their surfing skills, always searching for the perfect ride. Free-spirited Jimmy is a gifted surfer and innovator but he starts to slip toward a life of crime to help the family out of debt. Andy makes a big decision. Quitting a stable job, he bets on Jimmy’s surf inventions and his own business skills and launches a backyard surf gear business. They rethink board design, craft homemade wetsuits and sell their merchandise out of their van.

‘Encouraged by their new friends, travelling bohemian surf photographer and filmmaker JB (Sam Worthington) and his gorgeous Hawaiian surfer companion, Lani, who stirs the two brothers’ hearts, they start to seek ways to expand. After they get mixed up with a local drug dealer, it looks like everything they built up, will be ruined… Set in breathtaking locations and inspired by the true story of Australia’s legendary surfwear moguls, the film chronicles the rise of surf brands and the expansion of the laidback surf attitude as a global lifestyle. A story of passion and corruption, friendship and loyalty, deadly addictions and fractured relationships, DRIFT tells a tale of courage and the will to survive against all odds.’

It hits Aussie cinemas in 2013, but no UK release date has been set yet.

A couple of weeks ago we had a brief teaser for Smurfs 2 (which has since been removed), but now we’re getting our first proper look at the movie in this new trailer, which sees the little blue ones coming to Europe. And as you can see above, we’ve also got the first official pic of the Gargamel created ‘Naughties’, Vexy and Hackus.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘In this sequel to the hybrid live action/animated family blockbuster comedy The Smurfs, the evil wizard Gargamel creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. But when he discovers that only a real Smurf can give him what he wants — and only a secret spell that Smurfette knows can turn the Naughties into real Smurfs — Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and brings her to Paris, where he has been winning the adoration of millions as the world’s greatest sorcerer. It’s up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Vanity to return to our world, reunite with their human friends Patrick and Grace Winslow, and rescue her! Will Smurfette, who has always felt different from the other Smurfs, find a new connection with the Naughties Vexy and Hackus – or will the Smurfs convince her that their love for her is True Blue?’

The film hits cinemas July 31st 2013.