Movie Muser

After a false start where he said he wasn’t going to make The Hateful Eight due to a script leak, Quentin Tarantino’s film is in the can and heading for release at the end of the year. But what’s this return to the 19th Century American West like? Well, the first full trailer as arrived to give us a feel.

And who are the ‘eight’?: Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…’

This could be one of the films that will be reaping in the nominations come awards seasons, if its backers get their way. With a prime November US release planned, it’s main issue may be if Hollywood voters see it as too critical of their industry.

Now we get our first taste with a trailer.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘The successful career of 1940s screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) comes to a crushing end when he and other Hollywood figures are blacklisted for their political beliefs. TRUMBO (directed by Jay Roach) tells the story of his fight against the U.S. government and studio bosses in a war over words and freedom, which entangled everyone in Hollywood from Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) and John Wayne to Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger.’

That’s a roundabout way of saying that in 1947, Trumbo was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during their investigation into Communist influences in Hollywood. He refused to testify and ‘name names’, and subsequently became one of the ‘Hollywood 10? screenwriters who were blacklisted by the studio system.

However he continued to write under pen names, winning two Oscars in the 1950s under other names for Roman Holiday and The Brave One. When he was hired to write Spartacus, Kirk Douglas insisted he be allowed to do so under his own name, which helped put an end to blacklist once and for all.

Dad’s Army, the feature film based on the much-loved iconic British comedy, will be released in cinemas on February 5th 2016. Directed by BAFTA award-winning Oliver Parker, the film brings together a stellar, award-winning British cast and has been written for the big screen by Hamish McColl and produced by Damian Jones.

It is 1944 and World War II is reaching its climax. The Allies are poised to invade France and finally defeat the German army. But in Walmington-on-Sea morale amongst the Home Guard is low. Their new mission then – to patrol the Dover army base – is a great chance to revive spirits and reputation, that is until glamorous journalist Rose Winters arrives to write about their exploits, setting the pulses racing and putting the local women on red alert. MI5 then discover a radio signal sent direct to Berlin from Walmington-on-Sea. There’s a spy on the loose! The outcome of the war is suddenly at stake, and it falls to our unlikely heroes to stand up and be counted.

The film is due out in the UK February 2016.