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Win What We Did On Our Holiday On Blu-ray! – David Tennant, Rosamund Pike & Billy Connolly star

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The comedy drama What We Did On Our Holiday is available on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK from 26th January, courtesy of Lionsgate UK. And we’ve teamed up with them to give away three Blu-ray copies in this competition.

The creators of Outnumbered bring further lively family dynamics to the screen with What We Did On Our Holiday. Doug (David Tennant), his wife Abi (Rosamund Pike) and their children visit the Scottish highlands to celebrate Doug’s father Gordie’s (Billy Connolly) 75th birthday. The couple intend to keep their impending divorce a secret from the unwell Gordie during their trip, but soon discover that with three quick-witted children in tow honesty might have to be the best policy.

With a sharp, semi-improvised script and scenes of real poignancy, What We Did On Our Holiday is an uplifting and irresistibly charming comedy-drama that’s guaranteed to warm your heart.

To be in with a chance of winning one of the three copies of What We Did On Our Holiday on Blu-ray that the we’ve got to give away, sign in to the site below (or click here to register) and answer the multiple choice question (see below for more details on how to enter). The competition closes on February 7th, 2015, so get answering and good luck!

HOW TO ENTER: This competition is open to all registered Movie Muser members who live in the UK. It’s free to register and obligation free, and once you’ve signed up to the site, you’ll be able to enter any other competitions we run, plus post comments, join in on the forum or even have your own film blog. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. If you’re already a member, sign in below and answer the multiple choice question in the grey box, click enter, and you’re done!

This competition closes at 11.59pm on February 7th, 2015. Competition open to UK residents aged 15 or over. (For general competition terms and conditions, privacy policy and site T&Cs, CLICK HERE)

The Prize Finder – UK Competitions

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Chiwetel Ejiofor Courted For Doctor Strange – He’s up for a major role

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It looks like the excellent Chiwetel Ejiofor may be joining the Marvel Universe, as THR reports that he’s being courted for a major role in Doctor Strange, although it’s not 100% what that role might be. It’s certainly not a done deal yet as they’re only in early talks, but it appears clear Marvel wants him to star alongside Benedict Cumberbatch’s title character.

The current speculation is that he’d play Doctor Strange’s mentor, the Ancient One, although it’s also possible he may be up for a more villainous role.

Scott Derrickson is set to direct the movie which follows the title character, Doctor Strange, who is a former neurosurgeon, a practicing sorcerer, and serves as the Sorcerer Supreme, the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats.

A July 8th, 2016 release date has been set.

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X-Men: Apocalypse Gets Its Jean Grey, Cyclops & Storm – In the form of Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan & Alexandra Shipp

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X-Men: Apocalypse is starting to pull its new mutants together – or at least the younger versions of some old mutants. It’s been known that for the last few months Bryan Singer and the other producers have been looking for their youthful Jean Grey, Cyclops and Storm.

Now they’ve found them, as Singer himself has revealed via Twitter, ‘Meet our new and brilliant young mutants: @Alexshipppp as #Storm @SophieT as #JeanGrey and @TyeSheridan as #Cyclops. #XmenApocalypse’

Deciphering that it means that Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) will play Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan (Joe) is starring as Cyclops and Alexandra Shipp (Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B) will take on Storm.

They will join the likes of Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult in the movie, who will be going up against Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse, an ancient mutant with extraordinary powers that dwarf those of most others. It will be set in the 1980s.

The film is due out May 2016.

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Win Draft Day On DVD! – The Kevin Costner movie to give away

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Just in time for Super Bowl Sunday on 1st February, Draft Day is available on DVD in the UK from 26th January, courtesy of Lionsgate UK. And we’ve teamed up with them to give away three copies in this compe.

In Draft Day, on the day of the NFL Draft (American Football), general manager Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner) has the opportunity to rebuild his team when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred on a life?changing day for a few hundred young men with dreams of playing in the NFL.

Draft Dayfeatures an all-star cast with Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Sean Combs, Frank Langella, Sam Elliot, Rosanna Arquette, Terry Crews, Tom Welling and Ellen Burstyn. Directed by the legendary Ivan Reitman.

As well as Terry Crews, former and current NFL players also feature, including: Deion Sanders, Alex Mack and Ray Lewis.

To be in with a chance of winning one of the three copies of Draft Day the we’ve got to give away, sign in to the site below (or click here to register) and answer the multiple choice question (see below for more details on how to enter). The competition closes on February 5th, 2015, so get answering and good luck!

HOW TO ENTER: This competition is open to all registered Movie Muser members who live in the UK. It’s free to register and obligation free, and once you’ve signed up to the site, you’ll be able to enter any other competitions we run, plus post comments, join in on the forum or even have your own film blog. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. If you’re already a member, sign in below and answer the multiple choice question in the grey box, click enter, and you’re done!

This competition closes at 11.59pm on February 5th, 2015. Competition open to UK residents aged 15 or over. (For general competition terms and conditions, privacy policy and site T&Cs, CLICK HERE)

The Prize Finder – UK Competitions

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Ex Machina – A great slice of smart, modern sci-fi

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Cinema has a long history of grappling with the big AI – Artificial Intelligence – question, and even sexy robots, which go back as far as Metropolis. So there is much to do if you want to say anything original and dramatic, but much to writer/director Alex Garland’s credit he pretty much pulls it off here, even if the double crosses at the finale become a little predictable.

The set up and execution are perfect. Domnhall Gleeson is a techie nerd who wins an office competition to meet the head honcho, Oscar Isaac, in his huge country estate. Isaac is a cross between Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, hugely wealthy and a control freak constantly working out to see off his many hangovers. His dream is to build a robot which passes the Turin test – that is, a machine that an unsuspecting person would believe to be human. However here’s the twist, he asks Gleeson to see if Ava (Alicia Vikander) passes the test even though she is clearly a robot, with see-through limbs and scaly metallic skin.

Gleeson suspects he is being used as an experiment just as much as Ava is, and he is right – Isaac has a devilish plan, but it is going to take much teasing out before it all comes to fruition. Meanwhile there is a fourth person in the plot, Isaac’s maid, a Japanese sex kitten who apparently doesn’t speak English. Is she being held as a slave too?

As Gleeson delves further into Ava’s psyche he starts to fall for her charms – after all, she is one sexy robot, with human eyes and lips and a soothing voice. He decides to plot to escape the huge estate with her, but with Isaac watching everything on screens that won’t be easy.

Garland has great fun here, both with the special effects and the set up, but he uses it to ask real questions about the speed that technology is advancing. We’ve seen this before in many films, most effectively Blade Runner to whom this owes a debt, but here it is more playful while retaining a real sense of menace. What happens when a man falls for a robot? Are we genetically set up to find certain types attractive or can it be input? Can you alter your feelings on the basis of personality alone? All these themes are explored satisfactorily, while woven into the script are references to Prometheus, Oppenheimer, but not Frankenstein for some reason.

An early exchange sets the tone between Gleeson and Isaac perfectly. The naive Gleeson mumbles something about ex machina, or ‘from the gods’ (the full idiom is ‘deus ex machina’, which means ‘gods from the machine’, a reference to how gods often came to sort out the plot and provide a conclusion in some Ancient Greek theatre), which effectively Isaac has done, and he takes the quote and runs with it – an ego out of control and dangerously on the brink.

The performances are pitch perfect, as Isaac finally puts his dead-eyed stare to good use and reveals a surprising sense of humour, previously well hidden. Gleeson is fine as the young geek, while Vikander gets away with her strange accent as she is a robot – who knows what accent they have? Her slow sexualisation, putting on clothes rather than taking them off and fantasising of a date on a traffic junction so that she can people watch, is brilliantly done and surprisingly moving.

Overall verdict: With a cracking twist at the end this is a film with a limited palette but which uses it to full effect. One of the best sci-fi films for ages, with a real emotional kick.

Reviewer: Mike Martin

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Zac Efron On For Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates – He’s getting his rom-com on once more

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Zac Efron is finally properly growing up and finding him niche in slightly bawdy comedies (after romances and drama didn’t quite help him shake his High School Musical image). After That Awkward Moment and Bad Neighbours, he’s now got a new one, as Variety reports he’s set to star in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.

Jake Szymanski is on board to direct the comedy, which ‘follows two brothers who place an online ad to find dates for a wedding and the ad goes viral’.

The people behind the movie are now looking for someone to play the brother, and it sounds like it’ll be a case of mismatched siblings, as Variety reports that they are ‘hopeful that this film has similar results as when Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy teamed up for The Heat’.

There’s no news on when it might shoot.

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