Who should be cast as Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider reboot ?

Here’s a few female actors I think would fit the role of Lara Croft in the rumored “Tomb Raider” movie reboot. I have a mix of younger and older actresses as the games have featured Lara at different ages in her life. It is unknown which direction the movies will go.

Rihannon Fish

The “Home and Away” actress would definitely fit the younger version of Lara from the latest Ps3 game. She has the look and is a likable screen presence. Whether she could handle the action scenes is unknown.

Lyndsy Fonseca

She is known for her roles in “Kick Ass”, “How I Met Your Mother” and “Nikita”. Nikita proves that she can really kick ass and also shows she’s a terrific actress. She would also be a candidate for the younger Lara.

Olivia Wilde

She has been in several action movies such as “Tron Legacy”, “Cowboys and Aliens” and “In Time”.Obviously she looks the part but she’s crucially a really good actress and would suit a middle aged Lara.

Kate Beckinsale

Maybe the most obvious pick of the lot. Beckinsale is an action icon because of her role in the “Underworld” movies. She is also English she will have no bother with the English accent.

Emilia Clarke

The Games Of Thrones poster girl would get most peoples vote. She is most certainly a fanboy favorite and would definitely suit the role of Lara perfectly. Like Kate she is English born which makes her all the more perfect.

Top 5 Worst Movies of 2012

1. The Darkest Hour

2. Ghost Rider 2

3. Chernobyl Diaries

4. Paranormal Activity 4

5. Red Lights

Top 10 Movies of 2012

1. The Hobbit

2. The Dark Knight Rises

3. The Avengers

4. Looper

5. Argo

6. Rock of Ages

7. Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

8. Skyfall

9. Expendables 2

10. Cabin In the Woods

Top 5 TV Shows of 2012

1.

Person Of Interest

Person Of Interest looks familiar from a glance but there’s no show on TV at the moment that is as exciting as it. It follows two anonymous heroes who save the lives of everyday people who are in grave danger. A machine that is connected to all the surveillance cameras in New York has the ability to flag a person who is either in danger or about to cause harm to someone.

2.

Blue Bloods 

Cop shows are everywhere and most of them are either completely unremarkable or mind numbingly boring. Blue Bloods is a cut above the rest because of its stellar cast and its tendency to focus more on characters rather than the case of the week. Tom Selleck is terrific in the lead role and always delivers a fine performance.

3.

Dexter

Dexter has not been at it’s best since season 5 but this year was a solid season full of great guest stars (Ray Stevenson in particular). The shows needs to more risky and while this season was very entertaining it lacked the big moments that made the first 4 seasons classics.

4.

 Awake

Awake didn’t make to its second season but thankfully season one ended with everything tied up (well mostly). The show had the superb Jason Isaacs (Hello to Jason Isaacs by the way), Steve Harris and the beautiful Daniela Bobadilla. It started slowly and at first glance seemed to be just another cop show but with an interesting little twist. As the show progressed however, it grew into a very powerful and exciting tale that deserved more recognition.

5.

The Killing

Truth be told I was really annoyed at the end of Season 1 because it didn’t give us the closure we deserved. Season 2 somehow made the mysterious still relevant and it built to a very tense and tear jerking finale.

Looper – Movie Review

The sign that a movie is really good is when it gets an audible reaction from the audience in the cinema. Comedies should make people laugh out loud, horror movies should make people scream in terror and sci-fi/ action movies should make people jump in joy at the unfolding action is. There was lots of gasps and audible remarks from the highly entertained people sitting in to see Looper when I seen it.

In 2074, the mob gets rid of people by sending them 30 years into the past, where a hired hit-man kills them. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of those hit-men and he is very good at what he does. Things start to spiral out of control though when Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time to be killed by himself. When Joe fails to kill his older self, things get really ugly.

Explaining Looper is pretty darn tough as you can tell from my attempted explanation above. While I watched Looper I figured I understood what was happening but when I thought about it more extensively I found myself getting confused by the time travel implications. Complexity aside I have to say that Looper is probably one of the best movies of 2012.

Looper’s plot tries to surprise the audience at every turn. The movie starts out very dark, slow-paced and stylized, it then amps up the action and violence to 11. The film’s last third could never have been predicted when the movie started and it sees the appearance of the lovely Emily Blunt which is always good. If I had to compare Looper to just one movie it would be Terminator. The race to assassinate people before they do things they haven’t actually done yet is a big part of this story. We also have the protector and the killer going head to head like Arnie vs Robert Patrick. The film also has elements of  The Adjustment Bureau, Repo Men and even Minority Report to some extent.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is terrific in the lead, showing that he really is a big time movie star now. He has the acting chops as-well as the charm to get the audience on his side. His makeup on this movie however was thoroughly pointless and just served to distract me from the story. Their intention was to make him look like Bruce Willis but it just looks really strange. Willis isn’t in the film as much as Levitt but his performance here is the best thing he’s done in a long time. Willis is a fine actor and he really has an interesting character to work with here.

Looper will shock you, excite you and generally entertain you from start to finish.  It’s a sci-fi movie that has great ideas and wants to have fun while executing those ideas and believe me it succeeds in every department (except the make up department).

RATING: 5/5

Arrow: Season 1. Pilot – Review

Superheroes haven’t flourished on TV like they have on the big screen. Last year’s show The Cape was poorly acted, scripted and was met with little fan fair. Alphas and Heroes were much better but even they lacked the real joy of a superhero doing his thing. Arrow is loosely based on the DC comic-book character Green Arrow and although it isn’t anything we haven’t seen before it does have lots of potential.

Our main guy Oliver Queen is a rich schmuck who only cares about himself, but when he gets stranded on an island after his cruise ship sinks, he returns a very different guy. We’re not really sure what happened to him on the island but as the episode progresses we see that he has had a wake up call.

Arrow is well acted and although Stephen Amell doesn’t show lots of range he’s believable in his transition from selfish rich guy to potential superhero. The CGI and action are top-notch for a TV show, which will really work in the show’s favor. Although The Cape had many problems, its most glaring one was its poor visual effects. A superhero movie or TV show needs to have solid effects if it expects the audience to go along with proceedings.

The show also ends with a rather interesting last scene that sets up what could be an interesting season. The show will most likely be more procedural in many episodes, but as long as the show doesn’t rely on police investigating murders/crimes this shouldn’t be an issue. I for one am tired of shows with main characters being a members of the FBI, CIA, CBI or whatever. The world doesn’t need anymore shows based around cops investigating crimes, we want to see men in spandex punching people in the face.

The Expendables 2 – Movie Review

The only proper way to review an Expendables movie is measuring how much you had fun with it. I enjoyed the first movie but felt like I’d seen the best bits in the trailers and although the first movie may be superior in many respects to the second movie, Expendables 2 is lighter and more entertaining.

The team goes toe to toe with Jean-Claude Van Damme’s terrorist who got has got his hands on some weapons grade plutonium. Add in the fact that Van Damme has killed a member of Stallone’s team, revenge is on the menu for sure.

The problem with both Expendables movies is that they’re not nearly as fun as they could be, but Expendables 2 has brief moments of brilliance. Such as  Arnie’s reveal at the start and the entrance of Chuck Norris who blasts his way into the movie like the legend he is.

The tone of the movie is all over the place for the most part. It begins like a throwaway action movie then it verges into Rambo 4 type seriousness territory and then it veers into a parody of sorts. The parody elements however are where the film excels.

Seeing Bruce Willis and Arnie share one liners is terrific stuff and had the film done more with these exchanges between its stars it would have been a much better film. Arnie, Willis and Norris aren’t in the movie all that much and its a shame as they’re what people want to see.

I enjoyed the second Expendables movie a lot but wished it had tried that little bit harder to be more memorable. It must be said though, that Jean Claude Van Damme is also pretty impressive in this, his fight with Stallone at the end is well executed.

RATING: 4 / 5

Dexter: Season 7 Episode 2 – Review

The problem with most TV shows is that they aren’t prepared to take risks. Dexter has always had a formula for each season but you can’t say it hasn’t made massive plot moves.

Episode 2 handles Debra’s reaction to finding out her brother is a serial killer. In the season premiere, she gets flashbacks from Season 1 were Dexter saved Debra from Rudy. She seems to be disgusted by Dexter, but still ready to try to help him. Dexter moves in with Debra so she can keep an eye on him. This move will ultimately shape the rest of season.

The villain of the season Ray Stevenson is not happy that one his guy has gone missing but he hasn’t found out that Dexter was the one that killed him. Stevenson gets violent with traitor and cements the fact that he is someone you don’t want to mess with. The other side stories outside the Dexter/Debra saga were not that memorable.

A side plot with a prisoner who is helping the police find dead bodies, served to do nothing but allow some strange bonding between him and Dexter. That side plot was given a rather sudden and violent end proving that Dexter may be stuck with the dark passenger forever.

It was a solid episode that ended with a very enticing sneak preview for episode 3.

Dexter: Season 7 Episode 1 – Review

The aftertaste of Dexter season 6 was mixed. It overall was the weakest season of Dexter but it also had one of the biggest twists/developments in the show so far. (SPOILERS AHEAD)

Debra found her brother stabbing the villain of the season right in the heart. Dexter’s secret was finally exposed to his sister and her reaction would no doubt be the driving force of season 7. Episode one of season 7 was very solid but slightly predictable, but maybe that’s because the trailer gave too much away. Debra’s reaction was well handled initially but it did feel like she calmed down rather quickly. In defense of this, she has gone through lots of terrible things in the past 6 seasons so her understanding the mind-set of a serial killer was somewhat plausible.

Elsewhere the new villain of the season is played by Ray Stevenson, he’s a powerful mob boss who will become an important character as the season progresses no doubt. Stevenson is terrific actor and his casting is genius. La Guerta wasn’t in the episode too much but the importance of her finding the blood slide at the crime scene could cause major problems for Dexter.

The final scene of the episode pushed the Dexter/Debra relationship to breaking point as Debra’s paranoia led her to find Dexter’s bloods slides. She asks her brother if he indeed is a serial killer, and he answers yes. A superbly handled scene that is another big milestone in the show that no one will forget.

A solid start to what could be Dexter’s last season of freedom.

Movie Trailer Alert – A Good Day To Die Hard