Yesterday during lunch I had the pleasure of going along to the FDA State of the Art Cinema Poster Exhibition in Soho. To be honest the draw for me was the opportunity to hear ex - Producer Lord Puttnam talk about his experiences of film advertising over his vast career.

Coming from an advertising background, an original British Mad Man if you will, before producing  some of the best films to come out of Britain (Bugsy Malone, The Duellists, Midnight Express, Chariots of Fire, The Killing Fields to name a few) before eventually turning his hand to a top level career in public policy as well as sitting on many boards including Presidency of the Film Distributors Association.

I just got a heads up on this great opportunity for screenwriters to not only hone their writing skills in a one day masterclass from Gary Young (the writer of the Michael Caine starrer Harry Brown) but to network with other aspiring writers as well as established industry talent this Saturday May 18.

From the writer of the sensational and award winning ‘Harry Brown’ starring Michael Caine, Ben Drew a.k.a Plan B and Emily Mortimer. Gary Young brings you a detailed masterclass which covers the ‘Harry Brown’screenplay as a working draft.

Zack Snyder's Man of Steel will be in cinemas in just under one month on June 14, 2013. Back in 2009 Zack Snyder made it clear that he was interested in bringing the DC Universe to life when he brought Alan Moore's epic The Watchmen to screen.

Zack Snyder Watchmen Batman Easter Egg

In the titles scene Nite Owl interrupts a mugging outside a theatre, very similar to the Wayne family mugging that created the Batman, if that isn't enough for you look to the right, behind Nite Owl for confirmation.

Zack Snyder did an admirable job in bringing the unfilmable The Watchmen to screen but the challenge of making a Superman film for modern audiences cannot be underestimated as he is the greatest Superhero we have, not only does he have the most recognisable legacy but he is been in the public eye for the last 75 years making him a very known quantity.

Further to that, core to his values is the old fashioned American way. Something that puts him at a disadvantage when challenging ruthless opponents and jaded public opinion. But that is the very thing that makes Superman a superman.

Another challenge is Superman's all powerful super powers. How do you make them fit into our modern world in a nonsensical way and create tension around character that is seemingly invulnerable and omnipotent?

Well hopefully the pairing of Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan who revitalises Batman with his Dark Knight Trilogy seems perfect for Man of Steel. Both Nolan and Snyder understand and are masters of visual literacy and whilst Nolan brings an in-camera sense of credibility to his projects in line with modern audience expectations, Snyder has immense visual flair in making the impossible seem possible in a compelling and exciting way - so hopefully the pair are up to the challenge of bringing Superman back to the screen in an exciting fresh way. Below I take a closer look at the Man of Steel trailers for easter eggs and symbolism within the Superman mythos to see where Zack Snyder may be taking us.

Man of Steel Superman flies (Click to enlarge)

Is Dead Man Down a Nordic Noir influenced drama, or a slick action film? It's both - but I wish it wasn't. A couple of years ago I asked Noomi Rapace about the difference in styles between the two directors behind the adaptation of Stieg Larsson's  Millenium Trilogy, as part of her thoughts - she conveyed that it was sad that the original Director - Niels Arden Oplev didn't move forward with the sequels. I asked if she would work with him again - clearly a little surprised - she said "Yes, of course".

Well, with Dead Man Down Niels Arden Oplev the man behind the original Girl with The Dragon Tattoo reunites with Noomi Rapace for his first US feature film and the result leaves me happy they have.

Dead Man Down Film Poster

Did I ever tell you about the time I was invited to Jeff Chang's Birthday Party? It seems like months since I saw 21 & Over or 21 and Over as it is known in the UK and I don't remember much about the night I saw it.

Thinking back all I can really remember is that it all started with a facebook invite to Jeff Chang's 21st Birthday. Nice touch and amongst the best invites I have ever received for a screening.

21 and Over Jeff Chang's Birthday Party

This invite has only beaten by seriously fancy gold inlaid invites and the Looper screening invite also from the team over at Entertainment One - look the invite was mind blowing but in an industry based around entertainment  oddly very little care or attention is placed on the more tactile elements and eOne put some effort into and I for one appreciate it.

This led to possibly one of the best screenings I have ever been to - in theme - with overflowing Pizza tables, beer on tap and drinking games. Yes drinking games like beer pong. Outstanding! It was like my college years all over again.

I don't usually post about clips but if you are a Martial Arts fan thes 5 new clips from Dragon are pretty damn awesome and really give you a feel of what to expect from the film. Be warned they are also incredibly spoilery as well though so I have not gone into any detail of what is going as they are self explanatory given the official synopsis below.

Dragon fits in somewhere between Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes and the best Martial Arts film you ever seen with breathtaking choreography and decent performances to boot. I would be very surprised if a better Martial Arts film is released in 2013.

Dragon Film Poster (Click to enlarge)

Liu Jin-xi (Donnie Yen) is a village craftsman whose quiet life is irrevocably shattered by the arrival of two notorious gangsters in the local general store. When Liu single-handedly saves the shopkeeper’s life, he comes under investigation by detective Xu Bai-jiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Convinced that Liu’s martial arts mastery belies a hidden history of training by one of the region’s vicious clans, Xu doggedly pursues the shy hero—and draws the attention of China’s criminal underworld in the process.

After watching this trailer you'll need a shower as you see James McAvoy as never before. Things get dirty - real dirty.

Currently you can see James McAvoy in Danny Boyle's Trance or on the still very much  sold out London stage at Trafalgar Studios as William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Both of these performances seem to pale in comparison to his next role as Bruce Robertson in Jon S. Baird's Filth.

Based on the novel from acclaimed author Irvine Welsh the man behind Trainspotting, The Acid House and most recently Ecstasy. So you pretty much know what to expect from Filth. Wrong! Things get even dirtier as  Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) climbs to the top (or falls to the bottom).

I haven't seen Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem, but I am looking forward to it. Just the other day after seeing Evil Dead I was thinking about the state of American Horror films. And one of the names that came to mind as an accomplished filmmaker bringing some originality to well used horror tropes - is Rob Zombie.

Rob Zombie returns spectacularly to form with The Lords of Salem which hits DVD on 22 April 2013. The film is an ode to 1970s horror cinema and is visually and aurally stunning! To celebrate the film's release we have a copy to giveaway to one lucky winner

I rate both his first features House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects as really well made and decent additions to the extreme horror genre. I may not have enjoyed his ambitious Halloween films;  Halloween and Halloween II as much - but I respected what he was attempting to achieve with them.

Rather than just making weak carbon copies of the films, like so many others have attempted and failed miserably (including the sequels after the second) he made them his own and brought both depth and an original take on the well worn tales.

Having said that I know I'll re-watch them again at some point to see if I enjoy them more. There are many remakes and sequels that I curse myself for attempting to watch once, never mind a second viewing.

So I am hoping that The Lords of Salem is a decent watch and he brings some interesting ideas to the fore in his tale centered a young former drug user and has to presumably involve witchcraft given the title and imagery in the trailer.

The Lords of Salem poster (Click to enlarge)

To be honest I don't have a whole lot to say about Iron Man 3. As you have by now heard it is an immense amount of fun, a rip roaring yarn and its quick fire wit will have you smiling the whole way through. It is a fitting end to the Iron Man 3 trilogy and genuinely entertaining but it's not perfect - it has Stan Lee's shortest blink-and-you'll-miss him cameo, there is no Black Sabbath Iron Man playing on the soundtrack, not even a rif and worst of all it doesn't have Hulk smashing anything. Oh and it is instantly forgettable.

Marvel's Iron Man 3 is the first huge blockbuster out of the gate for 2013 and marks the official beginning of the UK Summer (of film, that is) which is ram packed with comedy, superheroes, action, romance and drama. Which pretty much sums up Shane Black's Iron Man 3.

However if you insist on more - read on. I was one of the fortunate few who got to see Iron Man 3 ahead of its release and as a longtime comic reader I have to say it was a pleasure to watch.

Going in to see the first Iron Man I had little expectation and it absolutely blew me away with its well crafted high entertainment factor and completely energised me with regards to comic to screen adaptations. Sure it had an incredibly lame villain but- up until then comic to film adaptations were pretty much hit or miss and the best adaptations we had were fairly dark and adult - but Iron Man changed the game and opened up a new way of doing things. Balancing humorous charm with high action.

They made a film that above all else, perfectly captured the experience from my youth of reading a comic (just better) and to be honest there were moments when I was taken right out of the film to stop, take a moment to look around and think:

I'm sitting here, in a cinema, watching a film based on a world that I spent a lot of time visiting as a kid. And everyone in the cinema is enjoying that world as much as I did/do.

It was a great shared experience and a day I never thought would come.

Iron Man 3 Fan Boy Poster (Click to enlarge)

American horror has had a tough time of it of late, for a genre based around scaring people it is constantly being shoehorned into the lucrative but tame family entertainment market - which kind of shoots itself in the foot.

But every once in awhile a film comes along that breaks all the rules, thinks out the puzzle box and eschews the demographics to tell a story in an exciting and original way of how the unknown, with hidden rationale and motivations relentlessly inflicts unreasonable amounts of punishment upon its victims  - leaving  you the viewer feeling as if you have  just been dragged through a thorny bush and once its over you are relieved to be on the other side. And whilst there will always be an argument for horror being about ideas which are infinitely more scary than a visual  bloodletting, but it is my experience that it is actually the combination of the two that makes those rare great horror films.

You know the kind of film I am talking about Sir Ridley Scott does, John Carpenter does, Clive Barker does, Neil Marshall does,  Tobe Hooper does, Hideo Nakata does, Wes Craven does, Alexandre Aja does (most of the time), David Moreau & Xavier Palud do, Pascal Laugier does, Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez do and Sam Raimi does, but does Fede Alvarez the Director of the Evil Dead 2013?

Evil Dead 2013 Poster (Click to enlarge)

I was absolutely and unequivocally blown away by Rebellion or L'ordre et la morale  as it is known in France. I saw it a while back but was so incredibly taken with Auteur Mathieu Kassovitz's engaging narrative - of a crack hostage negotiations team send to the island paradise of New Caledonia to sort out a native uprising - I wondered why none of his other recent films stuck in my mind with such impact or level of brilliance, he has after all been  been making a film every 3 years or so since he started. So to gain some context for his style and to frame my thoughts appropriately I went on an odyssey of Kassovitz and rewatched as many of his previous films as I could get hold of.

As a side note I recently have had  the opportunity to chat with Mathieu Kassovitz and he goes some of the way in  relaying why he isn't outputting films of the same level as Rebellion every couple of years - more about that later.

Mathieu Kassovitz's Rebellion Film  Poster (Click to enlarge)

It’s April 1988 on the Ouvéa Island in the French colony of New Caledonia. 30 police are kidnapped by Kanak separatists and in response 300 special-forces operatives are sent in to restore order. To avoid unnecessary conflict, Philippe Legorjus (Mathieu Kassovitz), the captain of an elite counter-terrorism police unit, is sent in to the heart of the rebel base to negotiate a peaceful solution. But against the highly pressured backdrop of presidential elections in France, the stakes are high and all bets are off.
Mathieu Kassovitz (La Haine) makes a powerful comeback in front of and behind the camera with this violent thriller, based on true events.

Accident starts with a car crash, we don't see the crash, only hear it and then see the aftermath. This powerful opening sets the metaphoric tone for what we can expect from Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter's masterpiece.  I recently had the privilege of re-watching the remastered 50th Anniversary edition of Pinter and Losey's first film the sublime The Servant which is noted as pioneering British Art House Cinema but with their second collaboration Accident it really feels as if they hit their stride.

Whilst The Servant took a look behind the closed doors of the inner workings of a dysfunctional and twisted relationship between James Fox's young aristocrat and his valet played by Dirk Bogarde. In many respects Accident is similar and explores correlated issues but is broader and more complex in scope, yet leave the feeling that in Pinter and Losey's world all men are fallible no matter their station or how noble their vocational pursuits. It is never fair to compare one film to another but I find that here it gives context to Losey and Pinter's working relationship and style of filmmaking - as Accident feels more polished, less extreme and a more fleshed out dramatic piece.

Accident Film Poster (Click to enlarge)

Superman Man of Steel will be in UK cinemas in under 2 months and as Spring sets in the marketing campaign for the Summer blockbuster releases is ramping up, with the first signs of life coming via a Viral campaign wherein General Zod (Michael Shannon) has contacted earth via a static transmission looking for one of his citizens Kal-El. This led us to a site (http://www.iwillfindhim.com/) which was counting down to something.

Using the glyph clues on http://www.dsrwproject.com/ we have worked out that the deadline in line with General Zod's warning will end at around 1:15am British time. We are hoping that this was the reveal of the first full Man of Steel Trailer after its debut at Cinema Con - well see for yourself below. I will be doing a full analysis of the trailer shortly. can be found here: http://www.theestablishingshot.com/2013/05/man-of-steel-trailer-analysis-its-epic.html

We can expect to see Zack Snyder's Man of Steel in UK cinemas from 14 June, 2013. In the meantime below I'll be updating this post with all the official news you need to know about Man of Steel.

Superman may be the most recognisable and famous comic character of all time - but this works against him when trying to bring him to screen as everyone knows bits of the story already. He is also the most powerful character in comics making him unstoppable so how do create the dramatic tension of a threat when you are invulnerable?

Hopefully Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer have turned this weakness into a strength in updating Superman and Producer Christopher Nolan has learnt a thing or two to contribute from across The Dark Knight Trilogy and using our expectations to their advantage to bring Superman back into popular culture and placing him where he needs to front and centre.

From Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures comes Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill  in the role of Clark Kent/Superman, under the direction of Zack Snyder.

A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth.  As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do.  But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.

Man of Steel Poster  (Click to enlarge)

In cinemas nationwide from today is the BAFTA SHORTS 2013 selection. A feature-length (105 minutes) compilation of 7 short live action and animated films from the EE British Academy Film Awards that will be touring the UK and showing at select cinemas.

After watching the 105 minute compilation I can highly recommend that you try get into a screening of the BAFTA SHORTS 2013 showcase as it is a chance to see stunning early work from filmmakers that will surely be the stars of tomorrow, given the high quality of the these 7 shorts.

A couple of months ago when I went in to see Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond The Pines I thought I had a notion of what to expect - the bits and pieces that I had seen alluded to Ryan Gosling seemingly performing a variation on his brooding driver role from Drive (switching to a bike and driving around small town rather than a neon lit L.A.) going up against Bradley Cooper's policeman. The Place Beyond The Pines starts somewhere close to my expectations before breaking ground and heading somewhere much, much bigger. The Place Beyond The Pines is a sweepingly beautiful and haunting slice of Americana storytelling. After a tense and melodramatic journey it had my inner child cheering through my misty eyes. The Place Beyond The Pines is a touching piece of filmmaking so much so that I was still thinking about moments from the film and how it all fit together long after seeing it.

Inspired by The Facility, this year Fetch Publicity are teaming up with eOne Momentum and SCI-FI-LONDON to challenge all you budding filmmakers and genre enthusiasts to cut their own trailer for the new and exciting British Sci-Fi film The Facility!

THE SCI-FI-LONDON TRAILER CUTTING CHALLENGE!
To enter head over to http://www.sci-fi-london.com/trailer-challenge download from the selection of clips and music cuts from the The Facility film and make your own trailer to entice people to see The Facility and upload to 

Even though it is the comic reader's preferred comics and genre magazine you may not have heard of TRIPWIRE, as they play it fairly low key - run by passionate people (mainly Joel Meadows ) and focusing on bringing great articles and insightful editorial to the fore rather than banging on about how great they are and inundating your social media presence with constant messaging.

I was fortunate enough to acquire a copy of TRIPWIRE X10 their 10th Anniversary edition full of engaging insight, relevant discussion with comic writers and artists as well as glorious artwork signed by some comic greats - it has taken pride of place in my collection. Flash forward 11 years and TRIPWIRE are gearing up for a TRIPWIRE 21st anniversary book and looking for some crowdsourced funding to get the book into production  (there's 4 days left and they are at 65%). Now this might be the most selfish post I have ever written as I plead you to please head over to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/154246759/tripwire-21st-anniversary and make a pledge because  I really want TRIPWIRE 21.

Tripwire X10 1992 - 2002 10 Years of Tripwire

Mathieu Kassovitz may have exploded onto the scene with his controversial 1995 film Le Haine or The Hate that set the film world alight, since then he has got to tangle with Hollywood mainstream as well as carve a respectable acting career out for himself, thankfully he is back covering similar ground to Le Haine both in front and behind the camera with his captivating and outstanding 7th feature film Rebellion.

I had the pleasure of seeing Rebellion a couple of months and have to say it absolutely blew me away and is currently my favourite film of 2013. Since seeing Rebellion I embarked on a voyage of Kassovitz and have tried to track down all of his film to see what I have been missing since Le Haine more about that later though.

Mathieu Kassovitz's Rebellion Poster (Click to enlarge)

Entertaining Mr Sloane is not typically the kind of film I would select for viewing but if travelling to the country of someone else's imagination won't break down barriers of consciousness and broaden horizons I don't know what will. Also it was part of Studio Canal's batch of re-releases that included must sees like Joseph Losey's The Servant and the outstanding Accident.

Rounding out Studio Canal's releases this week will be the DVD release of Entertaining Mr Sloane  the film version of Joe Orton's black comedy starring Harry Andrews and Beryl Reed, focusing on the brother and sister pairing who become involved and increasingly infatuated with the sexy young amoral drifter with a mysterious past. The DVD features a new extra of Joe Orton's last ever chat show appearance, recorded a few months before his tragic death.

Entertaining Mr Sloane Poster

Joseph Losey's 1963 dark and ambiguous psychological drama The Servant is to be released onto DVD and Blu-ray Monday 8 April, so I thought it was high time to create a post about one of the iconic film locations of the 60s - the house at the centre of the power struggle between James Fox's upperclassman Tony and Dirk Bogarde's The Servant. Some thought on the 50th Anniversary restored re release of The Servant can be found here!


The creative partnership between Director Joseph Losey and Writer Harold Pinter heralded in a new era of  British Art Cinema and it started with their first collaboration  The Servant.

The story of The Servant is delivered through a taut battle of wills and seduction between two men on either side of the class barrier. Most of the film is set in Aristocrat Tony's (James Fox) Townhouse which becomes a metaphor for the mental state of Tony has he slowly spirals downward, the field of battle between the wills of the men as well as the prize of victory for the winner. Granted it is a very one sided battle that will leave one of the men in a state of disorder.

Looking at the Townhouse that served for the location you would never guess the depth of the cinematic battle that place beyond its facade.

Goodbye Uncle Monty. Uncle Monty's London pad is about 5 minutes from me and I pass nearby regularly if not daily. But something always gets in the way of me posting about it - however its timing  now makes a fitting goodbye to Uncle Monty or rather the man who brought him to life so wonderfully - Richard Griffiths OBE.

Of course, one role does not make or tell the story of the man who brought almost a 100 memorable and colourful characters to life in cinemas, on TV as well as on stage. Despite an illustrious career spanning 5 decades and  roles in films like; Milos Forman's Ragtime, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Hugh Hudson's Chariots of Fire, Superman II, Gandhi,The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,  Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Martin Scorsese's Hugo, the role that brought him to a new generation as Uncle Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter series and seeing him recently on stage with Danny Devito in The Sunshine Boys.

Daniel Craig & Rachel Weisz may be playing an on stage couple in a Broadway production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal shortly but 50 years ago he adapted Robin Maugham's The Servant with Joseph Losey to break new ground in British cinema. To be honest this review may have read slightly differently had I not watched the upcoming re-release of Joseph Losey & Harold Pinter's Accident shortly after The Servant and gained some further insight into Losey's works - when collaborating with Harold Pinter, Joseph Losey shines, the man is an artist.

I am not overly familiar with Joseph Losey's works apart from of course, the brilliance of The Servant which I chased down early, being an aficionado of Dirk Bogarde's acting. I have always held his performance as the homme fatale and the eponymous servant Barrett in high esteem along with some of his other brave performances in films like; Death in Venice and The Night Porter, roles with depth that he took on after shaking off his mainstream matinee idol image he gained with his previous crowd pleasing films and his performance in The Servant is one of his finest. My understanding is that Losey's partnership with Harold Pinter gave birth to Losey taking creative control of his works and creating some of the best films of his career and The Servant is the first of them.

The Servant Film Poster

My friend Jack Mantis has got himself involved in another madcap adventure and this time he is looking for fellow adventurers to join him sail across the Atlantic Ocean on an expected 25 day trip from Cape Town to The Mouth of the Amazon in Brazil.

I don't have a whole of info or details but it looks like renowned Musician and Graffiti Artist Jack Mantis has joined documentary film maker The Modern Aquatic Voyager - Daniel Poulson & his daughter Sasha on their round the journey, trip for the Cape Town - Brazil leg. And they are now looking for able bodied adventurers to join them crossing the Atlantic leaving from Cape Town on 1 June, 2013 passing through ! St Helena and Ascension Island before completing the journey at the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil.

Project Amazon

Spring is almost here and that means the Movie Preview Guide have released their essential Easter & May Holiday edition guides to help guide you to the cinemas to see your favourite films. The guides are quick and easy to read, produced regularly and covers all the upcoming releases in the Film Distributors Association catalogue.  You can download a copy over at http://www.moviepreviewnetwork.com/ as well as browse information on upcoming releases, plan your trips to the cinema as well as book film tickets.

To make things easier I combined the Movie Preview Guide Easter & Bank Holiday Editions into one easy to digest bumper post covering your viewing pleasure until the Movie Preview Guide Summer Edition is released.

Below I cover upcoming releases for the remainder of March, April and some of May. I have also included The Establishing Shot's recommendations (of course) as well as films we are anticipating - so whether you are looking for Easter Family Films, Action & Adventure, Big Laughs, Music & Dance, Thrills & Chills, Romance, to be gripped  & engaged or Moved by Real Life Stories - we've got you covered.

Bravo to Pierre-Alexandre Chauvat and Sylvain Denis for putting this little gem together. They have taken a whole lot of Bruce Willis films and mashed them up with films from Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Terry Gilliam and Michael Mann films amongst others. To create a 10 minute short in which Everyone wants to kill Bruce ... Willis. By everyone I mean everyone from Al Pacino through to Kurt Russel as well as a host of other faces. Of course Bruce doesn't take this sitting down and jumps into action all skool style.

How many faces and films can you recognise?

In all honesty Pierre and Sylvain's this 10 minute short is wonderfully edited both on the visual and audo fronts as well is better than Willis's last couple of films.

Everybody Wants To Kill Bruce

The Wolverine trailer is expected to be unleashed at 1pm today so I thought I would put some thoughts to paper on the bits we have seen so far, that I am sure could be extrapolated into understanding the the full trailer and what can be expected from The Wolverine.

James Mangold released teaser trailer onto Vine a couple of days ago it may only be 6 seconds long but it offers a wealth of information about The Wolverine. All our Wolverine updates can be found here: http://www.theestablishingshot.com/2013/03/on-our-radar-wolverine-all-updates.html including the new The Wolverine Trailer.

NEW The Wolverine Poster (Click to enlarge)

Before that here is some context to frame The Wolverine that like me you may have missed or werent interested enough to follow. Last October Wolverine Director James Mangold and star Hugh Jackman spoke with Marvel's Agent_M (Ryan Penagos) and let us know the following key points


OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE WOLVERINE
Hugh Jackman - The Wolverine felt different and fresh from development through to shooting and he knows the fans are going to be surprised and dig it.

I'm guessing that Hugh Jackman is talking about his fans,the afternoon matinee screen idol fans rather than fans of the comic character The Wolverine as he pretty much said the same thing for X-Men Origins: Wolverine as he toured the world promoting the hell out of the worst comic book adaptation in years. In all honesty the team have got a lot of work to do to turnaround the damage caused by X-Men Origins: Wolverine. 

Or do they? X-Men Origins: Wolverine was reportedly made for £99 Million and had takings of around £250 Million 252% Return, placing it financially below Batman Forever (£53 vs £176 Million - 332% Return) but ahead of the far superior X-Men: First Class (£105.5 vs £233 Million - 221% Return). Don't hate me I'm just the messenger.

But things get interesting and promising from here out!

This months Terracotta Film Club film is the seriously kick ass Chocolate to the legendary, Home of Cult Film in London - The Prince Charles Cinema.

To mark National Women's History Month 2013 and in advance of Autism Awareness month in April, ‘Terracotta Film Club’ brings CHOCOLATE a film by the director of ONG BAK fame, in which a young autistic heroine learns martial arts from watching TV.

This screening follows the success of the first two editions which overviewed Hong Kong cinema with Jackie Chan’s classic POLICE STORY and contemporary comedy VULGARIA by Pang Ho-Cheung.

‘Terracotta Film Club’ is proud to introduce this stand out film from Thailand, another Asian country with a rich and diverse cinema industry.

Directed by Prachya Pinkaew, choreographed by stunt coordinator Panna Rittikrai and a stunning debut from JeeJa Yanin, this no stunt-double martial arts action flick is one of the best and craziest fight films from the last decade.

Chocolate Film Poster starring  JeeJa Yanin

We can expect to see James Mangold's The Wolverine in UK cinemas on 26 July, 2013 In the meantime here are all the updates you need for The Wolverine.

As with many comic readers The Wolverine was a favourite character of mine along with Angel aka Archangel, Banshee, Iceman and Colossus. His particular brand of rogue ferocity and mysterious background made him a firm favourite as he is often ranked in the top comic character polls. Introduced as a plucky feral warrior who goes up against both the Hulk and Wendigo at the same time in 1974 he only got his own ongoing comic series in 1988 thanks to Chris Claremont and John Buscema.

Since then he has had some great highlights as he slashed and bashed his through the Marvel universe and his mysterious origin was teased at and slowly unravelled over the almost 3 decades he had been in print till then. He has also had some low points accumulating in X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009 which set Wolverine back as well as comic book films a couple of steps.

Wolverine has one of the most interesting albeit clichéd and convoluted back stories of almost any comic character, he has 130 years of combat experience including military and martial arts training, a feral animal instinct, super healing powers, an almost indestructible adamantium skeleton and an almost unmatchable *cough Hulk* berserker rage. He is the dark reflection of Captain America's Super Soldier with better physical enhancements. This should all add up to one of the most kick ass comic characters on screen. Yet Hugh Jackman keeps trying to play the basically he's a good guy card to soon every time trying to equate him to the 1977 version of Superman which would be mind blowingly awesome, if it was 1977. Wolverine isn't Superman and when stop trying to turn him into Superman on screen they'll engage audiences.

Hugh Jackman is a very talented and pleasant man but seems to miss that we are waiting for the Wolverine that the comics have led us to - an unreasoning feral bad ass.  The closest we have seen the Wolverine's spirit captured on on screen was in Pitch Black where Vin Diesel plays an animalistic warrior out for himself as well as this little gem cameo from X-Men: First Class where Logan rejects Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr's offer to join there class which you can see here: http://youtu.be/lvHI7IQmK4Q

But I am ever hopeful that between James Mangold and Hugh Jackman they create some movie magic and take this opportunity to bring The Wolverine to screen in either a way that is closer to The Wolverine the fans envision or exceed our expectations in the same way Marvel has with their other comic character films.

Based on the celebrated comic book arc, The Wolverine finds Logan, the eternal warrior and outsider, in Japan. There, samurai steel will clash with adamantium claw as Logan confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed.

In modern day Japan, Wolverine is out of his depth in an unknown world as he faces his ultimate nemesis in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality, emerging more powerful than we have ever seen him before.