Film

Today's MPAA bulletin includes ratings for Only God Forgives and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.

Ryan Gosling's new film Only God Forgives is a beautiful disaster, says Robbie Collin.

The end of the world is coming and if Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost et al have any say in the matter we'll all be too drunk to notice. Yup, the third collaboration from the team behind Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz is on the way and on the heels of the recent UK trailer there is now also a new - and very much different - US trailer to entice you.Twenty years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hellbent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by mate Gary King, a 40-year-old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

They can remember it for you wholesale, and they do. At some point, we licensed our pop cultural nostalgia to a handful of multinational conglomerates (well, to be fair, they always owned the licenses) and now they're selling them back to us - though, I guess, not at wholesale, but rather at a horrible markup that is tallied in both dollars and broken hearts. The reboot, the prequel-sequel, the Further Installments Of... this train ride has been chugging along for a while, but bouncing around the vapid hall of mirrors of Star Trek Into Darkness, I began to wonder if it isn't time to get off. We can, appropriately enough, blame The Phantom Menace for all this; appropriately because a) most people blame The Phantom... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

Ken Jeong may often play a lunatic on both big and small screen, but in person it's quite disarming to see just how calm and considerate he comes across. While he got his big screen start in Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, Jeong's real breakthrough was taking a small-on-paper role of Chow in the first Hangover film and ratcheting things up many, many notches from the character on the page. Between Chow and his Señor Chang / Kevin role on Community, Jeong has established himself as a fearless, unique comedic actor unafraid to throw himself completely into the characters he plays.The third Hangover film provides an epic, worthy finale for the Wolf Pack, with Ken Jeong's Chow again stealing the show in his inimitable way.... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

Remember when we all felt some vague relief while we briefly thought that Disney had pulled the new, sexy Merida due to protests. Brave creator, Brenda Chapman, called Merida's makeover "atrocious" and the petition to get rid of the new Merida received over 229,000 signatures. That is a huge amount of signatures. People are pissed.However, that wasn't really the case. A Disney spokesperson said that the new Merida would be on a limited line of products, and the original Merida would be on other Brave products. Even though both Meridas will exist, Disney is continuing to defend the makeover. Can you imagine what a parent will have to go through in a store looking for the "movie" Merida vs. the "princess" Merida? And then the conversation that will ensue?And considering from the picture above from Target's "Ultimate Disney Princess collection", which makes Merida look even more like a weird, skinny, and alien-esque, we believe this is a completely unhealthy representation for girls to look up to. Disney is still being irresponsible about this whole calamity. But they are focused on money, and princesses who look like weird, skinny aliens sell. And what Disney has displayed through this whole incident is the exact way to take a potential game changing role model for girls in the entertainment business and take away everything that made her special.Here's the thing we realized: Disney doesn't give a fuck. And that's hugely depressing. Update: Disney Defends Controversial Merida Makeover (Parade) Guess Which Disney Princess This Is (Jezebel)

Video of the fireworks show at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival during the beach screening of Jaws.

Clair Denis' The Bastards begins as a simple, slow-burn revenge thriller, and then very quietly morphs into one of the bleakest, most twisted neo-noir films of the decade. As is often the case with Denis (35 Shots of Rum, White Material, Trouble Everyday), the implications of the story settle in slowly, and don't even fully reveal themselves until a fair amount of post-viewing reflection, and maybe even discussion.Not to say the film is a difficult watch. In terms of pacing and plotting, this is some of Denis' most accessible work. From the opening, exquisitely shot images of dense rain, a suicide crime scene and a naked woman wandering the dimly-lit streets, Denis establishes a sublime sense of intrigue that deepens as the film continues in... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

Fresh off a successful festival circuit run of his historical thriller Painless, director Juan Carlos Medina's next project will be an adaptation of the Peter Ackroyd novel, Dan Leno & the Limehouse Golem. Announced at the Cannes film festival today, the script is written by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class), and will be produced by Stephen Woolley (The Crying Game, Byzantium). I read the book, a crime thriller set in the the dance halls and libraries of Victorian London, last year, and it is wonderfully dark and delicious. Ackroyd's work is full of great detail of the rich atmosphere of the era. Certainly, Victorian London has been seen a lot on film, but I think a fresh perspective, especially from a non-UK director, is... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

Following a great trailer a few weeks ago, Warner Bros. have upped the ante again with another impressive look at their summer tentpole Man of Steel with a new trailer called 'Fate of Your Planet.' Less about Superman than General Zod, this new look shows us how big a threat the Man of Steel will go up against in this latest reboot.Besides the formidable villain, played by celebrated indie thesp Michael Shannon, we also get a better look at the scale of the film's effects and the design of Zod's army. Last trailer already had me sold and this is doing nothing to dissuade me. ... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]