Martin Scorsese nestles himself comfortably in my top 5 directors of all time, which coming from a guy who changes his minds on these sort of things constantly means a lot! One thing I am sure of is that he’s one half of my greatest Director/Actor tandem in the history of cinema alongside Robert De Niro (Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood and Akira Kurosawa/Toshiro Mifune aren’t too far behind). Now after a couple months delay his latest film, Shutter Island is finally being released in the UK March 12^th. Personally I loved the film, with someone like Scorsese or anyone in the upper echelons of their respected profession, you know they fully deserve that spot when people continually compare and even review their latest works not on the merits of that particular field as a whole but against their previous work, which pitting up against Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Departed, Goodfellas and Casino is seemingly an impossible task! Shutter Island is in UK cinemas Friday, look out for my Leonardo DiCaprio interview as well.

What was more appealing to you with Shutter Island, the emotional and psychological subject matter or to mix up genres with the gothic mystery, horror aspects…?

Martin Scorsese: I think it’s really both in that order, the first element I connected with was the emotion, I felt very sympathetic for the characters, overwhelmed by the nature of the story, this film is hard to talk about because I don’t want to give anything away. It’s that and the vocabulary of cinemas past and the nature of Gothic literature, that opened the door for me in a way and was really enticing. The best way for me to tell the story was to utilize that vocabulary, the rain, the darkness, the framing all those sorts of things.

With your reputation as one of the greatest living directors how much pressure do you feel having those expectations?

Martin Scorsese: All I can do is the best work that I can. I need to work, I like to work, even though I complain about it, I just need to make the best film I can. I can’t think of award periods, it would be nice that a film is recognised like that but once your in the thick of battle you just try to get through it and make something of it that you can say yes I directed that film years from now and be happy with that film, you just try your best. Sometimes you go in with one thought in mind and one desire, in the case of Aviator it was to make this Hollywood spectacle, but quickly by the second or third week of shooting you just want to survive it (laughs), literally you just want to survive it. I also go through the editing process too, then when the films released we have to talk about it, so it’s all of that.

What other films influenced you with Shutter Island? How much of an influence was Sam Fuller’s Shock Corridor on this film?

Martin Scorsese: Sam Fuller’s Shock Corridor can only be conjured as a mantra because Sam’s Shock Corridor is a classic work of art. It comes from a unique experience of being Sam Fuller, yes there is this element of Shock Corridor hovering around the picture but never specifically. In fact we didn’t even screen it because it’s in me, it was a way of conjuring it up by saying it as we were going to shoot (laughs). But the first film I showed the actors was Laura by Otto Preminger in the sense of the war torn, war ravaged hero, world weariness so to the speak, the body language of Dana Andrews and the man who falls in love with a ghost. Then I showed Out Of The Past by Jacques Tourneur because of the trap, the puzzle, the mystery, the beauty of the poetry in the film. I also showed Let There Be Light by John Hustun, The Steel Helmet, many others as points of reference, primarily Laura though for the way Dana Andrews moved through the frame, shoulders were down, he never looked anyone in the eye and that wonderful scene when he loosens his tie and makes him self a drink and the door bell rings (laughs)

The film is unsettling right from the start with this menacing tone running through it, obviously the score is key to that, how complete is your vision of the film before you start shooting and how much do you rely upon the impact of others?

Martin Scorsese: The mood and tone of the picture and the atmosphere was in my head and in my blood in a way once I decided I wanted to do the picture, I had to find my way in that mood to choose, select and emphasize certain visual elements and sound. Ultimately that’s when I call in my collaborators, Robert Richardson on camera and Dante Ferretti on production design. Then I show them references, many different films, there might be just one scene I want to discuss with them but at least they can have reference points. It’s a constant process of pulling together the imagery, I was rather shaken by all the green trees, I’m allergic, I used to love seeing westerns and seeing the out doors but because I had asthma I couldn’t go any where, I could just watch it on film, the valleys, forests, I used to think it was fantastic but I couldn’t ever go in there (laughs). But we did it in this film, I was actually rock climbing at 7am which was quite unique but back to my point the colour of the leaves disturbed me so we had to work on that but on the other hand we didn’t want to drench it in a depressing tone. For me the key image is the boat coming through the fog in the beginning, it was something I imagined and liked, it was interesting breaking through the mystery, where is he, who is he, there’s a lot of good questions with that shot. Robert Richardson and Dante were remarkable as was Rob Legato on special visual effects, Robbie Robertson with the film score and Thelma Schoonmaker with editing.

It’s been 28 years in the making but the sequel to Tron is just 9 months away, which from watching the trailer couldn’t come any sooner, it looks mesmerizing! As highly anticipated trailers go this delivers big time. I loved the Daft Punk score, it sounds incredible. After Inception this is my most anticipated Blockbuster film of 2010. Also Michael Sheen WTF I thought that was David Bowie. I remember loving the original as a kid but to be honest I’ve totally forgotten what it was like, nostalgia can be a lying, cheating, deceiving b*stard sometimes. I’m gonna have to watch the original again to remind my self.

Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant Quorra (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey of escape across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.”Tron Legacy” is directed by Joseph Kosinski and is scheduled to hit theaters on December 17th in 3D

This looks creepy as hell, it’s being released in the US the middle of April, I’m not sure of a UK release date but it looks good, real disturbing but still good! The premise is horrifying, the trailer is a bit generic but the cast is great and it looks stylish and atmospheric so I’m gonna give it a go.

After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn’t believe she’s dead, despite the funeral director’s reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna’s grief—stricken boyfriend Paul (Justin Long) still can’t shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn’t what he appears to be. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over the other side. With an unrelenting edge of menace, After.life is a stylish psychological thriller which provocatively questions the line between life and death.

Bill Murray cracks me up, he’s so honest it comes across that he doesn’t give a sh*t, I really get the feeling he just wants to play golf, drink and do a film every now and then when he feels like it, I can respect that. From this recent interview with David Letterman he gives a an insight into his thoughts on a 3^rd Ghostbusters movie, it doesn’t sound good for the people looking forward to this. He says the idea of making a 3^rd movie is ‘just crazy talk’ and his ‘nightmare’ and also that he told the producers he would only do it ‘if they kill me off in the first reel I’ll do it, so now they’ve figured out a way to kill me off in the first reel’. One positive from a fan point of view is that he says making the video game was a lot fun. Enough of me writing about it, check it out for yourself below, he tells a pretty funny story at the end. I still think we’ll see a new Ghostbusters film late 2011 or 2012 for some reason.

Disney have got a very big year in films in 2010 with Alice In Wonderland, Toy Story 3, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Tron Legacy and this. I’m slowly warming to this the more that I see from it, I’ve always liked Jake Gylanhaal, it’s good to see him do something more action packed, from the trailer he looks like he spends much of the movie jumping around like coked up Kangaroo(nothing wrong with that!). I’m also looking forward to it for Toby Kebbell and Gemma Arterton two of the UK’s best young talents. They should have cast a few more Persians though it looks like a bunch of English people wearing eye liner and dyed black hair, its the 21^st century now I should think films can be a bit more realistic. Look’s like a lot of fun though.

From the team that brought the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy to the big screen, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME, an epic action-adventure set in the mystical lands of Persia.  A rogue prince (JAKE GYLLENHAAL) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (GEMMA ARTERTON) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Below is the new trailer for the Forgetting Sarah Marshall spin off Get Him To The Greek. I really enjoyed Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I’ve been looking forward to this, I’m not the biggest fan of Russell Brand, he’s a bit hit and miss for me but to be fair he was great in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The trailer itself is in two half’s for me, the first was very unfunny, but the second half had me cracking up. Look out for this in June.

Get Him to the Greek reunites Jonah Hill and Russell Brand with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller in the story of a record company executive with three days to drag an uncooperative rock legend to Hollywood for a comeback concert. The comedy is the latest film from producer Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People). Aaron Green (Hill) gets things done. The ambitious 24-year-old has been given a career-making assignment. His mission: Fly to London and escort a rock god to L.A.’s world famous Greek Theatre for the first-stop on a huge comeback tour. His record mogul boss, Sergio Roma (Sean Combs), gives him one warning: “The artist is the worst person on Earth. Turn your back on him at your own peril.”

British rocker Aldous Snow (Brand) is a brilliant musician, but due to a bad break up and nose-diving career, has fallen off the wagon and is now a drunken disaster. Weary of “yes men” and scared he’s entered the “greatest hits” moment in his career, Snow’s in the midst of a nihilistic downward spiral. When he learns his true love, model/pop star Jackie Q (Rose Byrne), is in Los Angeles, Aldous makes it his quest to win her back…right before kick-starting his world domination. As the countdown to the concert begins, one innocent young man must navigate a minefield of London drug smuggles, New York City brawls and Vegas lap dances to deliver his charge safe and, sort of, sound… all while trying to remain faithful to his med student girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss). He may have to coax, lie to, enable and party with Aldous, but Aaron will get him to the Greek.

From the trailer this looks exactly how the Dragonball film should have looked like! The TV Spot and the recent posters looked pretty good but to be honest I’m still gonna have to wait and see some reviews before I see this (hopefully I’ll be invited to the screening ) I’m still scarred by The Happening, forgiveness is a long road for M.Night Shyamalan in my books, The Village and Lady In The Water or whatever it was called p**sed me off too much!

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film is set in a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire. The Fire Nation is waging a ruthless, oppressive war against the other three nations. The film’s hero, the reluctant young Aang (Noah Ringer), is the “Last Airbender” — the Avatar who, according to prophecy, has the ability to manipulate all of the elements and bring all the nations together. Aided by a protective teenage Waterbender named Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her bull-headed brother Sokka, Aang proceeds on a perilous journey to restore balance to their war-torn world. Dev Patel plays the Fire Nation’s evil prince Zuko. Exiled from the Fire Nation by his father, Zuko is sent to capture the Avatar in order to restore his honor and right to the throne.

I love your intelligent, profound movies more than anyone, yet I also love to sit back with a heap of Popcorn, a Pepsi Max, small tub of Ben & Jerry’s Ice-cream and watch a good fun movie, Zombieland fit that bill perfectly, I loved it! The screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick recently talked to MTV about the direction they are going in with it’s equal. (for you 3D haters, just watch it in 2D I know there’s a ever growing band of you!)

“We want to stick with our dysfunctional family,” revealed Paul Wernick, who created the post-apocalyptic zombie world with writing partner Rhett Reese. “But also introduce new characters.”There absolutely will be a sequel, and it will absolutely be in 3D,” Reese revealed. “Now, it’s just a question of what that sequel will be. It’s not a question of having enough ideas, but almost having too many ideas. We have a lot of ideas!”We entirely want to write with 3D in mind,” Wernick added, shooting down the majority of filmmakers who these daysclaim to concentrate on the story first and the three-dimensional stuff later. “We have the vision, and want to have fun with the technology.”

They also talked about the upcoming Deadpool movie they are currently scripting, another film I’m looking forward too. Deadpool is one of the most witty and entertaining comic book characters and I’m pretty sure it’s universally accepted Ryan Reynolds fits the roll to a tee.

“We’re outlining it pretty seriously right now,” explained Rhett Reese. “We’re in the early stages.”We just absolutely adore the character and the comic,” explained Wernick. “And tonally, it’s right up our alley. He’s the unstable, smart-ass, self deprecating guy – and they say write what you know, so [we're perfect for it].”What’s great about Ryan is that he’s been the keeper of the Deadpool flame for many years, he’s loved the character since forever; he lives it and breathes it,” Reese said of some of the specific ideas Reynolds has brought up to them. “We’re a little newer to Deadpool, although we’ve done a bit of catching up. One of the nice things about working with Ryan is that he tonally gets it – if we ever do something that is off the Deadpool path, or if it doesn’t feel like Deadpool, he catches it.”

Deadline Hollywood seem to have a big insider story every week. To they’re credit, what they report almost always comes into fruition, they’re pretty much consistently on the money$. The article reports Warner Brothers have turned to Christopher Nolan to mentor the development of a new Superman movie (he’s not writing or directing). He has reportedly been offered a ‘godfather’ role. ‘ Thankfully the article points out “It would definitely not be a follow-up to Superman Returns.” For me Superman Returns was a giant piece of horse turd, I’m happy Warner Brothers are going in another direction, having Christopher Nolan on board has to help, his streak of great films is unparalleled at the moment- Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight and from what it looks like Inception.

The thing that really interested me about this piece was the fact that Christopher Nolan has ‘hatched an idea for Warner Bros’ third Batman instalment. ‘and that ‘his brother and frequent collaborator Jonah Nolan, and David Goyer who co-wrote Batman Begins and penned the story for The Dark Knight, are off scripting it.’ I CAN’T WAIT, I don’t know anyone who didn’t love The Dark Knight!

Chris Columbus has brought the world some of the most loved family movies of the last few decades – Home Alone 1 & 2, the first two Harry Potter films, Mrs Doubtfire and the writer behind Gremlins and The Goonies. Logan Lerman plays the title character in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and is also rumored to be starring as the rebooted Spiderman. Check out my interview with the two of them below

Trouble-prone Percy Jackson is having problems in high school – but that’s the least of his challenges. It’s the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus seem to have walked out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology texts and into his life. Percy has learned that his real father is Poseidon, god of the sea, which means Percy is a demigod – half human, half god. At the same time, the powerful gods on Olympus are feuding, which could launch a war enveloping our entire planet.

How’s it feel that after all the hard work, the films finally coming out?

Chris Columbus: It’s a wonderful feeling, we actually didn’t know we’d make the release date, we always had this date in mind. It worked out very well, I’m very happy with the film, very happy with the visual affects and very happy to say it’s nothing like Harry Potter (laughs) I just wanted to get that off my chest immediately.

How much has CGI technology changed since that first Harry Potter film?

Chris Columbus: The first three Harry Potter films were a gradual course in CGI for myself, if you notice the first film is a little creaky, it’s ok then as we subsequently went to picture two and three the visual effects got better, I learned a lot, I realised there’s a certain method and that you just have to be obsessive with the visual effects to make sure they’re seamless with what the actors are doing. With this I think we succeeded.

You started out real young in your career, this is a great roll for you.

Logan Lerman: Yeah I started really young, I’m from LA so it’s much more accessible to give it a shot, there’s an audition for a commercial somewhere around the block. I slowly climbed the ladder, now I’m here and I don’t how I got here, I just kept going with it. I’m really proud of this film, if people recognise me from this film then I’m fine with it, it’s very flattering to me, it’s the biggest compliment you can get. As long as it’s for the right reasons, I’m proud of it.

What made you interested in making the film, and what made you come to the decision for making the characters slightly older than in the books?

Chris Columbus: For me it was important that the characters felt a little older than they did in the book because I couldn’t envision battle training, gladiator training eleven year olds with wooden swords, I felt this needed to be a little bit more edgy, a little more gritty and dirtier as much as we can do in a PG film. Also I was intrigued in the concept, which I had never seen before, with the concept of Greek mythology coexisting with modern American culture, I thought it was a great idea, that was why I wanted to do the film.

What parts of the Greek mythology were you keen to get across.

Chris Columbus: If you know anything about Greek mythology there’s that certain element that is very complex and dark and that’s not really for children, then there’s the classic element that we all learnt at school when we were twelve years old. I think we’re tapping into that element. It’s certainly not an educational film, that will send children running from the theatres but hopefully, it could develop some sort of interest in Greek mythology for them and maybe they can take an interest in reading more and more about it. For me I wanted the film to work for both parents and children, I’ve had to accompany my own children to a lot of children’s films and sometimes when it’s a little animal singing I’m bored out of my skull, so for me it was really really important that it worked for the parents as well.

With the number of books in the series, do you think we’ll see more films coming from the series?

Chris Columbus: I don’t want to be presumptuous enough to say that we’re gonna be successful and that we’re gonna be able to make the other films, but if we are successful enough and I hope we are, I’d love to make another film immediately with these guys. I loved the cast, I had a wonderful time making the film. It was a lot of hard work but I just loved the enthusiasm and the lack of cynicism, it’s a really talented cast we assembled, I wanna go back and work quickly.

Why are you interested in these types of films?

Chris Columbus: I think it’s the lack of cynicism, it comes from the fact that these guys are just happy to have jobs at the most basic level. The cast is so happy being there and performing it just enthuses me with the same amount of energy, I really like working off that energy. You rarely see it with people who have been working for years and years and years.

Logan were you a fan of the books before making the film?

Logan Lerman: I discovered them through the movie, I knew nothing of them before, when I first got the script right below the title it said Chris’s name so that’s what really attracted me to it, his films shaped my childhood so much, I’m such a big fan, I wanna become a part in another one of his films. Then I read the script and fell in love with it, then I read the book and fell in love with it so it was a backward process for me.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is in cinemas the 12th of Febuary