JACK REACHER review

Starring Tom Cruise, the Christopher McQuarrie directed Jack Reacher is now in cinemas.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY review

After learning some insider information, a local crime boss and his two hired hands turn over a mob poker game, placing the blame on Markie (Ray Liotta), the organiser of the game. A representative with a guarded interest hires Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) to sort through the mess and restore order to the area.

Liberal Arts Trailer

Following his debut as writer, director slash actor with Happythankyoumoreplease, Josh Radnor, the sometime Ted Mosby, is back with a new film but the same director's beard. When Jesse, a teacher in New York, gets invited back to Ohio to visit his old professor (Richard Jenkins), he meets and falls for a 19 year old student called Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen).

Although his character Ted in How I Met Your Mother has skated dangerously close to becoming the 'Dawson Leary' of his own story, I'd argue that away from the show Josh Radnor's film career is the one to envy. He may not have the Judd Apatow connection like Jason Segel or the eye-catching showmanship of Neil Patrick Harris (most recently seen in The Smurfs), but he's a man in charge of his career, both in front of and behind the camera.

In his directorial outings (Liberal Arts and Happythankyoumoreplease), he's made some smart casting decisions, surrounding himself with talented character actors who'll raise the quality of any movie by at least two notches. Richard Jenkins AND Allison Janney? Mr Mosby, you're spoiling us. But perhaps the most intriguing piece of casting is Elizabeth Olsen, able to free herself from the shackles of familial expectations with her performance in Martha Marcy May Marlene. Incredibly watchable and precisely the kind of girl a 35 year old teacher would fall for, her presence makes this one of the must watch indies of the autumn.

Liberal Arts is in cinemas September 14th (US) and October 5th (UK).

Darling Companion - Is This The Worst Movie Poster of All Time?

In case you've not heard of Darling Companion, it's the new film from Lawrence Kasdan, acclaimed director of such classics as The Big Chill and Body Heat and screenwriter of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, no less. Given that his last film was the truly horrendous Stephen King adaptation, Dreamcatcher, it's no wonder he's been a bit quiet of late.


Starring one indie film superstar in Mark Duplass, one popular TV actress in Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss and no less than five actors who can claim to be either Oscar nominees or winners (for what it's worth), the makers of this poster didn't see fit to use any of their faces on their primary marketing tool, instead sticking a big photo of a dog front and centre with a poorly photoshopped leg that definitely doesn't belong to either Diane Keaton or Dianne Weist. Why bother using the substantial star power of your cast when you can focus your attention on attracting people who like dogs to be the main characters?


A film that's not aimed at anyone under 60, did they really need to include the quasi-futuristic QR code that links to the trailer? I'm all for silver surfers, but I can't see too many grandmothers whipping out their smart phones when they see the poster. I'm not sure that I even know how they work yet. Looking like it's advertising Air Bud: The Retirement Years, you'd probably expect the dog to be a major part of the story, but after viewing the trailer it looks like the dog, cruelly named Freeway in a constant reminder of his past trauma, hardly features in the film at all.

Given the overall blandness of the family that takes him in, you can't really blame him for doing a runner, can you? In answer to my initial question, this may not be the worst movie poster of all time (that's obviously going to be an ongoing fight to the death), but it's got to be the dullest.