While we are just as excited about visiting the Shire as the next guy, we can’t help but wonder how The Hobbit might have turned out if Guillermo Del Toro was parked in the director’s chair. Del Toro, responsible for Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy and Mimic, was originally hired as director, and could have added a new, more sinister touch to Middle Earth, but unfortunately left the project due to ongoing delays.

 

Nonetheless, you can bet your bottom dollar that Peter Jackson has again done a sterling job, even though the relatively short book is spread out over three movies. We will be spending our cash on the 3D version, keeping our fingers crossed that The Hobbit will finally catapult Martin Freeman (The Office/ Love Actually/ Sherlock) as Bilbo Baggins into the big time.

 

 

 

Thanks to the wonders of time-travel, hitman for the mob Joe, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises), is handed the unfortunate task of killing his older self (Bruce Willis). As we know, trying to dispatch Bruce Willis can be a rather difficult affair, and soon both of them have the mob to contend with.

 

Gordon-Levitt (using prosthetics to look a LOT like Willis) is quickly turning into one of our favourite actors, with Looper being a sci-fi/action romp just right for the holidays.

 

 

 

How do you turn a book like The Life of Pi into a movie? Ask director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hulk), which, looking at the trailer at least, has succeeded in recreating the book’s atmosphere. After a storm, a young boy (Suraj Sharma) finds himself stranded in a lifeboat with a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a Bengal tiger for company.

 

No, The Life of Pi is not a comedy, and yes, it is the perfect date movie.