Shakespeare working magic: Movies of the future

"If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me."
--Macbeth (Shakespeare)

So I saw news last night that they finally announce who would play Thor, in the upcoming movie of the same name, scheduled for release sometime in 2011. I like how Marvel is approaching this movie, but I will come back to that in a second, because I have to preface this post.

This posting is a fun one because I am going to give you a rundown of some of the movies coming up that I have to say I am pretty excited for and a few that I am not so excited for. Anywho shall we begin?

Ok great.

Right, I guess the biggest news for me does involve Shakespeare quite a bit. First we go to Thor and the choices they made for the guys they have playing Thor and Loki. Marvel made the right decision to pursue little known actors, I am always a fan of it, and always will. It worked quite well in The Descent, which is one of my favorite horror movies. So the executives in control of the casting signed Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston to play Thor and Loki. For those of you that have seen the latest Star Trek movie, Chris Hemsworth plays George Kirk; the father of James Tiberius Kirk who meets a quick end after their ship is attacked by “time-Romulans.” Tom Hiddleston is a little more obscure than that Hemsworth, seeing as he has only done a handful of television shows, of which the vast majority are guest spots. However, he happened to do a show called Wallander with one of the greatest Shakespearian actors of our generation, Kenneth Branagh. Fortunately for Hiddleston, Branagh is directing Thor. Are you getting the Shakespeare influence yet? Anyway this exciting because if anyone knows acting it is Branagh and with his tutelage, these two young actors should do quite well, and hopefully add another great comic book movie to a very short list of them. Not to mention Samuel L. Jackson is rumored to be playing Nick Fury, but we will see about that one once it becomes official.

A quick side note, Hemsworth is also going to be starring in the remake of Red Dawn, which is scheduled for released in 2010, also pretty exciting considering how awesome the first one was.

Next thing to get excited about involves Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener, Harry Potter Series). Fiennes is going to be making his directorial debut with a very challenging piece, the lesser-known Shakespearian tragedy, Coriolanus. Fiennes will direct and star in the film along with Vanessa Redgrave (Atonement, Deep Impact, Mrs. Dalloway) and it is rumored that William Hurt (Syriana, Tuck Everlasting, Artificial Intelligence). So if all of this remains true by 2010 we could have a very interesting directorial debut from an already talented actor and I wish him all the success in the world.

On that note, for my recommended movie to watch this week is: The Constant Gardener.

The movie based on the book of the same name by John le Carré sports an amazing cast highlighted by Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter), Rachel Weisz (The Mummy), Bill Nighy (Shaun of the Dead) and Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

The movie is incredibly powerful and it really makes you want to get off your ass and do something to assuage the suffering in Africa. Hell, immediately following the first time I saw the movie I started looking at social justice and environmental groups that did work in Africa.

The basic plot is Justin Quayle (Fiennes), a low level British diplomat and Tessa (Weisz), an outspoken activist fall in love and move to Africa when Justin gets transferred. Their love is juxtaposed against corporate greed and governmental conspiracy. Inevitably their working lives and their love life become intertwined and Tessa ends up dead in the desert of Kenya. Justin pursues the truth of Tessa’s death and stumbles across corporate and governmental secrets that tear his life asunder.

This movie deals with many issues including epidemics and anti-colonialism and the macrocosm/microcosm storyline makes for a very entertaining movie. Even though the macro-antagonist is Britain, this movie is very, very relevant to countries all over the world whether they are dominant or submissive and even though the focus is on one reluctant hero, the movie reveals a very important message of corruption and exploitation.

This movie deals with very heavy topics and you really need to be in a mood to deal with the subject matter, so take that into account. I would not recommend this as a movie you would want to watch when snuggling up to your significant other but it can be done. It is more of an eye opener than a romance, but very entertaining.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia