So Guillermo del Toro quits The Hobbit. When fans of the Peter Jackson-directed Lord of the Rings trilogy learned that Jackson woud only be involved in scriptwriting for a screen version of The Hobbit, a whole heap of people wept. Well, they probably didn’t actually weep real tears but a lot of people were definitely a bit down.

And so when it was announced that Guillermo del Toro, the man who made the mira et mirabilis (look at me using my GCSE Latin) Pan’s Labyrinth and inventively-realised Hellboy films, would be helming instead, movie fans breathed a collective sigh of relief.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: I thought it meant bull, then I thought I was wrong but it turns out I wasn't

But now he’s relinquishing directing duties. All because, apparently, they can’t set a release date for the film, with the MGM wranglings continuing to put a spanner in the works. What a great phrase. I love a well-worn phrase/saying/cliche/metaphor. Brilliant.

Del Toro will, however, carry on with the co-writing of the screenplays with Peter Jackson, Jackson’s wife Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Anyway, there’s some interesting breaking news. I wonder what will happen to the film now…

For some reason, I have been thinking about Tom Cruise a lot in the last two days.

Now, I’ve always liked Tom Cruise, ever since I was a school girl and had posters of him Blu-tacked inside my locker and Sellotaped to the underside of my desk lid.

And as he’s increasingly portrayed as a loopy Scientologist, it makes me like him even more. Not in a fancying type way. I just think he’s highly entertaining and amusing and a bit of a circus sideshow attraction.

Some might say freak. I would disagree. There’s an admiration (maybe that’s the wrong word; to say I am in his thrall would be more accurate but in a kind of shaking your head in wonder-and-awe-and-disbelief-at-him type way) in me for a man who is so far removed from everday life, it’s unreal. He’s Hollywood through and through.

And he made Top Gun. And Cocktail. And Risky frickin Business, for goodness’ sake. Which makes me want to high five him and revel in his Tom Cruise-ly grinnage.

CRUISE: He ain't no dick. Well maybe a little... but I love him for it so that's okay, right?

So, talking of dickness (we weren’t but I have referred to it in the picture caption so I feel it necessary to segue not-so-neatly into the topic of dickishness now), did you ever see his Dickipedia entry?

Here’s the link.

http://www.dickipedia.org/dick.php?title=Tom_Cruise

If you click through and scroll down, you’ll also find a link to that excruciating Scientology-based interview he did. I advise you to look. It will be fun for you.

On a slightly more topical but still Cruise-related note, Tom has a new film out in July. In Knight and Day, he stars with Cameron Diaz as Roy Miller, a secret agent. Territory he’s trodden before, you’re probably saying, with all that Mission Impossible shizzle.

Well, it’s an action-centric romantic comedy and looks set to be one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters. Of course, we’ll be the judge of whether it’s any good or not. And by we, I mean you and I. And the rest of the movie-going public.

My posts aren’t all about Robert Pattinson and Jake Gyllenhaal, I promise. BUT I do have this link to direct your attention to.

I spoke to R-Pattz about what he gets up to in his spare time and this is what he told me:

http://www.whereandnow.com/index.php?section=where-to-travel-to-now&article=celebrity-travel-robert-pattinson

Darn it! You’re a-gonna have to click on the link to find out.

Lost peeps

I want a Lost movie. End.

Yes, yes. I know you’ve prolly been waiting with bated breath for this so here it is. The Jake Gyllenhaal interview what I wrote…

http://www.filmjuice.com/prince-of-persia-jake-gyllenhaal-interview.html

After this, I promise no more about Prince of blinking Persia. Well, maybe a little bit.

It’s actually Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, to give it its full title. I love a movie with a colon in its title. I mean the form of punctuation, not the digestive system type thingy.

All my life I have spent way too much too often on clothes and have been feeling a little guilty lately. So I have decided to rediscover and recycle some of the stuff I already have in my wardrobe.

OK, so I don’t just have a wardrobe. I have three. And a chest of drawers. And pretty – and not so pretty – boxes full of items of clothing. In my bedroom. And in the spare room. And in the loft. Oh, and did I already mention the airing cupboard?

Well, anyway. I have lots of clothes that I decided are worth revisiting. Hence wearing this white frock which I bought from ASOS and which I’ve had a good three or four years.

YAY: Pretty white dress and red cardi combo avec ballet pump-type footwear

It was a pretty warm day and deserved an outing. Trouble is, it’s white and you know how grubby white things get. In record time too. Still, it did me a day’s wear and is now in the washing machine as I type.

By the way, I teamed it with my favourite red cardigan from Oasis and these amazing shoes I found in Next, of all places. I don’t usually like Next, or ballet pumps (too flat) but just sometimes Next has something you can’t live without and just sometimes a ballet pump can be just the right thing to match with an outfit. These are wicked cos they have a little heel but don’t look ‘aggy, such is the danger of a low heel.

PoP, as I have become accustomed to calling it of late, is finally out this weekend (that’s Prince of Persia by the way. I know. A tricky one to work out) and I went and done a review of it. Yes I did. Oh yessirree, Bob. Who’s Bob? Dunno. Anyway, hurrah! Here’s link -age for you:

http://www.getreading.co.uk/entertainment/film_and_cinema/s/2071281_film_review__trailer_prince_of_persia_12a

It was sandy in that thar desert

I went to the first UK screening of Tamara Drewe the other night. Directed by Leicester-born Stephen Frears (the man behind films like The Queen, Mrs Henderson Presents, Dangerous Liaisons, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and My Beautiful Launderette among many others), it’s based on the Posy Simmonds comic strip from The Guardian, which is itself inspired by Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd.

SHE'S A SAUCY MINX: Gemma Arterton as Tamara Drewe

I came out of the screening room at The Soho Hotel thinking: “Yeah, that was all right.” But you know what? It’s growing on me by the day.

It’s quite a sweet and funny little film with some idyllic West Country locations and some great performances from Tamsin Greig and whatsisface-oh-yeah-Roger-Allam-bloke as well as you’ll-think-you-recognise-him lump of swoonsomnity (I made this word up, can you tell?) Luke Evans who was Apollo in Clash of the Titans. Not the old one, the new one, doofus. 

There’s an annoying turn from Dominic Cooper and a couple of highlights in the form of two schoolgirls with a rock-star crush on Cooper’s drummer – they provide much of the comic relief – but I did have a slight issue with the portrayal of female journalists. Not the fact that Tamara Drewe sleeps with one of her interviewees but the fact that she barely does any work and yet seems to have plenty of disposable income. If only.

One last thing, it’s nice to see a lass with a lovely figure on screen for once. And you get to see her bum as well as a bit of side boob. If you’re interested in that sort of thing. Which I’m not because I’m a non girl-fancying girl.

Tamara Drewe is due for release on 10th September.

Here’s some exciting news for Star Wars fans (of which I am one). Mark Hamill is making a movie. And when I say making a movie, I mean making a movie. He is directing his very own film. Exciting. In a way. I guess.

Alright, I’ll admit that I’m quite excited because I love anything that has even a smidgen to do with George Lucas’s space-set saga. Even the three prequels which are universally panned. I make no apology. Actually, I do. Every time I say it I find myself making excuses for the fact I like them.

SKYWALKER: He was quite hot but a bit whiney

But anyway, the thing is Luke Skywalker went and wrote a screenplay which got turned into a comic mini-series and has now received the $5 million funding to turn it into a proper film, like with actors and cameras and everything.

It’s called The Black Pearl and is about some violent film and comic-loving loner dude who decides to take justice into his own hands after a neighbour is kidnapped.

We’ve had a lot of revenge flicks recently but I like a good old vigilante thriller, especially when it’s a lot dark and gritty.

My friend used to fancy Luke Skywalker loads. I wonder if she still does. Probably. Even though he is 58 now. She once went out with a bloke who looked a lot like him (after the accident).

Who doesn’t love a bit of The Bandit? I watched Smokey and the Bandit on DVD yesterday. Several things struck me.

The first thought that popped into my head was how much I would have liked to have been in a film with Burt Reynolds back then. Specifically, Smokey and the Bandit, of course. I was watching a particular exchange near the beginning between him and the Snowman and it just looked like so much fun. I mean, both had this way about them that said they were just having the wickedest time.

Burt has this smirk that sits at the corners of his mouth (it’s actually there throughout the whole movie) and Snowman is close to bursting into a fit of laughter and I just thought it would be cool to be in this movie.

And everybody loved the Trans Am, didn’t they? That was the second thing that occured to me. I was watching a bit where The Bandit does this smokin’ handbrake turn and remembered being little and thinking how I wanted to be The Bandit. Even though I was a girl. Still am a girl, in fact. Believe it or not.

The third thing that hit me was how - on the whole - women’s characters in films today are much more limited than they were back then. In some ways, it seems like there isn’t the female acting talent around.

I’ve seen Gemma Arterton in Clash of The Titans and Prince of Persia to take one recent example and where she should be engaging, entertaining and amusing audiences with her strong, feisty female role, she just doesn’t. Actually. She’s bland. Sally Field is so sparky in this movie. Where are the Sally Fields today, huh?

I’m shaking my head and lamenting. But also still wanting to be The Bandit.