Tag: Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch on Set of The Hollow Crown

By james Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Cumberbatch3Photos of Benedict Cumberbatch in his role as Richard III have appeared on the internet. The photos, taken on October 20th, show Cumberbatch on the set of the BBC’s television series The Hollow Crown: War of the Roses. It is unknown if these are scenes from the Richard III episode or his appearance in Henry VI, Part II but they are being filmed around the Wells Cathedral in Somerset.

Hollow Crown is based off the works of William Shakespeare and focuses on England’s past monarchs.

The first series titled The Hollow Crown, contained stories on Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V. The second series will feature Henry VI and Richard III.

In Richard III, Cumberbatch will star alongside Dame Judi Dench, Sophie Okonedo, Keeley Hawes, Sam Troughton, and James Fleet.

The Hollow Crown: War of the Roses will broadcast in 2016.

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A New Penguins of Madagascar Poster and Trailer Has Arrived! with Medusans in the Act

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

 

penguinsofmadagascar1More plot details are unveiled in a new trailer for the coming DreamWorks Animation Penguins of Madagascar film due in theatres November 2014. There’s a mysterious serum codenamed Medusa that’s labelled as doomsday level dangerous. Just what it does is unknown, but if the name is any indication, perhaps it will turn everyone to stone.

Fortunately Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private are not dumb enough to toss the sample around. It’s safely stored in Rico’s stomach, and when it reemerges, the team think that’s a mission done. Not so. The trailer speaks for itself in the hilarity that ensues in a movie that no doubt parodies the entire spy film genre. It gets sillier than any Austin Powers film.

That also includes questioning why some master villains, namely Dr. Octavius Brine (aka Dave, voiced by John Malkovich), must go into huge soliloquies into explaining why his plans are so grandiose. Quite simply, he’s in it for revenge against the penguins. No detail is offered as to exactly why, but as the new promotional poster implies, maybe there is some history that will unfold in this “untold story.”

But fans will have to wait for Turkey Day in the USA to find out.

 

The Penguins are Back! Madagascar Look Out! Trailer Released Today (and Thoughts)

Penguins

Freshly released from their New York Zoo, the Penguins of Madagascar are going international. Or rather, headed North and perhaps East to front a mission to save fellow animals, if not themselves, from an octopus named Dave (John Malkovich). Actually, according to the plot summary, this multi-limbed menace is after the Penguins and an international task force, North Wind, led by a timber wolf (Benedict Cumberbatch), is going to be protecting them, much to the chagrin of the organization, if this trailer is any indication.

As for whether or not Dr. Blowhole (the dolphin) will also make a comeback, that can make for an interesting film when all of the Penguin’s aquatic enemies gather together. From the television series, they have faced adversaries like The Red Squirrel and Hans the Puffin have managed to come out on top. But they did little in terms of putting them away. With very little of this film’s whole story revealed so far, maybe the inclusion of North Wind will help expand the mythos just enough so that when there are new threats, the bad guys have a prison to go to. Continue reading “The Penguins are Back! Madagascar Look Out! Trailer Released Today (and Thoughts)”

Looking At The Hobbit and Beyond The Desolation of Smaug

Fans anxiously waiting for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug may feel dissuaded by the long length, but every moment is well worth the effort.

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug Poster

Fans anxiously waiting for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug may feel dissuaded by the long length, but every moment is well worth the effort. Peter Jackson has provided a very meaty story that picks up the pace from where the last movie left off. He felt that there needed to be at least a quick summary of what the first film was about, and that was deftly handled without weighing the rest of the film down.

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) finds himself having to deal with Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) more often than with the wise old wizard, Gandalf (Ian McKellen). The mage has to forge ahead and look into more disturbing manners. If this movie was to foreshadow anything about a fellowship, then what it foretells is more like the parting of the ways in order to get the last job done. There will be more issues to come that readers of the book will know about when the final chapter, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, releases at the end of next year.

By then, fans of the cinematic series will have plenty to think about before seeing what Jackson and writers Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro have in store for this cinematic rewriting of J.R.R. Tolkien’s material.

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The Penguins of Madagascar gets John Malkovich as the “Charming Villian”

The latest news about DreamWorks Penguins of Madagascar includes the following casting news:

The PenguinsThe Penguins of Madagascar will be back in 2015, and they will have Benedict Cumberbatch and John Malkovich to contend with. Both actors are in high demand these days and the excitement is even better after sources say who they will play. Cumberbatch will voice a high-ranking animal CIA agent that’s after Malkovich, who will be a “charming villian.”

As for how the Penguins will play into this plot must mean they will leave their merry zoo life and might be globe-trotting in a high paced spy action thriller.

Expected to be back will be Tom McGrath as the voice of Skipper, Chris Miller as Kowalski, John DiMaggio as Rico and Christopher Knights as Private.

To helm the movie will be director Simon J. Smith (“Bee Movie”) interpreting the script by Michael Colton and John Aboud. Lara Breay (“Megamind”) is producing, while executive producers include Mireille Soria, Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell, all of whom are responsible for the original “Madagascar” trilogy.

Source: theWrap