i-Flicks.net

BlogalongaBond. One Bond film a month until Bond 23 turns up.

There's nothing like a secret agent going rogue. Actually, there's nothing like a secret who doesn't: they literally don't exist.

Moles, insiders, traitors, saboteurs, mavericks, heroes, wrongly-accused people - from Harry Palmer and Jason Bourne to Veronica Salt and Ethan Hunt, going rogue is in every secret agent's job description. It's actually expected by your employers. If you don't go rogue at least once in your career, you get bumped off. Probably by another rogue agent.

And that's why I, like many others, love Licence to Kill. It's the nasty Bond film. The one where 007 shows just how much of a bastard he really is (well, that and Benicio Del Toro saying the word "honeymoon").

Dalton, already the steely-eyed murderer of Fleming's novels, is even more cold and ruthless than normal. Going on the rampage to avenge Felix Leiter (brother from Langley)'s death, he practically puts up a sign saying "Roger Moore's eyebrows are not welcome here". Then kills anyone who doesn't bother to read it.

But while John Glen delights in the everyday ambitions of Robert Davi's drug dealing villain Sanchez, and we enjoy the 15-rated blood splattering of THAT pressure chamber death scene (cf. the industrial microwave in Kick-Ass), this is hardly the first time 007 has gone rogue. Pursuing Blofeld, getting Goldfinger, he spends a lot of time disobeying M and chasing his own agenda - he's MI6's Quincy, the government's McNulty, Her Majesty's House. The Columbo of the secret service.

By the time the 1989 outing comes along, he's already a bit of an expert.

So, if you're a patriotic spy and you're concerned about your career progression, take a few tips from the best with this informative pamphlet that came free with my DVD...

Director: Joe Johnston
Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving, Emily Blunt
Certificate: 15
Trailer

Wolfman. Benicio Del Toro. It's a great piece of casting - they don't come much wolfier than old Benicio. But even with the most hairiest of men baring his teeth at the camera, Joe Johnston's remake of the classic horror story never quite works. It's no surprise after the years of troubled production, but The Wolfman is patchy stuff. For all its gothic leanings and fondness for its furry material, this beast reeks mostly of ham. Thick, hammy slices of ham.

Ok, so we're not talking biology here. But there's not a woman on the planet who wouldn't like to look underneath Benicio Del Toro's clothes. We can't quite do that kind of film here, but how about a look underneath his furry exterior? Does that appeal?

With its moody posters and fairly gruesome trailer, it's clear that Universal's rejig of Wolfman is going to be blood-splattered stuff in the best possible sense. And with Anthony Hopkins on board alongside Benicio and Emily Blunt, it's shaping up to be one hell of a monster movie. But before you start betting on Benicio taking down Edward Cullen (he clearly would tear R Patz to shreds), take a look behind the scenes of Wolfman with this lovely little featurette.

Read on for the full video. And if you're still not convinced, head over to our videos section and re-watch the trailer. It'll give you goosebumps. Because of the wolf stuff, not Benicio's sexy body. Honest.

Director: Joe Johnston
Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Art Malik
Certificate: TBC
Release Date: Friday 12th February 2010

Inspired by the classic Universal film that launched a legacy of horror, The Wolfman brings the myth of a cursed man back to its iconic origins. Benicio Del Toro stars as Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Reunited with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins), Talbot sets out to find his brother... and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself.

Lawrence Talbot’s childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) has come to investigate. As he pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself… one he never imagined existed.