UK release date: 15th December

It’s set in a world of dragons and sorcery, but Eragon fails to conjure the magic of Christopher Paolini’s bestselling book.

Newcomer Ed Speleers stars (with some initial uncertainty) as the titular farm boy who becomes a “dragon rider”, threatening the tyrannical rule of King Galbatorix (a gnashing John Malkovich). Jeremy Irons employs a dry sense of humour as Eragon’s mentor Brom, which helps to alleviate some of the tedium as the kid struggles to decide what his true mission is. Rachel Weisz voices Saphira, the winged beast that carries Eragon into battle, although getting there proves to be a dizzying ride.

First-time director Stefen Fangmeier provides occasional distraction from the dithering script with adrenaline-fuelled flying scenes. But sadly the CGI effects aren’t good enough to make Saphira an emotionally engaging character, so the relationship between her and Eragon fails to spark.

Radio Times rating:

**

UK cinema certificate PG
Running time 103mins

Review by Stella Papamichael

On typically over-the-top form as another evil baddie in this week’s dragon-based kids’ drama Eragon, and he has a fair few other fantasy pieces in the works, not least the much-anticipated, Ray Winstone-starring Beowulf, due November 2007, and the similarly medieval Love and Virtue, based on the ancient Song of Roland, due 2008, and looking to be equally promising if the casting rumours are true.

Also likely to do well is The Great Buck Howard, also due next year, where Malkovich will play the titular illusionist who takes on young Colin Hanks as his assistant - much to the consternation of the boy’s father - played by Hanks’ real-life dad, perennial favourite Tom. Still on a fantasy bent, though rather less promising, Malkovich will also be appearing in sci-fi actioner The Mutant Chronicles - which, no doubt, will be great fun if you like that sort of thing…

In more “serious” film news, somehow the top-notch Colour Me Kubrick, based around a real-life fraudster who pretended to be reclusive uberdirector Stanley Kubrick to get star treatment and made nearly two years ago now, has still not been picked up by a UK distributor, despite receiving unanimously good reviews. Also unlikely to see a proper cinema release is art flick Drunkboat, co-starring John Goodman, which seems to have hit some editing trouble.

Most promising of the non-fantasy flicks, though, is likely to be Disgrace, due out next year and based on the novel of post-Apartheid politics by Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee. If Malkovich plays it right, it could have just the right mix to finally win him that Oscar…

Burly hardman Winstone has been doing rather well of late, with turns in this week’s Breaking and Entering and last month’s The Departed adding to his recent TV success in Vincent adding yet more points to his impressive CV. Up next, he’ll take the lead in the Robert Zemeckis-directed Beowulf, based on the ancient epic poem and with a script co-wrtten by comic book hero Neil Gaiman. With a cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, it’s certainly one to look forward to - but we’ve still got another year to wait.Other film projects rumoured to have the Winstone touch include Death of a Ladies’ Man, scripted by cult Australian songwriter Nick Cave and to be directed by John Hillcoat, who helmed last year’s top-notch The Proposition, also written by Cave and co-starring Winstone. Our dear tough guy will play a recently-widowed salesman who takes his young son on the road - so may be an interesting departure for an actor better known for breaking faces than hearts. There have also been a few rumours that he may be appearing alongside Robert Carlyle, Kevin Spacey and Twiggy in cult director Ken Russell’s upcoming King’s X - about which practically nothing is yet known

Veteran Hopkins may be about to hit his 69th birthday (on 31st December), but he’s certainly not showing his age in terms of workload, with three more films already wrapped since finishing his duties on this week’s All the King’s Men.

The one he’ll be most keen to see do well is Slipstream - largely because not only does he star, but also wrote and directed this surreal psychological exploration of a screenwriter (played by Christian Slater) who starts becoming unable to distinguish between fact and fiction. No release date has yet been set, but then again, it is still in post-production.
Next up, Hopkins looks to be moving back to his most commercially successful role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Only it seems that copyright has prevented the producers of Fracture from using that name, so instead Hopkins will be known as the altogether less sinister-sounding Ted, a psycho hounding a young assistant DA. Again, a UK release date has yet to be set, though it is out in the States in the Spring. Another familiar role will be in the recently-announced Harry and the Butler, where Hopkins will - following his acclaimed role in 1993’s The Remains of the Day - play a butler, this time hired by an aging blues man, to be played by Morgan Freeman.

Most promising of all, however, the Welsh national treasure will be cropping up as the beseiged King Hrothgar in Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis’s much-anticipated cinematic adaptation of the ancient epic poem Beowulf. With Ray Winstone in the title role and supported by the likes of John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Crispin Glover and Angelina Jolie, it looks all set to be one of the biggest films of Christmas 2007.