Writer and editor Mike Shaw | mpshaw.co.uk

Amy Adams is Lois Lane. Thank fuck for that.

A million movie fans breathed a sigh of relief earlier this week as it was announced that the part of Lois Lane in the new Superman film will not be played by sourfaced talent-void Kirsten Stewart, but instead by the lovely, Oscar-winner-in-waiting, Amy Adams.

Director Zack Snyder refused to give any details about how much Lane will actually appear in the film, but surely they wouldn’t hire someone of Adams’ calibre for a small part.

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Forget Morgan Spurlock, the hottest new documentary maker is an unassuming Canadian named Sam Dunn. Along with Scot McFadyen, he has produced the year’s most exhilarating doc – and it’s all about metal.

Following the genre from its very beginnings, and including interviews with all of the movement’s major players, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey is an absolute necessity for annoying with even a passing interest in heavy guitars and the vigorous banging of heads, and if not – what the fuck are you doing reading this mag?

Beginning with an argument over who can truly claim to be the first metal band, and taking in pretty much everything from metal’s relationship to opera, the use of the devil’s tritone, the infamous court cases of the 80s and more than a little hero worship, it’s an epic production. But did it feel that way while making it?

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Michael Bay knows what he did

In a rare moment of self-awareness, Michael Bay has declared that Transformers 2 was not very good.

That’s quite a big deal coming from any director, but especially from one as fond of himself as Bay. He said: “We made some mistakes. The real fault with Transformers 2 is that it ran into a mystical world. When I look back at it, that was crap. The writers’ strike was coming hard and fast. It was just terrible to do a movie where you’ve got to have a story in three weeks.

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Yes, there’s a dog in The Wizard of Oz.

He scampers about, gets carried a lot, and (on the night I was there) doesn’t poo on the stage. That’s the first and last mention of the Westie (one of four) who ‘plays’ Toto, and is apparently the only thing many other critics focused on. It’s quite amazing how they managed to ignore the rest of the show and the cast, and churn out 500 words on a dog. They’re really giving their readers what they want.

The Wizard of Oz has never been a particularly popular stage show over here, but when Andrew Lloyd Webber picked the L. Frank Baum classic as the subject of his new TV talent search, it was obvious that popularity would soon soar.

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Jukebox musicals haven’t got a great reputation but Million Dollar Quartet might just change all that.

Generally, jukebox musicals are less fun than being beaten with a knotted rope, but Million Dollar Quartet sidesteps many of the usual pitfalls thanks to having an authentic storyline, brilliant cast and seriously great music.

The story goes, that at Sun Records in December 1956, four rock ‘n’ roll pioneers got together for an informal jamming session. In an amazing moment in musical history, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley hung out, drank beer and made some music.

Read the rest of my review at The Void.

OscarFail

I got one wrong.

DAMMIT!

Sure, I wasn’t massively confident in my 2011 Oscar predictions because there were a lot of seriously strong contenders. But still, I’d rather get them all wrong than just one.

The Oscar for Best Director went to Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech rather than the more deserving David Fincher who directed The Social Network. The Academy followed their hearts, rather than their heads, and were swept along by the sheer momentum of The King’s Speech. It was the popular decision, rather than the right decision.

While I’m talking about the Oscars, did any of you watch the ceremony? Wasn’t it terrible. In an effort to drag in younger viewiers and avoid the usual criticisms that the show is dull, organisers drafted Anne Hathaway and James Franco to host, but the duo somehow managed to make it more boring than ever. When a pair of young actors are upstaged by a hologram of a dead guy (Bob Hope), then you know they’re in trouble.

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