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Review: Cop Thriller 'Blood' Starring Paul Bettany, Stephen Graham, Brian Cox & Mark Strong
5 hours ago
The history of the British police movie is not a glorious one. Perhaps it's because (for the most part) U.K. coppers aren't allowed to carry firearms, which somewhat reduces the capacity for squib-happy action sequences. Or maybe it's the lack of glamorous locations for said shootouts, which can hardly compete with Manhattan or L.A. But after Edgar Wright imported the cop movie to rural Britain with "Hot Fuzz," we've seen a string of more straight-faced takes on the genre from the U.K., including the Jason Statham vehicle "Blitz," '70s remake "The Sweeney," and this spring's "Welcome To The Punch." Of course, you could take a different approach, a more realistic and unglamorous one, where not a single bullet flies and no car chases another. And that's pretty much what "Blood" does. Executive-produced by Sam Mendes, adapted from a mid-'00s BBC series called "Conviction" by original »
- Oliver Lyttelton
Meryl Streep Joins Ya Adaptation 'The Giver' With Jeff Bridges
6 hours ago
Meryl Streep has seemingly done it all in her career, but a Ya adaptation? Nope...not until now anyway. The legendary actress is getting ready to make herself known to the tween set by coming on board "The Giver," which will also mark her first collaboration with Jeff Bridges. The actor, who has been shepherding the project for years (it was close to being made way back in 2006; and before that, his father Lloyd Bridges had been attached), is producing and starring in the flick, a big screen take on Lois Lowry's popular young adult sci-fi novel. The Newberry Medal award winner is set in a futuristic, dystopian world (of course) where society has eradicated memories and emotion, giving the responsibility of remembering the past to a single person, the Receiver. The hero, Jonas — to be played by Brenton Thwaites, who bagged the part last month — is selected to be the new Receiver, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Leonardo DiCaprio Still Determined To Make A Viking Movie, WB Picks Up 'King Harald' As Potential Vehicle
6 hours ago
Let's take a brief trip back in time, shall we? The year is 2009, and the whole saga surrounding Mel Gibson and his ex-wife had yet unfold in the tabloids. The director was lining up his project, a movie called "Beserker," penned by William Monahan, that was promising to be an unsparing Viking epic, with a tentative fall 2010 shoot planned with none other than Leonardo DiCaprio slated to star. Well, it obviously didn't happen and DiCaprio, unsurprisingly, vacated the movie about which little has been heard of since (though in 2012, Gibson said it was still in the works). But if seems that idea of playing a Viking has stuck with the actor. Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has just snatched up "King Harald" as a potential vehicle for DiCaprio, who will be producing via his Appian Way shingle. The pitch comes from Mark L. Smith — who penned Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "The Revenant »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Review: 'I Give It A Year' Starring Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Stephen Merchant, Anna Faris & Minnie Driver
6 hours ago
Given the title, there's a certain amount of winky irreverence built into "I Give It a Year". The phrase is the sort of thing that people usually snarl at the weddings of people who they feel are incompatible in some fundamental way. Such a title hints that, while it might appear to be a bouncy romantic comedy, it could slip in some seriously acidic undertones for a bit of extra bite. This notion is solidified once you know that Dan Mazer, one of Sacha Baron Cohen's confederates and a co-writer on both "Borat" and "Bruno," wrote and directed "I Give It a Year." Maybe it's the "Cabin in the Woods" of romantic comedies— something that simultaneously deconstructs the genre while celebrating it (and ultimately elevating it). Unfortunately this is not the case; "I Give It a Year" is a woefully inept, unfunny, unsexy romantic comedy that falls into every »
- Drew Taylor
Whitest Pimp Alive: New Clip & Featurette For 'Kick-Ass 2'
8 hours ago
What happens when a superhero movie that's supposed to be a sorta riff on the clichés of the genre starts becoming just like every other movie in the fold? That's what we're beginning to wonder with "Kick-Ass 2," which follows the irreverent first movie by doing what every sequel does: adding more characters, upping the stakes and in this case, becoming just like every other superhero movie going. Granted, the good guys and villains here are mostly kids, and there's more f-bombs, but when the action starts? Well, it all feels a little familiar. A new clip and featurette have landed for the movie, and in the scene from the movie, we see both Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl— okay, more the latter— lay down some brutal justice against baddies who love homophobic slurs. We're not so fond of the "Guitar Hero"-esque score, and we can't tell if the corny one liners are intentional or not, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Watch: New Trailer & Pics For Long Shelved Biopic 'Winnie Mandela' Starring Jennifer Hudson & Terrence Howard
8 hours ago
Premiering at Tiff way back in 2011 to largely negative reviews, and failing to find a distributor until this past spring, the signs aren't so good for "Winnie Mandela" (formerly known as "Winnie"), the biopic of the wife of the famed South Africa freedom fighter. But perhaps it serves as a curious second half to a double bill for anyone checking out the Idris Elba and Naomi Harris-starring "Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom" this fall. Anyway, in this new trailer for the Darrell J. Roodt ("Sarafina," "Cry The Beloved Country") directed film, you can see how Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson stack up as Nelson and Winnie, in the movie that views the struggle to end apartheid from the perspective of the woman behind the man. It all looks fairly safe and template driven, with all the right notes of soaring emotion and important drama being hit, but it never quite seems compelling. »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Watch: Michael Fassbender Gets Warned By Brad Pitt & Javier Bardem In 3 Clips From 'The Counselor'
9 hours ago
One of the bigger fall films yet to find a festival home (if it choose to go that route) is Ridley Scott's star-studded, Cormac McCarthy penned "The Counselor." But the movie is coming regardless of whether or not it gets a red carpet premiere somewhere, and now two clips have arrived to give those highly anticipating the flick (like us) another unique taste of what's in store. To recap, the story follows lawyer Michael Fassbender, who is in search of a big payday after he proposes to his girlfriend Laura (Penelope Cruz). So he hooks up with Reiner (Javier Bardem), an acquaintance with deep criminal ties, for a new business proposition: they'll take $20 million worth of cocaine from south of the border and offload it themselves, aided by the no-good Westray (Brad Pitt). Meanwhile, Fassbender gets naughty with Cruz in the third segment from the movie. Co-starring Cameron Diaz, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Watch: Kruger Comes Out In New Clip, TV Spot & 2 Featurettes For Neill Blomkamp's 'Elysium'
9 hours ago
Last month the drum was banging pretty hard in some quarters for everyone to show support for Guillermo Del Toro's "Pacific Rim," as it was that increasingly rare beast; a summer movie not based on a pre-existing property. But where is the nerd choir for Neill Blomkamp's "Elysium"? More inventive, enjoyable and accomplished than Del Toro's smash fest, the movie is due in just a few days as the last blockbuster hurrah of the season. Granted, it doesn't seem to be the formulaic slam dunk of Del Toro's movie so perhaps that's why the enthusiasm is a bit more muted, but Sony's marketing team is hoping to rally the troops. However, be warned, because watching everything below will spoil much of the movie. Perhaps taking a page out of the Fox playbook, these new promos rip pretty key moments out of "Elysium" and throws them into various clips and featurettes, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Harrison Ford Joins 'Expendables 3,' While Bruce Willis Bails
10 hours ago
At 71 years old Harrison Ford clearly isn't getting too old for this shit. Hell, we just learned he's game for getting out the whip and hat again to quip his way through "Indiana Jones 5," should it ever happen, and now he's ready to go down Nostalgia Lane some more, along with a host of other aging action icons. Sylvester Stallone has hit Twitter again, this time revealing this afternoon (with a heavy hand on the caps lock and exclamation point buttons): "Willis Out... Harrison Ford In !!!! Great News !!!!! Been waiting years for this!!!!" So hooray, Ford will join the random cast that includes Mickey Rourke, Wesley Snipes, Jackie Chan, Milla Jovovich, Mel Gibson and Kellan Lutz. Okay, okay we admit it— we sorta do want to see how his grab bag of people come together even if it sounds like a trainwreck waiting to happen. Perhaps Bruce Willis »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Animation Voice Round-Up: Benedict Cumberbatch & John Malkovich To Voice 'Penguins of Madagascar' & More
10 hours ago
DreamWorks Animation is hard at work filling out the voice casts for two of its upcoming animated features with big name stars joining the ranks of both "B.O.O. (Bureau Of Otherworldly Operations)" and "Penguins of Madagascar." In two separate scoops, The Wrap reports that Matt Bomer and Rashida Jones will join Seth Rogen and Melissa McCarthy in 'B.O.O.' while John Malkovich and Benedict Cumberbatch will become part of "Penguins of Madagascar," an offshoot of the bizarrely popular "Madagascar" franchise. DreamWorks Animation has always had a history of casting insanely popular, of-the-moment stars in its animated features, and these decisions seem to reinforce that. In 'B.O.O.,' Rogen (according to The Wrap), "stars as a new ghost named Jackson Moss who works as an agent at B.O.O., a top-secret government agency that protects humans from evil hauntings. When he and his partner »
- Drew Taylor
DVD Is The New Vinyl: Rock Hudson Has 'Seconds,' Nazi Escapes & 'Ishtar'
10 hours ago
Before digging into early-to-mid August's disc highlights, I'd like to set the Way Back Machine to two weeks ago and point out some eclectic late-July gems we missed, such as Twilight Time's exquisite Blu-ray edition of Walter Hill's 1978 neo-noir "The Driver," Olive Films' unexpected release of Anthony Mann's 1958 brazen, quasi-hicksploitation melodrama "God's Little Acre," and the Warner Archive re-release of 1998's eccentrically funny "Zero Effect," starring Ben Stiller and Bill Pullman as a socially stunted private investigator. From Europe, Raro Video lived up to their name with a rare trilogy of gritty moralist thrillers in "Fernando di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection (Volume 2)," Music Box Films stressed us out with the terrifically icy German thriller "The Silence," and sci-fi didn't get more provocative than the erotic Lithuanian curiosity "Vanishing Waves" (which Artsploitation lovingly packaged as a two-dvd set that includes director Kristina Buozyte's feature debut "The. »
- Aaron Hillis
Harrison Ford Thinks It Would Be "Perfectly Appropriate" For Him To Return For Another 'Indiana Jones' Movie
11 hours ago
The threat/promise of "Indiana Jones 5" still looms overhead, and at the very least, conversations have been happening in some capacity or another. Back in 2011, Steven Spielberg revealed that there was already some discussion as to what the MacGuffin might be, a few months later it seemed that plans for continuing the franchise were kiboshed due to George Lucas' retirement. But as we well know from "Star Wars," even if he's kicking up his feet on a beach somewhere, brands mean money and studios will always find a way to keep them alive, but should it even been attempted with Harrison Ford now in his early '70s? Well, according to the actor, the answer is: yes. "We've seen the character develop and grow over a period of time and it's perfectly appropriate and okay for him to come back again with a great movie around him where »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Robert De Niro & Meryl Streep Reteam And Move Into 'The Good House'
12 hours ago
While they already have the classic "The Deer Hunter," the underrated "Falling In Love," and the tough indie "Marvin's Room" under their belt, it has been seventeen years since Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep last graced the big screen together. But it looks like we won't have to wait much longer for another movie with the legendary pair as they've got a new project lined up. De Niro and Streep are now both attached to star in the adaptation of the recently published and critically acclaimed book "The Good House" by Ann Leary. Michael Cunningham ("The Hours," "A Home At The End Of The World") will adapt the book, a dramedy that tells the story of a recovering alcoholic finding love once again. Here's the synopsis: The Good House is a wickedly funny look at denial, told through the eyes of Hildy Good (Streep), a New England realtor and »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Watch: Charming Trailer For Nicole Holofcener's 'Enough Said' Starring James Gandolfini & Julia Louis-Dreyfus
12 hours ago
It may not be the buzziest film or the biggest awards contender headed to Tiff next month, but high up on our list of highly anticipated pictures is "Enough Said." Why? Seven words: Nicole Holofcener, James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. And the first trailer has arrived for the movie and indeed, it seems our excitement is warranted. Holofcener, whose last film was the unfairly slept on "Please Give," returns with a new feature that displays her always keen sense for character and sharp eye for the foibles of romance, relationships and more. Her latest tracks the divorced and single parent Eva (Louis-Dreyfus) who falls into a romance with Albert (Gandolfini), a sweet, funny and like-minded guy. The twist? He happens to be the ex-husband of Eva's new client Marianne (Catherine Keener), and suddenly all of his flaws—underscored by Marianne's constant complaints—come brimming right to the fore. And as this spot reveals, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Watch: 90-Minute Siggraph '13 Lecture Featuring Animation Giants Pete Docter, Chris Sanders, Henry Selick & More
12 hours ago
Marc Davis is a legend of Disney Feature Animation—one of Walt's Nine Old Men (his highly influential cabal of animators), Marc animated Thumper from "Bambi" and Cruella De Vil from "101 Dalmatians" and had just as profound an impact in Imagineering, where he helped design iconic attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and America Sings. The Academy holds a series of Marc Davis Lectures, where they discuss some aspect of animation, and this year held the first "away" lecture, this time at Siggraph, the annual conference on computer graphics. At the lecture they assembled nine relatively young men: Ron Clements, Pete Docter, Eric Goldberg, Kevin Lima, Mike Mitchell, Chris Sanders, Henry Selick, David Silverman and Kirk Wise. The theme of the lecture was "Giants' First Steps," and focused on the early student short films by the animators. If you have even a cursory interest in animation, it's something of a must-watch. »
- Drew Taylor
Watch: First Teaser Trailer For 'Muppets Most Wanted' Plus 5 New Pics For The Film
13 hours ago
Starting out called simply "The Muppets 2," then "Muppets...Again!" and now having finally settled on "Muppets Most Wanted," Disney can now start the proper marketing wheels on their felt covered sequel and today brings with it the first teaser trailer. As it usually goes with sequels, the stakes have been raised and the locations have become more international. Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo and Animal now find themselves trotting around London, Berlin and Madrid all while caught up in caper of worldwide intrigue. Human faces like Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais and Ty Burrell also pop into the frame with James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller reprising their director and writer roles (though sorry, no Jason Segel or Amy Adams this time). Here's the official synopsis: Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted” takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Watch: Trailer For 'And While We Were Here' Starring Kate Bosworth, Now Presented In Color Plus 20 Pics From The Film
13 hours ago
Director Kat Coiro is on a roll when it comes to directing feature films. Her latest offering, “And While We Were Here” hit the festival circuit in 2012, and since then, Coiro’s completed two additional features (“Departure Date” and “A Case of You“). And the trailer for "And While We Were Here" has landed with some interesting changes since we first saw it.The film tells the story of a woman (Kate Bosworth) who finds love with a younger man (Jamie Blackley) while on an Italian vacation with her husband (Iddo Goldberg). The trailer desperately wants you to see the film through the lens of the great Italian directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni, with long walks near the water, reflective close-ups, and a thrilling ride on a Vespa. At the Tribeca Film Festival in April, Playlist writer Gabe Toro gave it a “B+” calling it “an affecting romance between a woman caught between two worlds. »
- Kristen Lopez
Watch: Final Trailer For Sci-Fi 'Ender's Game' Lifts Off
13 hours ago
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" won't be the only film this fall boasting an array of wacky names. The sci-fi blockbuster "Ender's Game" will be bringing folks named Ender, Mazer, Hyrum and Bonzo to tell Orson Scott Card's futuristic tale of kid killers in space (or something) and as yesterday's preview of the final trailer suggested, it's going big or going home.Well, today is the unveiling of the final trailer, but we haven't watched it yet, so we'll leave you to tell us if this looks like a fall highlight. How does Asa Butterfield stand out as the lead? Are Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley appropriately growly? How does the latter's warpaint look? Can Gavin Hood redeem himself after the colossal misfire of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"? Are you gonna give this one a shot? Anyway, here's the official synopsis: In the near future, a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Tiff Clip: 'The Right Kind Of Wrong' Starring Ryan Kwanten From 'Benny & Joon' Director Jeremiah Chechik
14 hours ago
It’s been fifteen years since “Benny and Joon” director Jeremiah Chechik directed a feature length film. Despite the hot streak created by the Johnny Depp rom-com, Chechik fell from grace after the disastrous 1998 adaptation of the television series “The Avengers” (think less Joss Whedon and more villains dressed up as giant teddy bears). Since then Chechik has focused on directing for television with work on the CW’s “Hart of Dixie” and USA’s “Burn Notice.” Thankfully, he hasn’t turned away from directing features entirely. His first theatrical release “The Right Kind of Wrong” will premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, also marking the film's Canadian premiere. “The Right Kind of Wrong” appears to be in a similar quirky romantic vein as “Benny and Joon,” and rounds up a cast featuring “True Blood” hunk Ryan Kwanten, Catherine O’Hara and Sara Canning. The film follows »
- Kristen Lopez
'Cbgb' Soundtrack Features Blondie, Talking Heads, Velvet Underground & More Plus Lots Of New Pics From The Film
14 hours ago
Your humble Playlist correspondent doesn't regret much about his life, but he does regret this: the night in 2006 when legendary Manhattan punk rock club Cbgb closed its doors for the very last time, with Patti Smith playing the final set on the famous stage, he was in New York for the first time in his entire life and didn't go. This bitterest of missed chances will hurt forever, and Cbgb now only exists in sweaty memories and booze-soaked anecdotes: but the forthcoming film about the club will perhaps numb the pain a little.“Cbgb,” opening in October, is to be Randall Miller's biopic of the club and its founder, owner and animating spirit, Hilly Kristal, who will be played by Alan Rickman. He'll be backed up by a host of young actors playing now-ageing but still-awesome rockers in their heydays, including Malin Ackerman as Debbie Harry, Rupert Grint as Cheetah Chrome, »
- Ben Brock
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