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Debut Poster and Trailer for Alexander Payne's NEBRASKA

 
Starring Will Forte and Bruce Dern, Nebraska follows a father and son traveling across four states to claim a sweepstakes prize. Shot in black-and-white, Nebraska is only Alexander Payne’s second film since 2004’s critical darling Sideways. In 2011, Payne came out of semi-retirement with a bang, offering up The Descendants, another critically acclaimed work that had strong chances at claiming major Oscars.

Originally debuting at this year’s Cannes, Nebraska has already earned a little following, with many putting Oscar odds on Bruce Dern for the Best Supporting Actor nom. Take a look and see what you think about Dern’s odds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErAhBHB0M74
Nebraska is directed by Alexander Payne and stars Will Forte, Bruce Dern,June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, and Stacy Keach. It hits theaters on November 22, 2013.

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Schwarzenegger Circles Baddie Role in AVATAR Sequels

Arnold Schwarzenegger has had a bit of a tough go returning to Hollywood after his seven year stint as California governor. His last film, The Last Stand, which pitted him and Johnny Knoxville against a drug cartel only mustered a hair over $12 million domestically on a budget of over $45 mill. Schwarzenegger’s long promised return (“I’ll be back”) didn’t quite do much for audiences and, if anything, signaled a monetary loss on Lionsgate‘s part.

However, the idea of Schwarzenegger re-teaming with director James Cameron could signal a return to the glory days for his career. To this day, Terminator 2 continues to be the most financially successful movie that Schwarzenegger has been involved in so. Considering Cameron’s Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time, there’s no doubt that the sequel will put up massive numbers, meaning Schwarzenegger could see a boost in his career after being front-and-center in such a high profile film.

This new rumor was broken by the notoriously accurate Latino Review, who more often than not are on-the-money, and suggests that Schwarzenegger would play “a bad guy human general”. It is currently unknown whether Schwarzenegger would just be involved in Avatar 2 or if his involvement would spread throughout all three sequels Cameron is developing.

For now, Scwarzenegger is set to co-star in the rebooted Terminator for director Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones, Thor: The Dark World) as well as a new iteration of The Legend of Conan.

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First Look at GRACE OF MONACO Trailer

 
While Naomi Watts‘ Princess Diana biopic Diana is getting lambasted by critics, a new princess arrives in the form of Nicole Kidman. While both Watts and Kidman were early contenders for Best Actress nominations, it seems that Watts is almost out of the race already, opening a widening margin for Kidman’s take on a classic historical princess to slip in.
 

Directed by Olivier Dahan, Grace of Monaco follows the story of former Hollywood star Grace Kelly’s crisis of marriage and identity, during a political dispute between Monaco’s Prince Rainier III and France’s Charles De Gaulle, and a looming French invasion of Monaco in the early 1960s.

While there is not yet any shots from the film, this first peek gives a sense of both tone and style. Check it out below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgY1YMq3eDY

Grace of Monaco is directed by Olivier Dahan and stars Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, André Penvern, and Frank Langella. It opens in limited theaters on November 27.

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12 YEARS A SLAVE Wins TIFF Audience Award

 

Winning at the highly watched, well-hyped Toronto International Film Festival can do wonderful things for a career, and speaks plenty about future Oscar nominations. At TIFF, the festival’s films are voted on by an audience instead of a Jury. Recent films given the People’s Choice Award  include Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech and Argo.

That bodes well for 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen and his actors and crew, a well put together ensemble that numbers Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northrup, the protagonist and author of the memoir that 12 Years a Slave is based on. Co-starring in the film, Michael Fassbender is the cruel plantation owner Edwin Epps who oversees Northrup after purchasing him off  William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), a Baptist preacher and slave owner. Brad Pitt, Quvenzhané Wallis, Paul Giamatti and other stars also lend their talents to this coherent ensemble. With the stake so high in talent, it’s no wonder the film has received acclaim from all of its viewers.

Couple great source material and superb with striking cinematography by Sean Bobbitt, wonderful writing by John Ridley, and superb direction by Steve McQueen, and it’s little wonder that 12 Years a Slave did take the cake at TIFF this year.  In an exploration of slavery that damns nearly every white character on screen while consistently reaffirming Northrup’s existent humanity, even under duress,, McQueen has set himself and his cast up well for Oscar season. Many Oscar tipsters have even mentioned that McQueen, the London-born Holland resident, could end up being the first a black director to win Best Director at the Academy Awards.
 
Before TIFF, 12 Years a Slave premiered as a sneak peak in the Telluride Film Festival,and has since been confirmed for the 2013 BFI London Film Festival as well. It’ll get commercial release by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises on October 18, 2013. Given the film’s popularity with critics, we can be sure to expect more film festival showings and even more acclaim for 12 Years a Slave and its cast in the coming months.  To see a trailer for this wonderful drama, click here. 

12 Years a Slave is directed by Steve McQueen and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Quvenzhane Wallis, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy, Garrett Dillahunt, Alfre Woodard, Dwight Henry, and Michael K. Williams. It hits theaters on October 18.

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New OLDBOY Trailer Gets Greenbanded

In drafting my fall preview, I put Spike Lee‘s Oldboy at number nine on my list of most anticipated films so while I’m all for more marketing, I’m going to hold off on taking a lookie at this one. For those of you not bought in yet, take a look and see if this looks like something down your alley. Remaking the acclaimed Korean film from director Chan Wook-Park, this is sure to offer the viscus-smattered thrills that some of us crave and some of us cower from. Which will you be?

“Obsessed with vengeance,” the synopsis read, “a man sets out to find out why he was kidnapped and locked up into solitary confinement for 20 years without reason.” If you haven’t checked out the first trailer, you can watch it here but be aware that it, unlike this newest one, is not safe for work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWohFDMSMh8

Oldboy is directed by Spike Lee and stars Josh Brolin, Samuel L Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen and Michael Imperioli. It hits theaters on October 25.

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Out in Theaters: INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2

Insidious: Chapter 2″
Directed by James Wan
Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Steve Coulter
Horror, Thriller
105 Mins
PG-13

 

 

Back in grade school, we learn about the five paragraph essay. It starts with an intriguing hook to invite readers into the text. Following from the content of the opening segment, we’re supposed to know what to expect for the remainder of the work. We then have three body paragraphs basically giving some meat to the text before we wrap it all up with a conclusion that summarizes events while making some overarching statement tying together the various strands of the piece. Be it a subjective opinion or an objective truth, a paper has to say something or else, what’s the point? A similar blueprint can be expected for film. Surely there are cases that call for deviation but when you fail to understand the most basic structure of story, there is no hope for transcendence nor is there any respite from piss poor narrative decisions. This is the case with Insidious: Chapter 2 – a half-witted, inconsistent mess of a horror sequel.

 

While the first installation (to what is sure to be at least a three chapter affair) started as a somber and moody horror-thriller and deteriorated piece-by-piece, this followup starts its engines in the rubble of that fallout. Deserting any modicum of first act set-up, things start going bump in the night right from the get-go. No respite is granted for those of us who want our psychology tinkered with. This is a full-blown pounding sesh. Doors slam themselves, baby monitors creak splintered whispers, pianos warble themselves out of key and there’s no scarcity of screaming, gasping, and jaw-dangling from those onscreen. Us in the audience however are cold from disinterest and disengagement.

As such, the first forty-five minutes of the film are purely awful – a hodgepodge of horror movie staples that wore themselves thin back in the 80s but somehow continue as if every horror audience has amnesia. Absent of a mere moment of breathlessness, this first act is also staggeringly unoriginal. Even in a market dominated by micro-budget horrors piggybacking on each other’s ideas, the recycled-ness feels built right into its DNA. There is not a dose of originality sewn into the framework, making the experience first-and-foremost an exercise in patience through repetition and wristwatch-checking.

Worst of all is the cold open which finds the audience throttled back thirty-odd years to the genesis of the body-haunting at the forefront of the series. A preteen Josh Lambert meets a young Elise (Lindsay Seim) and what follows is seven minutes of unadulterated crud withSeim’s flat-lined delivery and over-the-top gesturing coming across as a collection to make up a well-earned Razzie reel.

But Seim is not the only one dropping the ball as performances pretty much across the board are broadly laughable, save for a rakish Patrick Wilson who channels a bit of Jack Nicholson‘s Jack Torrence to amusing effect. Rose Byrne adopts the same mouth-agape, wide-eyed approach to terrified acting she harnessed in the first installment and its just as ineffective this time around. Between these two leads exists a slack-lined, tread-worn slump of charisma so it’s no wonder that they rarely share the screen together. I’d buy their romance in a Levi ad and that’s pretty much it.

Odd couple, Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson make desperate plays for comic relief but their ill-timed jokes just add to the sloppy pileup. They may muster a laugh or two but those chuckles  only serves as admissible evidence of the tonal inconsistency ablaze throughout the film. In keeping with tradition, Lin Shaye feels out of place in any horror film and her cheery grandma facade just isn’t in keeping with the spooky feel Wan aims for. With so many miscalculations, it’s no wonder that he misses with such frequency here.

Everything exists either in shadow or bright spotlight with the cinematography from John R. Leonetti doing a dangerously sloppy job at making anything feel the least bit real. Having just served as DP on The Conjuring, which is a superior film in every way imaginable, the inconsistencies in quality are nothing less than confusing and easily damnable. In fact, Wan should be ashamed of the back-peddling he’s displayed here as this is a far cry from the game-changing part he played in The Conjuring.

Scathing review aside, there are moments where the film finds its footing and manages to put the chill back into the air. Wilson certainly gives it his all and is easily the most fun part of the ride. There are moments in the middle where the narrative pulls itself from the mire and seems like it actually may turn into a satisfying spookfest. In the end though, it is all for naught and adds up to nothing but a “to be continued…”Wan may have learned from the greatest mistakes of the first installment but it’s just a shame that he had to make a whole new set of mistakes.

Doused with easy scare tactics and devoid of a story all of it’s own, Insidious 2 borderson being  offensively lame at times. But perhaps its gravest crime is its unwillingness to stand alone outside the pack. As a chapter in the mildewed pages of a novel, it reads fine. But this is no novel. Nor is it Lord of the Rings. Sequel or not, movies are charged with standing by themselves and Wan is smugly overconfident in assuming audiences will be hungry for more after such a scarcely entertaining film.

As a solitary feature, without what comes before it and will come next, Insidious 2 is wildly incomplete, capped off with more holes than a back country freeway sign in Alabama. When it comes down to it, Insidious: Chapter 2 has a terrible beginning and a terrible end, making it in a sense, a shit-sandwich.

D+

 

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Out in Theaters: INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2

Insidious: Chapter 2″
Directed by James Wan
Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Steve Coulter
Horror, Thriller
105 Mins
PG-13

Back in grade school, we learn about the five paragraph essay. It starts with an intriguing hook to invite readers into the text. Following from the content of the opening segment, we’re supposed to know what to expect for the remainder of the work. We then have three body paragraphs basically giving some meat to the text before we wrap it all up with a conclusion that summarizes events while making some overarching statement tying together the various strands of the piece. Be it a subjective opinion or an objective truth, a paper has to say something or else, what’s the point? A similar blueprint can be expected for film. Surely there are cases that call for deviation but when you fail to understand the most basic structure of story, there is no hope for transcendence nor is there any respite from piss poor narrative decisions. This is the case with Insidious: Chapter 2 – a half-witted, inconsistent mess of a horror sequel.

While the first installation (to what is sure to be at least a three chapter affair) started as a somber and moody horror-thriller and deteriorated piece-by-piece, this followup starts its engines in the rubble of that fallout. Deserting any modicum of first act set-up, things start going bump in the night right from the get-go. No respite is granted for those of us who want our psychology tinkered with. This is a full-blown pounding sesh. Doors slam themselves, baby monitors creak splintered whispers, pianos warble themselves out of key and there’s no scarcity of screaming, gasping, and jaw-dangling from those onscreen. Us in the audience however are cold from disinterest and disengagement.

As such, the first forty-five minutes of the film are purely awful – a hodgepodge of horror movie staples that wore themselves thin back in the 80s but somehow continue as if every horror audience has amnesia. Absent of a mere moment of breathlessness, this first act is also staggeringly unoriginal. Even in a market dominated by micro-budget horrors piggybacking on each other’s ideas, the recycled-ness feels built right into its DNA. There is not a dose of originality sewn into the framework, making the experience first-and-foremost an exercise in patience through repetition and wristwatch-checking.

Worst of all is the cold open which finds the audience throttled back thirty-odd years to the genesis of the body-haunting at the forefront of the series. A preteen Josh Lambert meets a young Elise (Lindsay Seim) and what follows is seven minutes of unadulterated crud withSeim’s flat-lined delivery and over-the-top gesturing coming across as a collection to make up a well-earned Razzie reel.

But Seim is not the only one dropping the ball as performances pretty much across the board are broadly laughable, save for a rakish Patrick Wilson who channels a bit of Jack Nicholson‘s Jack Torrence to amusing effect. Rose Byrne adopts the same mouth-agape, wide-eyed approach to terrified acting she harnessed in the first installment and its just as ineffective this time around. Between these two leads exists a slack-lined, tread-worn slump of charisma so it’s no wonder that they rarely share the screen together. I’d buy their romance in a Levi ad and that’s pretty much it.

Odd couple, Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson make desperate plays for comic relief but their ill-timed jokes just add to the sloppy pileup. They may muster a laugh or two but those chuckles  only serves as admissible evidence of the tonal inconsistency ablaze throughout the film. In keeping with tradition, Lin Shaye feels out of place in any horror film and her cheery grandma facade just isn’t in keeping with the spooky feel Wan aims for. With so many miscalculations, it’s no wonder that he misses with such frequency here.

Everything exists either in shadow or bright spotlight with the cinematography from John R. Leonetti doing a dangerously sloppy job at making anything feel the least bit real. Having just served as DP on The Conjuring, which is a superior film in every way imaginable, the inconsistencies in quality are nothing less than confusing and easily damnable. In fact, Wan should be ashamed of the back-peddling he’s displayed here as this is a far cry from the game-changing part he played in The Conjuring.

Scathing review aside, there are moments where the film finds its footing and manages to put the chill back into the air. Wilson certainly gives it his all and is easily the most fun part of the ride. There are moments in the middle where the narrative pulls itself from the mire and seems like it actually may turn into a satisfying spookfest. In the end though, it is all for naught and adds up to nothing but a “to be continued…”Wan may have learned from the greatest mistakes of the first installment but it’s just a shame that he had to make a whole new set of mistakes.

Doused with easy scare tactics and devoid of a story all of it’s own, Insidious 2 borders on beingoffensively lame at times. But perhaps its gravest crime is its unwillingness to stand alone outside the pack. As a chapter in the mildewed pages of a novel, it reads fine. But this is no novel. Nor is it Lord of the Rings. Sequel or not, movies are charged with standing by themselves and Wan is smugly overconfident in assuming audiences will be hungry for more after such a scarcely entertaining film.

As a solitary feature, without what comes before it and will come next, Insidious 2 is wildly incomplete, capped off with more holes than a back country freeway sign in Alabama. When it comes down to it, Insidious: Chapter 2 has a terrible beginning and a terrible end, making it in a sense, a shit-sandwich.

D+

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Trailer and Poster for Jason Vs. Franco Actioner HOMEFRONT

Adapted from Chuck Logan‘s bestselling book, Homefront pits retired DEA agent Jason Statham against a meth-cooking James Franco.While it’s intriguing to see Franco filling the villain’s shoes, the project looks like just another Statham vehicle to punch people and shoot things. It certainly doesn’t help that Sylvester Stallone is responsible for the screen adaptation.

For some reason I can’t make two cents of, Statham preserves his English accent for the role of an American agent (as he does in nearly every film he is ever in). In fact, I can’t think of a single time the man has dropped the accent. Perhaps it has become too entrenched a part of his signature delivery but it’s easy to see that Statham should try on something new considering that none of his films have debuted at a number one spot since 2003’s The Italian Job (where he was not even near the top billing).

Directed by Gary Fleder (The Express), the film will see a November 27 release. It co-stars Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo.

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Homefront is directed by Gary Fleder and stars Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo. It opens on November 27, 2013.

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AMC Kills THE KILLING…Again

After a gripping cliffhanger of a season finale, AMC has gone ahead and axed The Killing for a second time. Originally snuffed out after season two and then revitalized thanks to a partnership with Netflix, The Killing had always struggled to find its footing in a market over-saturated with police drama. But those who watched it faithfully will tell you that there was something deeper and darker about this show that made it stand out from the crowd, not to mention pith perfect chemistry between leads Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman. 

AMC originally canceled the series last year after season two. Although the show started off a success, many viewers left after leaving betrayed by the conclusion to the first season which didn’t wrap things up like they expected. Personally, I thought it was a great, inventive move but ultimately, the series did itself in. Although season three was heralded by fans and critics, the numbers just weren’t there and consistent low ratings led to the decision to pull the plug to allow them to produce new material. In light of AMC’s recent decision to move ahead on Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul, it seems that the wake of Walter White can now add The Killing to his body count.

In a statement addressing their decision to not renew the much-loved show for a fourth season, AMC released the follow: “We have made the difficult decision not to move forward with a fourth season of The Killing. We want to thank our great partners at Fox Television Studios, creator Veena Sud, an extraordinary cast and the dedicated fans who watched.”

I will certainly be amongst those mourning the loss of The Killing. This fact is certainly not aided by the fact that season three ended with a major character turn that would have made for a fantastic next season. I guess this is the issue of getting too invested in tv shows. Like Deadwood and countless others before it, we will now never know the fate of Linden and Holder.

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Saul Gets His Own BREAKING BAD SPINOFF With BETTER CALL SAUL

For months, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan has been spouting the idea of a spinoff for one of the show’s most beloved characters Saul Goodman. Today, it seems that that notion has become reality.

Better Call Saul will center on Bob Odenkirk‘s conniving, pun-ladden lawyer Saul Goodman and will run on AMC. Following a licensing agreement between AMC and Breaking Bad producer Sony Pictures TV, Better Call Saul is now officially green-lit. The show will run as an one-hour prequel to “focus on the evolution of the Goodman character before he ever became Walter White’s lawyer.”

Considering that Saul is much more of a light-hearted character (especially before his acquainting with Walter “Heisenberg” White), don’t expect the show to be the same trip down the rabbit hole that Breaking Bad was. While it won’t quite fill the massive gap that Breaking Bad will leave upon its departure in a mere three weeks time, it will be interesting to see Odenkirk’s back story and may just cushion the blow a touch.

At this point, it’s unknown if Saul will even live through the events of Breaking Bad. Wouldn’t it be interesting if he did indeed perish? Surely would give this prequel show a certain twist. While Walter White and Jesse most definitely wouldn’t be showing up for this spinoff, I would be willing to put my money on the fact that Jonathan Bank‘s Mike would be returning at some point.

 Watch the following round up of some of Saul’s best one-liners to get you pumped for the spinoff.

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