CANNES REVIEW: “Fruitvale Station” Rises and Rises With Michael B. Jordan

May 16, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Reviews Leave a comment

The based-on-a-true story “Fruitvale Station” is very much 2013′s “Beasts of the Southern Wild” – a first time director, Ryan Coogler, taking Cannes Film Festival by storm following a world premiere at Sundance Film Festival, with an impressive awards-worthy performance from a rising star. And please Academy, award Michael B. Jordan with that Oscar nomination like you did for Quvenzhane Wallis.

An intimate film like “Fruitvale Station” rises and falls with its lead, and Jordan is hugely successful in holding us captive as we follow a day in the life of Oscar Grant (Jordan), a young man who was subjected to police brutality in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2009.

CANNES REVIEW: “The Bling Ring” is a Cautionary Tale for Our Time, and Pretty to Look At Too

May 16, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Reviews 1 Comment

Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring” opens with a scene those of us familiar with popular culture will recognize – young teenagers on CCTV apparently breaking into someone’s house. It is of course the aforementioned Bling Ring, five teenagers who spent several months entering – but never actually breaking in to – celebrity houses and stealing clothes, bags, shoes and jewelry. Today’s generation is the generation of no consequences and director Sofia Coppola and her cast of young newcomers, in dramatizing these real events that took place in Los Angeles, make this very clear.

Watch: First Clip of Juno Temple Breaking Down in Thriller “Magic Magic”

May 15, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos Leave a comment

Following it’s premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival we were pleased to see thriller “Magic Magic” would be playing during Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight, and now we have our first clip of the film featuring Juno Temple.

Also starring Emily Browning and Michael Cera, the Sebastian Silva film follows Temple’s Alicia, a young girl who heads to Chile to stay with her cousin (Browning) and her cousin’s boyfriend and friends. Alicia is slowly unravelling though and her cousin and friends begin to notice something is wrong much too late.

In this first clip via The Playlist, we see Alicia on the phone to her cousin, clearly in the middle of a breakdown. Lots of close camera shots here and what looks like another great performance from Temple who having been an indie mainstay for several years has been making her way in to Hollywood with last year’s controversial “Killer Joe”, supernatural thriller “Horns” opposite Daniel Radcliffe, and two high profile blockbusters – “The Dark Knight Rises” and next year’s Disney’s Sleeping Beauty redo “Maleficent” opposite Angelina Jolie.

Watch: First Trailer for James Franco’s Southern Gothic Adaptation “As I Lay Dying”

May 13, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos 1 Comment

They said “On The Road” was unfilmable but Walter Salles succeeded, and at next weeks’ Cannes Film Festival we’ll discover if James Franco has been successful with another ‘unadaptable’ novel, William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying“. For now, today’s newly released trailer, via Yahoo, suggests that Franco will definitely be offering us a taste of the Southern Gothic for which Faulker was famous for – and has upped my anticipation for an adaptation of a book I couldn’t finish.

Franco has directed, produced, scripted, and cast himself, in this American classic which follows the trials of the Bundren family as they attempt to bury their matriarch in the town of Jefferson. It sounds simple enough but the major challenge for Franco, as both director and screenwriter, comes where Faulkner uses fifteen different points of view over the course of the novel.

Joining Franco though is a cast of rising stars including Danny McBride in a dramatic role unlike his usual comedic characters, and Logan Marshall-Green, so we’re hopeful that this proves to be a hit for audiences at Cannes before a wider release date is set.

Check out the trailer below.

First Look at Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan in Indie Romantic Comedy “The F Word”

May 12, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Images Leave a comment

“The F Word” was Elan Mastai‘s Black List script from 2008 so we were pretty pleased to hear two of our favourite rising stars, Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan, had joined the romantic comedy back last year – and the release of new images has upped our anticipation.

Radcliffe will be playing a young man determined to remain “just friends” with the girl he likes, played by Kazan, however she reveals she’s already in a relationship with someone else – leading, we’re sure, to more confusion not less!

Based on the play “Toothpaste and Cigars” by T.J. Dawe and Michael Rinaldi, Michael Dowse has directed the film, and we think it will be interesting to see these two in a romantic comedy, considering comedy isn’t something we’ve seen much of from either actor.

Check out the pics below, courtesy of The Playlist. “The F Word” has no release date yet but will be selling at this week’s Cannes Film Festival.

Watch: Paul Rudd Contemplates Emile Hirsch in Teaser Trailer for “Prince Avalanche”

May 10, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos Leave a comment

Paul Rudd writes a letter and tries to learn to live with Emile Hirsch in this first trailer for English-language remake “Prince Avalanche“.

Filmed secretly with David Gordon Green in the director’s chair, “Prince Avalanche” stars Rudd as a man who has decided to live in the middle of nowhere and paint road markings to earn his living, but who has his girlfriend’s younger brother along with him. This teaser suggests a quirky deadpan humour – something we’ve come to expect from both Rudd and Hirsch – and as Urban Pundit suggest, perhaps a little more action that the original Icelandic feature.

The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and Gordon Green went on to win the Silver Berlin Bear for the pic at the Berlin Film Festival.

“Prince Avalanche” has a US release date of August 8th 2013, and you can check out the trailer below the cut.

“Games of Thrones” Star Richard Madden Will Be Prince Charming for Lily James’ “Cinderella”

May 8, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

British actress Lily James last week won the coveted titular role in Disney’s new live-action adaptation of “Cinderella” and now Disney have confirmed over Twitter that “Games of Thrones” actor Richard Madden has been cast as her Prince Charming.

There was a long process as Disney looked for their princess, but Madden has been the only name formally announced during the casting process for her Prince, so it’s clear that he made an impression. Kenneth Branagh will be directing from a script by Aline Brosh McKenna and Chris Weitz, with Cate Blanchett starring as Cinderella Evil Stepmother. Production is currently scheduled to begin this fall for a 2014 release.

Scottish actor Madden currently plays Robb Stark on the HBO hit show “Games of Thrones”. A stage actor for many years, he has recently starred in several BBC TV mini series including “Birdsong.” He has wrapped filming on “A Promise” with Rebecca Hall and is attached to indie romantic comedy “Long Nights Short Mornings.”

Watch: Red Band Trailer for Coen Brothers’ Cannes Contender “Inside Llewyn Davis”

May 8, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos Leave a comment

Gearing up for next week’s premiere at Cannes Film Festival, today sees the release of a red band trailer for the Coen brothers “Inside Llewyn Davis”.

There aren’t many new scenes in this new video compared to the trailer we received back in Janaury, just the expected cussing, but the tone begins to feels more melancholic towards the end before finishing with the same scene as the earlier trailer – Oscar Isaac gathering the courage to perform for a nightclub owner.

Also starring Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman, we’re hoping for a premiere at Cannes early next week so we can bring you an exclusive review, but “Inside Llewyn Davis” will be released to the public this coming December – hoping to be a contenders for next year’s awards season.

Watch: First Trailer for “The Butler” Goes for the Heartstrings – and the Oscar Vote

May 8, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos Leave a comment

The first trailer for Lee Daniel’s “The Butler” was released today and it’s a stirring two and a half minutes that tugs at the heartstrings. Talk about an impressive trailer to get us talking about the first of this year’s awards-baity films!

Starring Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines and Oprah Winfrey as his wife, “The Butler” is based on Wil Haygood’s Washington Post article about a black man who served as a White House butler to eight presidents over three decades. Daniel’s film also stars David Oyelowo as Gaines’ song Louis who was a Freedom Rider, Alex Pettyfer as a slave-owner, and James Marsden and Minka Kelly as President Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy.

This trailer has a heavy focus on the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement, showcasing Nelsan Ellis as Martin Luther King Jr., but expect the film to cover all of the presidents that Cecil Gaines worked for in the White House, with this first trailer giving us glimpses of Eisenhower (Robin Williams), Kennedy, Nixon (John Cusack) and President Reagan (Alan Rickman)

“The Butler” will be released on October 18th 2013 – perfect for awards season.

Click below to watch the trailer.

Steven Spielberg Set to Direct Bradley Cooper in Navy SEAL Biopic “American Sniper”

May 2, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 1 Comment

Bradley Cooper is the man that all of Hollywood wants to work with. Following on from his Oscar nomination this year for the brilliant “Silver Linings Playbook“, the actor, who may finally be shaking off his “Hangover” rep, is now attached to star in the Steven Spielberg-directed biopic of a Navy SEAL, “American Sniper” – which Cooper himself has already been developing as a co-producer.

THR reports that the film is based on Navy SEAL Christopher Kyle’s own autobiography “American Sniper”, which was a New York Times bestseller. Kyle was known as the most lethal sniper is American military history and was honorably discharged in 2009 before being fatally killed by a fellow veteran, who suffered from PTSD, at a shooting range in Texas.

Cooper is turning himself into quite the multi-hypenate as he follows up from his Oscar nom with news that he may star and direct in a remake of the German film “Kokowaah“. Currently filming David O. Russell‘s political thriller “American Hustle” which also features Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, Cooper will next be seen on the big screen in the final part of “The Hangover” trilogy, due for release May 24th 2013. He also recently joined – and then dropped out of troubled Western “Jane Got A Gun“, and has the release of Susanna Bier’s “Serena” on the cards as well as Cameron Crowe’s next.

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