REVIEW: Creepy And Twisted “Stoker” Ultimately Plays It Safe

February 20, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Reviews Leave a comment

stokerreview

With “Stoker”, Korean horror director Park Chan-wook makes his long-awaited English language debut, and fans of his highly stylized, stunning visuals and ability to bring out a certain poetic beauty in violent imagery will be satisfied with this dark and twisted tale of family bonds that run a little too deep.

Set in the aftermath of a funeral, Mia Wasikowska plays India Stoker, an introverted teen who has just lost her beloved father (Dermot Mulroney) and can’t stand to be touched, not even by her flakey, needy mother (Nicole Kidman). When India’s father’s handsome, creepy younger brother (Mattew Goode) arrives in town, meeting his niece for the first time after having spent his entire life traveling the world, things begin to get really weird. With hints of magical realism, the film flirts with slightly supernatural elements but does not cross over into it, intriguing and horrifying further, as the atrocities this family inflicts upon each other are wholly human.

Innocence Ends: Mia Wasikowska on new poster for Park Chan-wook’s “Stoker”

November 28, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

The footage and imagery that emerges from Park Chan-wook’s English language debut “Stoker” continues to be mind-blowingly beautiful and the new poster, unveiled today by Empire, is no exception. Mia Wasikowska, as troubled and abused teenager India, gets the close-up this time around, with the ever-ominous phrase “Innocence Ends” seemingly tattooed across her forhead.

Aside from being aesthetically pleasing, also wonderful is the way this new poster links thematically and visually with the last poster released, which in turn was linked to the promo reel/music video, which built upon the first two trailers. It’s a web that’s becoming as beautiful and subtly sinister as the movie appears to be. India not only has to deal with the death of her father, but her mother (Nicole Kidman) is a bit off her rocker, to say the least, she’s being bullied at school by the likes of Lucas Till and Alden Ehrenreich, and a creepy uncle named Charlie (Matthew Goode) has arrived on the scene to make things worse. Yup, can’t wait.

“Stoker” will be released on March 1, 2013 and the new poster can be viewed below.

Stunning first poster and new promo video for “Stoker” starring Mia Wasikowska

October 30, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 1 Comment

We described the first trailer for Park Chan-wook’s English language debut, “Stoker”, as beautiful and spooky, terrifying and intriguing and today more marketing materials from the film released only further cement this as one of our most anticipated releases of 2013.

There’s no floating heads against a generic background on the first poster for this creepy family drama that sees Mia Wasikowska as th bullied daughter of Nicole Kidman and object of something sinister from Matthew Goode’s Uncle Charlie. The hand-drawn, detailed and elaborate sketch of a poster adds to the mood of the first footage from the film nicely, and the promo video blends the two worlds together. “Stoker” will be released on March 1, 2013 and the new poster and video can be viewed below.

Watch: Full trailer for Park Chan-wook’s “Stoker” starring Mia Wasikowska intrigues and terrifies

September 26, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 1 Comment

We saw some footage last week, and it was great. Today we have the full trailer for Park Chan-wook’s English language debut, the creepy family drama “Stoker”, and it’s actually even better. Mia Wasikowska plays India Stoker, the bullied daughter of Nicole Kidman, who’s legitimately scary with her piercing stare and menacing whispers, and the two are mourning the death of India’s father when Matthew Goode arrives in the form of the even creepier Uncle Charlie. He romances the mother, but eyes the daughter and makes no qualms that he considers her “of age” for something “you don’t want to know.” Yikes.

The first tease of footage brought a real spooky, atmospheric sense of foreboding, and in the full trailer we see that the ominous tone does lead to some pretty dark places. Empty fields, deep woods in the middle of the night, a black spider leisurely crawling around, these are all images that intrigue and terrify and have made “Stoker” one of our most anticipated movies of 2013. It will be released on March 1st, and the full trailer can be viewed below.

Watch: First beautiful, spooky footage from Park Chan-Wook’s “Stoker” starring Mia Wasikowska

September 20, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 2 Comments

Entertainment Tonight has aired the first footage from Korean director Park Chan-Wook’s English language debut, creepy family drama “Stoker”, and it looks beautifully atmospheric and spooky. Mia Wasikowska goes Wednesday Addams with black hair and pale skin to play the teenage girl whose father has just passed away. Nicole Kidman plays her “mother from hell”, and things are further complicated with the arrival of Matthew Goode as Uncle Charlie. Wasikowska mostly plays it straight, while the two adults attempt to out-creepy each other with deranged stares and giant smiles.

Lucas Till and Alden Ehrenreich play bullies at her school who make her life even harder, though it seems she’s got that handled. The real standout from this footage must be the cinematography and the slow, dreamy movement of the camera. All of it skyrocketing “Stoker” up our most anticipated list. You can watch the first footage below, with the first full trailer to come next week. The movie itself will be released on March 1, 2013.

Shia Labeouf in talks to join Lars Von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac”

August 8, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

After not really finding his way doing the blockbuster franchise thing – “Transformers” were hits, but those giant robots stole the show, and “Indiana Jones” didn’t exactly reboot itself – Shia Labeouf seems to be taking a page out of James Franco’s offbeat reinvention playbook and seeking out smaller, much more interesting roles instead. THR reports the actor is in talks with director Lars Van Trier about taking a role in his follow-up to critically acclaimed “Melancholia”, “Nymphomaniac.”

Labeouf won’t be playing the titular “Nymphomaniac”, that mantle belongs to Charlotte Gainsbourg as a woman whose erotic escapades from age 25 to 50 are recounted to her husband, played by Stellan Skarsgard. Von Trier will shoot two versions of the English-language film, an MPAA rating friendly version and a more sexually explicit version. No word yet on who Labeouf would play, while Nicole Kidman has also indicated she would have a supporting role as well. No start date has been set, but filming will take place in Germany.

After breaking out starring opposite giant alien robots in Michael Bay’s “Transformers” trilogy, LaBeouf got high marks in Cannes for his turn as one of three bootlegging brothers in Prohibition-era Virgina in “Lawless” and hopes to repeat the magic when he heads to Venice and Toronto as the star of Robert Redford’s political thriller “The Company You Keep.” He recently wrapped up shooting Europe-set action flick “The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman” opposite Evan Rachel Wood and is attached to reunite with “Lawless” director John Hillcoat’s next feature, cop drama “Triple Nine.”

“Friday Night Lights” star Minka Kelly lands the role of Jackie Kennedy in Lee Daniels’ “The Butler”

May 23, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Looks like it will be Minka Kelly – and not Mila Kunis – who will be playing Mrs. JFK in Lee Daniels’ historical drama “The Butler.” The director tells ScreenDaily that he has chosen the “Friday Night Lights” star for the role of Jackie Kennedy, to play opposite Matthew McConaughey as John F. Kennedy. Forest Whitaker stars in the film as Eugene Allen, the titular White House butler, with Oprah Winfrey as his wife and David Oylowo as his son.

Based on Wil Haygood’s 2008 Washington Post story “A Butler Well Served by This Election”, the story will follow Allen as he goes from an entry level “pantry man” in pre-Civil Rights 1952 to serving eight presidents over 30 years and witnessing firsthand such historical events as the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr, John F. Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy. The rest of the cast includes John Cusack as Richard Nixon, Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan and Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, as well as Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard, Nicole Kidman and Lenny Kravitz in unspecified roles.

Kelly broke out as cheerleader Lyla Garrity on critically acclaimed NBC series “Friday Night Lights”, which ended last year. After a starring role in horror flick “The Roommate” turned out to be a dud, Kelly has mainly stuck to TV, with a recurring role on hit NBC series “Parenthood” and as one of the new “Charlie’s Angels” in a reboot of the 1970s series.

First Look: Zac Efron is “The Paperboy” in stills from Lee Daniels’ Cannes entry

April 20, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

It’s that wonderful time of year when we start getting our first looks at some of the major movie events of the year. Today brings Lee Daniels’ follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Precious”, “The Paperboy.” French media site Allocine has released the first stills from the Cannes-bound film, starring Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack and Matthew McConaughey.

Efron plays an aimless young man who gets drawn into his older brother’s journalistic investigation into a murder. McConaughey plays the reporter, while Cusask is the prison-dwelling maybe murderer and Kidman, a woman who’s having a romance-by-correspondence with him. That is before Efron enters her life. The whole thing takes place in Florida, and just like the poster, the images alone give off an atmosphere of sweltering heat that’s easily ignitable. This is definitely one we hope to catch at Cannes next month.

See the first two images of Efron below and be sure to hit Allocine for all the pictures from the film, including an eye-popping Kidman scene.

First Look: Zac Efron drives retro first poster for “The Paperboy”

December 28, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 3 Comments

Millennium Films has unveiled the sexy cool first poster for “The Paperboy”, Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels’ follow-up to his 2009 “Precious.” Nicole Kidman rides shotgun next to Zac Efron, who takes center stage looking like a smoldering 70s matinee idol, a far cry from his previous kid-friendly projects, and the whole poster gives off more of a Tarantino B-movie vibe than a legal drama.

The story follows a Miami Times reporter (Matthew McConaughey) who returns to his hometown to investigate the murder of a local sheriff. Efron, as his directionless younger brother, chips in to help, and in the process falls for the woman (Kidman) who has been involved in a prison-correspondence romance with the accused murderer (John Cusack). The film underwent a complete cast makeover when Efron replaced Alex Pettyfer, McConaughey took over for Bradley Cooper, Kidman replaced Sofia Vagara and Cusack, Tobey Maguire. A complete upgrade, if you ask us.

No release date yet, but this is definitely one we’ll be keeping an eye on in 2012. The full poster is below.

Emily Browning, Rachael Taylor among Aussie actresses eyed for WWII biopic “The White Mouse”

August 8, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Looks like some up and comers may be giving A-List veterans a run for their money. In Australia, Nicole Kidman and BFF Naomi Watts are reigning queens of the big screen, but they’re about to get a bit of competition from 20-something rising stars Emily Browning and Rachael Taylor. Aussie paper The Herald Sun reports all four actresses are on director Bruce Beresford’s “wishlist” to play decorated WWII war hero Nancy Wake in his biopic blockbuster “The White Mouse”.

Wake, who died yesterday in London at the age of 98, grew up in Sydney and left home at age 16 to become a nurse and then a journalist, working all over Europe, where she witnessed Hitler’s atrocities in Vienna and Paris. After Hitler took France in 1940, Wake joined the French Resistence as a courier and then became a British spy, eventually saving thousands of lives by sabotaging the German armies and setting up escape routes for Allied forces.

Beresford warns that casting is nowhere near firm. “I’d like an Australian girl obviously but casting is still in the early stages,” he told the paper. “I haven’t sent any actresses scripts yet but there are some great (women) around who would suit the part.” Among the attributes, a “perfect French speaking voice” is a must. “Most of the film is set in France and spoken in French. Otherwise it’s just not credible.” The director is also aware that a “big name” may be what he needs to secure the financing needed to mount such an ambitious, grand scale blockbuster, so perhaps Kidman and Watts have an edge over the young upstarts yet.

Taylor, who had a breakout moment in the original “Transformers” playing a young hacker who aided Shia LaBeouf and his giant robot alien friends, is one of the new “Charlie’s Angels” debuting on NBC this fall. Browning headlined Zack Snyder’s girls-with-machine-guns fantasy “Sucker Punch” and garnered rave reviews in Cannes for her performance in Julia Leigh’s erotic drama “Sleeping Beauty”.

Page 1 of 212 »

nicole kidman