Update from Editor Peter Sciretta: Back in February, an early trailer was leaked online, and quickly yanked because it was not official. Today Wrekin Hill Entertainment released an official trailer. The original story follows below, and the new trailer after the jump.
Hesher premiered over a year ago at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was quickly purchased by Newmarket Films. Since then, the feature debut of director Spencer Susser has remained curiously dormant. In that time, though, stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman experienced the biggest successes of their careers and now Hesher is ready to introduce itself to the world. The film stars Gordon-Levitt as the long-haired anarchist title character who inserts himself into the life of a single parent (Rainn Wilson) and his son (Devin Brochu) as well as local girl played by current Oscar-nominee Portman. We ran Peter’s mildly positive review on the site when it first premiered and I remain head-over-heels in love with the combination of humor, drama and craziness. A trailer has finally surfaced. Check it out, along with a clip from the film, after the break. Read More »
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In one short decade, Christopher Nolan has gone from interesting new talent to one of our most revered filmmakers. Though he had made Following at the time, it really all started in 2001 with Memento, Nolan’s backwards mystery about a man with short-term memory loss trying to figure out who killed his wife. Almost everything about the film – from its structure, to its dialogue and tattoos – became iconic and ended up being the spark that set Nolan’s career on fire.
Memento is ten years old this year and not only will Lionsgate be releasing a 10th Anniversary Special Edition Blu-ray on February 22 with all new features, they’re reopening the film in select theaters for one night only on February 17 complete with a Q&A featuring Nolan and Guillermo Del Toro that was recorded in Los Angeles last week. Hit the jump for more details and the theater list. Read More »
In the past few weeks we’ve started to see footage from The Way Back, which marks the return of great Australian director Peter Weir. Our last look at the film (besides the poster) was a UK trailer that was a good introduction to the story of escapees from a Siberian gulag trying to make their way to safety. Now Newmarket films has released a US trailer for the film, which will get an Oscar-qualifying run in December before opening for real on January 21. Read More »
Update: A few sources (but not yet Newmarket) are saying this is just a name change for international distribution. Peter saw the poster above at Cannes, where it may have been used only for sales purposes. So don’t take that image as final. Original article follows.
One of the more anticipated movies going into Sundance this year was Spencer Susser‘s Hesher, which casts Joseph Gordon-Levitt as “a long haired tattooed head-banging badass, who inserts himself ” into the life of a young man who has recently lost his mother. The film didn’t wow everyone at the fest, and was picked up by smaller distributor Newmarket. Now it seems the picture has a new title: the much less distinctive and interesting Rebel. Read More »
Who would have guessed that a little movie about gay men and prison breaks would generate a full-on distribution saga? I Love You, Phillip Morris , directed by Bad Santa writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, was bought a while after Sundance ’09, then had release dates pushed back a couple times, then was taken off the release schedule, then put back on.
And now there’s word that the original financier EuropaCorp is taking the film back from current distributor Consolidated Pictures Group, citing breach of contract. Read More »
UPDATE: Just after I published this, The Weinstein Company was announced as the distributor for Blue Valentine, the drama starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The film has been one of the critical hits of the fest, but I’ve got to wonder what TWC will be able to do with it. The company is struggling, and I don’t have much faith in its ability to give the movie a proper release. Check Peter’s video review of Blue Valentine here. Original article follows.
Right at the beginning of this year’s Sundance there were a couple of big deals made. The doc Waiting for Superman was bought by Paramount and Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds, was picked up by Lionsgate. (Read Peter’s review.)As the festival winds down there have been a couple other big buys. Hesher is the most notable, with the Joseph Gordon-Levitt starring film going to Newmarket. The very well-received The Kids Are Alright has also found a home, and while Joel Schumacher‘s Twelve isn’t the best-reviewed film at the fest, it’s got a deal now, too. Read More »
When Creation played Toronto to largely dismissive reviews, the film’s producer attempted to drum up interest by manufacturing controversy. He claimed that the film wasn’t finding distribution in the US because of active Christian resistance to a film about Charles Darwin. So there’s no small irony to the fact that it has now been picked up for US distribution by Newmarket Films, the distributor of The Passion of the Christ. Read More »
When Clerks 2 was getting ready for release, Kevin Smith had a great idea to release an audio commentary track for the film a couple weeks after the film had hit theaters. The idea was to encourage people to go back and pay for the movie again, and to listen to the film commentary on their iPod. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but if I remember correctly, the theater owners complained about people may be laughing at parts during the movie that shouldn’t have laughs and that would be distracting to others in the theater. It was a great idea though, although I can see that complaint, especially considering how funny some of Smith’s commentary tracks can get.
John August has taken that idea and run with it. Not only has he announced he’s releasing the commentary track for The Nines on MP3, but he’s already posted it. I guess it’s easier to get something like this through on a smaller limited release. Also, I’m sure August’s track is probably more informative than funny, and would not result in such distractions mentioned above. And The Nines is the perfect film for this experiment because it offers a complex mystery which people may want to explore a second time with a guide.
“In the age of iPods, there’s really no reason why audio commentary has to be relegated to DVD. That’s why Ryan Reynolds and I recorded one last week for The Nines which is now yours to download.”
You can download the commentary track now at JohnAugust.com.
