Just over ten years ago, French director Christophe Gans got a lot of attention for helping raise global awareness of Monica Bellucci when he cast her in his movie The Brotherhood of the Wolf, inspired by centuries-old stories of beasts raiding the French countryside. He has only made one film since: Silent Hill, which received a much more chilly reception than did Brotherhood.
Now Gans is one of several people trying to revive the classic story of Beauty and the Beast. We’ve just seen the 3D re-release of Disney’s version, and there was the horrible tween take called Beastly released last year. Two new TV version are in the works, at ABC and the CW. Now Gans has written and will direct his own, starring Vincent Cassel (The Brotherhood of the Wolf) and Lea Seydoux (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol). Read More »
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The idea of presenting an ‘official synopsis’ for any given upcoming film is typically pretty dull, as these plot summaries often do little more than recap what we already know about a story. Things are a bit different, however, for a movie like Lars von Trier‘s Nymphomaniac. The director has joked about the film since his appearance last year at Cannes, but the project is no gag.
Nymphomaniac will star Charlotte Gainsbourg, making this her third film with Trier, and likely feature Stellan Skarsgard as well. The film is said to be extremely sexually explicit, with plans to release both softcore and hardcore versions to different exhibitors. A few more details on the movie came to light today, and can be found after the break.
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Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo earned an instant group of followers with his 2007 debut feature Timecrimes. The movie (which also featured Vigalondo as one of the film’s few actors) was a weird, compelling time travel movie with a murderous, guilty heart. We’ve waited years for the director’s next feature, and despite the fact that it is currently without a US distributor, I hope audiences will get a chance to see it this year.
Extraterrestrial is sort of an ‘aliens invade’ movie but is much more a strange tense romance in which Julio (Julián Villagrán) wakes up in the flat of the girl of his dreams (Michelle Jenner) to find that the world outside is cowering in fear under the shadows of alien ships that hang in the air. What happens next?
We saw a teaser trailer last year that featured no subtitles; now there is a full trailer than subs everything, so you can get a much better idea of what’s in store from Extraterrestrial. Check it out below. Read More »
Over a year ago Peter highlighted the Chinese action film Let the Bullets Fly as one of the better movies of 2010, and the film is finally edging towards a domestic release.
Jiang Wen‘s film features the director as a bandit who poses as the mayor of a town in order to bleed the place dry, but he runs afoul of the local crime boss, played by Chow Yun-fat. An early teaser for the movie made it look somewhat appealing, but the new domestic teaser really emphasizes the film’s crazy action. Check it out below. Read More »
The Raid had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September and Peter touted it as the best action film he’s seen in years. Gareth Evans‘ Indonesian smash ‘em up has now moved south for its United States Premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festvial and it more than lives up to the hype.
Following a group of police who attempt to penetrate an impenetrable 15-story apartment building run by a powerful drug lord, The Raid is filled with the kind of insane gun battles, martial arts and stunts you’d expect from a $100 million dollar Hollywood blockbuster. The difference is this cost $1.1 million and is about 100 times cooler. It’ll be released by Sony Pictures Classics in March but, now, watch a video blog review featuring myself and Jordan Raup from The Film Stage where we react to the film, its new score, discuss its minor flaws and question an American remake.
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Posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 by Angie Han
After breaking out in 2004 with the acclaimed Maria Full of Grace, director Joshua Marston moved into television, helming episodes of Six Feet Under, In Treatment, and How to Make It in America. Now, eight years later, Marston’s finally returning to the silver screen with his second feature The Forgiveness of Blood.
Written by Marston and Andamion Murataj, the Albanian-language drama deals with the life-changing consequences of a violent altercation between two small town families. Like Marston’s previous film, The Forgiveness of Blood features inexperienced actors in the lead roles — and as with Maria Full of Grace, which earned star Catalina Sandino Moreno an Oscar nomination for her first professional role, Marston seems to draw some rather impressive performances here from young stars Tristan Halilaj and Sindi Laçej. Watch the first trailer after the jump.
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Posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 by Angie Han
Rising French stars Léa Seydoux (Midnight in Paris, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) are set to lead Grand Central, a France-set contemporary romantic drama by Rebecca Zlotowski. Rahim will play a danger-addicted man whose nuclear facility job exposes him to deadly radiation levels. He’s transformed by a forbidden affair with a woman he meets at the plant (Seydoux).
Grand Central marks a reunion for Seydoux and Zlotowski, who previously worked together in Zlotowski’s directorial debut Belle Épine. Seydoux was also recently cast in Michel Gondry’s The Foam of the Days, and will next appear opposite Diane Kruger in March’s Farewell, My Queen. Rahim starred last year in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Black Gold, and has just wrapped Joachim Lafosse’s Loving Without Reason. Grand Central is expected to begin filming this summer. [Variety]
After the jump, Riddick adds to its cast and Sex Bob-omb frontman Stephen Stills boards an indie.
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Briefly: You might remember that we’ve covered the new short from Terry Gilliam, The Wholly Family, a couple times in the past. It’s a weird setup, where Gilliam was one of a number of filmmakers hired by Italian pasta company Garofalo to make short films set in or otherwise concerning Naples. Gilliam’s movie is probably the most high-profile of the efforts, and it follows “an American family vacationing in Naples and the surreal visions of their young son after he steals a Pulcinella—the black masked unofficial mascot of the city—from a street cart.”
Most of us haven’t yet had a chance to see the short, but Anne Thompson passes along word that the film will stream from The Guardian for two weeks starting 7pm GMT on January 23, at a price of £1.99. (Currently about $3 US.) The offer isn’t available to residents of Italy, likely because of licensing concerns, but all other countries can access the stream. Those who check it out right when the film goes live will also get a live interview and Q&A with Gilliam.
Hit the break to check out the teaser for the short, in case you missed it when it ran last year. Read More »
