The Guard, starring Brendon Gleeson and Don Cheadle, became a tidy little art-house hit last year, and director John Michael McDonagh is planning his next film, called The Calvary. The movie is set to shoot this September, and has distribution sales going on in Berlin right now. The film brings Gleeson and McDonagh back together,…
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In 2011, I saw more new movies than I ever have in the past. Previous years I'd flirted with roughly two per week but, this year, thanks to a full Sundance Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, Butt-Numb-A-Thon and other events like AFI Fest and the Los Angeles Film Festival, that number jumped up to 167. Several…
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End-of-year list-making is typically a daunting, tricky, and arbitrary task. At its best, it's a way to express ideas and share interesting finds. At its worst, it's a shouting match about WHY DIDN'T YOU PICK THE EXACT FILMS I LIKE? In 2011, I probably saw around 70-80 new release films in theaters. I'm certain that…
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Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m…
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Everyone's talked ad nauseam about how the summer of 2011 is going to be a blockbuster bloodbath. Week after week of high concept, big budget sequels featuring superheroes, robots and wizards. But those aren't the only movies that'll be playing at your local theater during the long, hot months of May, June, July and August.…
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Complete with sniffles, fevers and coughs, we're just now beginning to recover from the madness that was the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Over the course of 11 days, myself, Peter Sciretta and David Chen were all over Park City, Utah watching films, writing, talking to stars, meeting our fellow bloggers and watching more films. Personally…
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The Guard, which was picked up at Sundance by Sony Pictures Classics, is one of those movies you're going to be quoting and turning your friends on to. Though it seems pretty surface based on a general description, once you see it, you realize it’s a truly special movie complete with humor, action, heart and…
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Here's your blast of casting bites for the end of the week. First up, Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson will team as unlikely cop partners in The Guard. Film follows the confrontational small-town Sgt. Gerry Boyle (Gleeson), who likes hookers and isn't interested in drug runners, and FBI Agent Everett (Cheadle) in a tale of…
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