Author: Kirk

First Cast Members Confirmed for THE THING

A month or so ago (not entirely sure, because we didn’t run a story on it), a character list was released for the new sequel/prequel/remake of THE THING.  One of the main reasons I, personally, didn’t scope it out was that I heard it revealed some pretty deep spoilers on the project.  Now, according to Heat Vision Blog, some casting has been done on those characters.

They are reporting Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton have signed on as Ph.D. candidate and a blue collar helicopter pilot, respectively, who are thrust into terror when the Norwegian expedition team they are with in the Antarctic uncovers a UFO buried in the ice.

Blue collar helicopter pilot?  Really?  They couldn’t come up with anything besides that?  Again?

As indicated in the report, the film is tentatively titled THE THING, so the questions on how this is connected to John Carpenter’s 1982 version remain.  Shooting is set to begin on March 15th in Toronto.   Matthijs Van Heijningen is taking on directing duties.

Taylor Lautner is STRETCH ARMSTRONG

Ever since it was announced nearly a year ago that STRETCH ARMSTRONG would be making the leap to the big screen, dozens of people (okay, maybe not even that many) were clamoring for information as to what thespian would be stepping into the role of the stretchy one.  Well, that wait is over, and those dozens of fans may soon be growing to millions.

Universal has announced none other than TWILIGHT star Taylor Lautner will be taking on the role.  What’s more, we will be getting he, his abs, and his stretchy appendages (still no word on how much that, little tidbit about the character will factor into the film) in glorious 3-D.  Oh, joy!

Universal also announced with this news that the film will be releasing in 2012 along with BATTLESHIP, another Hasbro property the studio owns.  This comes as news of a push-back for BATTLESHIP, which was to have bowed on July 29, 2011.  The Peter Berg directed film will now come out on Memorial Day, 2012.

Says Brian Goldner, President and CEO of Hasbro, Inc.:

Universal has put all the elements in place to successfully launch two of our classic Hasbro brands on the big screen.  The addition of Taylor Lautner and the 3-D twist to Stretch Armstrong, in addition to giving Pete Berg and the filmmakers the extra time and resources to make Battleship an even bigger summer blockbuster, is sure to pay dividends when the film is released in 2012.

Says Universal co-chairman, Donna Langley, about Lautner coming on board STRETCH ARMSTRONG:

In the past two years, Taylor has emerged as a real star at the global box office. He brings the perfect balance of energy and athleticism to the role of an unlikely super hero with a fantastic super power.  We couldn’t be more pleased that he has agreed to be our Stretch.

There is still no word on who will be stepping in as director of STRETCH ARMSTRONG, though Brian Grazer is producing and the film will be based on a screenplay by Steve Oedekerk.

Review: POLICE, ADJECTIVE

POLICE, ADJECTIVE is one of those films we refer to as a slow burn, a movie that is more about what is percolating underneath than on the surface.  To note, not a whole lot happens on that surface, and the film rides that edge between tedium of interest with a certain level of threat of toppling over.  It never does, though, and, thanks in large part to the direction by Corneliu Porumboiu and the lead performance from Dragos Bucur, the film ends up being an intriguing study of the way one man’s world works even if he doesn’t fully understand it.

Bucur plays Cristi, a Romanian police officer set with the assignment of following a young man who may or may not be a drug dealer.  Cristi soon comes to his own conclusions as to the boy’s innocence, and his interests in another boy, the one who served as informant on the first boy, begin to rise.  Cristi begins following the second boy, never fully sure as to what he is going to find, but definite in the moral path he has chosen.  The authorities in charge of the investigation may have other ideas on Cristi’s beliefs.

The slow movement of the film’s pace isn’t necessarily given to a meticulous nature.  Porumboiu’s direction is solid to say the very least, and the gray, flushed out color in every shot brings the city setting to an almost lifeless level.  This heightens the sense of Cristi’s inactivity, the tedious task he is set with in standing on sidewalks and watching a group of teenagers from afar.  Porumboiu never pulls away from this, and the film very nearly suffers for it.  Even if we understand the point the director is making here, it doesn’t necessarily give way to intrigue in the narrative.

Even Cristi’s home life is flooded with dormancy, and, while Cristi’s wife, played by Irina Saulescu, views this as a contemplative state of being, Cristi seems bored and unmoved.  As he sits and eats dinner after a long day of skulking through the city streets, Cristi’s wife listens not once or twice but three times to a song about beauty in correlation.  Cristi doesn’t understand this, and no amount of explanation from her on what the song means to her will make him understand.  It isn’t that he is consciously thick-headed.  He is just a character who has difficulty seeing things any other way than what he knows of the world.

Cristi just touches on the surface of being a very tragic character, someone whose world and those in charge of it seem to be turning in on him without much he can do about it.  Bringing this leveled character to sympathetic life is no small feat, and it’s one Bucur pulls off in spades.  He appears in every scene, and most of them involve menial tasks that could very easily cause some actors to balk at the monotony of it all.  Bucur dives headlong into the role.  He never gives any insinuation that either he or Cristi is bored, and that goes a long way in keeping the same feeling from the audience.  Cristi has a job to do, even if that job at the present moment is sipping a cup of tea while looking distantly across an empty street.  Bucur has a job to do, keeping us interested in both Cristi and his job at hand.  Both end up doing just that.  You will be amazed at how much this actor does with so little.

And, in the end, that is what POLICE, ADJECTIVE is really all about, doing much with what little it has to offer.  There are deep-seeded meanings hidden throughout, some a little more heavy handed than others.  A finale involving the police chief and a dictionary might not be as exciting as a car chase through an airport, but it gets the job Porumboiu had at hand done.  Ultimately, the film is about understanding, maybe not knowing the answer to every question that comes across your way but understanding what that answer is.

In that way, POLICE, ADJECTIVE is much like A SERIOUS MAN, a film that probably handles the same, underlying message with a bit more fervor and, ultimately, a lot more interest.  As admirable and as eloquent a message as the one Porumboiu has to deliver here, the narrative and drive in his film is nearly non-existent.  You may find much interest in one man’s longing gaze at a world he doesn’t fully understand, but don’t expect much more in the way of intrigue and suspense than what is found in a casual saunter down a sidewalk.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Sundance Review: BURIED

How do you make it interesting watching a man trapped in a box for 90 minutes?  Evidently, it’s pretty easy.  You just have Chris Sparling handle the screenwriting duties, put Rodrigo Cortes at the helm, and have that man trapped in the coffin be Ryan Reynolds.  That’s not only an equation resulting in cinematic gold, it results in BURIED, one of the most suspenseful and powerful movie experiences you are likely to have in quite a while.

Reynolds plays Paul Conroy, a contracted truck driver in Iraq whose convoy is attacked.  Paul is knocked unconscious, and, when he awakens, he finds himself in a coffin buried beneath the sand.  His only companions in this coffin are a lighter and a cell phone, and using these, Paul attempts to contact someone, anyone, who can help get him out before his air runs out.

First and foremost, Cortes’ direction on this film is staggering.  Paul might be trapped in the box, but, through the camera work utilized here, we never struggle to catch what is going on inside it.  Cortes pulls the camera back way overhead Paul’s laying body, resulting in a surprising number of long shots.  The lens usage in BURIED is flawless, and it manipulates the audience in all the right ways to make you feel precisely what the director wants you to feel.

Don’t let all of these long shots fool you, either.  This is an extremely claustrophobic film, and anyone who has a fear of being in Paul’s predicament (to judge the reactions of the crowd at my screening would indicate there are several people with just that) might find themselves holding their breath more than a couple of times.  That’s just when Paul is laying there contemplating his situation or banging on the walls around him.  Imagine the sense of dread and suspense that builds when he actually gets on the phone with his captors.

Set with the task of being stuck in the coffin all this time and, essentially, carrying the the entire film, is Ryan Reynolds, who hasn’t had much experience in the dramatic realm.  Reynolds is, in a nutshell, flawless in his performance here, able to engage in whatever emotion the mood of that scene calls for.  He runs the gamut from scared to angry to regretful to even a few lighter moments that help relieve all that tension.  The fact that he had to spend all his time in a 7X3 space with the ceiling a little more than a few inches away from him is one thing, but Reynolds also has to find it within himself to act, to bring this character to life and to make you feel sympathetic and,  occasionally, empathetic with the character at hand.  It is very nearly a flawless effort Reynolds gives here, and the constraints given him as an actor make the performance all the more awe-inspiring.

BURIED is a film that resonates.  Even now, nearly a week after having sat in the theater and experienced it, there are images and full segments of the film that cascade back into memory.  It is a marvelously crafted and astutely pieced together film that is equally as meticulous in the writing involved.  Chris Sparling has come up with a premise built for tension, and he was lucky enough to find a director in Cortes who could not only pull off what Sparling has written, he does so in impeccable fashion.  BURIED is not a horror film, but the sheer terror involved is definite.  Whether the central premise is one that keeps you awake at night at the very thought of what you might do or not, BURIED is a film that will knock such a fear into you.

You will hold your breath.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Who Wants to See THE WOLFMAN With the Movie Geeks?

It’s been years building anticipation, and, now, we are merely a week away from seeing Joe Johnston’s remake of THE WOLFMAN.  But a few of you lucky readers will be seeing this movie a full, three days early.  We have passes to give away for the screening which will take place next Tuesday, February 9th at 7:00 PM.

First and foremost,  this is a St. Louis screening.  If you will not be in St. Louis on February 9th, please do not enter this contest.

All you have to do is leave us a comment below telling us who your favorite, cinematic werewolf is.  Is it Jack Nicholson in WOLF?  Is it Lon Chaney, Jr. in the original THE WOLFMAN?  Is it Jon Gries in THE MONSTER SQUAD?  Sorry, I just threw that one in there as a personal favorite.  Tell us who your favorite werewolf in movie history is, and we’ll be picking the winners at random over the weekend.

And, if you’re not one of the lucky winners, be sure to check out Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving in THE WOLFMAN on February 12th in theaters everywhere.

SXSW 2010 Features Lineup Released

Less than a week worth of recovering from the Sundance Film Festival, and we are already looking forward to our next, big film fest coverage.   That would be the South by Southwest Film Festival held annually in Austin, Texas.   Last year, Scott and I brought you all kinds of coverage from the Lone Star State, and this year doesn’t look to be much different.

With that, the announcement came last night of the feature films that will be playing at the SXSW Film Festival.   Previous announcement were already made about films like COLD WEATHER, ELECTRA LUXX, HUBBLE 3D, LEMMY, SATURDAY NIGHT, and THE WHITE STRIPES: UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS making their debut.   KICK-ASS was recently announced as the opening night film, as well.

Among the other films being presented this year are some Sundance darlings, a few, highly anticipated premieres, and MACGRUBER.

Check out the full list right here:

HEADLINERS

Cyrus
Directors and Screenwriters: Jay and Mark Duplass
With John’s social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcee finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life – her son. Written and directed by Jay & Mark Duplass, the iconoclastic filmmaking team behind The Puffy Chair, Cyrus takes an insightful, funny and sometimes heartbreaking look at love and family in contemporary Los Angeles.
Cast: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener, Matt Walsh

Get Low
Director: Aaron Schneider, Screenwriters: Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell
A film spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about a mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who plans his own rollicking funeral party… while still alive.
Cast: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray

Kick-Ass
Director: Matthew Vaughn. Screenwriters: Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn
A twisted, funny, high-octane adventure, based on the comic written by Mark Millar and John S. Romita, Jr. The film tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski, a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero.
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloë Grace Moretz and Nicolas Cage. (World Premiere)

MacGruber
Director: Jorma Taccone. Screenwriters: Will Forte & John Solomon & Jorma Taccone
Will Forte brings his clueless soldier of fortune to the big screen in the action-comedy MacGruber.
Cast: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Powers Boothe, Maya Rudolph and Val Kilmer (World Premiere)

Micmacs / Micmacs à tire-larigot (France)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Screenwriters: Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant
Drawing on one of France’s most popular screen stars, the incorrigible Dany Boon from the comedy megahit Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, as well as a cast of some of the country’s best-known actors, Jeunet turns on the afterburners in this searing piece of romantic filmmaking set against the storm clouds of warring arms dealers.
Cast: Dany Boon (U.S. Premiere)

Mr. Nice (United Kingdom)
Director and Screenwriter: Bernard Rose
The true story of Howard Marks. He was Britain’s most wanted man. He spent seven years in America’s toughest penitentiary. You’ll like him.
Cast: Rhys Ifans, Chloë Sevigny, David Thewlis, Luis Tosar, Crispin Glover, Omad Djalili. (World Premiere)

The Runaways
Director and Screenwriter: Floria Sigismondi
The Runaways follows two friends, Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), as they rise from rebellious Southern California kids to rock stars of the now legendary group that paved the way for future generations of girl bands.
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Shannon, Alia Shawkat, Tatum O’Neal.

SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES

Barbershop Punk
Directors: Georgia Sugimura & Kristin Armfield (Co-Director). Screenwriter: Georgia Sugimura
Keeping the independent/punk spirit alive, barbershop quartet fan Robb Topolski takes on the nation’s largest cable company, only to find himself at the center of a federal investigation, inspiring a larger story of censorship, individual voice and access. Featuring interviews with Ian MacKaye, Damian Kulash of OK Go, Henry Rollins, Janeane Garofalo, John Perry Barlow among others. (World Premiere)

BARRY MUNDAY
Director and Screenwriter: Chris D’Arienzo
Barry Munday wakes up after being attacked to realize that he’s missing his family jewels. To make matters worse, he learns he’s facing a paternity lawsuit filed by a woman he can’t remember having sex with.
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Judy Greer,  Chloë Sevigny,  Jean Smart, Malcolm McDowell, Cybill Shepherd, Billy Dee Williams (World Premiere)

Cold Weather
Director and Screenwriter: Aaron Katz
A former forensic science major and avid reader of detective fiction, who, after making a mess of his life in Chicago, returns to his hometown of Portland, Oregon. There, he, his sister Gail, and new friend Carlos become embroiled in something unexpected.
Cast: Cris Lankenau, Trieste Kelly Dunn (World Premiere)

Electra Luxx
Director and Screenwriter: Sebastian Gutierrez
A convoluted day in the life of recently retired porn superstar Elektra Luxx as she tries to make it in the straight world.
Cast: Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Timothy Olyphant, Malin Akerman, Adrianne Palicki (World Premiere)

Greenlit
Director: Miranda Bailey
It ain’t easy bein’ green. (World Premiere)

Hood to Coast
Directors: Christoph Baaden and Marcie Hume (Co-Director)
Hood to Coast follows four unlikely teams on their epic journey to conquer the world’s largest relay race.  Winning isn’t everything in a documentary that takes a celebratory look at personal motivation and attempting the extraordinary. (World Premiere)

Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee
Director and Screenwriter: Shane Meadows
In this unpredictable, irrepressible ode to spontaneous filmmaking, Paddy Considine stars as rock roadie and failed musician, Le Donk.   Along the way he’s lost a girlfriend but he has found a new sidekick in up-and-coming rap prodigy Scor-zay-zee. With Shane Meadows’ fly-on-the-wall crew in tow, Donk sets out to make Scor-zay-zee a star…with a little help from the Arctic Monkeys.
Cast: Paddy Considine, Dean Palinczuk, Olivia Colman (North American Premiere)

Leaves of Grass
Director and Screenwriter: Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass is a comic thriller that weaves together the diametrically opposed lives of identical twin brothers, both played by two-time Academy Award ® nominee Edward Norton.
Cast: Edward Norton, Keri Russell, Tim Blake Nelson, Melanie Lynskey, Richard Dreyfuss (U.S. Premiere)

Lebanon, Pa
Director and Screenwriter: Ben Hickernell
Philly ad man Will travels to Lebanon, Pa. to bury his father. He meets his teenage cousin CJ and they form an unexpected bond, as both try to find their place in a splintered American landscape.
Cast: Josh Hopkins, Samantha Mathis, Mary Beth Hurt, Rachel Kitson, Iain Merrill Peakes (World Premiere)

Lemmy
Director: Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski
This documentary delves into the personal and public lives of heavy metal icon and Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Nearly three years in the making, and featuring appearances by such friends/peers as Metallica, Dave Grohl, Billy Bob Thornton and pro wrestler Triple H, the film follows Kilmister from his Hollywood bedroom to the hockey arenas of Scandinavia and Russia. (World Premiere)

Man On A Mission
Director: Mike Woolf
Man On A Mission is a feature length documentary that follows gaming millionaire Richard Garriott as he becomes the first second-generation American astronaut. (World Premiere)

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson
Director: Steve James
Steve James returns to his hometown of Hampton, Virginia to examine the 1993 bowling alley brawl that landed Allen Iverson, the nation’s top high-school basketball player, in jail and divided the community along racial lines. (World Premiere)

One Night in Vegas
Director: Reggie Rock Bythewood
On the evening of 9/7/96, Mike Tyson attempted to regain the WBA title in Vegas. Sitting ringside was his friend Tupac Shakur. This ESPN Films documentary tells not only the story of that infamous night but of their remarkable friendship. (World Premiere)

The People vs. George Lucas
Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
A no-holds-barred cultural examination of the conflicted dynamic between George Lucas and his fans over the past three decades. (World Premiere)

The Ride
Director: Meredith Danluck
A journey into the heart of America through the rough and tumble, rock and roll world of bull riding Cowboys. (World Premiere)

SATURDAY NIGHT
Director: James Franco
With unprecedented access to the behind the scenes process of the writers, actors and producers, Franco and his crew document what it takes to create one full episode of Saturday Night Live. (World Premiere)

The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights
Director: Emmett Malloy
A visual and emotional feature length film documenting The White Stripes making their way through Canada and culminating with their 10th anniversary show in Nova Scotia. The film documents the band playing shows all over Canada; from local bowling alleys, to city buses, and onward to the legendary Savoy Theater for the 10th Anniversary show.

NARRATIVE FEATURES COMPETITION

Brotherhood
Director: Will Canon. Screenwriters: Will Canon and Doug Simon
When an initiation ritual spins dangerously out of control, one young man must stand up to save a friend’s life.
Cast: Jon Foster, Trevor Morgan, Arlen Escarpeta, Lou Taylor Pucci (World Premiere)

Dance With The One
Director: Mike Dolan. Screenwriters: Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith
An emotionally explosive thriller set in the troubled heart of Texas. Tragic family history rises to the surface when a teenager races to protect his family from a lethal drug-runner.
Cast: Gabriel Luna, Xochitl Romero, Gary McCleery, Mike Davis, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (World Premiere)

Earthling
Director and Screenwriter: Clay Liford
Tragedy aboard the international space station triggers a discovery that some lives have been a lie.
Cast: Rebecca Spence, Peter Greene, Amelia Turner, William Katt, Matt Socia (World Premiere)

Helena from the Wedding
Director and Screenwriter: Joseph Infantolino
Newlyweds Alex and Alice Javal host a New Year’s Eve party at a cabin in the mountains for their closest friends and an unexpected guest in this nuanced and often funny portrait of marriage and anxiety in the late blooming professional class.
Cast: Lee Tergesen, Melanie Lynskey, Gillian Jacobs, Dagmara Dominczyk, Paul Fitzgerald, Dominic Fumusa, Jessica Hecht, Corey Stoll (World Premiere)

The Myth of the American Sleepover
Director and Screenwriter: David Robert Mitchell
Four young people cross paths as they navigate the suburban wonderland of Metro-Detroit looking for love and adventure on the last night of summer.
Cast: Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Brett Jacobsen (World Premiere)

Phillip The Fossil
Director and Screenwriter: Garth Donovan
Centering around an aging party animal chasing the endless summer, Phillip The Fossil is an uncompromising and raw, portrait of everyday people who struggle in all their blemished glory for a life of meaning.
Cast: Brian Hasenfus, Nick Dellarocca, Ann Palica, Angela Pagliarulo, J.R. Killigrew (World Premiere)

Some Days are Better than Others
Director and Screenwriter: Matt McCormick
Why do the good times go by so fast while the bad times always seem so sticky?
Cast: Carrie Brownstein, James Mercer, Renee Roman Nose, David Wodehouse (World Premiere)

Tiny Furniture
Director and Screenwriter: Lena Dunham
22-year-old Aura returns home after college to her artist mother’s loft with the following: a useless film theory degree, 357 hits on her YouTube page, and no shoulders to cry on. Starring Dunham and her real-life family, Tiny Furniture is tragicomedy about what does and does not happen when you graduate with no skills, no love life, and a lot of free time.
Cast: Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham, David Call, Alex Karpovsky (World Premiere)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES COMPETITION

Beijing Taxi
Director: Miao Wang
Through a humanistic lens, Beijing Taxi vividly portrays China undergoing a profound transformational arch in an era of Olympic transitions. The intimate lives of three cabbies connect a morphing cityscape and a lyrical journey through fragments of a society riding the bumpy roads to modernization. (World Premiere)

Camp Victory, Afghanistan
Director: Carol Dysinger
Using almost 300 hours of footage shot over the course of three years, Camp Victory, Afghanistan tells the story of the Afghan officers charged with building a new Afghan National Army and the U.S. National Guardsmen sent to mentor them. (World Premiere)

The Canal Street Madam
Director: Cameron Yates
An FBI raid on Jeanette Maier’s infamous family-run brothel in New Orleans destroyed her livelihood. Stigmatized by felony, fearing recrimination from powerful clients and determined to protect her children, Jeanette sets out to re-invent herself. (World Premiere)

Dirty Pictures
Director: Etienne Sauret
Dirty Pictures is an intimate portrait of the life and work of Dr. Alexander “Sasha”  Shulgin, one of the world’s most renowned chemists who is considered by many to be the “Godfather of Psychedelics.” (World Premiere)

For Once In My Life
Directors: Jim Bigham and Mark Moormann
The film takes an inspiring journey with a unique band of musicians with the common goal of making and performing music. Their story tells of the fine balancing act of taking on new challenges while living day-to-day with disabilities. This documentary shows what people can do when given a chance. (World Premiere)

Marwencol
Director: Jeff Malmberg
After a vicious attack leaves him brain damaged and broke, Mark Hogancamp seeks recovery in “Marwencol,” a 1/6th-scale World War II-era town he creates in his backyard. (World Premiere)

Pelada
Directors: Luke Boughen, Rebekah Fergusson, Gwendolyn Oxenham and Ryan White
Away from the bright lights and manicured fields, there’s another side of soccer. (World Premiere)

War Don Don
Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
The war is over, a trial begins. (World Premiere)

EMERGING VISIONS

11/4/08
Director: Jeff Deutchman
Weaving together footage recorded throughout the world on the day Obama was elected President, this vérité documentary explores how people choose to live through “history.” (World Premiere)

A Different Path
Director: Monteith McCollum
In an automobile dominated society, a cast of characters uses ingenuity and wit to forge a new way to commute. One by foot, one by bike, two by boat. (World Premiere)

American: The Bill Hicks Story (United Kingdom)
Directors: Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas
At last the true life story of the outlaw comic who tried to save the world. Three years in the making, using a stunning new animation technique, American: The Bill Hicks Story finally brings the amazing tale of one of modern culture’s most iconic heroes to the big screen. (North American Premiere)

Audrey the Trainwreck
Director and Screenwriter: Frank V. Ross
Audrey the Trainwreck is a comedy about attempting to keep life simple, and the beauty of such an absurd pursuit. Most men live lives of quiet desperation – Ron’s desperation is about to get loud.
Cast: Anthony Baker, Alexi Wasser, Danny Rhodes, Rebecca Spence, Joe Swanberg, Jess Weixler & Nick Offerman (World Premiere)

Bear Nation (Canada)
Director: Malcolm Ingram
What if your biggest perceived flaw became you greatest asset? Bear Nation is a thorough and stylistic examination of the sub culture sweeping gay culture, the sexualization of fat and hair. From the director of small town gay bar and Exec Produced by honorary bear Kevin Smith. (World Premiere)

Cherry
Director and Screenwriter: Jeffrey Fine
When a virginal freshman is dropped off at college, he encounters an older woman and her underage daughter who give him an education he never expected.
Cast: Kyle Gallner, Laura Allen, Britt Robertson (World Premiere)

The Happy Poet
Director and Screenwriter: Paul Gordon
Bill, an out of work poet, puts his heart, soul, and last few dollars into starting an all-organic mostly-vegetarian food stand.   Complications with the business jeopardize his dreams for a hot dog-free future.
Cast: Paul Gordon, Jonny Mars, Chris Doubek, Liz Fisher, Amy Meyers-Martin (World Premiere)

Les Signes Vitaux/The Vital Signs (Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: Sophie Deraspe
The Vital Signs: the amount of life beings have… or lack thereof.
Cast: Marie-Hélène Bellavance, Francis Ducharme, Marie Brassard, Danielle Ouimet, Suzanne St-Michel (U.S. Premiere)

Mars
Director and Screenwriter: Geoff Marslett
Mars is a uniquely animated romantic comedy about astronauts and robots falling in love on their way to the red planet. Told in the playful style of a graphic novel, Mars explores why we explore.
Cast: Mark Duplass, Zoe Simpson, Paul Gordon, Howe Gelb, Liza Weil, James Kochalka, Cynthia Watros, Michael Dolan, and Kinky Friedman (World Premiere)

NY Export: Opus Jazz
Director: Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes. Screenwriter: Jody Lee Lipes
This scripted adaptation of a 1958 jazz ballet by Jerome Robbins (West Side Story) takes the original choreography and returns it to the streets that inspired it in this tale of disaffected urban youth. Shot on 35mm on location all over New York City with dancers from the New York City Ballet.
Cast: Dancers with New York City Ballet, Jerome Robbins. (World Premiere)

The Parking Lot Movie
Director: Meghan Eckman and Christopher Hlad (Assistant Director)
“It’s not just a parking lot, it’s a battle with humanity.”   The Parking Lot Movie is a documentary about a singular parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia. The film follows a select group of Parking Lot Attendants and their strange rite of passage. Something as simple as a parking lot becomes an emotional weigh station for the American Dream. (World Premiere)

Passenger Pigeons
Director and Screenwriter: Martha Stephens
Set among the Eastern Kentucky Coalfields, Passenger Pigeons quietly interweaves four separate story lines over the course of a weekend as the town copes with the death of a local miner.
Cast: Kentucker Audley, Brendan McFadden, Bryan Marshall, Caroline White, Martha Stephens (World Premiere)

Putty Hill
Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Porterfield
A young man’s untimely death unites a fractured family and their community through shared memory and loss.
Cast: Sky Ferreira, Zoe Vance, Dustin Ray, Cody Ray (North American Premiere)

Red White & Blue (United Kingdom)
Director and Screenwriter: Simon Rumley
In Austin Texas, the lives of three young people “Erica, Franki and Nate” intertwine in a fateful, tragic way and head down a rocky and violent road to heart-rending oblivion.
Cast: Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller, Marc Senter (North American Premiere)

Skeletons (United Kingdom)
Director and Screenwriter: Nick Whitfield
Skeletons is a surrealist comedy about two traveling salesmen in the business of cleaning skeletons out of people’s closets.
Cast: Andrew Buckley, Ed Gaughan, Paprika Steen, Tuppence Middleton, Jason Isaacs (North American Premiere)

We don’t care about music anyway… (France)
Directors: Cedric Dupire and Gaspard Kuentz
“We don’t care about music anyway”…In other words, “we make it and that’s all”. Beyond the music and beyond its performance, the future and mode of existence of a city, and society as a whole, are in motion. (North American Premiere)

World Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements
Director: Chris Farina
World Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements portrays John Hunter, a remarkable public-school teacher who has dedicated his life to teaching children the “work of peace.” (World Premiere)

World’s Largest
Directors: Amy C. Elliott and Elizabeth Donius
Desperate for tourism, hundreds of small towns across the U.S.A. claim the “world’s largest” something – from 15-foot fiberglass strawberries to 40-foot concrete pheasants.  World’s Largest  visits 58 such sites and profiles Soap Lake, Washington’s five-year struggle to build the World’s Largest Lava Lamp.   By documenting these roadside attractions,  World’s Largest  captures the changing, perhaps even vanishing, culture of small-town America. (World Premiere)

LONE STAR STATES

Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio
Director: Sam Wainwright Douglas
In Alabama, Samuel Mockbee’s radical design/build program brought architecture to the rural poor and a new set of ethics to architecture. His legacy has inspired a generation of architects dedicated to design for social good. (World Premiere)

For The Sake Of The Song: The Story of Anderson Fair
Director: Bruce Bryant
A devoted community of artists, volunteers  and patrons transforms a politically subversive little  coffee house and restaurant into a unique American music institution…  a small place where big things happen.   Featuring Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. (World Premiere)

Thunder Soul
Director: Mark Landsman
In the 1970’s, Kashmere High School band director Conrad Johnson turned his band into an international funk sensation. Now thirty years later, his students return to pay tribute to the man who changed their lives. (World Premiere)

Wake
Director and Screenwriter: Chad Feehan
Driving to a wedding in Los Angeles through the Mojave Desert, Paul and Adrienne pull off the highway and into Roy’s Motel and Café. This roadside artifact proves to be a strange and surreal place with an unsettling mix of travelers, who force our couple to discover the secret hidden between them and ultimately, the horrifying reality of their current situation.
Cast: Josh Stewart, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Chris Browning, Angela Featherstone, Afemo Omilami, Trevor Morgan (World Premiere)

When I Rise
Director: Mat Hames
When I Rise is a feature-length documentary about Barbara Smith Conrad, a gifted University of Texas music student who finds herself at the epicenter of racial controversy, struggling against the odds and ultimately ascending to the heights of international opera. (World Premiere)

24 BEATS PER SECOND

Ain’t In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm
Director: Jacob Hatley
In Ain’t In It For My Health Levon Helm finds himself thrust into the musical spotlight for the first time in a quarter century, but a Grammy nomination and ever-growing audiences force him to confront the dark times that have haunted him since The Band’s demise:  Throat cancer, bankruptcy, drug addiction and the tragic loss of bandmates Richard Manuel and Rick Danko.  Win or lose, Levon is an artist who will not go quietly into the night. (World Premiere)

No One Knows About Persian Cats
Director: Bahman Ghobadi. Screenwriter: Roxana Saberi
Two Persian teens jump through hoops doing what in many other countries is relatively simple: forming a rock band. Together they search the underworld of contemporary Tehran for other players, forbidden by the authorities to play in Iran.
Cast: Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad

REJOICE AND SHOUT
Director: Don McGlynn
A documentary that explores the power and long lasting influence of gospel music. (World Premiere)

RIDE, RISE, ROAR
Director: David Hillman Curtis
A David Byrne concert film that combines riveting onstage performances with documentary footage that explores the creative collaborations that make the music happen. (World Premiere)

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields
Directors: Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara
Ten years in the making, Strange Powers is an intimate documentary portrait of songwriter Stephin Merritt and his band The Magnetic Fields. (World Premiere)

TAQWACORE (Canada)
Director: Omar Majeed
Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam follows a group of Muslim Punks as they travel across the U.S. and Pakistan, challenging Muslims and Non-Muslims with their punchy and provocative anthems. (U.S. Premiere)

The Weird World of Blowfly
Director: Jonathan Furmanski
The Weird World of Blowfly tells the provocative and revealing story of musician Clarence Reid and his alter ego Blowfly, the original dirty rapper. The film follows Blowfly as he tours the world, explores his 50-year career, and celebrates his influential and incendiary work as a music legend. (World Premiere)

SX GLOBAL Hide

The DeVilles (Denmark)
Director: Nicole Nielsen Horanyi
The love between the American burlesque stripper Teri Lee Geary (aka Kitten DeVille) and her punk rock singer husband Shawn Geary is strong but rather complicated. They live in their own time bubble, hers from the 1950’s and his from the 1980’s. (U.S. Premiere)

Erasing David (United Kingdom)
Director: David Bond
Just how much of our personal information is floating around in government and corporate databases? Filmmaker David Bond decides to find out, by disappearing for a month and setting two of the world’s top private investigators the task of tracking him down, using only publicly available data.  (North American Premiere)

The Erectionman (Netherlands)
Director: Michael Schaap
How one little pill changed the course of sexual evolution. (North American Premiere)

IDFA DocLab (Netherlands)
A curated program of new media and web documentary from the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam’s  DocLab,  bridging the gap between filmmakers and interactive storytellers.

Iron Crows (South Korea)
Director: Bong-Nam Park
Against a harsh environment of constant danger and toxic gases, workers here at the world’s largest ship breaking yard in Bangladesh, risk their lives to feed their family on barely 2USD per day. (North American Premiere)Like a Pascha / Som en Pascha (Sweden)
Director: Svante Tidholm
Welcome to the biggest brothel in Europe, a clear blue eleven story high house in the middle of Cologne, Germany. Around 200 women from all over the world work here. If you ask them why, they will tell you it’s the way it’s always been. Svante Tidholm filmed at Pascha for more than three years, looking for an answer to the eternal question: why are men so obsessed with sex? (North American Premiere)

The Living Room of the Nation (Finland)
Director: Jukka Kärkkäinen
The Living Room of the Nation opens a portrait-like view into six Finnish living rooms. A collage of everyday events the film is a story of changes, loneliness, responsibilities and the unavoidable passing of time. (North American Premiere)

The Other Side of Life (Germany)
Directors: Stefanie Brockhaus and Andy Wolff
Being arrested for murder, two brothers exist between modern township life, gangsterism and ancient African culture.   (North American Premiere)

Phantom of Liberty II (Czech Republic, Germany)
Director: Karel Zalud
A documentary about time which explores its physical quantity as well as its crucial impact on our actions, behavior, perception, social rituals and our outlook on the world. (North American Premiere)

Presunto Culpable / Presumed Guilty (Mexico)
Director: Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith
The heart-wrenching story of a man who happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Through his struggle to regain freedom, two lawyers document the system’s contradictions. (U.S. Premiere)

Reel Injun (Canada)
Director: Jeremy Simmons
Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema. (North American Premiere)

FESTIVAL FAVORITES

And Everything Is Going Fine
Director: Steven Soderbergh
And Everything Is Going Fine is an intimate portrait of master monologist Spalding Gray, as described by his most critical, irreverent and insightful biographer: Spalding Gray. The film pulls from some 90 hours of material to fashion a new narrative exploring, among other things, art-making, mental illness and the sometimes thin line between the two.

Crying with Laughter (Scotland)
Director and Screenwriter: Justin Molotnikov
Comedian Joey’s act is drawing interest from people in high places until he tells one little gag about an old school pal, who just happens to be in the audience and things begin to unravel…
Cast: Stephen McCole, Malcolm Shields, Jo Hartley, Andrew Neil, Laura Keenan, Michaiah Dring (U.S. Premiere)

Dogtooth
Director: Giorgos Lanthimos. Screenwriters: Efthymis Filippou and Giorgos Lanthimos
Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth is a darkly surreal look at three teenagers confined to an isolated country estate and kept under strict rule and regimen by their parents — an alternately hilarious and nightmarish experiment of manipulation and oppression.
Cast: Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis

The Freebie
Director and Screenwriter: Katie Aselton
A young married couple decides to give each other one night with someone else.
Cast: Dax Shepard, Katie AseltonThe Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Sweden)
Director: Niels Arden Oplev. Screenwriters: Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel
Based on the International Best-Seller by Stieg Larsson: While investigating a 40-year old mystery, a disgraced journalist and tattooed computer hacker delve into the dark family secrets of the powerful Vanger family.
Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber

The Good Heart
Director and Screenwriter: Dagur Kári
A homeless boy (Lucas) meets a grouchy bar-owner (Jacques) whose unhealthy lifestyle has resulted in five heart attacks. Jacques takes Lucas under his wing with the intention of having him continuing his legacy. Everything is going according to plan until a drunken stewardess (April) enters the bar.
Cast: Brian Cox, Paul Dano, Isild Le Besco (U.S. Premiere)

Google Baby (Israel)
Director: Zippi Brand Frank
In India, the latest form of outsourcing is surrogate mothers who carry embryos for couples who can’t have a child. Director Zippi Brand Frank follows an entrepreneur who proposes a new service – baby production for western customers. (U.S. Premiere)

Harry Brown (United Kingdom)
Director: Daniel Barber. Screenwriter: Gary Young
Set in modern day Britain, Harry Brown follows one man’s journey through a chaotic world where teenage violence runs rampant. As a modest, law abiding citizen, Brown lives alone. His only companion is his best friend Leonard. When Leonard is killed, Brown reaches his breaking point. Harry Brown is a powerful, character driven thriller starring two-time Academy Award ® winner Michael Caine in a tour-de-force performance.
Cast: Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Charlie Creed-Miles

His & Hers (Ireland)
Director: Ken Wardrop
Seventy Irish women offer moving insights into the relationships between women and men.

How to Fold A Flag
Directors: Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein
We were asked to believe that the war was over. We laughed, for we were the war.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Director: Tamra Davis
An intimate portrait of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and the downtown New York scene, as told by his friend filmmaker Tamra Davis.

Last Train Home (Canada)
Director: Lixin Fan
Getting a train ticket in China proves a towering ordeal as a migrant worker family embarks on a journey, along with 200 million other peasants, to reunite with their distant family.

Life 2.0
Director: Jason Spingarn-Koff
More than an examination of new technology, the film is foremost an intimate, character-based drama about people whose lives are dramatically transformed by the virtual world called Second Life.

Lovers of Hate
Director and Screenwriter: Bryan Poyser
The shaky reunion of estranged brothers takes a turn for the worse when the woman they both love chooses one over the other.
Cast: Chris Doubek, Heather Kafka, Alex Karpovsky, Zach Green

The Oath
Director: Laura Poitras
Filmed in Yemen, The Oath tells the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison who is the first man to face the controversial military tribunals at Guantanamo.

The Red Chapel / Det Røde Kapel (Denmark)
Director: Mads Brügger
A journalist with no scruples, a self-proclaimed spastic, and a comedian travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange visit to challenge one of the world’s most notorious regimes.

The Taqwacores
Director: Eyad Zahra. Screenwriters: Michael Muhammad Knight and Eyad Zahra
When a Pakistani-Muslim engineering student moves into a house with punk Muslims of all stripes in Buffalo, New York, his ideologies are challenged to the core.
Cast: Bobby Naderi, Noureen DeWulf, Dominic Rains, Rasika Mathur, Tony Yalda, Anne Marie Leighton

The Thorn in the Heart
Director: Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry’s newest film, further propels his groundbreaking filmography into the realm of the unvisited with a personal look at the life of Gondry family matriarch, his aunt Suzette Gondry, and her relationship with her son, Jean-Yves. Michel examines Suzette’s years as a schoolteacher and her life in rural France.  During the course of filming the documentary, new family stories are unearthed and Michel uses his camera to explore them in a subtle and sensitive way.

Trash Humpers
Director and Screenwriter: Harmony Korine
A film unearthed from the buried landscape of the American nightmare, Trash Humpers follows a small group of elderly “Peeping Toms” through the shadows and margins of an unfamiliar world.
Cast: Rachel Korine, Travis Nicholson, Brian Kotzur, Harmony Korine

Winter’s Bone
Director: Debra Granik, Screenwriters: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini
A 17-year-old must track down her father after he puts their house up for his bail and then disappears.  If she fails, she and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods.
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Dale Dickey

MIDNIGHTERS

Amer (Belgium)
Directors: Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. Screenwriter: Bruno Forzani
Ana is confronted to Body and Desire at three key moments of her life. Cast: Bianca Maria D’Amato, Cassandra Forêt, Charlotte Eugène-Guibbaud, Marie Bos, Harry Cleven (U.S. Premiere)

Cannibal Girls (Canada)
Director: Ivan Reitman. Screenwriter: Robert Sandler
They do EXACTLY what you think they do! Second City TV regulars Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin star in Ivan Reitman’s Canuxploitation classic as a couple on a romantic holiday who settle into a quaint little bed-and-breakfast run by a trio of flesh-eating ladies who fancy them for tomorrow’s menu.
Cast: Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Ronald Ulrich, Randall Carpenter, Bonnie Neilson

Cotton (U.S.)
Director: Daniel Stamm. Screenwriters: Andrew Gurland and Huck Botko
After a career spent helping the devout through prayer and trickery, Rev. Cotton Marcus invites a film crew to document his final fraudulent days as an exorcist.   Soon his faith is truly tested when a desperate plea from the father of a possessed girl brings him face to face with the devil himself.
Cast: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones (World Premiere)

Enter the Void
Director and Screenwriter: Gaspar Noé
Oscar and his sister Linda are recent arrivals in Tokyo. Oscar is caught  in a police bust and shot and as he lies dying, his spirit, faithful to the promise he made his sister that he would never abandon her refuses to abandon the world of the living. It wanders through the city, his visions growing evermore distorted, evermore nightmarish. Past, present and future merge in a hallucinatory maelstrom.
Cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Emily Alyn Lind, Jesse Kuhn

Jimmy Tupper VS. The Goatman of Bowie
Director and Screenwriter: Andrew Bowser
Jimmy Tupper is no one, he’s nothing, until one night he sees something in the woods that can’t be real. It becomes his mission to prove its existence and find his purpose.
Cast: Andrew Bowser, Pedro Gonzalez, Chris Jones, Michael Eller, Tim Kuczka (World Premiere)

The Loved Ones (Australia)
Director and Screenwriter: Sean Byrne
Brent, a 17-year-old student grieving after the recent loss of his father, politely declines an invitation to the school formal from Lola, the quietest girl in school. Devastated by the rejection, Lola and her overly protective father kidnap Brent and force him to endure a macabre Formal of their own creation…
Cast: Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee, Richard Wilson

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (Canada)
Director: Eli Craig. Screenwriters: Eli Craig and Morgan Jurgenson
Two West Virginian hillbillies go on vacation at their dilapidated mountain cabin, but their peaceful trip goes horribly awry.
Cast: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss

SX FANTASTIC

Higanjima (Japan/Korea)
Director: Tae-Kyun Kim. Screenwriter: Tetsuya Ôishi
Two years after losing contact, Akira discovers that his long-lost brother may be found on Higanjima Island.   He may also find on Higanjima an army of blood-sucking vampires.
Cast: Koji Yamamoto, Hideo Ishiguro, Dai Watanabe, Asami Mizukawa (North American Premiere)

Monsters (UK)
Director and Screenwriter: Gareth Edwards
Six years after a NASA probe crashes, bringing alien life forms to Earth, a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border.
Cast: Scoot McNairym, Whitney Able (World Premiere)

Outcast
Director Colm McCarthy. Screenwriters: Colm McCarthy and Tom McCarthy
Mary and Fergal live their lives on the run, using an ancient form of magic to hide from a terrifying hunter.
Cast: James Nesbitt, Kate Dickie, Niall Bruton, Hannah Stanbridge (World Premiere)

Serbian Film / Srpski Film (Serbia)
Director: Srdjan Spasojevic. Screenwriters: Aleksandar Radivojevic and Srdjan Spasojevic
Facing financial difficulties, a retired porn star is lured back for one final film by a wealthy, eccentric producer.   This experience, however, will be vastly more taxing than his previous shoots.
Cast: Sergei Trifunovic, Srdjan Todorovic, Katarina Zutic, Ana Sakic (World Premiere)

Super Secret TBA (World Premiere)

SPECIAL EVENTS

All My Friends are Funeral Singers with Live Soundtrack by Califone
Director and Screenwriter: Tim Rutili
Zel, a fortune-teller, is aided in her prognostication by a band of ghosts, but when a mysterious light appears, she may have to give up the only family she knows.
Cast: Angela Bettis, Emily Candini, Reid Coker, Kevin Ford, Joe Adamik, Jim Becker, Ben Massarella, Tim Rutili

Hubble 3D
Director: Toni Myers
Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio and through the power of IMAX ® 3D, Hubble 3D will enable movie-goers to journey through distant galaxies to explore the grandeur and mysteries of our celestial surroundings, and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult and important tasks in NASA’s history. (First Public Showing)

The Lost World (1925) with Live Score by Golden Hornet Project
Director: Harry O. Hoyt. Screenwriters: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (novel) & Marion Fairfax (screenplay)
In Hoyt’s sci-fi classic, claymation dinosaurs came to spectacular life 70 years before Michael Crichton’s modern retelling.  Wyatt Brand helps to present  Austin’s premier alt-classical Golden Hornet Project and their new chamber-rock score.
Cast:  Bessie Love, Lewis Stone

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) with Live Score by In The Nursery (United Kingdom)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer. Screenwriter: Joseph Delteil
One of the finest achievements of the silent film era, Dreyer’s portrayal of Joan of Arc uses extraordinary, expressive close-ups to create a moving, intense and flawless work. With a new score by In The Nursery, who utilize state of the art music technology with a unique symphonic style, to produce a hauntingly evocative soundtrack.
Cast: Maria Falconetti

The Unknown (1927) with Live Score by The Invincible Czars
Director: Tod Browning. Screenwriter: Mary Roberts Rinehart
Wyatt Brand helps bring a film/music convergence event to SXSW Film with The Invincible Czars screening and live, original score for  the 1927 silent classic The Unknown starring Lon Chaney as an armless sharp-shooter.
Cast: Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford

FAST AND FURIOUS 5 Gearing Up

As if there was ever any question this was going to happen, Variety is reporting a fifth installment in the FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise has officially gotten the green light.   The working title for the new film is FAST FIVE, and it will bring Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, producer Neal Moritz, and direcotr Justin Lin back together for one, more outing.

I’m not going to say one, “final” outing, because, if this film makes as much money as the last collaboration between these four, we’ll be sure to have FAST AND FURIOUS films hitting our local cinemas every other year until kingdom come.   2009’s FAST AND FURIOUS, which featured the return of Walker and Diesel to the franchise, made over $155 million in domestic box office, making it the most successful film in the franchise to date.   That was without the benefit of a July release, something the other three films in the franchise did have to their advantage.

Chris Morgan is returning, as well, to screenwriting duties, and early word on the film’s plot involves Walker’s Brian and Diesel’s Dominic once again on the run from the law.   I guess that falls into that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” category, and this new film is sure to make a mint, as well, especially if Universal decides to aim for a Summer release.

Shooting is expected to begin later this year with release sometime in 2011.

ENCHANTED 2 Moving Forward

Disney’s plan to recapture the magic that made them such a staple in family entertainment long ago is taking its next step.   Variety is reporting the studio has hired I AM SAM and FRED CLAUS screenwriter Jessie Nelson and dance-choreographer-turned-director Anne Fletcher to get a sequel to 2007’s ENCHANTED into theaters.

With much of the cast likely to return, the sequel will surely follow the continuing adventures of Giselle, a fairytale princess sent to the real world through the nefarious dealings of an evil witch.   Expect Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey to return for sure, and I would be surprised if James Marsden doesn’t come back, as well.

The first film is viewed as highly successful, pulling in $340 million in worldwide box office and garnering three Oscar nominations, all for Best Original Song.   The songs in the film were written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.   Expect them to return, also.

Fletcher is making a name for herself in the directing world, helming films like STEP UP and 27 DRESSES.   She really made waves last year with the Buena Vista/Disney-backed THE PROPOSAL, which was Sandra Bullock’s biggest opening for about five months until THE BLIND SIDE came out.   THE PROPOSAL ended up making $314 million worldwide, and Disney surely sees Fletcher and the ENCHANTED property as a good marriage.   I can’t say I disagree.

Who Wants to See VALENTINE’S DAY With the Movie Geeks?

VALENTINE’S DAY comes a little early this year, February 12th to be precise, but it looks as if it could be coming even earlier for a number of our devoted readers.  We have passes for the St. Louis screening of VALENTINE’S DAY a full, four days before the film’s release on Monday, February 8th at 7:00 PM.

First and foremost, this is a St. Louis screening.  If you will not be in St. Louis on February 8th, please do not enter this contest.

Here is what we need from you if you do want these passes, though.  The cast list for VALENTINE’S DAY is immense, too immense to list them all here, but you can check it out over on the film’s IMDB page.  We want you to play matchmaker.  Tell us, of all the women and men in the film’s cast, which two would you like to see fall in love with each other.  Give us your best “couples” in the comments section below.

We will be picking the winners at random over the weekend and notifying via email.  And, if you’re not one of the lucky ones who gets to see the film early, be sure to check out VALENTINE’S DAY when it hits theaters on February 12th.

Terrence Malick Becoming a Workaholic?

Two movies within five years of each other?   You bet your ass, Terrence Malick is becoming a workaholic.   Not only that, he’s re-teaming with his THE NEW WORLD co-lead, Christian Bale.   At least, that is what Nikki Finke is reporting over at Deadline Hollywood.   According to her report, Malick, who isn’t one to jump onto a project without much thought, is prepping a love story and that he has already brought on Bale, Javier Bardem, Olga Kurylenko, and Rachel McAdams to star.

There isn’t much else to report on from her article other than shooting is set to begin in the Fall and FilmNation Entertainment has already stepped up for international distribution.   Regardless of the plot, though, you know the film is going to be methodically pieced together just as every, other Malick project has before it.   If Terrence Malick deserves credit for anything, it’s for taking his time with this projects and putting out the absolute best film he can.

Malick’s next film, TREE OF LIFE, starring Sean Penn and Brad Pitt is set to bow at Cannes this year.