Category: Movies

“Your dad is a good man. He’s got some demons, but you know, we all do.” Lionsgate has debuted a trailer for the comedy The Confirmation, written/directed by Bob Nelson. It stars Clive Owen as an alcoholic, down-on-his-luck carpenter who must take care of his eight-year-old son Anthony, played by Jaeden Lieberher, while his mother and her new husband go to a Catholic retreat. As much as that doesn’t sound like a comedy, there is some levity in the dialogue after the situation they find themselves in when Walt’s toolbox is stolen. Also starring Patton Oswalt, Robert Forster, Tim Blake Nelson, Matthew Modine & Maria Bello. This looks better than I was expecting, but not sure if it’ll be that good. Take a look below. ›››

Continue reading Watch: Clive Owen in Official Trailer for Comedy ‘The Confirmation’

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“Cinema as the stuff dreams are made of…” Strand Releasing has unveiled an official US trailer for Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s latest film Cemetery of Splendor, which has been playing at film festivals since last year. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, played at TIFF and the New York, Busan, Vancouver and Denver Film Festivals, and is now playing at the Sundance Film Festival this year, arriving in theaters in March. This dream-like, mesmerizing Thai film is about a lonely housewife (Jenjira Pongpas) who tends to a soldier with sleeping sickness that “falls into a hallucination that triggers strange dreams, phantoms, and romance.” Those who are fans of “Thai Joe” and his films – this is his latest must-see feature. ›››

Continue reading Full US Trailer for Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s ‘Cemetery of Splendor’

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As Aristotle once explained, every story is either a tragedy or a comedy. This film is a tragedy – in the true sense of that word. It’s very depressing, and sad, but depressing in a good way, if that’s possible to imagine. I say that because it captures some very beautiful, intimate moments of connection among friends dealing with the hardship of young life. As You Are is the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, premiering at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and it will hopefully give Miles the break he needs to make more films – because he seems to be a very talented storyteller. While it’s not the best film of the fest, it does show quite a bit of potential, and it’s a powerful story about love and what it makes you do. ›››

Continue reading Sundance 2016: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte’s Impressive Debut ‘As You Are’

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It’s time to rise up, to revolt, and to inspire real change. The Birth of a Nation is the feature directorial debut of actor Nate Parker, who has been working on this project for the last seven years. Parker writes, directs, produces and stars in this cinematic story of Nat Turner, a real-life slave in the 1800s who leads an uprising in Virginia. His legacy is meant to inspire “change agents”, and for years his story was covered up to prevent this from happening. But now the story has been told (again after being published in books), exquisitely, and Parker’s take on Nat Turner is a triumph. It’s a sensational, riveting film that spends less time on the revolt itself, more on the man that realizes he is the one who must passionately lead an uprising. ›››

Continue reading Sundance 2016: Nate Parker’s ‘The Birth of a Nation’ is Sensational

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There’s nothing like great music that makes you so happy you want to get up and dance. The latest film from John Carney, the Irish director who broke out with the musical Once at Sundance in 2007, is called Sing Street and it’s utterly joyful. It’s almost an Irish version of School of Rock amped up to 11, but there’s such an unique, energetic, exciting vibe to it, I think it’s time to proclaim Sing Street as the new winner of the Battle of the Bands. Sing Street so much fun to watch, but it’s also genuinely passionate about encouraging the weirdos and oddballs to be whatever they want. Sing your heart out, fight against authority, be someone. ›››

Continue reading Sundance 2016: John Carney’s New Film ‘Sing Street’ is Utterly Joyful

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This is badass! The Raid 1 & 2 director Gareth Evans has released a short film online that he produced entirely on his own. It’s a short samurai film shot in Wales that is a test sequence to prove that they can film action similar to The Raid films but with a PG-13 rating. The main cast includes Hannah Al Rashid, Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman. This isn’t anything more than a test sequence, but it’s awesome to see and hopefully good inspiration for filmmakers trying to figure out how to shoot action. I dig the black & white style, as it allows the viewer to appreciate the composition. I’m a fan of Gareth Evans (watch my interview from a few years ago) and I think he’s one of the most talented action directors making films today. Enjoy! ›››

Continue reading Watch This: Gareth Evans’ Kick Ass Home-Made Samurai Short Film

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It’s always exciting to see films at the Sundance Film Festival that mark the feature directorial debut of ambitious, talented storytellers. A majority of the films they program at the festival are small features made on extremely limited budgets that become the breakout project for many people. That is definitely the case for JD Dillard, director of the film Sleight, which is part of the NeXT category. Sleight is about a young street magician living in Los Angeles that must fight off a drug lord using his intelligence and natural talent in order to save his younger sister and win over a girl. It’s a fairly simple story, but the film is still awesome. ›››

Continue reading Sundance 2016: JD Dillard’s ‘Sleight’ is an Exciting Directorial Debut

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The future of law enforcement. We are happy to premiere this new screen print being sold by Grey Matter Art. GMA is working with MGM to distribute this officially-licensed print for Paul Verhoeven’s classic uber-violent 1987 sci-fi RoboCop, with artwork designed by Kilian Eng. This fantastic 24″ x 36″ print will be available in limited quantities starting Wednesday (January 27th), and also has a variant version (both seen below). Eng is a fan-favorite artist in the poster community, and has created a few great designs over the years (like this vinyl art for Oblivion). Big fans of the original RoboCop should be very interested in this. ›››

Continue reading Exclusive: Kilian Eng’s New ‘RoboCop’ Screen Print for Grey Matter Art

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“Enemies will unite. Worlds will collide.” Legendary has debuted the first official TV spot for the upcoming Warcraft movie (even though we already posted an international TV spot previously) based on the World of Warcraft games. Duncan Jones (of Moon, Source Code) directs this massive fantasy epic, involving a giant battle between Orcs and Humans, starring Travis Fimmel, Robert Kazinsky, Ben Foster, Paula Patton & Dominic Cooper. The more we see of this as we get closer to release, the better it looks, the rendering of the Orcs is actually starting to get to the level of Avatar. Take a closer look at the footage in this. Don’t give up hope yet! This is still a Duncan Jones movie, and I expect it to be entertaining at the very least. Enjoy! ›››

Continue reading Watch: Gryphons & Orcs in First TV Spot for Duncan Jones’ ‘Warcraft’

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Pretty much everyone who loves movies is a fan of the Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight series from Richard Linklater. They represent the pinnacle of love stories in cinema, and they’re hard to top. The closest any film has come to feeling like this is Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, a story about Barack Obama’s first date with Michelle Robinson in Chicago in back in 1989, many years before he would become President of the United States. The film just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the same venue where I saw, and went head over heels crazy for just a few years ago, Linklater’s Before Midnight. It’s a very sweet, engaging, and inspiring love story that unfolds as Barack takes Michelle around the city over the course of one day. ›››

Continue reading Sundance 2016: Obama’s First Date in the Lovely ‘Southside With You’

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