We have the first image from Eran Creevy’s Welcome to the Punch starring James McAvoy and Mark Strong. The story follows an ex-criminal (Strong) who is forced to return to London from his Icelandic hideaway when his son is involved in a heist gone wrong. This gives a dogged detective (McAvoy) one last chance to catch the man he’s always been after. It opens in September in the UK. No US date yet. You'd better believe I'll be keeping an eye on this one! (Thanks to ScreenDaily for the pic.)
We’ve got two new images from The Hunger Games! One of them shows Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman with Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss and if I didn’t know that was Stanley Tucci, I would never guess. That is some wig. The ‘interviewer’ or emcee of The Games, apparently Caesar is famous for changing the color of his lips, hair, and eyelids for each of the Hunger Games. The other images shows Katniss in the crowd in District 12 at “the reaping” which is when participants in The Games are chosen.
Here’s a new look at Channing Tatum-tot and Academy*cough*Award*choke*nominee*pounds head on keyboard* Jonah Hill from 21 Jump Street. Dressed in their prom tuxes amid debris and hiding behind bullet-riddled furniture, I’m guessing they won’t be getting the deposit on the hotel room back.
Still not sure how I feel about The Five Year Engagement but the leads are pretty damn likeable. Emily Blunt and Jason Segel might be nearly as charming as Jason Segel and Amy Adams were in The Muppets. Hmm…I’m sensing a pattern here.
…But then again, Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor were charming together in the trailer for Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.
Here’s a new look at the Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) from The Pirates! Band of Misfits coming in March. The trailers for this are hilarious. Hopefully it will be available in 2D as well as the dreaded 3.
And finally, last (and certainly least) here’s another look at the master thespians of The Three Stooges, Will Sasso as Curley, Chris Diamantopolous as Moe and Sean Hayes as Larry. The movie’s out in April, though inexplicably not on the 1st.
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New Year, lots of new movies! We’ve got some first looks and a bit of news on a slew of films coming your way in the next few months.
First up is Your Sister’s Sister which received a standing ovation at its Sundance screening this weekend. It stars Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel’s Getting Married) who reportedly replaced Rachel Weisz after she dropped out due to ‘scheduling conflicts’.
The film tells the tale of Iris (Blunt) who invites her friend Jack (Mark Duplass-one half of the directing team of the Duplass brothers) to stay at her family's island getaway after the death of his brother. At their remote cabin, Jack's drunken encounter with Hannah (DeWitt), Iris' sister, kicks off a revealing stretch of days.
Apparently, according to the video below, about 85% of the movie was improvised. The best thing about the video, is Blunt and DeWitt’s reaction to Michael Fassbender’s The Hollywood Reporter cover story.
Your Sister’s Sister, which had its world premiere at TIFF, is slated to open the Seattle International Film Festival at the end of May. No word yet on what happens after that but I think it’s a safe bet it will get a theatrical release this year.
7500 is a thriller which stars Amy Smart, Ryan Kwanten, Scout Taylor-Compton, Jerry Ferrara, Jamie Chung, Christian Serratos, Nicky Whelan, Leslie Bibb and Johnathon Schaech. The story follows an estranged married couple (Smart, Kwanten) that boards a flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo only to encounter malevolent supernatural forces on the airplane. Written by Craig Rosenberg (The Uninvited) and directed by Takashi Shimizu (Grudge 2), 7500 lands in theaters August 31 in the US.
The Oranges stars Hugh Laurie as a who guy falls for the daughter (Leighton Meester) of a family friend (Oliver Platt), making life just a bit awkward for himself and the family. Queen of the Indies, Catherine Keener plays his wife while Alison Janney plays the wife of the friend. Alia Shawkat, Adam Brody, Tim Guinnee and Boyd Holbrook round out the cast. The Oranges is directed by Julian Farino (Entourage, How to Make it in America) from a first script by Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss. No word on a release other than “2012”. It’s been in the can since late 2010, but screened at TIFF in ’11 and ATO pictures has just dropped this first still. With a cast like this I can’t imagine it won’t get a theatrical release. We’ll keep you posted.
The release of The Good Doctor which stars Orlando Bloom as physician Martin Blake and Riley Keough (who will forever be known as Elvis’ granddaughter) as his patient, was delayaed after it was originally slapped with an R rating for “some crude sexual references” by the MPAA's Classification and Rating Administration. However, Co-producer Jonathan King and writer Julia Lebedev appealed the rating and won a reversal, so now the movie will be rated PG-13 for “thematic material, disturbing situations and some crude sexual content.” It had better be good to justify the fuss.
Dr. Martin Blake, who has spent his life looking for respect, meets an 18-year-old patient named Diane, suffering from a kidney infection, and gets a much-needed boost of self-esteem. However, when her health starts improving, Martin fears losing her, so he begins tampering with her treatment, keeping Diane sick and in the hospital right next to him.
I’m sure we’ll here more once an exact date is announced. For now, color me skeptical.
Another TIFF favorite that is sure to get a US release now that Michelle Williams has been nominated for a Genie Award (Canada’s Oscar) for her performance in Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz, described as a funny, bittersweet and heart-wrenching story about a woman struggling to choose between two different types of love. Seth Rogan, Sarah Silverman and Aaron Abrams costar.
Finally (for this post anyway), we have your first look at This is 40, which is being called the sequel to Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up. It stars Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprising their roles as Pete and Debbie and basically it’s a look at their lives a few years after the events from that film. Pete's music label is in trouble, consequently Debbie, with her dress shop staffed by Megan Fox andCharlyne Yi, becomes the primary breadwinner.
Melissa McCarthy has been added as the mother of a classmate of one of Pete and Debbie’s kids. Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl are not in it, but Jason Segel is back, as are Maude and Iris Apatow as Pete and Debbie’s kids.
Mann told the LA Times, “"It's the kind of stuff about marriage that you don't get to see in movies. It's about getting older. What the hell happened? Am I making all the right choices? Is this where I'm supposed to be? Is this it?” Married or not, everyone asks themselves those questions when they hit 40. The answers will probably be the same as the ones we get when we look in the mirror and ask those questions, but at least in Apatow’s hands the asking will be funnier.
Universal has staked out prime awards season territory for This is 40 with a release date of December 21.
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We first told you (very briefly) about Lasse Hallstrom’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt when it played TIFF and we brought you the first trailer last month. Unless they’ve got me completely hoodwinked and all of the best bits are not only in the trailer but the trailer editor deserves an award, I think this will be not only charming, but possibly a thinking person’s “rom-com. This UK trailer provides everything you got in the US version, plus a bit more; more humor and of Amr Waked’s Sheikh.
The official synopsis:
A romantic, contemporary fable, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is the tale of government employee Dr Alfred, or Fred, Jones (Ewan McGregor), a rather introverted scientist at the Department of Fisheries and Agriculture. Trudging along in his day job, with his marriage stagnating, his world is suddenly thrown into turmoil when he’s drawn into a scheme hatched by a fly fishing-obsessed Yemeni Sheikh (Amr Waked) who dreams of achieving the seemingly impossible — introducing salmon to the wadis of the Yemen.
When the British government, desperate for a good news story in the area, gets wind of the Sheikh’s plan, the Prime Minister’s fearsome spokesperson, Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas), seizes on the idea — it’s a good news story that will deflect attention away from the government’s latest blunder. She appoints Fred to oversee the project, which pleases him not at all. For a logical, rather stuffy scientist like Fred, the idea of introducing salmon to the Yemen is one step short of madness.
Fred, however, is eventually won over by the charismatic Sheikh and his mystical worldview, while he also begins to fall for the Sheikh’s representative, Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt), a gentle and engaging English beauty who joins on him his journey into the Yemen. When Fred is drawn into helping Harriet try and fix the troubles in her life, he learns to cast off his deep-set cynicism. With Emily’s encouragement and support, Fred then rises to the Sheikh’s eccentric challenge, and embarks upon a journey of self-discovery and late-blooming love.
Blunt and McGregor have obvious chemistry, and the film appears to be infused with gentle humor.
Director Hallstrom’s previous films include My Life as a Dog, Once Around, Something to Talk About, Cider House Rules and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, among many others, but this should give you an idea of what to expect. Personal idiosyncrasies and all of life’s variations are dealt with nimbly and empathetically.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen also stars Kristin Scott Thomas (lighter than she’s been in years) and Amr Waked. It will be released March 2 in the US and 9th March in the UK.
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Lasse Hallstrom’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt is a film I first heard about when it played the Toronto International Film Festival. I’d heard of it and that’s about it. For some reason I thought it was some dry political drama. Well, apparently I wasn’t paying attention, because boy was I wrong. Take a look at this first trailer. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen looks completely charming.
A fisheries expert (McGregor) is approached by a consultant (Blunt) to help realize a sheik's vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible, possible.
What that synopsis can’t tell you about is the obvious chemistry between Blunt and McGregor and the gentle humor with which this film is infused.
Director Hallstrom’s previous films include My Life as a Dog, Once Around (Holly Hunter was brilliant, no matter what anyone thought of the rest of the film), Something to Talk About, Cider House Rules and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, among many others, but this should give you an idea of what to expect. He handles personal foibles and the vicissitudes of life with a deft touch.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen also stars Kristin Scott Thomas (lighter than she’s been in years) and Amr Waked. It will be released March 2 in the US and 9th March in the UK. I don’t expect either of those to be wide, so you’ll have to look for it, I’m sure.
Jason Segel is adorable and talented. Anyone who didn’t love him after “Freaks and Geeks” probably developed a crush after Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The world has embraced him after he resurrected The Muppets for us all. I do believe that even if he didn’t have an appealing lead like Emily Blunt in Nicholas Stoller’s The Five Year Engagement, he could carry most of it alone. Luckily for him, and for us, he does.
Universal has released this synopsis: From the filmmakers that brought you Bridesmaids, Forgetting Sarah MarshallandKnocked Up,THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT takes a hilarious look at an engaged couple that keeps getting tripped up on their long walk down the aisle. Directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring a beloved comedy cast that includes Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie and Rhys Ifans… this is an engagement you won’t want to miss.
Stoller and Segel co-wrote the screenplay of this one, just as they did for The Muppets. Stoller also gets points for that.
Not sure what Maxim-crowd favorite Alison Brie is doing with that British accent, but it is a comfort knowing that Chris Pratt is around to do his loveable doofus routine. In addition to Mindy Kaling, Chris Parnell and Kevin Hart, there are great (older) character actors surrounding the cute couple and their friends as well. Mimi Kennedy and David Paymer play Tom’s parents, Carol and Pete Solomon. Violet Barnes’ parents are played by Jim Piddick as George and Jacki Weaver as Sylvia Dickerson-Barnes. I have hope for this.
The Five Year Engagement opens in the US, Canada and the UK on April 27.
Jack Black, Emily Blunt, and Jason Segel gave the cameras a good time on the red carpet for 20th Century Fox’s Premiere of ‘Gulliver’s Travels‘ held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood last night.
I am very anxious to see this one. I loved the classic when I was a kid and this one, with Jack Black….. well, I adore him. So for me, you just can’t go wrong.
In case you never saw this as a kid because you lived in a tiny bubble, here’s the low down:
In a contemporary re–imagining of the classic tale, Jack Black stars as Gulliver, a big–talking mailroom clerk who, after he’s mistakenly assigned a travel piece on the Bermuda Triangle, suddenly finds himself a giant among men when he washes ashore on the hidden island of Lilliput, home to a population of very tiny people. At first enslaved by the diminutive and industrious Liliputians, and later declared their hero, Gulliver comes to learn that it’s how big you are on the inside that counts.
I will definitely be watching this flick over Christmas break. Merry Christmas!
