Birthday boy Robert Pattinson 26 on Saturday, May 13, 2012 and like all of us met some friends at a restaurant to mark the occasion. In this case the friends were Hugh Jackman and Sienna Miller and the restaurant Claridges in London. Sound like your birthday bash?

But wait! Where is Kristen Stewart? Relax Twihards. The two lovebirds spent the weekend together in the countryside before he ventured out to his star-studded dinner.

Enjoy the pics and Happy Birthday to Pattinson!

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Photos: Manuil Yamalyun/WENN

We have video from the set of Tom Hooper’s film version of the musical Les Miserables. We see Eddie Redmaye, Aaron Tveit, Anne Hathaway as well as Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman hard at work on location in London (which is doubling for 18^th century Paris).

In the first video we see Jackman as Jean Valjean and Hathaway as Fantine (who *spoiler alert* looks pretty ghostly *wink wink nudge nudge*) as they sing to playback while a huge set piece is being filmed. “Do You Hear the People Sing” is one of the central songs of the show as it closes the first act and at the denouement of the second.  While Hooper had said he wanted his performers to sing “live” as opposed to lip-sync to playback, this scene is probably too big for that. In the second video we do see Jackman singing live, even if we can’t hear him.  The third video is short and sweet, just Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert on horseback. Finally we see Eddie Redmayne as Marius and Aaron Tveit as Enjolras.  All of the videos match the pics we’ve gotten from the production, including the new ones seen below. We also have a first look at Amanda Seyfried as Cosette.

Les Miserables is set for an awards season release, December 14 in the US and 13^th January in the UK. More will surely follow!

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Last month we had your first look at Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert on the set of Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the hit musical, Les Miserables. Today we have some pics of Eddie Redmayne hard at work as Marius Pontmercy.

They’re filming in the Greenwich section of London, which is standing in for 18th century Paris. It looks to me like they’re filming a scene “at the barricades” and that is probably Aaron Tveit  (Gossip Girl) as Enjolras standing next to Eddie.

In addition to Redmayne, Jackman and Crowe, the cast is full of familiar names. Amanda Seyfried will play Marius’ love interest Cosette. She sang in Mama Mia, but has anyone ever heard Redmayne? He had a lot of theater experience,even won a Tony in 2010 for John Logan's "Red", but I don't see a musical on his resume. I hope he’s got the pipes since he’s got some good songs (like "Red and Black", "A Little Fall of Rain", "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables"). Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen are the Thenardiers, Anne Hathaway is Fantine and Samantha Barks is Eponine, a role she played in the 25th anniversary concert at the O2 Arena in London.

I can’t say enough how much I love that Hooper has found places in the film for the likes of Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean in London and on Broadway as well as Frances Ruffelle who originated Eponine in London and then on Broadway where she earned a Tony.

Composer Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyricist Alain Boublil wrote a new song exclusively for the film and Schönberghas also composed new incidental music.

Les Miserables will open in theaters in the US and Canada on December 14. Enjoy the pics!

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Photo Credit: WENN

What better way to celebrate the Monday after Easter than with some of your favorite icons from childhood, like the Easter Bunny and his pals Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and The Sandman?  Well, actually I can think of quite a few ways better than this, but this is what we’ve got.

In any case, we have two posters as well as the first teaser trailer for a new animated movie from Dreamworks called Rise of the Guardians, featuring the voices of Chris Pine (Jack Frost), Alec Baldwin (North aka Santa Claus complete with “Naughty” and “Nice” tatts), Isla Fisher (Tooth) and Hugh Jackman (Bunnymund) in which our childhood heroes are actually heroes.

When an evil spirit known as Pitch (aka The Boogieman – Jude Law) lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

Based on a book by William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians is the feature debut for director Peter Ramsay with a script by David Lindsey-Abaire (Robots, Inkheart, Oz: The Great and Powerful). I keep getting the title confused with Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, but that’s probably just me. The trailer looks good. The film itself looks like sumptuous with color soaked computer generated animation giving it an old-school feel, helped quite a bit by a score by Oscar winner Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech).  More will surely follow. Rise of the Guardians opens November 21 in the US and 30^th November in the UK.

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I read a news tidbit in Variety this week that was somewhat disturbing. They reported that the Peter Farrelly and Charles Wessler star-packed comedy anthology known as Movie 43 has been moved from April 13, 2012 back to January 25, 2013. Relativity Media it seems, does not believe that April 13^th is suitable, (God forbid this comedy should compete with The Three Stooges) nor is there another suitable date in all of 2012 that’s right for it. 

Seriously??  Either this thing is a complete piece of crap (it went into post-production in June 2010) and should just go directly to DVD and be done with it or Ryan Kavanagh has lost his damn mind.

If he can’t figure out how to market a movie with this cast: Johnny Knoxville, Gerard Butler, Anna Faris, Seann William Scott, Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Halle Berry, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Kate Bosworth, Kate Winslet, Terrence Howard, Liev Schreiber, Elizabeth Banks, Justin Long, Kristen Bell, Patrick Warburton, Josh Duhamel, Jason Sudeikis, Chloe Grace Moretz, Stephen Merchant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Bibb, Jack McBrayer, Tony Shaloub, Bobby Cannavale, Kieran Culkin, and Chris Pratt, then he should pass the torch to someone with cajones and go back to his lab and put his talents to other uses.

Actually, not wanting to “compete” with The Three Stooges does make a modicum of sense. It’s a big budget, big studio broad comedy and it’s only rated PG-13 while Movie 43 is rated R. Despite the ratings gap, there could be some overlap. Although, if that’s your target audience, you’ve really set the bar pretty low to start with.  I'm sure not all of the segments are of equal quality, but can the bad so outshine the good that it warrants being continually pushed back? Again, I ask, why bother? Send it to the home market and recoup your losses.

On January 25, 2013, Movie 43 (Can’t someone come up with a better name?) will face off against the action thriller Parker with Jason Statham (so I have to choose between Gerard Butler as a foul-mouthed leprechaun or The Stath being all Stath-y? How is that fair? Well, Statham’s movie does lose points for having J-Lo in it), and the break-dancing drama Battle of the Year: The Dream Team.  Yes, the sound you just heard was my eyes rolling.

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I just fell in love with Russell Crowe all over again. These are the first shots of Crowe as Inspector Javert in Tom Hooper’s adaption of the musical version of Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Miserables. Perfect!

Filming is well underway as anyone who follows Crowe on Twitter will already have known (I believe the horse’s name is Gymet), not to mention we just had some great first shots of Javert’s nemesis Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman).

This is Hooper’s first film since winning the Oscar for The King’s Speech. He’s certainly rounded up an impressive cast for this beloved musical. In addition to Jackman and Crowe, the movie also stars Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks, Frances Ruffelle and Colm Wilkinson.

The pics come courtesy of The Daily Mail (with a tip o’ the pin to HeyUGuys). Les Miserables will be in theaters in the US starting December 23 and 11th January in the UK. I can't wait!

*title of the post comes from a lyric to Inspector Javert/Little People from the score of the musical

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Here’s your first look at Hugh Jackman, indeed of anyone, from the set of Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. Can we get one thing straight? If Jackman does look like a hobo or a street person, it’s called being in character. He’s supposed to! Jackman is playing Jean Valjean, the man convicted and sentenced to twenty two years of hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. (If other movie or entertainment writers didn’t read Hugo’s rather large tome, then surely they are familiar with the Broadway show that’s been running longer than some of them have been alive? You know, the one on which this movie is based?)

Okay, rant over. (I’m a little sensitive because I loved the book and it is my all-time favorite musical. The Broadway recording is on my iPod. I know all the words and am not afraid to sing it at the top of my lungs.)

Hugh Jackman joins a cast studded with huge names, like Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert ( a role for which Paul Bettany was considered), Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thenardiers, Amanda Seyfried is Cosette, Eddie Redmayne is her love interest Marius, Anne Hathaway is Fantine (do you think her song and dance with Jackman during the Oscar ceremony she didn’t ruin was her audition for this?) and Samantha Barks is Eponine, a role she played in the 25^th anniversary concert at the O2 Arena in London. What I love love love about the cast is that Hooper has found places for the likes of Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean in London and on Broadway (I’ve included his rendition of “Bring Him Home” because it’s not to be missed and I cannot wait to hear Jackman’s. Okay I included Alfie Boe just for kicks because it'll knock your socks off.) as well as Frances Ruffelle who originated Eponine in London and then on Broadway where she earned a Tony.

Composer Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyricist Alain Boublil wrote a new song exclusively for the film. Schönberg also composed new incidental music. (All the better to win those Oscars with my dear.)

Les Miserables will open in theaters in the US and Canada on December 14 *coughOscarbaitcough* and then on 13^th January in the UK.

Colm Wilkinson:

Alfie Boe:

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This week on dvd we have cancer comedy, family dysfunction, robot boxing, a brave woman doing the right thing, pretty twenty-somethings without a clue and things that go bump in the night.

Inspired by a true story, Golden Globe nominated 50/50 is a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.

Directed by Jonathan Levine and written by Will Reiser who based the film on his own experiences fighting cancer, this poignant comedy stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam, a 27-year old public radio employee who discovers he has cancer. As his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) tries to help out, his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) proves to be a less than ideal life partner for this particular crisis. All the while, Adam's overprotective mother Diane (Anjelica Huston) tries to overcome her son's continued attempts to keep her out of his life. As Adam begins to discover how hard it is to deal with his situation, and to maintain various relationships in his life, he begins seeing a young counselor (Anna Kendrick) who might prove to be just as helpful personally as she is professionally. Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall co-star as Adam's fellow chemotherapy patients.

Special Features:

Audio Commentary

Deleted Scenes

The Story of 50/50

Another Happy Day was the first feature film from writer and director Sam Levinson, and received its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival

A wedding brings together one very dysfunctional family in this dark comedy-drama. Lynn (Ellen Barkin) was married to Paul (Thomas Haden Church), but they split up on bad terms, and Lynn took custody of their daughter Alice (Kate Bosworth) while Paul got their son Dylan (Michael Nardelli). Years later, Lynn attends Dylan's wedding at Paul's estate, with her younger sons Elliott (Ezra Miller) and Ben (Daniel Yelski) in tow; Elliott is a chronically depressed drug addict and Ben prefers to look at life through a camera than confront the world head on. Meanwhile, Alice deals with her anxieties through cutting, Dylan hasn't spoken to Lynn in years, Lynn is fearful of Paul and his wife Patty (Demi Moore), Lynn's mother (Ellen Burstyn) blames her daughter for her family's many troubles, and her father (George Kennedy) is in poor health and hardly cares what's happening around him. To the surprise of no one, all this has left Lynn an emotional wreck, and she's not sure just how she's going to get through the day.

Need a diagram? Another Happy Day is the screenplay I will forever wish I’d written. I’ve been threatening to write a tell-all about my family for years. Sam Levinson beat me to it. If you can relate you’ll howl with laughter. If not, you’ll be confused.

Real Steel is about a retired pugilist, played by a ripped Hugh Jackman, who  transitions to the business side of the ropes after human boxers are replaced by robotic ones in director Shawn Levy's feature-length adaptation of the Twilight Zone episode "Steel."  I was surprised to learn that. I don’t think I read it in any of the press prior to the film’s release.

Charlie Kenton (Jackman) was a true contender when the sport of boxing was changed forever. Now, instead of humans duking it out for the masses, huge, powerful steel robots trade blows in the ring. As a result, former gladiator Charlie has been forced into the role of two-bit promoter, piecing together cut-rate fighting bots from scrap metal as he makes the rounds on the underground boxing circuit.

Just when it seems that Charlie has sunkas low as he can go, his estranged 11 year old son, Max (Dakota Goyo), offers him the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at a comeback by constructing and training a true champion. Now the stakes are higher than ever before, and Charlie is about to get a second chance at leaving an indelible mark on the sport he once dedicated his life to. 

Cue Rocky theme. 

Real Steel costars Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Hope Davis and James Rebhorn.

Special Features:

Bloopers

Making of Metal Valley

Building the Bots

Audio Commentary with Director Shawn Levy

Based on English novelist David Nicholls’ book of the same name, One Day is a romantic weepie starring Anne Hathaway as Emma and Jim Sturges as Dexter.

SYNOPSIS: After one day together – July 15th, 1988, their university graduation – Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew begin a friendship that will last a lifetime. She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place. He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. For the next two decades, key moments of their relationship are experienced over several July 15ths in their lives. Together and apart, we see Dex and Em through their friendship and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. Somewhere along their journey, these two people realize that what they are searching and hoping for has been there for them all along. As the true meaning of that one day back in 1988 is revealed, they come to terms with the nature of love and life itself.

Let’s see – we’ve got Emma who is smart and Dexter who is charming. After spending one night (without having sex!) after meeting at their graduation, we see them coming together every July 15th. Through the years they grow apart as their lives take very different directions. Will they eventually be together? Dun Dun Dun…. Sounds like Same Time Next Year for the new millennium with a little When Harry Met Sally thrown in for good measure.

Director Lone Scherfig caught fire with An Education, the movie that catapulted Carey Mulligan into our hearts. Hopefully this is just a sophomore slump and her next feature will return engaging storytelling.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Feature Commentary with Director Lone Scherfig

Deleted Scenes

Em and Dex: Through the Years

Anne Hathaway: Bringing Emma to Life

The Look of One Day

Inspired by real events, writer/director Larysa Kondracki's intense docudrama, The Whistleblower, tells the tale of an American policewoman (Rachel Weisz) who uncovers evidence of human trafficking while assisting a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. Nebraska cop Kathy Bolkovac is caught in the middle of a vicious custody battle with her ex-husband when she seizes the opportunity to make a quick $100,000 tax-free (yeah, I get being tempted by that) by spending six months in Bosnia as a U.N. peacekeeper. Shortly after her arrival in Bosnia, Human Rights Commission head Madeleine Rees (Vanessa Redgrave in her other great performance of 2011) promotes her to the U.N.'s Gender Office, where she begins studying sexual-assault cases. But when Kathy discovers that her fellow peacekeepers are involved in a human-trafficking ring, the ensuing controversy makes her the target of some very powerful — and incredibly ruthless — people.

Costarring Benedict Cumberbatch, David Strathairn, Monica Bellucci and Nikolaj Lie Kass, The Whistleblower is an an important film that doesn’t make the misstep of seeming too “earnest”. Rachel Weisz gives another powerful performance (and in any other year would have been nominated for it, but no one saw The Whistleblower and the little bit of awards buzz she got has long sinced faded.) It’s an engrossing story all the more horrifying because it’s true. I can heartily recommend this one.

Special Feature

Cast & Crew Interviews

Paranormal Activity 3, whose tagline is “It Runs In The Family”,  is more of a prequel than a sequel. It stars Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden, Christopher Nicholas Smith, Lauren Bittner, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown and  Dustin Ingram.

In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity who resides in their home, the same home that will be the subject of Paranormal Activity (1). The directing duo of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish) taking on the helming duties from a script by the returning team of Christopher Landon and Oren Peli.

I have to wonder if there’s anyone left who had any interest in this that hasn’t already seen it. From a budget of $5M, this thing grossed more than $200M worldwide.  (I’m sure that among those that have, there will be a lot of repeat viewers. Their target demographic will buy it and wear out their copies.)

Blu-ray Special Features

Original theatrical version of the film

Unrated version of the film

Lost Tapes

DVD Special Features

Unrated version of the Film

Digital copy of unrated version—compatible with iTunes® and Windows Media

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