Safe House is a new thriller  that we haven’t talked about before. It stars Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds (in a role every known actor with a certain age range, including Sam Worthington, James McAvoy, Channing Tatum, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hardy, Chris Pine and Hemsworth all reportedly were considered for before they settled on Reynolds.) 

Synopsis: When a CIA-operated safe house is targeted by a group of bad guys, the facility's house-sitter is tasked with the dangerous job of moving the criminal who is being hidden there to another secure location.

Now just judging from this poster alone, I’d say the criminal is Washington and the “sitter” is Reynolds. This is Swedish director Daniel Espinosa’s first English language film, so I don’t have a lot to go on, but he’s added one of his country’s best acting exports, Joel Kinnaman to an already outstanding cast, which includes Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Cunningham, Sam Shepherd and Robert Patrick. Why haven’t I heard about this before?? One reason could be that this screenwriter David Guggenheim is pretty much an unknown. He’s got another movie coming out in 2012, Medallion directed by Simon West with Nicolas Cage and a tv movie supposedly due to air this year, Exit Strategy directed by Antoine Fuqua, but that’s it. BUT someone somewhere obviously thought he had talent.

Safe House opens February 10, which some might see as a bad sign, but just because it isn’t awards worthy doesn’t mean it won’t be entertaining. We have to watch something in the cold winter months. And at least it’s not January.

Not one frame has been shot yet, indeed director Steve McQueen and his star Michael Fassbender are still busily promoting their last flick together, Shame, but we’ve got an official synopsis (along with a teaser poster) for their NEXT project, 12 Years a Slave.

Synopsis: Based on a true story, 12 YEARS A SLAVE is a riveting account of a free black man kidnapped from New York and sold into brutal slavery in mid-1850s Louisiana, and the inspiring story of his desperate struggle to return home to his family.

Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an educated black man with a gift for music, lives with his wife and children in Saratoga, New York. One day, when his family is out of town, he is approached by two men claiming to be circus promoters. Solomon agrees to travel with them briefly, playing the fiddle while they perform. But after sharing a drink with the men, he awakens to find he has been drugged and bound and faces a horrifying reality: he is being shipped to the South as a slave.

No one listens to Solomon’s claim that he has papers proving his status as a free man. Despairing, he plots his escape, only to be foiled at every turn. He is sold to William Ford, a kindly mill owner who appreciates Solomon’s thoughtful nature. But Ford is forced to sell him to a cruel master who subjects him and other slaves to unspeakable brutality. For years, Solomon nurtures his dreams of returning home. He stashes slips of stolen paper in his fiddle and develops a natural ink with which to write a letter. But when his greatest efforts come to nothing, he realizes just how trapped he is. Even if he could write the letter without being caught, where would he send it? Whom could he trust to deliver it? And will he even survive long enough to be rescued?

Refusing to abandon hope, Solomon watches helplessly as those around him succumb to violence, crushing emotional abuse and hopelessness. He realizes that he will have to take incredible risks, and depend on the most unlikely people, if he is ever to regain his freedom and be reunited with his family.

The cast is still coming together, but in addition to Ejiofor and Fassbender, Brad Pitt has been signed and his production company, Plan B, is producing. At this point it’s not known which roles Pitt and Fassbender will take although I think it’s safe to assume one will be Ford and the other the “cruel master”.  Stay tuned for MUCH more on this one!

Wasn’t I just declaring Tuesday to be a good day because we had three new tv spots for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows? Well, then today must be a stupendous day, because we have a new one-sheet plus four new character posters as well! Robert Downey, Jr. looks particularly good in his. It’s an artist’s rendering of a photograph, not a Polaroid, but apparently all the chemicals have preserved him. If that’s what the years of abuse has done to him, sign me up, Uncle Crackie!

Noomi Rapace (in her first English-speaking role) looks beautiful as Sim, but I’m concerned about those tiny knives and the delicate way she’s holding them. Does she know what she’s doing? Of course I’m most happy about Jared Harris’ poster. We’ve seen far too little of Professor Moriarty in this ad campaign. (And I’m still chomping at the bit for a look at Mycroft Holmes!). Moriarty as we all know is Holmes’ greatest rival. Sure, he’s every bit as intelligent, but he’s also a sociopath so he may have the edge. The dangerous scheme he’s devised will lead Holmes, Watson and Sim across Europe and back before they’re done. I cannot wait for this!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows opens December 16.

Summit Entertainment has released another new clip from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – part 1, entitled “Don’t Take Too Long, Mrs. Cullen”. Edward’s waited over a hundred years (or does it just seem that long?), so I guess we can understand his impatience

Did you hear that? That was the sound of millions of Twi-hards around the world swooning simultaneously. Twilight Breaking Dawn: Part 1 stars Robert Pattinson,  Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner​, Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene​​, Nikki Reed​​, Kellan Lutz, Elizabeth Reaser​​, Billy Burke, Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen​​​, is directed Bill Condon​​​ and based on the books by Stephanie Meyer​​​.

Synopsis: Bella and Edward, plus those they love, must deal with the chain of consequences brought on by a marriage, honeymoon, and the tumultuous birth of a child… 

This one promises more of the romance and certainly more of the passion (the film had to be cut down from an R rating), that made the other Twilight films ​​ worldwide blockbusters, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1,  marks the beginning of the end of the tale of vampire love, boundless friendship, acceptance, and finding your true self. Part 1 arrives everywhere November 18 and part 2 will follow in November 2012, thus dragging the end out longer than Harry Potter did.

Okay all you Tatum Heads or CouchPoTatums or whatever you call yourselves, I still don't get it, but I may be willing to give this one a chance. We have a first trailer for Son of No One, directed by Dito Montiel (Fighting, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints - both with Channing Tatum. I'm seeing a pattern here) that we first told you about with a poster well over a month ago. Not much else has come out, but now it's getting a final push before it opens. Aside from the aforementioned Mr. Tatum,  Son of No One has a rather impressive cast, including Ray Liotta, Katie Holmes, Tracy Morgan (in a dramatic role in which he appears to be less annoying than usual), "with" (which usually means teeny tiny part) Juliette Binoche and Al Pacino.

The imdb synopsis: "A young cop is assigned to a precinct in the working class neighborhood where he grew up, and an old secret threatens to destroy his life and his family."

I love a good cop movie and even though I'm not really a fan of Channing Tatum, this one has a pretty good premise, even if I'm relatively certain I've worked it all out from the trailer. The ride might be fun. Son of No One opens November 4 in the US, against Tower Heist and A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. Things that make you go "hmmm".

Much like 007's theme, whenever I hear the theme for Mission:Impossible, in any of its incarnations (all variations on Lalo Schifrin's theme for the iconic television series), I know I'm in for a wild ride. Judging from everything we've been given thus far, I'd say that will be true ofMission:Impossible-Ghost Protocol as well. Say what you want about Tom Cruise, there is no question that this 49 year old is not only the benchmark that other actors of his generation should strive for in terms of aging gracefully, but for proving that you're never too old to kick some ass. The lengths he goes to for his films, especially for an actor with his status is astounding. (Despite how ever the finished product turns out. I think we can safely place the blame forthe bomb that was Knight and Day on someone other than Cruise.)

Take a look at this second trailer for Mission:Impossible-Ghost Protocol (Can't we just agree to refer to it as MI4? That's easier to type.) In any case, with this trailer we get a closer look at the new players on Ethan Hunt's IMF team, including Jeremy Renner as Brant and Paula Patton as Jane Carter and IMF vet Benji Dunn played by Simon Pegg. We also get a few glimpses of Josh Holloway's Trevor Hanaway. The best part is the clues we're given about the plot. The trailer opens with someone blowing up the Kremlin! Of course, Ethan and his team are implicated, causing the team to 'go rogue' (sorry that phrase has been ruined for me) to clear their organization's name.

Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol opens in IMAX on December 16 and in normal theaters on December 21

If there were an award for best impersonation of a dead celebrity, I'm pretty sure this year's winner would be Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn. Look at that poster! She looks amazing! 

I will say that Kate Winslet has given her quite a run for her money, channeling both Marilyn and Elizabeth Taylor for photo shoots this year. Kate is an over-achiever after all. Still, I think she gets edged out by Williams.

Williams, of course, plays Marilyn Monroe in a film about a week she spent in London filming The Prince and the Pauper with Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). At the time, Olivier was married to Vivien Leigh (Julia Ormond),  and Monroe was married to playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott). According to the film, Monroe has an affair of sorts with one of Olivier's young and naive assistants (Eddie Redmayne).

The fantastic cast also includes Emma Watson, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Derek Jacobi and Judi Dench. My Week with Marilyn opens November 23 in the US and Canada and 25 November in the UK.

It's been a while since we've had any goodies for Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of John Le Carre's masterful spy novel, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The film has already opened to glowing reviews in the UK, in September, and is still going strong. We have to wait until December 9th, but I guess that means more time to tease.

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