The Odd Life of Timothy Green is the latest live-action family film from Disney. I can’t even be cynical about this. Perhaps a more jaundiced eye than even I possess might find fault with this sweet tale of a happily married-yet childless- couple (played by the always likeable Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) who one night over a few glasses of wine write down all of the most admirable traits a child could have, put them in a box and bury it in the garden. Still with me? Lo and behold, the next morning they wake up to find that they’ve “grown a boy”.

 “Academy Award(R)-nominated director/writer Peter Hedges (“Dan in Real Life,” What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”) brings enchantment to the screen with “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” an inspiring, magical story about a happily married couple, Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton), who can’t wait to start a family but can only dream about what their child would be like. When young Timothy (CJ Adams) shows up on their doorstep one stormy night, Cindy and Jim–and their small town of Stanleyville–learn that sometimes the unexpected can bring some of life’s greatest gifts.”

The cast also includes Rosemarie DeWitt, David Morse, Ron Livingstone, Common , Lois Smith, M. Emmet Walsh and Dianne Wiest. Timothy is played by Cameron ‘CJ’ Adams. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is set to be released in the US on  August 15 but no UK release date yet. Bit of trivia, the screenplay is from a story by Ahmet Zappa (son of Frank). Enjoy the trailer and the pics below.

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trailer courtesy MSN via HeyUGuys

I think I’ve changed my mind about The Campaign. Warner Bros. has dropped the first trailer for this political comedy/satire, from Jay Roach, the director of Meet the Parents and Austin Powers, as well as HBO's Recount about the 2000 presidential election.  It stars  Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as rivals for a Congressional set in North Carolina.

When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naive Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center. At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors’ support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family’s political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about.

My initial reaction was pure cynicism, but after viewing the trailer, which made me laugh,  along with the two “campaign ads" we had earlier this week, I’m coming around on this. There is certainly room on the summer roster for an intelligent, well-made comedy and The Campaign just might fit the bill. It's certainly timely.

The Campaign was written by Chris Henchy (The Other Guys) and Shawn Harwell (Eastbound & Down) and also stars John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott and Dan Ackroyd.. It opens August 10 in the US and 28^th September in the UK.  Watch this (thanks to ComingSoon) and then cast your own vote:

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The big Battleship movie doesn’t open here in the US for another week but it got the red carpet treatment last night at LA’s Nokia Theater. Director Peter Berg as well as stars Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Hamish Linklater, Stephen Bishop and Liam Neeson all showed up to support the film. Decker has been on promotional hyperdrive lately, touring the world with Battleship as well as opening What to Expect When You’re Expecting (due  in theaters on the same day as Battleship).  RiRi alternated flirting with the cameras and looking pissed that they were taking her picture in her barely there backless dress.  Neeson, Kitsch and Skarsgard just brought the sexy.

Connie Britton showed up for a mini-“Friday Night Lights” reunion with Kitsch, Jesse Plemmons and show-creator (and director of the film of the same name that also starred Britton) Berg.

Battleship, based on the Milton Bradley board game that’s been manufactured since 1931 (some of the artillery in the movie is shaped like the game’s pegs), has a script by Jon and Erich Hoeber (Red, Whiteout). It has already opened everywhere but North and South America to the tune of $200 million. The onslaught continues on this continent on May 18. Enjoy the pics!

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There’s a brand new image of Tom Hardy as Bane available for you perusal. Thanks to TotalFilm, who had the exclusive, you can see that truly malevolent-looking mask close up. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to wear that day in and day out and try to act around it. (Reminds me of the headgear attached to my braces that I had to wear every night when I was twelve.) It also reminds me of the alien in, well, Alien. I think we can all agree it’s freakin’ creepy whatever it reminds you  of. Hardy’s such a good actor that it’s a little unsettling to know he’s going to become a huge movie star on the basis of this character. You can’t even see that gorgeous mouth! Oh well, I digress, as usual.

The Dark Knight Rises, one of the few movies this summer with a hope of catching The Avengers at the box office, Christopher Nolan’s third and final film in his Dark Knight trilogy, begins eight years after Batman took the fall for Harvey Dent/Two Face's crimes. When a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham's finest, the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect the city that has branded him an enemy.

If you don’t know by now that The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Modine, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Nestor Carbonell, Juno Temple and Liam Neeson…there’s probably no hope you ever will.  The Dark Knight Rises opens almost  everywhere on July 20 (everywhere else on July 25.)

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_{No, this is not Ray Liotta.} 

We got our first look at what was then called Cogan’s Trade back in February. Shortly thereafter, it was retitled Killing Them Softly. (I have no idea how that fits with the story but it reminds me of Roberta Flack.)  Whatever it’s called, it is director Andrew Dominik's first feature since The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford five years ago (which earned Brad Pitt the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival – an award won by Michael Fassbender in 2011. The film was on a LOT of “Best Of” lists for 2007).

Killing Them Softly is adapted from George V. Higgins's New Orleans set novel, "Cogan's Trade", that follows professional mob enforcer, Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), who investigates a heist that occurs during a high stakes, mob-protected, poker game. James Gandolfini plays an alcoholic hitman, Richard Jenkins is a mob-lawyer and Ray Liotta (what would a mob movie be without Ray Liotta?) plays the mob boss running the poker game  plays ??.

We have the first clip (vaguely NSFW due to a few F-bombs) to share (thanks to RopeofSilicon) in which Sam Shepard and Slaine (c’mon, you know Slaine. He’s the mountain that Ben Affleck discovered in Southie and put in both Gone Baby Gone and The Town. Not sure what he’s doing in NOLA.) are mob enforcers doing a bit of “taking out the trash”, otherwise known as Ray Liotta.  What confuses me about this is that I was under the impression Ray Liotta was playing the mob boss.

This is another one I’m looking forward to and looking forward to reading what others that will see it in Cannes have to say. The film also features Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Garret Dillahunt, Max Casella and Bella Heathcote (who can be seen in Dark Shadows starting today). Killing Them Softly will open in the US and the UK on September 21.

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Mud is another film I’ve been looking forward to since we brought you first word and the above pic back in November. Matthew McConaughey is the title character, a fugitive on the run following a crime of passion. Hiding out on a deserted island in the Mississippi River, he encounters two young boys who are exploring his island.  Mud, is McConaughey’s second film making its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. As an avowed Matty fan, I’ve often had to sheepishly admit to that fact. I’m very pleased to see that he seems to be finally living up to his potential (and doing it with his shirt on. We’ll discuss Magic Mike later.)

MUD is a coming-of-age drama centered around two fourteen-year-old boys who encounter a mysterious fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi.  Intrigued by this man, they enter into a pact to help him evade capture and reconnect with the love of his life.  Though it is hard for the boys to discern truth from fiction when it comes to Mud, it isn’t long until their small Arkansas town is besieged by a beautiful girl with a line of hunters in tow.

Thanks to RopeofSilicon, we have two clips to share. The first is the boys’ initial contact and in the second, there appears to be some familiarity between the trio, but the boys are still understandably wary.

Mud is director Jeff Nichols’ follow-up to last year’s brilliant Take Shelter (for which he won the Critics Sidebar Award at Cannes) and among the talented players here, is Michael Shannon, star of that film. The love of Mud’s life, Juniper, is played by Reese Witherspoon. You might recognize one of the boys, Ellis, played by Tye Sheridan from Tree of Life. The cast also includes Sam Shepard, Sarah Paulson, Ray McKinnon and Joe Don Baker. No known release dates after Cannes, but no doubt that will change soon.

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HBO has given us yet another featurette for their upcoming movie, Hemingway & Gelhorn with Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman as Ernest Hemingway and journalist/war correspondent Martha Gelhorn who became his 3^rd wife. The story follows their passionate, tempestuous relationship from their meeting in Key West in 1936 to their parting in 1945.

What’s different about this clip is that in addition to Owen, Kidman and director Philip Kaufman, we also get to hear from some of the other key players, like David Strathairn as John Dos Passos, Joan Chen who plays Madame Chiang (wife of Chiang Kai Shek), Parker Posey who becomes Hemingway’s 4^th wife, Mary Welsh and Tony Shaloub as Russian journalist Mikhail Koltsov.

Kaufman is right when he say’s this is the kind of film Hollywood “used to make”. I wish they still did. Hemingway & Gelhorn will screen at the Cannes Film Festival and then premiere on HBO on May 28. (Doesn’t that make it ineligible for Emmy Awards?)

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_{I'm kidding of course, but is this great or what?}

In today’s Prometheus news, we have a version of the big poster for the Spanish release (which is primarily in English for some reason), as well as that pic showing a light-hearted moment between cast members Charlize Theron, irrepressible Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace during a photo shoot and another of Fassbender looking very pensive and android-like. (EW has a gallery full of exclusive new pics. Tip o' the pin to Movieline and PrometheusNews for cadging a couple.) The pics in the magazine spread that were taken on the set of the film, along with the character portraits, look typically serious, so this one is a rare treat (although they could lighten up on the photoshop). Who knew "David" had the same 'shark smile' as Fassy?

I’m loving those blue skintight scuba/space suits with what appears to be orange piping but I’m guessing in reality it’s meant to stand in for the various bio-support mechanisms such suits have.

Three weeks to Prometheus in the UK, four in the US. Can you feel the excitement? I’m getting tingly just thinking about it. TMI?

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