Indiewire Browse the indiewire network

The Playlist

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

Actors

Directors

Archives

The Playlist

Gemma Arterton & Saoirse Ronan To Play Mother & Daughter Vampires In Neil Jordan's 'Byzantium'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
  • |
  • May 15, 2011 2:00 AM
  • |
  • 4 Comments
We always feel that Neil Jordan is somewhat undervalued. Generally speaking, his films aren't giant hits (bar "Interview with the Vampire"), or gather awards attention (except for "The Crying Game"). And there are plenty of misfires across his career, from "Michael Collins" to "In Dreams" to the truly awful "The Brave One." But his work is consistently interesting, and sometimes downright superb, particularly when he delves into more fantastical territory: we're not sure that films like "The Company of Wolves" and the recent "Ondine" ever quite got the attention they deserved.
Read More »
More: Films, Actresses, Neil Jordan, Modern Horror, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Byzantium

FilmDistrict Team With TriStar To Pick Up Rian Johnson's Time Travel Actioner 'Looper'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
  • |
  • May 15, 2011 1:00 AM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
Jumping in as a new distributor into a circuit where the big dogs -- the Paramounts, the 20th Century Foxs, the Warner Bros.s, the Universals -- have been up and running for the best part of a century, can't be easy. The most recent start-ups, Summit and CBS Films, have had mixed success, the former might have a mega-franchise in the "Twilight" series, but are still finding their feet outside it, while the latter are yet to have a box office hit in their first year of operation. But FilmDistrict, the shiniest, newest company in town, have managed to come out of the blocks in a fairly impressive way.
Read More »
More: Films, Film Studios, Rian Johnson, Looper, FilmDistrict

Juno Temple, Emily Browning, Catalina Sandino Moreno Join Michael Cera in 'Magic Magic'

  • By Catherine Scott
  • |
  • May 15, 2011 1:00 AM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
Now here's an interesting project that is newly on our radar thanks to Cannes. Just last week, we learned that Michael Cera would join "The Maid" director Sebastian Silva for a thriller called "Magic Magic." Variety reported yesterday that three lovely ladies -- Juno Temple, Emily Browning and Catalina Sandino Moreno -- will be on hand to work with him. All we know about the film so far is that a girl vacationing with her friends in Chile slowly starts to lose her mind. It's not been made clear who will be taking the lead role, but judging from the billing and her rising star status, it's more than likely going to be Temple.
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Michael Cera, Juno Temple, Emily Browning, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Magic Magic

Joel Edgerton, Luke Evans Competing For Role Of Tom Buchanan In Baz Luhrmann's 'The Great Gatsby'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
  • |
  • May 14, 2011 12:29 PM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
The list of go-to names for big roles, particularly for male leads, is an ever-changing one. We ran down a list last year, but even in the few months since then, new names have come to the forefront, and some have jumped to the front of the queue. "Thor" star Chris Hemsworth, for instance, who just locked down the title role opposite Kristen Stewart in "Snow White and the Huntsman," is a newbie, while his co-star in the forthcoming film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" romantic lead Sam Clafin, not only bagged the prince part in the fairy tale, but also the lead in would-be-'Harry Potter'-replacement franchise "The Seventh Son," with Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Baz Luhrmann, The Great Gatsby, Joel Edgerton, Luke Evans, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Debicki

Cannes Review: 'The Kid With The Bike' Rides Into Trouble, Crashes Into A Savior

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
  • |
  • May 14, 2011 8:04 AM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
All the books on parenting notwithstanding, it's always been pretty simple: kids not only want love, they need it. And in the latest from Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne that need is amplified into a mellifluous tone of desperation encapsulated in little Cyril (Thomas Doret) the titular 'kid with a bike.' When the film opens Cyril literally can't believe what he's hearing: left by his father in a children's home (it's hinted that his mother is dead), he calls the number he has for his Dad, only to hear that the line is no longer in service. He's told that his father has moved without leaving a forwarding address and, unconvinced, he leaves school one morning to go there himself where he not only finds an empty apartment but learns that his bike is gone as well. With the school counselors on his tail he ducks into a doctor's office and literally crashes into Samantha (Cecile de France, most recently seen by American audiences in Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter") and hangs on to her. Surprised, but not fazed, the first words she says to him are, "You can hold me, but not too tight."
Read More »
More: Foreign Films, Review, Foreign Directors, The Kid With The Bike, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne

Ashton Kutcher Stops Pretending He Is A Movie Star, Signs To 'Two And A Half Men'

  • By Gabe Toro
  • |
  • May 14, 2011 7:00 AM
  • |
  • 12 Comments
Theoretical Hollywood leading man Ashton Kutcher has decided to take a knee on his big screen career. The former “Punk’d” creator is now gunning for those lucrative TV dollars by replacing Charlie Sheen on the show everybody watches and nobody likes, “Two and a Half Men.”
Read More »
More: Actors, Charlie Sheen, Ashton Kutcher

Ti West, Nacho Vigalando, Many Others To Teach Us 'The ABCs Of Death'

  • By Gabe Toro
  • |
  • May 14, 2011 6:00 AM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
Directors Of 'Hobo With A Shotgun,' 'A Serbian Film,' 'The Kill List' & Many Others Also On BoardAre you ready to learn “The ABC’s of Death”? The good people at Drafthouse Films, Timpson Films and Magnet Releasing are behind the anthology horror film, an unprecedented effort that will feature 26 vignettes from 26 directors each dedicated to a letter describing a manner of dying, while “a linking device will open, connect and close” each short, according to the official website.
Read More »
More: Films, Ti West, Modern Horror, The ABCs Of Death

TWC Picks Up 'The Iron Lady' While FilmDistrict Nabs 'Playing The Field' And 'Arabian Nights'

  • By Gabe Toro
  • |
  • May 14, 2011 5:24 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
The Weinstein Company may have another Oscar darling on their hands. A year after grabbing $400 million worldwide and scads of major awards for “The King’s Speech,” The Brothers W paid $7 million for the domestic rights (via Deadline) to another film about British aristocracy, nabbing “The Iron Lady” starring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. Producers only showed five minutes of the film before the bidding started between the Weinsteins, Summit and Relativity, though all someone had to say was “Streep as Thatcher” to ensure this would be a major purchase and, as planned by TWC, a high profile late ‘11 release. Expect it to be a big dog in the awards race.
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Film Studios, Foreign Directors, Gabriele Muccino, Playing The Field, Gerard Butler, Dennis Quaid, Liam Hemsworth, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Judy Greer, The Weinstein Company, Olivier Assayas

Cannes Review: 'Wu Xia' Mostly A Period Melodrama Punched Up By A Few Fights

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
  • |
  • May 14, 2011 5:00 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
The Weinstein Company has been on an acquisitions tear at the Cannes Film Festival this year and one of their pick ups, the Midnight Movie selection "Wu Xia," certainly reflects the kind of film that interested Harvey and Bob even back in their Miramax days. A genre film with an impressive pedigreed talent and sold on Donnie Yen kicking ass, "Wu Xia" seems ready made to be a niche hit. But with only three fights -- at the beginning, in the middle and at the end -- the film stretches into a far-too-long two-hour running time to tell an ultimately tired story about a man looking to reform himself and has to reckon with his past first.
Read More »
More: Foreign Films, Review, Foreign Directors, Wu Xia, Peter Ho-San Chan

Vertigo Films To Make Sequel To Gareth Edwards' Indie-Flick 'Monsters'

  • By Catherine Scott
  • |
  • May 14, 2011 4:40 AM
  • |
  • 5 Comments
But Edwards Won't Be Returning Behind The CameraGareth Edwards' "Monsters" was little-seen last year, even though reaction to the film from critics was wholly positive. The director made the film for a micro-budget and produced many of the special effects on his own computer. And while Edwards is already moving on to bigger, possibly better things with a "Godzilla" re-imagining, U.K. production company Vertigo Films has decided make a sequel to the original "Monsters" in the hopes of attracting a wider audience.
Read More »
More: Films, Monsters

Follow Us

Email Updates

What's Poppin'

Recent Comments

Blog Roll

Around The Network

the network

indiewire

categories