Movies

The name Solomon Northup may not ring a bell for most people, but Steve McQueen and his star-studded cast could help change that this winter with Twelve Years a Slave. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Northup, a free man who was tricked and sold into slavery as an adult. He spent a dozen years working on plantations before eventually finding his way to freedom once more. Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Paul Giamatti, Michael K. Williams, Alfre Woodard, and newcomer Lupita Nyong’o are also among the cast. See the first official stills from the movie after the jump. Some of Northup’s experiences during his time in slavery were worse than others. Though he forged an “extraordinary friendship” with his first owner, Baptist preacher William Ford (Cumberbatch), he unfortunately spent far more time under a nasty planter named Edwin Epps (Fassbender) and his wife (Paulson). Nyong’o also appears in the images below as Solomon’s friend and fellow slave Patsey, who has a “volatile” relationship with Epps. McQueen explained his interest in Northup’s tale to USA Today. “It was the Anne Frank story of America of that time,” he said. ”It’s the situation and the detail of Solomon’s recollection of those events that ingrained itself in my brain, and the humanity of everyone involved.” While Northup’s tale is undoubtedly a dramatic one, it was important to McQueen and Ejiofor that they keep their portrayal grounded. “His story is not something that’s been mythologized or idealized. It’s raw and it’s right there and it’s a real connection,” said the actor. McQueen added, “You can look at this film and be of any ethnic grouping and identify with Solomon. He has been taken away into circumstances that are horrific and not pleasant. All he wants is to get back to his family.” Fox Searchlight, which picked up Twelve Years a Slave in March, demonstrated its confidence in the film by giving it a plum year-end slot: December 27. It’ll be up against several other awards season hopefuls like Grace of Monaco and Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (on the 25th). Steve McQueen’s Star-Studded ‘Twelve Years a Slave’ Adds Michael K. Williams [UPDATED]First Look: Steve McQueen’s ‘Twelve Years a Slave’; ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ Star Quvenzhané Wallis Joins CastBenedict Cumberbatch Joins Steve McQueen’s ‘Twelve Years a Slave’Brad Pitt Joins Steve McQueen’s ‘Twelve Years a Slave’Michael Fassbender Joins Chiwetel Ejiofor in Steve McQueen’s ’12 Years a Slave’Fox Searchlight Grabs Steve McQueen’s ‘Twelve Years a Slave’ For Late 2013 Release

The newest Intellect Volume some of my work is being featured in will be available very soon for those interested. I am very honored to have several pieces in the John Berra edited Directory of World Cinema: American Independent 2 including a chapter on James Toback as well as reviews of Maniac, Supervixens, The Addiction, Wendy and Lucy, Hard Eight, Desperately Seeking Susan, Lulu on the Bridge, and Switchblade Sisters. I just received my copy and John has done such a splendid job with it. Other writers featured include John, Derek Hill, Rob Dennis, Neil Mitchell and many others. It can be ordered at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, at Intellect's website and at The University of Chicago Press Books. More information on this series of books can be found here. Thanks!

More behind-the-scenes videos for Keanu Reeves' directorial debut Man of Tai Chi have arrived via Mtime, with one focusing on the making of the fight scenes. Among the stunt team responsible for designing the fight scenes is veteran action director Yuen Woo-ping and Chad Stahelski, who worked with Reeves before as the martial arts stunt coordinator and stunt double in The Matrix Trilogy. As the titled implies, Tiger Chen will utilized the art of Tai Chi to battle an assortment of fighters including Steven Dasz, Jeremy Marinas, Brahim Achabbakhe, Ocean Hou and Iko Uwais. The fight scenes will showcase various martial arts style including Shaolin Kung Fu, MMA, Taekwondo and Silat.The film is due for theatrical release in China on July 5. You'll find two behind-the-scenes... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

Internet giants Google, Facebook and Microsoft each secretly pay tens of millions of dollars to top broadband providers to ensure consumers avoid any Internet traffic congestion when accessing their content, according to a report published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T and Verizon are named as the broadband providers who... Read more »

On Monday evening I attended a preview screening of a mystery movie at the Birmingham branch of a large cinema chain. This wasn’t an opening this weekend cynical attempt to distort the box-office, but a genuine preview of a movie that doesn’t open until for another two and half weeks. I have done this in the past when I have been invited to a preview screening and have seen some great films that I knew little or nothing about including Intacto (2001), The Pianist (2002) and The History Boys (2006). I have also seen some terrible movies that I wish I hadn’t seen including Party Monster (2003) and Dreamgirls (2006). This was different, it wasn’t an invitation only event, it was a well publicised packed house. While waiting for the for the movie to start I got talking to the person next to me, it turned out he actually worked for the cinema and even he didn’t know what the movie would be. He found out about five minutes before the res of us but was sworn to secrecy. When the movie was revelled I did wonder if the man wearing the “Games Games Games” T shirt and the man in the Facebook T’shirt already knew or if it was a coincidence. I took my usual place in the centre of the first row of stadium seating and noticed the front rows were filling quicker than the back rows as you would expect for a big movie. A true sign of a movie geek/loving audience! The other noticeable thing about audience was how well the followed “the code of conduct” there was no talking during the movie and little, noise/smell of food distracting from the enjoyment of the movie. I did wonder when booking by tickets how many people would turn up to see an unknown movie at 8:15 on a Monday evening, especially given the fact the weather outside had begun to resemble the summer that we are allegedly nearing the middle of. The aforementioned near full house, in one of the cinemas largest screens answered my question. So the experience was a good one but was the movie? In a word yes. Don’t get me wrong, Now You See Me  isn’t a masterpiece that will live long in the memory, but it was a fun crowd-pleasing movie that was perfect for the occasion: Four stage magicians/illusionists calling themselves The Four Horsemen appear to rob a bank in Paris without leaving the stage during a live performance is Las Vegas. An FBI agent and an Interpol detective team up to track them down with the help of a man who has made his name and fortune revealing and debunking magic tricks. It comes as no surprise that director Louis Leterrier made his name with action movies (The Transporter 1&2, Unleashed, The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans). The movie only has a couple of ig set piece action scenes, but they are particularly well handled. The movie also plays out at a breakneck pace with its near tow hour running time flying buy. This has two effects, it keeps the audience interested but it also stops them thinking too much about the holes and implausibilities in the plot. The cast is great with Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson having a lot of fun with the characters as does Mark Ruffalo. Mélanie Laurent is wasted but does what she can with in part that promises much but actually doesn’t do much. It’s a similar story with Isla Fisher and Dave (brother of James) Franco who only really have one good scene each away fro the stage shows. The supporting cast includes Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine who are perfect for there small but significant roles. The greatest issue with the movie is the fantastic cast; it helps highlight who thin and underwritten the characters are. The charisma and likeability of the actors prevents it form being a disaster. In lesser hands the audience would not buy into the movie of feel anything for the characters, however better characters could have resulted in a more memorable movie like The Sting (1973) or Oceans Eleven (2001 not 1960). As mentioned the plot is thin and implausible, but again it gets away with partly because of the cast, partly the

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson is ready to get kinky with Universal's anticipated adaptation of the first book in E.L. James' bestselling erotic book series "Fifty Shades of Grey."http://www.hitfix.com

In the States, Thanksgiving is practically synonymous with turkey. Any mention of the holiday automatically conjures images of a big, juicy, oven-roasted bird, and vice versa. Even vegetarians aren’t immune to the association — plenty of them nod to tradition with products like Tofurkey. But as pleasant as it is for us humans to gorge ourselves on tryptophan-laced poultry, you can’t blame turkeys for wishing they could remove themselves from the menu. In Relativity’s Free Birds, two of them finally get the chance to do just that. Reggie (Owen Wilson) and Jake (Woody Harrelson) find a time machine to take them back to the very first Thanksgiving, where they attempt to save their kind once and for all. Hit the jump to watch the first trailer. Apple has the video in HD. The concept of time-traveling birds is a pretty weird one, but it seems to work really well here. It helps that Harrelson and Wilson seem to have great chemistry, probably since they’re super tight in real life. But of all the jokes in the trailer, the one that amused me most was the weird “heh heh heh” laugh from the science lab drones. I don’t know why, but I found the sound deeply hilarious. Directed by Jimmy Hayward and also starring Amy Poehler, Dan Fogler, Lesley Nicol, George Takei, Colm Meaney, Keith David, Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo, and Dwight Howard, Free Birds opens just in time for Thanksgiving on November 1. In this hilarious, adventurous buddy comedy for audiences of all ages, directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who!), two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history – and get turkey off the Thanksgiving menu for good. Relativity Announces CG Comedy ‘Turkeys’, Starring Owen Wilson and Woody HarrelsonCasting Horton Hears a WhoOwen Wilson and Zach Galifianakis To Star In ‘You Are Here,’ From ‘Mad Men’ Creator Matthew WeinerDr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who Movie Trailer‘True Detective’ Teaser: Harrelson and McConaughey Slowly Track a Killer‘Europa Report’ Trailer: Trying to Do Something Great for Mankind

Fans of James Ponsoldt’s 2012 indie hit, Smashed, can rejoice: the trailer for his latest picture, The Spectacular Now, has popped up on the Web. Watch it above. Coming on the heels of high praise from Sundance (as well as smaller festivals like the Independent Film Festival of Boston), the film follows gregarious, directionless high school senior Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) as he parties and drinks his way through his final year of secondary education. He also falls in love with Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley), the quiet, nice girl he never thought twice about until the morning he woke up after passing out on her lawn. Here’s the official synopsis: This adaptation of Tim Tharp’s novel The Spectacular Now captures the insecurity and confusion of adolescence without looking for tidy truths. Young actors rarely portray teens with the maturity that Teller and Woodley display, and they are ...Click to continue reading ‘The Spectacular Now’ First Trailer & Poster: Modern Teen Love Story

Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) will direct the feature film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey for Focus Features.

Ever be sitting alone in your room when all of a sudden you hear a voice emanating from a dark hole beside you? If you were in the 1977 soft-porn classic Chatterbox, this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but in Deep Dark? Yeah, not good. In the film directed by Michael Medaglia, Sean McGrath (Cell Count) stars as Herman, a failed sculptor who finds his muse in the most unexpected of places, and their relationship leads to some pretty strange and violent stuff. The flick is described as a modern cocktail of several genres and serves up equal parts psychological horror and romance because, after all, love can be a little scary. Check out the first still below. Synopsis: A failed sculptor finds a strange, talking hole in the wall. The hole has the power to fulfill his wildest dreams, or it just might become his worst nightmare. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Hear voices in the comments section below!