Posted on 06 February 2010

Neil Jordan’s (The Brave One , Breakfast on Pluto) latest film Ondine finally has a trailer. The film features a score by a member of the popular Icelandic band Sigur Ros. TFS co-creator Dan Mecca saw the film, which stars Colin Farrell this past September at the Toronto International Film Festival. Check out his review here and the trailer below. Read the full story
Posted on 17 November 2009

And let the Bridges buzz continue, here now with the official trailer for Crazy Heart, courtesy of Apple. Much like the film’s poster, the trailer is sweet and bare, showing its cards without a grin or smirk.
Only recently has this film been garnering any awards attention to speak of, but the attention came on fast and furious, most of it focused on Jeff Bridges’ tour-de-force performance as country singer-songwriter Bad Blake, who’s lived hard and loved often. See Kris Tapley’s nicely put, surely-recommended reaction to the film.
Sure, it’s a cinematic staple in terms of storytelling (Tapley offers a likeness to Tender Mercies and Nobody’s Fool) but this trailer is determined to convince that Bridges’ turn is worth the potential cliches. Add to that Maggie Gyllenhaal (who’s earning some attention herself), Robert Duvall (who may actually be in every movie made this year), Colin Farrell and music by T Bone Burnett and the selling points near sell themselves.
What do you think of the trailer? Are you excited for the film? Bridges’ performance?
Posted on 20 September 2009
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Werner Herzog, USA/Germany)

Werner Herzog had never been an easy director in a narrative sense, and that’s a large part of the grandeur that sits behind some of his greatest films, i.e. Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo. And while My Son, My Son revels in absurdity far more the those two classics, the quarrelsome search for identity its hero (Michael Shannon) takes on is nearly as jarring and effective.
Shannon feels perfect for the role of Brad, a strange young man who kills his mother with a sword and then takes hostages in his L.A. home (don’t worry, all of this is revealed early on). This incident is a frame for the rest of the film, which attempts to explain Brad’s actions the same way Eugene Ionesco tried to explain existentialism – by being very existential.
Which is to say this film will be hard to sit through for most. There are many laughs at supposedly serious scenes and wonderful visuals where there perhaps should not be any (at an airport in Calgary for example). But then that’s always been Herzog’s way – to find wonder everywhere and anywhere amongst the travesty that is human life. Big words, sure, but not for this director. The film is also “presented” and produced by David Lynch, so do not be surprised by double the strangeness that goes on with both auteurs at the helm.
Read the full story
Posted on 03 July 2009

Michael Mayer’s passionate film got unnoticed by nearly everybody – and it’s a crying shame. Based on a novel by Michael Cunningham (who also wrote the screenplay), A Home at the End of the World is concerned with friends and more-than-friends and family and pseudo-family which, in a word, is all about love and its limits.
Starring a next-to-incredible Colin Farrell as Bobby, a quirky Robin Wright Penn as Clare and Dallas Roberts as the tragic Jonathan, this film explores several different relationships throughout the lives of three people – in the space of one and a half hours on screen they are all lovers and friends with each other.
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Posted on 23 May 2009

Coming out of the Out-of-Competition Category at the tail end of Cannes is Terry Gilliam’s latest creative effort, an elaborate original idea with an even more elaborate, and talented, cast.
The story concerns Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), his traveling imaginarium and his small group of circus-like cohorts, who include up-and-comer Andrew Garfield as Anton, Verne Troyer (you know him as Mini-Me) as Percy and Lily Cole as Valentina.
Parnassus made a fateful deal with the devil, a.k.a. Mr. Nick (a brilliant Tom Waits), and has been trying to bet his way out ever since. The film opens only days before the reckoning of this deal.
Read the rest of this review >>
Posted on 22 May 2009

Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus just made it’s Cannes debut and it’s speculated that the film will be released this year if it can pick up a distributor at Cannes. First Showing has unveiled a brand new batch of photos from the film. These photos also contain the first official shot of Tom Waits as Mr. Nick. Check out the rest of the photos after the jump.
Check out the rest of the photos >>
Posted in News
Posted on 11 February 2009

Variety reports The Departed scribe William Monahan is set to direct an adaptation of The Art of the Heist: Confessions of a Master Thief, Rock-and-Roller and Prodigal Son, the forthcoming memoirs of career criminal Myles Connor. Co-written with Jenny Siler, the book will be published in April by Collins.
Plot: Connor became an art connoisseur and a rock musician whose band, Myles and the Wild Ones, backed Roy Orbison. He was also an accomplished art and antiques thief who was involved in a series of museum robberies that grabbed headlines in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Posted in News
Posted on 28 January 2009
By Dan Mecca
This list intends to pay homage to recent classics that have not been given the appropriate respect. In no particular order:
1. Lord of War (2005) - dir. Andrew Niccol
Nicolas Cage as a smooth-talking gunrunner. The opening credits alone are haunting.
Read the rest of the entry >>
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Posted on 23 January 2009
Variety reports that Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley are set to star in London Boulevard, a crime drama, directed and written by The Departed scribe William Monahan. This Ken Bruen adaptation will mark his first directorial effort. The film is scheduled to shoot this summer in London. Farrell will play a South London criminal who, after release from prison, tries to give up the gangster life by becoming a handyman for a reclusive young actress.
Monahan has been hit or miss for me. I loved The Departed but found Body of Lies to be pretty mediocre. Considering this film will stay with the crime/drama theme I’m pretty excited, especially after Farrell did so well being a hitman this year.
Are you excited for London Boulevard?
Posted in News
Posted on 11 January 2009
Slumdog Millionaire won big at the Golden Globes tonight picking up best drama picture, directing, score, and screenplay. Other notable winners are Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler and Kate Winslet picking up both supporting actress and actress. 30 Rock and Mad Men also won best comedy and drama, respectively. We were able to predict 20 out of the 25 winners. Here are the winners below:
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Best Director – Motion Picture
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Television Series – Drama
Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Do you agree with the winners?
Posted in News