Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, ‘Thor‘, which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war.

Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love.

It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Due for a May 2011 release, Thor promises a story full of action. With a cast that, along with those mentioned above, includes Rene Russo, Idris Elba and Stellan Skarsgard, as well as being directed by theater stalwart Kenneth Branagh, the final result should be immense.

What are your reactions to the plot of Thor?

Natalie Portman is set to produce a stoner road trip comedy flick Best Buds through her production company Handsome Charlie Films. The film will be co-produced alongside Vendome Pictures who are co-producing Tom Hanks’ Larry Crowne and Duncan Jones’ Source Code .

The independently financed comedy is said to be in the vein of Harold and Kumar and Half-Baked and will center on two best female friends who take a road trip to their friend’s wedding in order to save her by bringing her weed. [Source Pajiba]

This is an interesting choice for Portman, whose company has Hesher lined up for distribution alongside the production of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies set to start after filming of Thor. It’ll be nice to see the budding actress and producer flex her comedy skills and hopefully subvert the stale stoner genre with a female twist.

What’s your favorite Natalie Portman film?

Natalie Portman

Variety describes the film as telling “the timeless story of a woman’s quest for love and independence amid the outbreak of a deadly virus that turns the undead into vicious killers.”  The story takes much of the classic novel by Jane Austen and mashes it together with what is clearly the most likely of situations — a terrible zombie outbreak. Portman, who will surely be classically beautiful as always, will play Elizabeth Bennet, a fiery zombie killing version of her novel born counterpart.

Richard Kelly will be a co-producer on the project with Portman and the film will be financed and distributed by Lionsgate, but as a director has still not been chosen, the approach taken with the direction and tone of the story will be interesting to discover. Will it be more romance and drama focused or more straight horror?

Either way, something about Natalie Portman in 19th Century English attire (a tattered corset perhaps?) slaying zombies makes me feel all giddy and tingly in a way that let’s just say I probably wouldn’t explain to my grandmother.

Are you as excited as I am? If so, have you read the book?

Source: Variety

Relativity Media | USA | 110 min

(Warning: minor spoilers)

Big name, studio-pushed family dramas without a “holiday” selling point (a la The Family Stone or Everybody’s Fine) are hard to come by these days. So are successful war films. Jim Sheridan’s Brothers is both of these things, and has fought a long, hard war of its own to open in theaters, literally surviving a recession and all the conflicts that it came with. Sheridan lost funding in the middle of production, unable to shoot the helicopter crash sequence as written by David Benioff, only to finally be saved by an output deal struck between Lionsgate and Relativity Media for 5 films, the first being Brothers.

The film tells the story of the Cahill brothers, Sam (Tobey Maguire) and Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal). Sam’s the golden boy/war hero headed back for a third term in Afghanistan, Tommy’s the black sheep who is picked up from prison at the film’s beginning by his more impressive, better-loved brother Sam. Their father (a brutal Sam Shepard) is not subtle about who his favorite son is (take a guess) and who is constantly disappointing him. This much is apparent in an early, well-written family dinner scene that meshes comedy and drama nicely, speaking to the absurdity of forcing a bunch of people into a room together (no matter how much they like each other) in the name of family. Gyllenhaal’s Tommy enjoys his strange, awkward return at first, smiling at Sam after each one of their father’s unspoken criticisms, until the old Vietnam veteran tears down the wall and opens up old wounds.

Sam is married to his high school sweetheart Grace (a lovely Natalie Portman), with whom he has two spunky daughters, the younger of the two telling Tommy, upon his return home, that “mommy doesn’t like you.” Aside from his stepmother and kind brother Sam, not many people do.

This all changes when Sam goes back “over there” and reportedly dies in a helicopter crash. As the family falls apart, drowned in grief, Tommy rises to the occasion, turning his life around while helping Grace and her daughters move on. He becomes a stepfather of sortsfor the family, redefining himself in the process. His father even comes around (as much as is possible) and sees the good in his second-best son.

But then, of course, Sam returns home after months held captive by the enemy, tortured both physically and mentally with a Private Joe Willis at his side, who did not make it back home (NOTE: Carey Mulligan has a small role in the film as Willis’ widow and owns her one extended scene, re-confirming both her beauty and talent).

In many ways, this is The Deer Hunter retold for (and through the eyes of) a different generation. It is an out-and-out melodrama that perhaps would have fared better on the stage than on the screen. Not that these young veterans aren’t up for the challenge. Gyllenhaal, Portman and Maguire all give solid performances, but Gyllenhaal carries the life of the film and every scene with him is the better for it. While Sam’s gone (and presumed dead) a star-crossed romance develops between Tommy and Grace. Gyllenhaal and Portman’s chemistry jumps off the screen and those watching will almost wish Maguire’s goodie-two-shoes stayed dead (as horrible as it sounds), a sentiment which hangs guiltily overhead upon his return home. But then, of course, when Sam returns, he is no longer a goodie-two-shoes.

Maguire has had a long career of playing wholesome good guys who hold the virtue of the film they are in. Only lately has he pushed sideways from this persona to darken his ambitions. Between this and 2006’s The Good German he is well on his way. But not quite there yet. Moments that require the personal touch of a specific performer (think of Christopher Walken’s tortured post-traumatic stress in Deer Hunter) are strangely absent in Maguire, who plays the newly-tortured Sam with wide eyes and constant menace but little else. And while these both feel genuine to a character who’s been through so much turmoil, it lacks a certain humanism that viewers will be left wanting for. He’s also playing against Gyllenhaal and Portman, neither of whom have been better, and more assured, in a role before.

Benioff’s script loses steam here and there (the Afghanistan sequences feel cut-and-pasted from other films for the most part), finally derailing at the end via overwrought voiceover. But Benioff is a good writer who knows how people talk in melodramas. His dinner scenes (of which there are a few) are some of the best put on screen in some time. Whether it be Tommy’s awkward return or Sam’s, putting the whole Cahill family together is like lighting dramatic dynamite. By the time it explodes you’ll want it too, just so then the intensity of the scene will subside.

Sheridan’s direction, however, is unusually stale. The camera is there to capture good performances, and not much else. On one hand it’s nice, non-distracting, on the other it’s a wasted opportunity. The majority of the story takes place in a small town, something Sheridan fails to make the most of. This is America, after all, full of families and war heroes and ex-cons. The Cahills could very well be a dime a dozen.

7 out of 10

What did you think of the film? Do you plan to see Brothers?

Sundance has announced it’s 112 films that are entering in U.S. and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic film competitions. The films represent “38 countries by 43 first-time filmmakers, including 24 in competition. These films were selected from 3,724 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,920 U.S. and 1,804 international feature-length films. 79 films at the Festival will be world premieres.” The festival takes place between Jan 21st and 31st at Park City Utah. Some interesting films to note are Mark Ruffalo’s directorial debut, a new documentary by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, It Might Get Loud) and films starring Jesse Eisenberg, Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, James Franco, John Hamm, Melissa Leo, Laura Linney, Orlando Bloom, and more.  Check out the full list below.

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

[This year’s 16 films were selected from 862 submissions. Each film is a world premiere.]

Bhutto (Directors: Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O’Hara; Screenwriter: Johnny O’Hara)—A riveting journey through the life and work of recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister and a polarizing figure in the Muslim world. World Premiere

CASINO JACK & The United States of Money (Director: Alex Gibney)—A probing investigation into the lies, greed and corruption surrounding D.C. super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his cronies. World Premiere

Family Affair (Director: Chico Colvard)—An uncompromising documentary that examines resilience, survival and the capacity to accommodate a parent’s past crimes in order to satisfy the longing for family. World Premiere

Freedom Riders (Director: Stanley Nelson)—The story behind a courageous band of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who in 1961 creatively challenged segregation in the American South. World Premiere

GasLand (Director: Josh Fox)—A cross-country odyssey uncovers toxic streams, dying livestock, flammable sinks and weakening health among rural citizens on the front lines of the natural gas drilling craze. World Premiere

I’m Pat _______ Tillman ( Director: Amir Bar-Lev)—The story of professional football star and decorated U.S. soldier Pat Tillman, whose family takes on the U.S. government when their beloved son dies in a “friendly fire” incident in Afghanistan in 2004. World Premiere

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Director: Tamra Davis)—The story of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose work defined, electrified and challenged an era, and whose untimely death at age 27 has made him a cultural icon.World Premiere

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Directors: Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg)—A rare, brutally honest glimpse into the comedic process and private dramas of legendary comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers as she fights tooth and nail to keep her American dream alive. World Premiere

Lucky (Director: Jeffrey Blitz)—The story of what happens when ordinary people hit the lottery jackpot.
World Premiere

My Perestroika (Director:Robin Hessman)—Intimately tracking the lives of five Muscovites who came of age just as the USSR collapsed and are adjusting to their post-Soviet reality, My Perestroika maps the contours of a nation in profound transition. World Premiere

The Oath (Director: Laura Poitras)— Filmed in Yemen, The Oath tells the story of two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a course of events that led them to Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court. World Premiere

Restrepo (Directors: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington)—Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s year dug in with the Second Platoon in one of Afghanistan’s most strategically crucial valleys reveals extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of back breaking labor, deadly firefights, and camaraderie as the soldiers painfully push back the Taliban. World Premiere

A Small Act (Director:Jennifer Arnold)—A young Kenyan’s life changes dramatically when his education is sponsored by a Swedish stranger. Years later, he founds his own scholarship program to replicate the kindness he once received. World Premiere

Smash His Camera ( Director: Leon Gast)—Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sued him, and Marlon Brando broke his jaw. The story of notorious, reviled paparazzo Ron Galella opens a Pandora’s Box of issues from right to privacy, freedom of the press and the ever-growing vortex of celebrity worship. World Premiere

12th & Delaware (Directors: Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing)—The abortion battle continues to rage in unexpected ways on an unassuming corner in America. World Premiere

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN (Director: Davis Guggenheim)—Waiting for Superman examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories—from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system. World Premiere

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION

[This year’s 16 films were selected from 1,058 submissions. Each film is a world premiere.]

Blue Valentine (Director: Derek Cianfrance; Screenwriters: Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis) —A complex portrait of an American marriage, Blue Valentine charts the evolution of a relationship over time. Cast: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Mike Vogel, John Doman. World Premiere

Douchebag (Director: Drake Doremus; Screenwriters: Lindsay Stidham, Drake Doremus, Jonathan Schwartz and Andrew Dickler) —On the verge of getting married, Sam Nussbaum insists he escort his younger brother, Tom, on a wild goose chase of a journey to find Tom’s fifth grade girlfriend. Cast: Andrew Dickler, Ben York Jones, Marguerite Moreau, Nicole Vicius, Amy Ferguson, Wendi McClendon-Covey. World Premiere

The Dry Land (Director and screenwriter: Ryan Piers Williams)—A U.S. soldier returning home from war struggles to reconcile his experiences abroad with the life and family he left in Texas. Cast: America Ferrera, Wilmer Valderrama, Ethan Suplee, June Diane Raphael, Melissa Leo. World Premiere

happythankyoumoreplease (Director and screenwriter: Josh Radnor)—Six New Yorkers negotiate love, friendship, and gratitude at a time when they’re too old to be precocious and not ready to be adults. Cast: Malin Akerman, Josh Radnor, Kate Mara, Zoe Kazan, Tony Hale, Pablo Schreiber, Michael Algieri. World Premiere

Hesher (Director: Spencer Susser; Screenwriters: Spencer Susser and David Michod; Story by Brian Charles Frank)—A mysterious, anarchical trickster descends on the lives of a family struggling to deal with a painful loss. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson, Devin Brochu, Piper Laurie, John Carroll Lynch. World Premiere

Holy Rollers (Director: Kevin Tyler Asch; Screenwriter: Antonio Macia)—A young Hasidic man, seduced by money, power and opportunity, becomes an international Ecstasy smuggler. Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Danny A. Abeckaser, Ari Graynor, Jason Fuchs. World Premiere

Howl (Directors and screenwriters: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman)—A nonfiction drama about the young Allen Ginsberg finding his voice, the creation of his groundbreaking poem HOWL, and the landmark obscenity trial that followed. Cast: James Franco, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels. World Premiere

The Imperialists are still Alive! (Director and screenwriter: Zeina Durra)—Juggling the sudden abduction of her childhood sweetheart as well as a blooming love affair, a French Manhattanite makes her way as an artist in an indifferent, sometimes hostile world. Cast: Élodie Bouchez, José María de Tavira, Karim Saleh Karolina Muller, Marianna Kulukundis, Rita Ackerman. World Premiere

Lovers of Hate (Director and screenwriter: Bryan Poyser)—The shaky reunion of estranged brothers takes a turn for the worse when the woman they both love chooses one over the other. Cast: Chris Doubek, Heather Kafka, Alex Karpovsky, Zach Green. World Premiere

Night Catches Us (Director and screenwriter: Tanya Hamilton)—In 1978, complex political and emotional forces are set in motion when a young man returns to the race-torn Philadelphia neighborhood where he came of age during the Black Power movement. Cast: Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce, Jamara Griffin. World Premiere

Obselidia (Director and screenwriter: Diane Bell)—A lonely librarian believes love is obsolete until a road trip to Death Valley with a beguiling cinema projectionist teaches him otherwise. Cast: Gaynor Howe, Michael Piccirilli, Frank Hoyt Taylor. World Premiere

Skateland (Director: Anthony Burns; Screenwriters: Anthony Burns, Brandon Freeman, Heath Freeman)—In the early 1980s, in small-town Texas, dramatic events force a 19-year-old skating rink manager to look at his life in a very new way. Cast: Shiloh Fernandez, A.J. Buckley, Ashley Greene, Brett Cullen, Ellen Hollman, Heath Freeman. World Premiere

Sympathy for Delicious (Director: Mark Ruffalo; Screenwriter: Christopher Thornton)—A newly paralyzed DJ gets more than he bargained for when he seeks out the world of faith healing. Cast: Orlando Bloom, Mark Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney, John Carroll Lynch. World Premiere

3 Backyards (Director and screenwriter: Eric Mendelsohn)—A quiet suburban town becomes an intense emotional terrain for three residents over the course of one curious autumn day. Cast: Embeth Davidtz, Edie Falco, Elias Koteas, Rachel Resheff, Kathryn Erbe, Danai Gurira. World Premiere

Welcome to the Rileys (Director: Jake Scott)—On a business trip to New Orleans, a damaged man seeks salvation by caring for a wayward young woman. Cast: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart, Melissa Leo. World Premiere

Winter’s Bone (Director: Debra Granik; Screenwriters: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini)—An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact. Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Breznahan. World Premiere

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

[This year’s 12 films were selected from 782 international documentary submissions.]

A Film Unfinished / Germany, Israel (Director: Yael Hersonski)—Film reels uncovered in Nazi archives reveal the mechanisms used to stage Warsaw Ghetto life–images which have shaped our view of history. World Premiere

Enemies of the People / Cambodia, United Kingdom(Directors: Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath)—A young journalist whose family was killed by the Khmer Rouge befriends the perpetrators of the Killing Fields genocide, evoking shocking revelations. U.S. Premiere

Fix ME / France, Palestinian Territories, Switzerland(Director: Raed Andoni)—When Palestinian filmmaker Raed Andoni gets a headache that won’t quit, he seeks out help and insight in different forms in his hometown of Ramallah. International Premiere

His & Hers / Ireland (Director: Ken Wardrop)—Seventy Irish women offer moving insights into the relationships between women and men. North American Premiere
Kick in Iran / Gemany (Director: Fatima Geza Abdollahyan)—The first female professional Taekwondo fighter from Iran to qualify for the Olympic Games struggles for recognition in a society where women still play a subordinate role. World Premiere

Last Train Home / Canada (Director: Lixin Fan)—Getting a train ticket in China proves a towering ordeal as a migrant worker family embarks on a journey, along with 200 million other peasants, to reunite with their distant family. U.S. Premiere

The Red Chapel (Det Røde Kapel) / Denmark (Director: Mads Brügger)—A journalist with no scruples, a self-proclaimed spastic, and a comedian travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange visit to challenge one of the world’s most notorious regimes. U.S. Premiere

Russian Lessons / Georgia, Germany, Norway (Directors: Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov)—An investigation into Russian actions during the 2008 war in Georgia, revealing the little known story of the ethnic cleansing in the region since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. World Premiere

Secrets of the Tribe / Brazil (Director: José Padilha)—Is the academic Anthropology community capable of generating real knowledge about mankind? The scandals and the infighting regarding the representation of indigenous Indians in the Amazon Basin seems to indicate that the answer may be a resounding no. World Premiere

Sins of My Father / Argentina, Colombia (Director: Nicolas Entel)—The life and times of notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar are recounted through the eyes of his son, who fled Colombia to move beyond his father’s legacy. North American Premiere

Space Tourists / Switzerland (Director: Christian Frei)—A humorous and laconic view of the way billionaires depart our planet earth to travel into outer space for fun. North American Premiere

Waste Land / United Kingdom (Director: Lucy Walker)—Lives are transformed when international art star Vik Muniz collaborates with garbage pickers in the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro. World Premiere

WORLD CINEMA NARRATIVE COMPETITION

[This year’s 14 films were selected from 1,022 international narrative feature submissions.]

All that I Love / Poland (Director and screenwriter: Jacek Borcuch)—In 1981, during the growing Polish Solidarity movement, four small-town teenagers form a punk rock band with the hope of playing at a local festival. Cast: Mateusz Ko?ciukiewicz, Jakub Giersza?, Mateusz Banasiuk, Olga Frycz, Igor Ob?oza. North American Premiere
Animal Kingdom / Australia (Director and screenwriter: David Michôd)—After the death of his mother, a seventeen year-old boy is thrust precariously between an explosive criminal family and a detective who thinks he can save him. Cast: Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, James Frecheville. World Premiere

Boy / New Zealand (Director and screenwriter: Taika Waititi)—When his father returns home after many years away, 11-year-old Boy and his little brother Rocky must reconcile reality with the fantasy dad they created in their imagination. Cast: Taika Waititi, James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone. World Premiere

Contracorriente (Undertow) / Colombia, France, Germany, Peru (Director and screenwriter: Javier Fuentes-Leon)—An unusual ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside, a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions. Cast: Cristian Mercado, Manolo Cardona, Tatiana Astengo. North American Premiere

Four Lions / UK (Director: Chris Morris and screenwriters: Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain)—A comedy tour de force about a bunch of self styled British jihadis. Cast: Riz Ahmed, Arsher Ali, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak. World Premiere

Grown Up Movie Star / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Adriana Maggs)—After her mother runs away, a teenage girl, determined to grow up fast, is left to care for her hopelessly rural father. Cast: Shawn Doyle, Tatiana Maslany, Jonny Harris, Mark O’Brien, Andy Jones, Julia Kennedy. U.S. Premiere

The Man Next Door (El Hombre de al Lado) / Argentina (Directors and screenwriters: Mariano Cohn and Gastón; Screenwriter: Andres Duprat)— A small incident over two neighbors common wall sparks a conflict which affects the intimacy of the view over the chimney; the protagonist sparks a conflict and with paranoiac obsession destroys everyday life. Cast: Rafael Spregelburd, Daniel Aráoz, Eugenia Alonso, Inés Budassi, Lorenza Acuña. International Premiere

Me Too (Yo, También) / Spain(Directors and screenwriters: Álvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro)—A 34-year-old college-educated man with Down syndrome and his free-spirited co-worker forge an unconventional relationship. Cast: Pablo Pineda, Lola Dueñas, Antonio Naharro, Isabel Garcia Lorca, Pedro Alvarez Ossorio. International Premiere

Nuummioq / Greenland (Directors: Otto Rosing and Torben Bech; Screenwriter: Torben Bech)—A young man’s journey through the exquisite natural landscape of Greenland allows him to piece together elements of his past and move on with his life. Cast: Lars Rosing, Angunnguaq Larsen, Julie Berthelsen, Morten Rose, Makka Kleist, Mariu Olsen. World Premiere

Peepli Live / India (Director and screenwriter: Anusha Rizvi)—A satirical look at the predicament of a poor farmer who creates a media frenzy when, beset with debt, he announces that he will commits suicide so his family can receive government compensation. Cast: Omkar Das, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghubir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Farukh Jaffer World Premiere

Son of Babylon / Iraq (Director: Mohamed Al Daradji; Screenwriters: Mohamed Al-Daradji, Jennifer Norridge, Mithal Ghazi) In the days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a young Kurdish boy and his grandmother venture through Iraq on a quest to find the remains of their missing father/son. Cast: Yasser Talib, Shazda Hussein, Bashir Al-Majid. International Premiere

Southern District (Zona Sur) / Bolivia (Director and screenwriter: Juan Carlos Valdivia)—In La Paz, Bolivia, in a villa surrounded by beautiful gardens, an upper-class family experiences final halcyon days of luxury as social change penetrates their bubble. Cast: Ninón del Castillo, Pascual Loayza, Nicolás Fernández, Juan Pablo Koria, Mariana Vargas. North American Premiere

The Temptation of St. Tony / Estonia (Director and screenwriter: Veiko Õunpuu)—A mid-level manager who develops an aversion to being “good” finds himself confronting the mysteries of middle-age and morality as he loses grasp of what was once his quiet life. Cast: Taavi Eelmaa, Rain Tolk, Tiina Tauraite, Katariina Lauk, Raivo E. Tamm. World Premiere

Vegetarian (Chaesikjueuija) / South Korea (Director and screenwriter: Lim Woo-seong)—A young housewife, finds herself having strange dreams that make her disgusted by meat, leading to trouble with her meat-loving husband and attention from her artist brother in law. Cast: CHEA Min-Seo, KIM Hyun-Sung, KIM Yeo-Jin, KIM Young-Jae. International Premiere

What films are you interested in?

Production Weekly has confirmed that Kenneth Branagh’s Thor will start filming in “Los Angeles mid-January, then move to Santa Fe, New Mexico from March till late-April.” You may be asking, what does this news mean to us? Well, we could very well start to see a bit of the production design, character costumes, or other things from the set. /Film highlights the cast below.

Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) is Thor, Anthony Hopkins is his father Odin and Natalie Portman is Jane Foster, who in the comics is nurse to Thor’s human alter-ego Donald Blake. Tom Hiddleston is the villanous Loki, Jaimie Alexander is the Asgardian warrior Sif, and Colm Feore is a villain whose identity is being kept secret. Stellan Skarsgard is in the cast, too.

Plot: The movie’s story sees the god of thunder Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions re-ignite an ancient war. As punishment, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans. Once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends dark forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Thor is currently set for a May 11th, 2011 release.

Are you looking forward to Branagh’s Thor?

Fox Searchlight to be exact, this as reported by Slash Film. And the project is Darren Aronofsky’s sci-fi/psychological ballet drama starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. It’s been floating around for a while now, and it’s sensible that Searchlight would buy Aronofsky’s next project after The Wrestler, which both made back its budget and brought Mickey Rourke back into the spotlight after two decades or bad decisions.

We reported additional cast members added to the project yesterday, all the more reason to be excited about this ambitious, strange film to be made by one the most ambitious and stranger auteurs out there right now.

Slash Film offers: “We’ve heard from the beginning that the film would shoot this fall in NYC, and Reuters is saying it will go ‘before the end of the year’.”

The sooner the better, and under Searchlight’s watch this could something to look at come next winter awards season.

What do you think of Black Swan? Darren Aronofsky?

/Film has reported that there are a few new additions to Darren Aronofsky’s supernatural drama Black Swan. Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, and Barbara Hershey join Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman set in the story centered around New York City ballet. Portman stars as Nina, “a veteran ballerina who finds herself locked in to a competitive showdown with a rival dancer named Lilly, played by Kunis. As their big performance heats up Nina is not sure whether Lilly is real, or a apparition. /Film highlights exactly where the rest of the cast falls:

Ryder will play Beth, Nina’s “sorta friend” who has been the school’s running lead in all the productions, but who is nearing the end of her career. All the dancers are aiming to take her place as Odette, the Swan Queen, in the next big ballet: Swan Lake. Cassel will be playing the ”handsome but sinister Yevna,” the director of the new stage production. And Hershey will play Nina’s mother, a role which was at one point Meryl Streep was rumored to be in talks for (my source says that Streep was never offered the role however).

According to the site Fox Searchlight (who was behind the The Wrestler) is close to picking it up with shooting to began in a few weeks. The project certainly piqued my interested when details came out that Kunis and Portman will have ecstasy-induced hungry aggressive angry sex. Aronofsky has never made a bad film and with these great new cast additions I’m definitely looking forward to this.

Are you looking forward to Black Swan? What do you think about the latest cast additions?

Lionsgate has released a new trailer for Jim Sheridan’s Brothers on Yahoo. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard, Clifton Collins, Jr., Carey Mulligan, and Ethan Suplee. It is written David Benioff (The Kite Runner, 25th Hour). Check out the trailer below.

Plot: When a decorated Marine goes missing overseas, his black-sheep younger brother cares for his wife and children at home—with consequences that will shake the foundation of the entire family. BROTHERS tells the powerful story of two siblings, thirtysomething Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and younger brother Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal), who are polar opposites. A Marine about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, the aptly named Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters (Bailee Madison, Taylor Grace Geare). Tommy, his charismatic younger brother, is a drifter just out of jail who’s always gotten by on wit and charm. He slides easily into his role as family provocateur on his first night out of prison, at Sam’s farewell dinner with their parents, Elsie (Mare Winningham) and Hank Cahill (Sam Shepard), a retired Marine.

This trailer is ridiculous. Is it a horror film? I’m definitely intrigued.  I’m looking forward to see Carey Mulligan after her remarkable performance in An Education.  I loved David Benioff’s work on 25th Hour and I’m looking forward to what he does with this.

Brothers hits theaters December 4th.

What do you think of the trailer?

After having cast it’s lead actor Chris Hemsworth (Kirk’s dad from Star Trek) for the title role of Thor, the Kenneth Branagh helmed comic-book film, a second lead has been cast.  Natalie Portman has been announced to play the female lead in the film.  Variety says she will play an updated version of the Jane Foster character, “a nurse who becomes Thor’s first love”.  The movie will be distributed by Paramount and will be released May 20, 2011.

The plot is described in the article as being “Thor ignites an ancient war, as punishment he is forced to live among humans, and he learns what it takes to be a true hero as the dark forces of Asgrad invade Earth”.  This seems to be the first real idea of what the plot of the movie will be since the movie was put into development.

I’m not really sure what to think of Thor at this point.  I don’t see why it wouldn’t be good, because it seems like an interesting premise for a movie and it has a very well repsected filmmaker at the helm.  But I also don’t think that Thor is a very compelling character, and I hope that it translates to film well.  However, Natalie Portman’s involvement adds more credibility to the whole thing, and hopefully this is an indcation of better things to come.

What do you think of Portman’s casting, and the Thor project as a whole?