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A release date has finally been set by distributor CBS Films for the new Coen Brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, starring Oscar Isaac as musician Llewyn Davis. We've already featured one great trailer, and the film is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month, but CBS Films has now set an official release date for the US. Posted on their Twitter, they state that "Inside Llewyn Davis will be released limited on December 6, 2013; Expansion December 20, 2013." Sounds like perfect awards season fodder, of course. I wouldn't expect anything less from the Coens, back three years after True Grit. The film does look outstanding and I'm looking forward to seeing it. However, it is another seven months until it hits theaters. ›››

Continue reading The Coen Brothers' 'Inside Llewyn Davis' Set for December Release

From Scarface to Return of the Jedi to WarGames. The summer of 1983 was a good one. Maybe not the best ever summer of movies, but a fun one for sure. Last year the Alamo Drafthouse hosted a series of events as part of the epic Summer of 1982. They're back again for "the sequel to the greatest summer of movies... ever" with the Summer of 1983, from thirty years ago. They've organized another summer-long series of screenings kicking off with Return of the Jedi's 30th anniversary May 25th, and more from Trading Places, Risky Business to National Lampoon's Vacation. This will be a great summer if you live by a Drafthouse. ›››

Continue reading Alamo Drafthouse Announces Their New Summer of 1983 Line-Up

I love Danny Boyle. He's a bloody brilliant filmmaker that makes very unique movies. His latest is Trance, which hit theaters back in April, and it's very much an "adult movie" with a complex characters, violence, and full frontal nudity to boot. Ever since Steven Soderbergh gave his very poignant speech about the "State of Cinema", the industry has been abuzz in discussion on Hollywood and cinema. Our friends at SlashFilm found this recent interview clip with Boyle from VodkasterOfficiel where he makes an interesting claim: thanks to the "Pixarification" (he explains what that means in the video and it isn't a diss to Pixar) the "adult movie" is going away. He makes a convincing argument referencing cinema of the 70's as a starting point. ›››

Continue reading Danny Boyle Claims 'Pixarification' of Movies is Killing 'Adult Movies'

Welcome back to another edition of Kickstart This, FirstShowing's weekly column dedicated to spreading the word about cool indie projects that need your help to become a reality. This week, we want to turn your attention to a fantasy short film project called Delve. Combining elements of magic, science, and sci-fi, this ambitious short utilizes awesome production designs, some cool practical costume pieces, and even an elaborate CG dragon who becomes a main character in the story. But they need our help. Take a look at their pitch video below, leave us a comment, and don't forget to donate a few bucks if you can. Check this out! ›››

Continue reading Kickstart This: Fantasy Short Film 'Delve' Blends Magic and Science

All across the Internet there's plenty of lists chronicling the best films from every decade, genre, director, actor, etc. Basically, you can search for the best movies with cameos from Rip Taylor and you'll probably find a list somewhere (Wayne's World 2 would be at the top). But some people like to get creative, and that's what David Honnorat did with The Best Movies of All-Time Map, a subway map presentation of the best movies in the history of cinema, with the tracks representing various genres from sci-fi to comedy, and even more specific categories like dramas about tolerance or masterpieces about show business. It's huge! ›››

Continue reading Awesome Subway-Style Map to Some of the Best Movies Ever Made

"I'm just going to say two words: bullet train." 20th Century Fox has been doing some rather impressive and smart web marketing for James Mangold's The Wolverine. They've held live streaming chats and big trailer debuts, now Hugh Jackman himself participated in a Twitter Q&A with fans. Jackman answered 11 different questions from fans in short 30 second videos about The Wolverine, including one about X-Men: Days of Future Past at the very end. He talks about everything from the action sequences, to training, to working with director James Mangold. They're short but sweet, and Hugh is such an eternally charming guy. ›››

Continue reading See All 11 of Hugh Jackman's 'Wolverine' Twitter Q&A Video Answers

On this week's episode of The Golden Briefcase, Tim and Jeremy are joined by Brian Salisbury of Spill.com and Film School Rejects to go through their latest picks of the week, the newest in DVD & Blu-ray releases, new trailers for Zal Batmanglij's The East and Eli Roth's Chilean horror Aftershock and much more. The main topic of the night was a discussion on the movies coming in Summer 2013, in honor of Marvel's Iron Man 3 hitting theaters this weekend. The guys go over all the movies they are most excited for, what they are dreading and which filmmakers will be recognized at the end of the summer. Listen in! ›››

Continue reading TGB Episode 154: Welcoming Summer 2013 (Guest: Brian Salisbury)

Over a year ago, fans of Robert Downey Jr. and Tim Burton had their world rocked when news surfaced that they were going to work on a new adaptation of Pinocchio. Burton was directing and Downey was playing Gipetto with a script from "Pushing Daisies" and "Dead Like Me" creator Bryan Fuller, rewritten by X-Men: First Class and Stardust co-writer Jane Goldman. However, Burton has since fallen away from the project, and Downey is waiting for a new director. While doing some press junkets for Iron Man 3, he was asked who he would like to direct, and Downey picked his Tropic Thunder director and co-star Ben Stiller. ›››

Continue reading Ben Stiller in Talks to Take Over 'Pinocchio' with Robert Downey Jr.

It still may be early in the year, but this is already one of the strong Oscar contenders of 2013. I'm talking about the film Twelve Years a Slave, the next feature from auteur Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame), starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup, a man living in New York during the mid-1800s who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the deep south. The film is in post-production and Film Music Reporter (via The Playlist) has learned that McQueen has somehow nabbed Hans Zimmer to score the film, which is getting a late December release by Fox Searchlight. The blog says Zimmer "recently composed the score." ›››

Continue reading Steve McQueen Lands Hans Zimmer to Score 'Twelve Years a Slave'

After directing The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (arguably the best film in the franchise, which isn't saying much), 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy director David Slade stepped back into more comfortable territory on TV by directing the pilot for "Awake," three episodes of "Hannibal" with Mads Mikkelsen (worth checking out) and an episode of "Breaking Bad." Now the director is coming to big screen thriller territory as THR reports Slade is on board to direct a psychological thriller called The Widow for a company called Vendome Pictures, which financed and produced the Duncan Jones' film Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal. ›››

Continue reading Director David Slade is Getting Back into Thrillers with 'The Widow'

You have to give Marvel credit. They've allowed their franchises, though all taking place in the same, Avengers-centric world, to fall into hands of auteurs, film makers who have something more to say than "Just point and shoot." Though the results have been varied, certain cinematic voices have been allowed to be heard. And so it goes that summer 2013 kicks off with Shane Black's take on Iron Man. Iron Man 3, written and directed by the man who created Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is as entertaining as it is unique, a comic book one-off with a little mystery and a little edge, something Black is all too gifted for. ›››

Continue reading Review: Shane Black's 'Iron Man 3' Begins Summer 2013 with Edge

"So I'm not the first?" It's time! Our first look at footage from the Ender's Game movie, revealed online in a promo teasing the full trailer arriving next Tuesday. Normally we hate those "teaser for the teaser", but they've mixed it up this time, adding an opening featuring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford, and none of the annoying "in 5 days" tags in the footage. For those who have been patiently waiting, this is now your chance to finally see a glimpse at action in the Battle Room and more of the characters and world of Ender's Game. It's must watch first tease, even for barely 30 seconds of footage, to see what this movie will be like. ›››

Continue reading Very First Brief Glimpse at 'Ender's Game' Footage Revealed Online

Tonight, movie fans around the United States everywhere are lining up for midnight showings of Marvel's Iron Man 3. It's the evening of May 2nd and the 2013 summer movie season is about to begin. Marvel jumped on this slot to follow-up The Avengers with another summer opening to pave the way. While there's always a particularly palpable sense of excitement at the beginning of a summer, after six years of writing about these openings (and many more years of living them), I've learned to never trust the early buzz. By the end, when we look back in August, everything is in a different place - big hits, big failures, lots of surprises inbetween. But it's time to finally get things underway, and this summer looks like it has a strong line-up. ›››

Continue reading Let the 2013 Summer Movie Season Begin - Will This Top Last Year?

Briefly: This project is certainly coming together fast! News has broken on the latest member of the cast of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, his next sci-fi project already scheduled for a November 2014 release. So far, Nolan has cast Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway as the first two leads, now he has signed Zero Dark Thirty/The Help Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain. Deadline says that Chastain is in talks to "play the third lead" in the film, which is said to "depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the farthest borders of our scientific understanding." Everything about this sounds like it will be the pinnacle of the new era of sci-fi movies we're entering, and the cast so far is starting to indicate that will be the case. Chastain has worked for Terrence Malick and Kathryn Bigelow before, and seems careful about the roles she takes on. ›››

Continue reading Nolan Recruits Actress Jessica Chastain for His 'Interstellar' Voyage

"How do you lose a rocket launcher?!" In the midst of all the sci-fi and superheroes this summer, there is an action movie that harkens back to the days of Die Hard, and it's not another Die Hard sequel. I'm talking about Roland Emmerich's White House Down, which looks like the real Die Hard-in-the-White-House movie of 2013. Sony has debuted this second, full theatrical trailer and it's packed to the gills with all kinds of absurd action, from rocket launchers to mini-guns to everything inbetween. Jamie Foxx stars as the President, with Channing Tatum as his escort. Jason Clarke and Maggie Gyllenhaal are in there, too. ›››

Continue reading Watch: Second Trailer for Roland Emmerich's 'White House Down'

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise." They're back in action, and J.J. Abrams has taken sci-fi to a whole new level. Early this morning I was one of the first in the United States to attend a screening of Star Trek Into Darkness, J.J.'s highly anticipated sequel to Star Trek from 2009, the reboot of the legendary, seminal sci-fi franchise. For me, this was one of the big moments of the summer, building up excitement and anticipation to finally sitting down and watching over two hours of adventures through space with the crew of the USS Enterprise. Did it live up to my expectations? A big YES. ›››

Continue reading Video Blog: 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Takes Sci-Fi to the Next Level

Back in the middle of March, big news came that Safety Not Guaranteed director Colin Trevorrow would move from the indie world to blockbusters by taking the helm of Jurassic Park 4 for producer Steven Spielberg. The film had already been given a release date the June 13th, 2014 so Trevorrow will have to move quickly to meet that release, and they haven't even started shooting yet. Now Trevorrow has provided a bit of a tease for the sequel of which we have no story details. Through the director's Twitter, he posted an image from a location scouting session which gives away a small detail that should intrigue fans. Read on! ›››

Continue reading Colin Trevorrow Teases a Return to Isla Nublar in 'Jurassic Park 4'

Director Steven Spielberg is going from directing a biopic about the assassinated 16th President of the United States to a movie about a trained marksman. Deadline has word that DreamWorks has set Spielberg to direct American Sniper, a project that has had Bradley Cooper attached since last May and had Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell circling last fall. Cooper is producing the project through his newly established 22nd & Indiana banner and the film is actually based on Navy SEAL Chris Kyle's autobiography American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. ›››

Continue reading Steven Spielberg to Direct 'American Sniper' Starring Bradley Cooper

After the success of Bridesmaids, former "SNL" cast member Kristen Wiig could have done anything, and she decided to move away form studio comedies towards a passion project called Imogene. The indie comedy follows a woman (Wiig) who ends up in the custody of her obnoxious, gambling addicted mother (Annette Bening) after faking a suicide attempt to get her ex-boyfriend back. Now the first trailer is here, with the new title Girl Most Likely, and it looks mildly amusing. Wiig is doing her best, but it almost seems like it's trying too hard to be that quirky comedy, especially with Matt Dillon's character. Watch! ›››

Continue reading Kristen Wiig is High Strung in First Trailer for Quirky 'Girl Most Likely'

Later this year, the quickly put together indie Prince Avalanche from writer/director David Gordon Green will hit theaters, and it's a throwback to his roots in films like All the Real Girls and George Washington, even with name talent like Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch. Now he's lining up his next project and it sounds quite different than anything he's done before. The project set to be sold at Cannes is called Manglehorn, and it follows a guy named A.J. Manglehorn, an ordinary guy in a small town who nurses his sick cat, squeezes out a conversation with the local bank teller every Friday, and eats at the same place every day. But the interesting fact about this project is that Al Pacino is being sought for the lead. More below! ›››

Continue reading Al Pacino Maybe Teaming with David Gordon Green on 'Manglehorn'