Release Dates: The Master in late 2012; The Killer Elite; The Ides of March

A little bit of release date news for ya...

Joanne Sellar, a producer on Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming religious drama possibly titled The Master, told the Vallejo Times-Herald that it's expected for the film to release some time late in 2012. Shooting is currently underway, so expect a more concrete date to be revealed sooner rather than later.

The film centers around Lancaster Dodd(Philip Seymour Hoffman), a man who returns from WWII disillusioned and unable to find his place in the world. He begins a religious movement that quickly gains a following amongst other lost souls. Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons, David Warshofsky, Lena Endre, Rami Malek and Madisen Beaty are also set to star. In the beginning there were hints that the story would be based in part on the origins of Scientology, but over the last couple of months that angle has been less prominent. Sellar was pretty brief and blunt on this subject as well...

Sellar: "It's a World War II drama. It's about a drifter after World War II."

Ugh. That sounds like sombody trying not to offend those wacky followers of Xenu. I'm betting there's more to the Scientology bit than she's willing to let on.

Next up is The Killer Elite, one of my most anticipated films of 2011 mainly because it brings together Jason Statham, Robert De Niro, Clive Owen, and Yvonne Strahovski(Chuck). Based on Sir Ranulph Fiennes' 1991 novel, The Feather Men, the film features Statham as a Special Ops agent putting together a crack unit to rescue his mentor(De Niro) from a ruthless villain(Owen).  It's been given a September 23rd release date, which puts it head-to-head against Taylor Lautner's actioner, Abduction.

And lastly, October 7th just became one very competitive weekend. With the Hugh Jackman robo-boxing drama, Real Steel, and the Jennifer Aniston/Paul Rudd comedy Wanderlust already locked in, enter George Clooney's political drama, The Ides of March.  Here's hoping people are in the mood for something a bit more serious that week. Based on the play, Farragut North, the film is loosely based on the disastrous 2004 Presidential primary campaign of Gov. Howard Dean(he of "yaaahhhh!!!" fame). There's no better collection of talent than in this film, which I'm sure will have it on the lips of a lot of people during awards season. Alongside Clooney are Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, and Max Minghella.