Review: 'Son of a Gun' starring Ewan McGregor, Brenton Thwaites, and Alicia Vikander

The basic components of a great crime movie are pretty simple as for as I'm concerned: clever crime, dynamic personalities, and preferably some kind of energized sexual component from a hot femme fatale. On paper, Julius Avery's Australian crime flick Son of a Gun would seem to have some of those pieces in place with a cast that includes Ewan McGregor, rising star Brenton Thwaites, and Alicia Vikander. Is there plenty of action? Yes. Is it sexy? Sometimes, yeah. But clever it isn't, and the film comes across like any number of generic crime movies you might find on late night cable or On Demand.

Thwaites and his model good looks plays JR, a teenager we first meet as he's strip searched before starting a 6-month prison bid. This isn't going to be an easy stint, either, as the joint he's holed up in resembles the brutal confines of HBO's Oz or the gritty Brit drama Starred Up. JR's no wimp, but he's too pretty for a place like that and becomes the instant target of those looking for an easy mark. Fortunately he makes friends with Brendan (McGregor, scruffy and in full Scottish mode), a prison heavy who offers him protection....at a price. Brendan's not getting out any time soon, but when JR is released he aids in a ballsy prison escape involving helicopters and a wild shootout guaranteed to make the evening news. But that's not all, once on the outside Brendan enlists JR's help in another scheme; a heist that could net them $4M.

The expected complications arise in the form of their shady backer, Sam (Jacek Koman), who is a double-cross waiting to happen. And then there's the gorgeous Tasha (Vikander) who JR gets close to even though he knows it may upset Sam who is also close to her. You won't be surprised to learn she has aspirations of something better than being a crime boss' side piece, and JR is her ticket to it. Their relationship doesn't exactly calm Brendan's fears about being caught, either, since she's the kind of girl that grabs attention.

Avery, another in a growing line of talented Aussie filmmakers, has an eye for choreographing action but struggles with tone. There's an edge to the prison scenes that is curiously lost on the outside, and you can't help but wish they'd stayed behind bars and maintained a sense of unpredictability. The crime itself isn't especially inventive, and thus little tension in how it plays out. Where Son of a Gun excels is in the performances by McGregor and Vikander. McGregor may not be the perfect fit for a role like this, playing the bruising criminal, but that's exactly why it's so much fun to watch. He overpowers Thwaites in pretty much every scene, but the same can also be said for the excellent Vikander who finds moments of depth in a familiar role. It doesn't hurt that she's pretty good on the eyes, as well. Thwaites has the look of a movie star but is too vanilla to be memorable, and that is pretty much what could be said about Son of a Gun. It looks the part of a great heist movie but doesn't compare to those that that truly are.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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Brenton Thwaites to Join 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales'

While we await confirmation on Javier Bardem as the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales villain, another new face is ready to set sail. A couple of weeks ago a shortlist of names emerged for a brand new role in the franchise's fifth film. At the top of that list were Brenton Thwaites, Ansel Elgort, and Taron Egerton, but it looks like Thwaites has won the job.

According to The Wrap, Thwaites is in talks to take the coveted role of Henry, a British soldier who gets wrapped up in the sea-faring exploits of Jack Sparrow, played once again by Johnny Depp. This isn't Thwaites' first crack at a major studio tentpole as he appeared earlier this year in The Giver, and had a role in Maleficent opposite Angelina Jolie.

Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales opens July 7th 2017.

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New Trailer for Heist Flick 'Son of a Gun' with Ewan McGregor, Alicia Vikander, and Brenton Thwaites

A couple of months ago we received the first trailer for Son of a Gun, a heist thriller that looked pretty conventional by genre standards. That's except for the cast which features Ewan McGregor and Alicia Vikander, two reasons to take interest in the film, plus rising star Brenton Thwaites, who has had a big year already with Maleficent and The Giver. Now that the film has made its way to theaters overseas, a U.S. release is mere weeks away and now a new trailer has arrived that is a step up from the earlier one.

The story is one we've heard before. McGregor plays a veteran criminal with Thwaites as a young thug under his wing, as they team up for a gold heist that could change their lives. Of course, things don't quite go as planned because of that "no honor among thieves" thing that criminals always seem to forget.

Written and directed by Julius Avery, Son of a Gun debuts exclusively on DirecTV starting December 11th, followed by a theatrical run in January.

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Ansel Elgort, Brenton Thwaites, and More Up for New Role in 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5'

 It may have taken Disney a little bit longer to get all of their ships in a row, but movement is finally happening on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.  Of course Johnny Depp and his eyeliner are back as Jack Sparrow, with co-directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg looking to make their big studio debut after their Oscar-nominated film, Kon-Tiki. And though there were some rumors Orlando Bloom could return to the franchise, it looks like a new young actor is set to take the other "dashing" male lead.

Deadline says Ansel Elgort (The Fault In Our Stars), George MacKay (Pride), Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Brenton Thwaites (The Giver), Mitchell Hope (Descendants), and Sam Keely (In the Heart of the Sea) are up for the role of Henry, and that's all we know about the character. Well, we also know that it's one of the most sought-after roles in Hollywood right now, which means it should come with significant screen time opposite Depp. Out of all of these, Elgort is the biggest prize. He's had quite a year already with The Fault In Our Stars, Men Women & Children, and Divergent. He comes with franchise experience, but so does Thwaites who led The Giver earlier this year and had a role in Disney's Maleficent. The dark horse here may be Hope, who stars in Disney's TV movie Descendants as the son of Beauty and the Beast.

There's plenty of time for a decision to be made as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales opens July 7th 2017.

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Trailer for Gold Heist Thriller 'Son of a Gun' with Ewan McGregor, Brenton Thwaites, and Alicia Vikander

Remember that kid who starred in The Giver? Y'know, the only one not named Jeff Bridges or Meryl Streep who had anything to do? Considering that attempt at a YA franchise went *poof* before it really got started, you may not know the star was Brenton Thwaites, and while he was pretty forgettable another chance to make an impression is around the corner. Thwaites is starring with Ewan McGregor and Alicia Vikander in the heist thriller Son of a Gun, and the first trailer for it has arrived.

So with a cast like this why doesn't Son of a Gun have more attention, or at the very least a U.S. release date? Possibly because it looks like a conventional, bare-bones flick writer/director Julius Avery (Jerrycan) has put together. Thwaites plays a prison inmate who comes under the protection of a veteran criminal (McGregor), but to repay the debt he must aid in a major gold heist on the outside. Nothing new here, although McGregor is clearly having a ball and Vikander is playing sexier than we've ever seen her.

Son of a Gun opens in Australia on October 16th.


Son of a Gun by Teaser-Trailer.com

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Review: 'The Giver' Starring Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites, and Meryl Streep

Lois Lowry's book The Giverwas published twenty years, beating out The Hunger Gamesand Divergentby a considerable margin. In the case of the latter, which recently had an adaptation starring Shailene Woodley, the author has openly stated she drew inspiration from The Giver in crafting the faction-based, anti-diversity world of her popular novels. Does anybody really care about that, though? Nobody will think about which book came first, all they'll know is which film came first and which one looks like a derivative, boring entry in the YA genre.

The irony is so many of these films are about celebrating diversity yet they are virtually indistinguishable from one another. The Giver takes place in a future society where sameness is celebrated; all emotion eradicated and even the color spectrum is reduced to shades of gray. There is no war or hunger but there's also no excitement, and you can forget about sex or anything that qualifies as fun. Even words are highly regulated by this quietly oppressive governmental system, one that sends the elderly off to a mysterious paradise known as "Elsewhere". Of course this supposedly utopian society hides a dystopian underbelly, one that the Elders don't want to see revealed.

But if someone is going to expose what's really going on it may be Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), who during the "Choosing Ceremony" (well, that's what Divergent called it anyway) is shocked to learn he's been chosen to become the new Receiver of Memory. The Receiver is to train under the tutelage of the Giver (Jeff Bridges), a sort of Yoda master gifted (or cursed) with memories of how humanity used to be; the love, the war; the racism; the joy; the freedom; all the things that Jonas has never known. When Jonas' eyes are opened to the reality of human potential, and begins to see color in a way reminiscent of 1998's Pleasantville, he takes it upon himself to change the status quo once and for all.

The Giver explores our basic need to conform, to gain acceptance from others even at the cost of our individuality. This is a recurring theme we've seen far too often and done with greater insight by other films. The big problem is that Philip Noyce and screenwriting duo Michael Mitnick and Robert Weide do a terrible job of world-building , never fleshing out this society in a way that would make this believable. It's almost as if this was a movie made solely for the initiated who already knew everything going in, and maybe since Bridges has been developing this movie for a decade that's the case. He scored a major coup attracting the likes of Meryl Streep to star as the Chief Elder and she's so bland you wish for the hair-pulling excesses of August: Osage County. But she's a damn sight better than Thwaites who seems to have taken the lack of emotion to heart. While others such as Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgard, and Odeya Rush are expected to dial it back due to the story's requirements, Thwaites has no such excuse. He's comically bad and woefully stiff, but worse he's just not much of a presence at all. The story needs a charismatic figure and the only one it gets is Bridges. With a mischievous, knowing twinkle in his eye he's the only character fully-formed enough to warrant our sympathy, especially as he mourns over the memory of his last student (Taylor Swift in a minor cameo) who met a tragic fate.

While Streep is ostensibly the "villain" the real nemesis for Jonas is societal compliance, and that doesn't give him much to directly contend with. As a result there's a severe lack of action (unless sled rides are thrilling to you?) and a tone that stays flat throughout. Without a proper rising of the stakes the film ends with a resounding thud that won't have many aching for a sequel. Uniformity muddies The Giver's core message, and without a compelling story or central character it's not a film you'll want to receive.

 Rating: 2 out of 5

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Five Clips from 'The Giver' with Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, and Taylor Swift

Lois Lowry's The Giver predates many of the currently popular YA novels, so there's been some attempt to separate it from the genre. The problem is, every single trailer and piece of footage makes it look exactly like the others, which is probably what The Weinstein Company wanted to begin with. Like it or not, these movies make a lot of money and those that tried to be different (I'll put Beautiful Creatures as one of those) haven't been met with a lot of success. With the film arriving in theaters this week, five new clips from the film have been released and one of them gives us a look at Taylor Swift in a small role.

The cast for this one is certainly impressive with Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges providing a veteran presence to Philip Noyce's film set in a society free of emotions and thus free of violence. In this supposedly utopian society one man, known as the giver, is gifted with the good and bad memories of the past. Brenton Thwaites plays Jonas, a young man who is the new Receiver of Memories, and upon learning how things used to be he decides that emotion needs to be restored. Of course there are those who would fight against him in order to keep the status quo. So basically this sounds almost exactly like Divergent, and with the requisite amount of teen romance in the midst of a societal breakdown it's just like every other YA story on the market. Katie Holmes and Odeya Rush co-star, and Taylor Swift makes a brief appearance as Rosemary, a key figure from the Giver's past.

Our own +Mae Abdulbaki swears by these books but I'm less than convinced. The Giver opens on August 15th, look for our review tomorrow.


The Giver Movie CLIP - Lose Him (2014) - Brenton Thwaites, Meryl Streep Movie HD by MovieTampan


The Giver Movie CLIP - The Girl Has A Name (2014) - Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges Movie HD. by Buzz Films


The Giver Movie CLIP - Something More (2014) - Jeff Bridges, Katie Holmes Movie HD. by Buzz Films


The Giver Movie CLIP - Rescue Gabe (2014) - Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes Movie HD by MovieTampan


Rosemary No Longer Exists In 'The Giver' by celebritywire

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Review: 'The Signal,' starring Laurence Fishburne and Brendon Thwaites

Now I’m going to keep it 100 with you readers here: I went into The Signal not knowing anything about this. I think at most I might’ve seen the trailer when I was sitting in a Landmark theater before seeing Palo Alto. So I’m sitting down thinking, "I’m clearly slipping here on my critic game." Luckily, going in blind smacked me with such a wondrous surprise. I got to go in knowing nothing about The Signal, a tight 95-minute sci fi thriller that starts nice slow and builds to great conclusion.

The story starts with a trio of friends on a road trip. Nick and Jonah are taking Nick’s girlfriend Haley to California, where she is going to Caltech. Along the journey the two, who are hackers that go to MIT, are searching for another hacker going by the handle of Nomad. They are trying to get some payback as Nomad almost got them expelled from MIT. They end up tracing Nomad to a remote place in the middle of the desert and once they search, things go bad quickly, and soon we just see Nick waking up in some government-looking facility in captivity being questioned by scientist in protective suit named Damon.

I’m not going to lie here: This film is pretty surprising. The film starts pretty much like a simple relationship drama and then for a short moment went into found-footage territory that got me scared. See, I find those films quite laughably terrible, but then right when you think it’s going in one direction, it completely changes on you again. This is where the film excels: its ability to shift between genre styles yet still keep its science-fiction core.

There are not many actors in this film, so the focus is manly on the four main stars here. Most of the heavy lifting in acting is on Brendon Thwaites as Nick and Laurence Fishburne as Damon. Each scene with the two of them has a great back and forth that at points can remind you of Fishburne’s scenes in the show Hannibal with how much is said with just calm delivery and facial expressions. Beau Knapp does well as essentially the “best friend with quips” Jonah. The script doesn’t overdo it at all. The Haley character is pretty interesting in the beginning of the film, but basically becomes a damsel in distress that left me very cold. I think Olivia Cooke who plays Haley could’ve done more if given the chance.

Overall, William Eubank has directed a pretty great little sci-fi film. It gave me the same feeling the films Moon and Chronicle did. Here is something new and original on the screen with fresh faces that didn’t cost the GDP of a small country to make.  I hope all you take the time to find and see this summer-time gem of a film because it’s really worth it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Guttenbergs

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New Trailer for 'The Giver' Shows a Colorless Future

In Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, there are numerous scenes depicted in stark black and white, so when the first trailer for the film emerged in full color it drove fans a little crazy. Maybe The Weinstein Company and director Philip Noyce heard the outcry, or maybe it was always designed to be this way, but the latest footage assures the book's readers the film will indeed be faithful.

While those same fans would also have you believe The Giver is not your typical YA adaptation, the trailers would seem to indicate otherwise. Starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgard, and Taylor Swift, the film is set in a seemingly idyllic world of total conformity, until one young boy receives the gift of past memories and threatens to expose a secret that could destroy everything. So it's not unlike Divergent and The Hunger Games in following one special character who threatens to break the fragile status quo by following their true feelings.

The Giver opens on August 15th.


The Giver Official Trailer #2 (2014) - Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges Movie HD by Trailer-Addict

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Review: Oculus starring Karen Gillan and Brenton Thwaites

For every ten standard horror films there’s one that breaks the mold, these are your SCREAMs and A Nightmare on Elm Street (believe it or not that movie was pretty groundbreaking when it came out).  I’m not saying Oculus is on the level of those genre-changing films but it’s definitely right up there. On the surface you have a movie about an evil mirror that kills those who look on it, past that you have a movie that seriously treads the line on “Is this all just a figment of a disturbed imagination?” Let’s do some plot, Alan Russell (Rory Cochran) buys a mirror without checking the provenance, which would have told him the prior owners had a nasty nack for dying badly. What follows is a long bit of “All Work and No Play Make Alan GO CRAZY” leading up to the sound of some shots going off and Alan and his wife Marie (Katee Sackoff) dead and all things looking like Alan just went nuts. Their children, Tim and Kaylie, are both shipped off to different places with Tim going to a mental institution after receiving the blame for his father’s death. After he is released Tim (Brenton Thwaites) meets up with his sister Kaylie (Karen Gillan). Tim has spent years learning that the mirror was only a creation of his mind to deal with his father’s descent into madness, while Kaylie has been able to focus her time directly into believing in an evil mirror.

This is where the film really takes off, horror movies always play with the idea that “It’s all in your head”, but usually it’s in the form of some distrusting authority figures who we’re not supposed to take seriously, this movie has one of the main characters casting doubt. If that doesn’t make the water murky enough the trip results in the telling of the back story intercut with real time in such a way that the two begin to overlap and we really do begin to question the motive of the movie. The non-linear storyline is a touch that really makes you feel what the characters are feeling, it pulls you in to such a jarring state that you can understand the heights they are willing to go to and that they are having a hard time trusting their own eyes. Isn’t that everyone’s deepest fear, really? To not be able to trust your own senses knowing that you’re so sure of something but there’s an outside chance that you may just be losing your mind.  That’s a downright amazing touch right there…because it’s only when you feel truly safe that you can be properly scared.

This sounds like a very non-traditional horror movie, where are the scares? Don’t worry about that, there are more than enough creepy faces where there shouldn’t be and standard jump scares as well…but done in the right way. I’ve really found that jump scares are a necessity in horror films but you have to do them properly, in a not completely obvious way. Honestly though, it’s the psychological impact of Oculus that will leave you with the lights on, not the cheap scares.

I think Oculus, while not for everybody, is a must for all fans of the horror genre. This flick is the next in a progression of smarter horror films like Drag Me To Hell, or Cabin in the Woods. There is so much more to the film than I’ve even listed here, for the sanctity of spoiler-free, but as you slowly find yourself learning the truth of what happened that night you only go further down the rabbit hole. You’ll want to come back for more which, box office depending, was left wide open in the most clichéd part of the film…the final shot sequel establisher!

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Laurence Fisbhurne Hears 'The Signal' in First Trailer and Poster

"Can you recall for me the first time you encountered the signal"? One of the most buzzed about films at this past Sundance was The Signal, a sci-fi feature starring Laurence Fisbhurne, rising star Brenton Thwaites, and Olivia Cooke. The first trailer has been released and it's a little tough to figure out what's going on, other than Thwaites being interrogated by Fishburne about his encounter with the mysterious signal. There is more to it, obviously, and you can check that out in the official synopsis:

Three college students on a road trip across the Southwest experience a detour: the tracking of a computer genius who has already hacked into MIT and exposed security faults. The trio find themselves drawn to an eerily isolated area. Suddenly everything goes dark. When one of the students, Nic (Brenton Thwaites of “The Giver” and “Maleficent”), regains consciousness, he is in a waking nightmare… 

Alrighty then. Despite a lot of positive response to the film, the people I know personally who saw it were less enthusiastic. We'll find out what The Signal has to offer when it opens June 13th.


The Signal Trailer by Stuff We Like

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First Trailer for 'The Giver' with Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, and Taylor Swift

Jeff Bridges has spent the better part of a decade developing The Giver, an adaptation of Lois Lowry's science-fiction children's novel. If it had come out then it would be entering a more wide open field, but with The Hunger Games, Divergent, and other similar adaptations out there it may be tough to stand out. It can't even lay claim to being (apparently) the only one to feature a male lead now that the male-dominated The Maze Runner is right around the corner. So what does The Giver have that these other films don't have? Meryl Streep.

The first trailer for The Giver has arrived and Streep is a big part of it, along with fellow Oscar-winner Bridges. Starring Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgarrd, Odeya Rush, and Taylor Swift (!!!), it's set in a seemingly perfect future society where there is no sickness, racism, or conflict. Only one person, known as the Receiver, still holds memories of the past. When Jonas (Thwaites) is selected to be the new Receiver, he uncovers dark secrets about the past while being trained by the Giver (Bridges).

There hasn't been much buzz about the film since it was announced,  and this rather dull trailer probably isn't going to change that. Will Streep fans pay to see her in a movie like this? We'll find out when the Philip Noyce-directed film opens August 6th.


The Giver Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Jeff Bridges, Taylor Swift Movie HD by NovaCotton

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Beware the Killer Mirror in New Trailer and Poster for Horror 'Oculus'

A few years ago there was a mid-level horror film called Mirrors, that rang up a pretty decent box office on the strength of its cast led by Kiefer Sutherland and Paula Patton. It wasn't especially memorable, but the one thing it did right was impart a valuable lesson that mirrors are not to be trifled with, and it has nothing to do with seven years of bad luck. But apparently that message wasn't learned by everybody, which is why movies like Oculus exist.

A new trailer, poster, and a handful of photos have been released for Oculus, a horror which generated some solid buzz among the TIFF midnight crowd. Directed by Mike Flanagan with Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Rory Cochrane and Katee Sackhoff starring, the film centers on siblings whose lives were ruined by a malevolent force unleashed through an antique mirror. Some folks never learn.

Oculus will hit up SXSW soon before opening in theaters April 11th.


Oculus - Official Trailer by Dread Central

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Lake Bell Joins 'The Coup'; Brenton Thwaites in 'Gods of Egypt'; Salma Hayek Learns "Hot to Make Love"

* The multi-talented Lake Bell (In a World...) is moving back in front of the camera for The Coup, joining Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan in the thriller directed by John Erick Dowdle. Co-written by Dowdle and his brother Drew, the film centers on an American family living in Southeast Asia who must flee a dangerous rebel leader when a violent coup erupts. Bell will play "Annie Dwyer, a woman who is loved by everyone and has a seemingly perfect family life, but wonders sometimes if she should be happier than she is." [THR]

* Fast-rising star Brenton Thwaites, who has the Disney adaptation Maleficent and the lead role in The Giver coming up, has added another major project. He'll join Alex Proyas' Gods of Egypt, which stars Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Geoffrey Rush. Thwaites will play a human thief who teams up with the god Osiris to get revenge on Set, who murdered his own brother and cursed the land. [Deadline]

* Salma Hayek has won the lead role in How to Make Love Like an Englishman, a sexually-charged romantic comedy that stars the suddenly ubiquitous Pierce Brosnan and Jessica Alba. Directed by Tom Vaughn, the story has Brosnan as a hedonistic Cambridge University professor who falls for the perfect woman played by Hayek. Unfortunately it happens after he's already impregnated her grad student stepsister, played by Alba. [Deadline]

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Sure Shots: 'Maleficent'; Mireille Enos; Gary Oldman

* Newcomer Brenton Thwaites has landed the plum gig as the prince in Maleficent, the Sleeping Beauty retelling that will be centered on the titular evil witch. He'll join Angelina Jolie, Dakota Fanning, Juno Temple, Sharlto Copley, Imelda Staunton, Sam Riley, Miranda Richardson, and Lesley Manville in the Robert Stromberg-directed film. Thwaites is kindof a big deal in Australia, but this is the first notable thing he'll do in the U.S. Well, that's unless you count Lifetime Networks' Blue Lagoon: The Awakening, which will premier in June. Which I don't. Maleficent is due to open March 14th 2014. [Deadline]

* Turns out AMC's The Killing has been fertile ground for producing future Hollywood stars. Following in the footsteps of Joel Kinnaman(aka your next Robocop), Mireille Enos is about to make her biggest move yet by joining Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth in The Devil's Knot. Atom Egoyan will direct the film based on the bittersweet true story of the West Memphis Three, but rather than this being another documentary on the subject, it will be a fully narrative venture. Enos will play Vicki Hutcheson, whose son was a playmate of the three murdered boys at the center of the story, and plays a key part in unraveling the mystery that shook the town. [Deadline]

* In the planning stages since 2005, Malcolm McDowell's film based on the crazy story of real life serial killer/con man/jewel thief Archibald Hall(aka Roy Fontaine) is finally taking shape. Gary Oldman, Dominic Monaghan, and Joanne Whalley are the latest to join the film, now titled Monster Butler after the killer's earned nickname. McDowell is in the lead role, with Monaghan as his first murder victim and ex-lover, David Wright. Oldman will play Wiggy, a taxidermist with anger issues who teams up with Hall to commit crimes. Doug Rath will direct when production kicks off in June. [THR]

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