New on DVD & Blu-ray: 'Thor: The Dark World', 'Gravity', 'Nebraska'

Thor: The Dark World - Thor is back, sans the Avengers, and is trying to stop a new threat that has the ability to overpower and plunge the world into darkness. In between all this, he gets back with Jane, teams up with Loki on purpose, and of course, tries to save the world in all his blonde, hammer-holding, cape-blowing glory. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Jaime Alexander, and Stellan Skarsgard. 

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Gravity - I'm sure everyone had a dream of becoming an astronaut at some point in their lives. Well, Alfonso Cuaron has probably shattered the dreams of many when he made this film, but regardless, Cuaron still makes space that much more beautiful, mysterious, and dark. Ultimately, the movie is the story of survival, perseverance in fear, and humanity, with plenty of suspenseful moments packed throughout. The film stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. 

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Nebraska - The lottery is a big deal for aging and confused Woody. He is set on making the trip from Montana to Nebraska just so he can claim the $1 million mega sweepstakes marketing prize. You know, the ones you usually get in the mail and throw away because you know there's a catch and it's not real. Instead of trying to prevent, because he's tried, David takes his dad to Nebraska, but not before coming to terms with certain things about their lives first. The film stars Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, and Stacy Keach.

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Blue is the Warmest Color - The winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, La vie d'Adele (the title in French) follows Adele as she explores her sexuality and embarks on a relationship with the free-spirited Emma. The relationship changes Adele as she explores and learns and lives. The film stars Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. 

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Harry Potter Hogwarts Collection (Amazon Exclusive) - This 31-disc collection contains all eight Harry Potter movies on Blu-ray, DVD and UltraViolet and more than 45 hours of special features including the Creating the World of Harry Potter documentary series on Blu-ray. What better way to celebrate your love of all things Harry Potter than with this extra special collection! 

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Mr. Nobody - The movie is about life's choices. How one different decision can alter an entire lifetime as told by 118-year old Nemo, who recounts his tale to a reporter at the three most important stages in his life and possible alterations to his life. The film stars Diane Kruger, Jared Leto, and Sarah Polley.

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Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale - The Forbidden Arts entered Earth from the underworld, intent on destroying all of its rivals for power. It learned of a legend that the Swan Princess will bring an age of goodness and evil will lose its power in her presence, but she can be defeated by a magical stone. Princess Odette and Prince Derek adopt a young girl named Alise and must save her when she's kidnapped. 

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Twice Born - A single mother brings her son to Sarajevo years after his father died in the Bosnian war. The film is shrouded in mystery and tragedy in the wake of some unanswered questions of paternity. The film stars Penelope Cruz, Emile Hirsch, and Jane Birkin.

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Watch Kids Say the Darndest Things while Reenacting Best Picture Nominees

Forget all the lobbying and schmoozing that come with the Academy Awards, it's important to remember that these movies are supposed to be fun. Right? Ok, maybe not in the case of 12 Years a Slave, but even the grimness of Steve McQueen's historical drama can lighten the mood when performed by children. Cinefix have gathered up a bunch of kids, complete with oversized clothes, fake mustaches, and great wigs, to reenact scenes from this year's Best Picture nominees. So you can imagine how they look in vintage American Hustle gear, or giving a childish take on The Wolf of Wall Street. It's all cute and hilarious stuff, and the 12 Years A Slave bit is pretty clever, too. Frankly, I found the most offensive one to be Captain Phillips with a little boy waving a gun around. It's obviously fake but couldn't they have used a NERF or something?

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'Nebraska' Advance Screening Opportunity

Alexander Payne, the director of Sideways, The Descendants, and my personal favorite, Election, is back with the family road trip dramedy, Nebraska. Starring Will Forte and Bruce Dern, the film centers on an aging Montana man who is accompanied by his son on an 800 mile trip to Nebraska to claim $1M from a sweepstakes, which he may or may not have won. We want you to see this acclaimed film before it hits theaters by attending a free advance screening held at AMC Georgetown on Tuesday November 19th at 7:00pm. 

To qualify, you MUST be a fan of Punch Drunk Critics on Facebook,so if you haven't "Liked" us yet please go there and do so now. Simply email punchdrunktrav@gmail.com with  'Nebraska' in the subject line, and if chosen we'll send you a Gofobo code to attend the screening. Winners will be selected on Sunday November 17th.

Check out our review of Nebraska here. Good luck!

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VFF Review: 'Nebraska' Directed by Alexander Payne

Alexander Payne has always been a filmmaker who walks to the beat of his own drum, and his sixth movie Nebraska is no different. Only Payne could find a way to follow up the Hawaii-set The Descendants with a film that is both completely different and yet hits on familiar beats of family legacy, deep-rooted secrets, and the bond between parent and child. But whereas The Descendants' paradisal locale hid uncomfortable truths, the bleak depiction of the economically-depressed Midwest belies the sweet, sturdy father/son story at Nebraska's heart.

In a curmudgeonly performance already earning Oscar raves, Bruce Dern plays Woody Grant, a close-mouthed elderly alcoholic perhaps in the early stages of dimentia. Woody's convinced by one of those junk Publisher's Clearinghouse mailers that he's won a million dollars, and is determined to make the trek from Montana to Nebraska and claim it. Even if that means walking the distance himself, which he tries repeatedly to the infuriation of his pestering wife Kate (June Squibb), who doesn't believe he's won a darn thing. Neither do his sons, aimless retail salesman Dave (Will Forte) and small-town news broadcaster Ross (Bob Odenkirk) who fear that their old man has finally lost it. It's clear from the beginning that Woody isn't someone given to big expressions of emotion, and the distance between he and his sons has impaired what little relationship they have. In an effort to mend it, Dave decides to indulge his father's millionaire fantasy and drive him to Nebraska himself.

Payne has always been partial to the simplicity of the road trip movie, but Nebraska bears little resemblance to his wine-tasting buddy comedy, Sideways, or coming-of-old age film About Schmidt. In this case the journey from point A to B doesn't signify an emotional evolution, as the bulk of the character arcs occur before the destination is ever in reach. In fact part of the film's mystery is whether Dave and Woody will even reach Nebraska, as they are waylaid early on by the old man's drunken mishaps. Instead they end up staying in Woody's hometown with family, but the stay is anything but a pleasure trip.

Once word gets out that Woody has come into some money, family and marginal friends come from everywhere looking for a hand out. It's in Woody's reactions to these people who are obviously trying to take advantage of him that we, and Dave for that matter, learn more about the man's character. While he comes off as hard and emotionless, he's quietly generous and sensitive. As he becomes something of a local celebrity, we see a man who perhaps has never felt any measure of appreciation all his life, and is looking for some small glimmer of meaning in his golden years.

Many will take exception to Payne's depiction of flyover country and its simple, homespun residents, especially since most of them are portrayed as devious (especially Stacy Keach as an old "friend" to Woody) and venal. But Payne is a Nebraska boy through and through, and there's genuine appreciation of their lack of pretension. He finds great comedy in the simple observations of their lives, like the men who only break from silence to talk about football, money, or cars. This is a film of quiet, subtle character moments of introspection, but Payne finds room for touches of broader humor. Most of this comes from the extraordinary June Squibb as Kate, a spitfire of a woman who always seems to have something negative to say about everybody, including Woody. But underneath all her fiery rhetoric there's a softness, a gentleness that shines through. She's the most aggressive character in a film full of reactive ones.

But this is a film that lives and dies by its two leads, and both Dern and Forte hit all the right notes. Dern is getting all of the accolades for what is a truly understated performance that requires him to portray years of hard living and disappointment without the use of much dialogue. One especially tough scene occurs when they visit Woody's old home, and you can sense a flood of old painful memories washing over him. Comedians making the transition into drama generally have a tough go of it but Forte slides comfortably into a hangdog performance as Dave.

Shot in a beautiful, vintage monochrome style the film is a gorgeous, visual poem of small-town America. Nebraska is a small-scale movie that plays on such a restrained fashion that its impact in the final stretch, as Dave finally begins to understand his father for the first time, hits harder than one might expect. While some of the conclusions Payne draws about family life are ones we're used to from him him, the warmth he brings is a surprising and refreshing change of pace.

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Middleburg Film Festival Announces Main Slate of Films; 'Nebraska' Leads Impressive Line-Up

There are no shortage of film festivals scattered about the DC area; from my personal favorites the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesburg and Filmfest DC, to AFI Docs and the Maryland Film Festival, but we're about to get a serious new player on the scene. Local entrepreneur and power player Sheila Johnson announced a few months ago that she was kicking off the inaugural Middleburg Film Festival this fall, and she's bringing all of her Hollywood muscle to bear to get it started on the right foot. A member of the Sundance Institute and a producer on Lee Daniels' The Butler, Johnson has gone all out to make sure the opening line-up consists of special events, major celebrity starpower, and film slate full of Oscar contenders and festival favorites.

The Opening Night festivities begin on October 24th with a showing of Alexander Payne's black & white road trip drama Nebraska, which stars Bruce Dern and Will Forte. There has already been a ton of Academy Awards talk swirling around Dern's performance in the father/son film, especially after he won Best Actor at Cannes.

The Centerpiece Film is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which has also been earning potential awards consideration for star Idris Elba as renowned freedom fighter Nelson Mandela. The October 26th screening will be followed by a musical performance by South Africa's Yvonne Chaka Chaka, as part of the festival's emphasis on film scores.

A recent addition is John Wells' star-studded adaptation of August: Osage County, based on Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Benedict Cumberbatch,, Sam Shepard, Ewan McGregor, and more star in the ensemble about the women of the Weston clan, who are brought back home to Oklahoma under the roof of their eccentric mother after a family crisis.

Other major films to take note of: Like Father, Like Son, the latest provocative family drama from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda (Nobody Knows, I Wish). The story follows two families who learn that their sons were accidentally switched at birth six years earlier. Steven Spielberg recently snapped up the rights to an American remake.

Stephen Frears' TIFF People's Choice Award runner-up Philomena stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, and tells of a disgraced journalist who aids a woman's quest to be reunited with the child she was forced to give up in the 1950s.

Charming crowd-pleaser Le Week-End has Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan as a long-married couple who visit Paris to jumpstart their marriage. Jeff Goldblum co-stars.

The full slate of 17 films can be found here. The Middleburg Film Festival runs from Oct. 24-27, and of course we will be there.

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First Trailer for Alexander Payne's 'Nebraska' with Will Forte and Bruce Dern

For all of the quirkiness of Alexander Payne's The Descendants and Sideways, both films were relatively low-key affairs, emphasizing the relationship between characters above all else. His next film, the black-and-white dramedy Nebraska, debuted at Cannes and has already created an upswing in Oscar talk for the director and veteran actor Bruce Dern.

The first trailer and poster have been released, and Payne is clearly in familiar territory exploring the comic and bittersweet moments between loved ones. Dern plays an older man with a tenuous grip on reality, who comes to believe that he's won $1M in a sweepstakes. But to claim it he must make the journey from Montana to Nebraska. Will Forte plays his son, who agrees to accompany him even though he knows there's no money. The question becomes whether or not he's willing to destroy his father's dream just for a moment of sanity.  The trailer really captures the 1970s vibe Payne is going for, and this looks even more of a small-scale effort than his previous films.

Nebraska will open the Middleburg Film Festival here in VA on October 24th, before hitting theaters November 15th.


Alexander Payne's Nebraska - Official Trailer by FanReviews

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'Blue is the Warmest Color' takes Cannes' top prize; check out two clips now

The doors have closed on the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and now that all is said and done, this will go down as one of the strongest years for American filmmakers and American movies.  Films like Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station, the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis, Alexander Payne's Nebraska, and Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive all performed well and were greeted warmly by the picky crowd on the Croisette, but when all was said and done it was the French romance Blue is the Warmest Color that took home the festival's top prize.

Steven Spielberg and his jury have selected the French drama Blue is the Warmest Color as the Palm d'Or winner, taking the extraordinary step to grant it not only to Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche, but also to the two lead actresses Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos. It was a historic decision for a couple of reasons, none of which have to do with the lesbian romance at the heart of the story, although the steamy sex scenes are what has garnered the most attention. The win marks the first time that a movie based on a comic book has ever taken the Palm d'Or, as it's based on Julie Maroh's graphic novel Le Bleu est Une Couleur Chaude. The unique circumstances also mean that Jane Campion, who won in 1993 for The Piano, is no longer the only female Palm d'Or winner.

Bruce Dern, who was nominated for an Oscar 35 years ago for Coming Home, took the Best Actor prize for Nebraska, while Berenice Bejo won Best Actress for Asghar Farhadi's Iranian family drama, The Past.  Below you'll find the complete list of honors from the Un Certain Regard, FIPRESCI, and Ecumenical Jury categories, followed by two clips from Blue is the Warmest Color. 

PALME D’OR:
LA VIE D’ADÈLE - CHAPITRE 1 & 2 (Blue Is The Warmest Color) by Abdellatif KECHICHE

GRAND PRIX:
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by Ethan COEN, Joel COEN

PRIX DE LA MISE EN SCEN (BEST DIRECTOR):
Amat ESCALANTE for "HELI"

PRIX DU SCENARIO (BEST SCREENPLAY):
JIA Zhangke for "TIAN ZHU DING" ("A Touch Of Sin")

CAMERA D’OR (BEST FIRST FEATURE): 
"ILO ILO," Director: Anthony CHEN

PRIX DU JURY (JURY PRIZE):
"LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON" by KORE-EDA Hirokazu


PRIX D’INTERPRETATION FEMININE (BEST ACTRESS):
Berenice Bejo, "THE PAST"

PRIX D’INTERPRETATION MASCULINE (BEST ACTOR): Bruce Dern, "NEBRASKA"

PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD
THE MISSING PICTURE by Rithy PANH
 
JURY PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
OMAR by Hany ABU-ASSAD

DIRECTING PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARDAlain GUIRAUDIE for STRANGER BY THE LAKE

A CERTAIN TALENT PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
For the ensemble cast of LA JAULA DE ORO by Diego QUEMADA-DIEZ

AVENIR PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
FRUITVALE STATION by Ryan COOGLER

FIPRESCI PRIZE - COMPETITION PRIZE
Blue Is The Warmest Color (La vie d'Adèle — Chapitre 1 & 2) by Abdellatif Kechiche (France, 2013)

FIPRESCI PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD PRIZE
Manuscripts Don't Burn (Dast-Neveshtehaa Nemisvosand) by Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, 2013)

FIPRESCI PRIZE - PARALLEL SECTION
Blue Ruin by Jeremy Saulnier (USA, 2013), shown in the Directors' Fortnight.

ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE
LE PASSÉ/The Past de Asghar Farhadi (Compétition Officielle)

ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE - SPECIAL MENTION
SOSHITE CHICHI NI NARU (TEL PÈRE, TEL FILS)/Like Father Like Son de Hirokazu Kore-eda (Compétition officielle)
MIELE de Valeria Golino (Un Certain Regard)

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First clip from Alexander Payne's 'Nebraska'

The last time Alexander Payne made his presence felt at Cannes it was more than a decade ago with About Schmidt. Since then he's gone on to direct the beloved wine-drinking comedy Sideways, and scored his biggest theatrical hit with The Descendants. With the festival kicking off tomorrow, a new clip from Payne's latest film Nebraska has hit the web, and...well, it has all of the filmmaker's trademarks fully in place.

Starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte as Woody and David Grant, the long-developing film centers on the father/son duo as they make the trek from Montana to Nebraska to collect on a sketchy $1M lottery win. The clip features another screen veteran in Stacy Keach, who plays an obvious enemy friend Woody'a past. Payne's biting dialogue is apparent, especially as Keach's character reveals some crushing secrets without a second thought. Yet the tone still remains lighter than expected, a rare balance Payne has always been able to walk effortlessly.

Nebraska will open in limited release on November 22nd.


Nebraska by Alexander Payne Clip #1 by Flixgr

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Sure Shots: Robert Zemeckis; Kevin Costner; Alexander Payne

* After years away from live-action flicks, Robert Zemeckis is making his return with the Denzel Washington-led drama, Flight. Next up, he'll take over directing Taking Flight, and no, it isn't any kind of sequel or follow-up.  Zemeckis will now take over the project from David Gordon Green(Pineapple Express), who has apparently dropped it, likely to full concentrate on his Suspiria remake. Based on Bob Friel's proposed book,  Taking Flight: The Hunt for a Young Outlaw, the film follows Colton Harris-Moore, a young criminal who started stealing cars and boats at a young age, teaching himself how to fly in order to evade capture. At the age of 18 he escaped a halfway house and kicked his criminal activities up a notch, earning the nickname the "Barefoot Bandit" because on occasion he committed his thefts without shoes on. Earlier this year he was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison. Dustin Lance Black(Milk) is writing the script.[THR]

* Let the comeback of Kevin Costner continue! Already shinin' after the success of Hatfields & McCoys, along with his upcoming role in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, Costner has lined up two more projects. Costner is in talks to join Paramount's Jack Ryan reboot, which has Chris Pine starring as a younger version of the Tom Clancy character. Costner would play a mentor to Ryan, similar to the Admiral Greer character James Earl Jones played in Patriot Games. Actually, Jones is expected to reprise his role as Greer in the prequel, which is pretty cool in and of itself. Kenneth Branagh is directing, and hopefully we'll get a title for the film soon.

Luc Besson and his Europacorp studio are also looking at Costner for the role of a dying assassin in Three Days to Kill, a film which Besson is co-writing along with Adi Hasek. Sounding like The Professional with a ticking clock subplot, the story centers on the ailing killer who wants to reconcile with his daughter before he dies, while also tackling one final assignment. Apparently, McG(This Means War) is circling the directing gig, which means the movie may suck something fierce. [Deadline]

* Years in the making, Alexander Payne(The Descendants) is finally going to see his road trip comedy, Nebraska, headed to the big screen. The film has officially been greenlit, and will star Bruce Dern(Big Love) and Will Forte(MacGruber) in the two lead roles, that of an aging, hard-drinking dad who goes on a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his underachieving son to claim a sweepstakes prize he may not have actually won. Budgeted at $13M, this is a pretty big opportunity for both Dern and Forte, especially in the wake of Payne's recent Academy Award success. The script comes from Bob Nelson, with a recent polish by Payne. No word on when filming begins, but Paramount's plan is to have it ready by next year's awards season. [Deadline]

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