The Year That Was: 2014 in Film

Check out ALL of the PDC end of year lists!

Review: Ava DuVernay's 'Selma'

Starring David Oyelowo

Review: Rob Marshall's 'Into The Woods'

Starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Anna Kendrick

Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes'

Starring Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams

Showing posts with label christina hendricks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christina hendricks. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn Lead 'Blackbird'; Christina Hendricks Heads into 'The Hurricanes'



Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn are set to star in Blackbird, an adaptation of David Harrow's stageplay. Benedict Andrew will direct the film about "a confrontation between a man and a woman, estranged former lovers, who clash when the woman shows up unexpectedly at the man’s office." Filming is to kick off next summer. [Variety]

Quick, name the guy who directed My Cousin Vinny. Times up. It was Jonathan Lynn, and he hasn't done much to keep your attention since. He's back now with The Hurricanes, which will have Mad Men's Christina Hendricks as its star.  The story follows "Kim Ayers, who twenty years earlier was the perkiest member of a hit 80s girl-band, The Hurricanes. Today, she works as a children’s entertainer and struggles to raise her daughter alone. But things seem set to change when an iconic Hurricanes tune is sampled by top rapper MC Freak and shoots straight to number one. Kim tracks down Freak but soon discovers that a dodgy contract proves he owes her nothing. Nonetheless, struck by her fighting spirit, he offers her a lifeline. He will let her perform with him, but there’s a catch. He wants all three of the The Hurricanes. So Kim must locate estranged band-mates Nicky Bliss, last seen in rehab and Alex Moon, now an angry feminist poet, and persuade them to resurrect their once chart topping band." Did they just tell us the whole story? Whatever, maybe Lynn can do for Hendricks what he did for Marisa Tomei?

Friday, May 16, 2014

Snap Judgments Review: 'God's Pocket' Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman


John Slattery (Mad Men) makes his directorial debut with God's Pocket, a small-town crime drama based on Pete Dexter's novel. In one of his final performances, Philip Seymour Hoffman stars a Mickey, an outsider in the gritty blue-collar neighborhood known as "God's Pocket", who gets in over his head when his wife's son dies in a mysterious workplace incident. The cops are no help, his friends are no help, and things get even worse when a local journalist starts investigating the crime. The film co-stars Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, Caleb Landry Jones, Richard Jenkins, and Eddie Marsan.

Check out my Snap Judgments review of God's Pocket below.


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Monday, April 14, 2014

Philip Seymour Hoffman Buries the Truth in Trailer for 'God's Pocket'



This past Sundance was a welcome gift for fans of Philip Seymour Hoffman, with the actor starring in two high-profile films at the festival. One was Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man, which just debuted a trailer last week; and the other was God's Pocket, directed by Mad Men's John Slattery. Two projects by Hoffman are always to be celebrated, until suddenly we realized they would be the final two starring roles for the late actor. Now as a new trailer for God's Pocket has been released, it comes with the weight of sadness attached.

Based on the Pete Dexter novel, the film takes place in the titular hard-scrabble South Philly neighborhood, where Mickey (Hoffman) is attempting to hide the accidental death of his stepson who nobody liked. But as a reporter and the boy's mother (Christina Hendricks) start sniffing around for the truth, things go from bad to worse. Reviews weren't especially kind for the film after its premiere, but that was mainly aimed at Slattery's direction which, as seen in this trailer, seems to be going for a Coen Brothers vibe.

Also starring John Turturro and Richard Jenkins, God's Pocket opens May 9th.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Ryan Gosling to make directorial debut with 'How to Catch a Monster', Christina Hendricks to star


You can always tell which actors are going to have that directorial spirit in them, and Ryan Gosling seemed like an obvious choice right from the start. Considering the directors he's worked with over the last few years, including actor turned filmmaker George Clooney, he's probably been picking their brains on how best to make the transition. Now we're about to see the results of all that on-the-job training, as Gosling is set to make his directorial debut with the "fantasy noir", How to Catch a Monster.

The guys over at Shocktilyoudrop have the story, stating that Gosling will direct the film based on his own script, bringing along his Drive co-star Christina Hendricks for one of the lead roles. It sounds flat out weird, too, and not the kind of project you'd expect from Gosling, whose acting has been marked by grounded performances. Here's the plot...

Set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city, Billy, a single mother of two, is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town. Both Billy and Bones must dive deep into the mystery, if their family is to survive.

The story doesn't state whether or not Gosling wrote a role in there for himself, so I guess we'll have to wait and see. Production is slated to start next spring, and you can bet it'll be hitting some of the later season film festivals.  I'm curious to see where this next phase of his already great career takes him. Maybe he can direct that Drive sequel himself?