Gorgeous Trailer for 'Far from the Madding Crowd' with Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts

The combination of Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone) and director Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt) on an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 19th century novel Far from the Madding Crowd would seem like obvious Oscar bait. So it was a little disappointing that nothing had been seen from the film yet, certainly not on the festival circuit where it could have made an early impression. But those of us who have been waiting anxiously can now rest easy because the first trailer has been released and it is absolutely beautiful.

Mulligan takes the iconic role of Bathsheba Everdene, a beautiful and strong woman who captures the attention of three very different men. Schoenaerts plays the poor shepherd, Gabriel Oak; Tom Sturridge is the handsome soldier Francis Troy; and Michael Sheen is the wealthy farmer, William Boldwood. Along with the gorgeous cinematography by Charlotte Bruus Christensen, this brief footage captures the passion within each of these characters, contrast by the simplicity of the period. In other words, I can't wait for this one.

Far from the Madding Crowd opens May 1st 2015.


Far from the madding crowd - Trailer (HD) by Trailers y Estrenos

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Kit Harington and Andy Samberg Serve Up '7 Days in Hell'; Allison Williams is Peter Pan

 Being a part of the HBO family comes with many perks. Not only are you a frequent target for Emmy nominations, but it also leads to some pretty big opportunities outside of the network. And now we're seeing two members of the HBO fam taking on new projects, one that sounds potentially awesome and another that could be disaster in the waiting.

First up, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington will team up with Andy Samberg for the star-studded tennis mockumentary, 7 Days in Hell. Check out the cast being assembled for this one: Fred Armisen, Lena Dunham, Will Forte, Karen Gillan, Howie Mandel, Soledad O’Brien (!!!), Michael Sheen, Mary Steenburgen and Oscar nominee June Squibb. Samberg and Murray Miller developed the story with Miller writing the script, and it follows two fierce tennis rivals during an epic 7-day match at Wimbledon. SNL's Jake Szymanski is directing. [Deadline]

And then there's Allison Williams, who plays vocally-challenged wannabe singer Marnie Michaels on Girls. She'll kind of get her wish in a sense as Williams has agreed to play the boy who wouldn't grow up in NBC's Peter Pan Live. She'll sing and dance alongside Christopher Walken as Captain Hook, and hopefully this won't be as terrible as their live version of The Sound of Music. Ratings be damned, that thing sucked.

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DVD Review: 'The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box', Starring Michael Sheen and Sam Neill

When you see the cast listing for this film, you'll get very excited. They're all veteran actors who are very talented, which is why their names on the cover of The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box is very misleading. The film itself is fast-paced but lacks any real adventure or momentum. Forced mystery and intrigue make for a film that relies too heavily on attempted tricks and twists without backbone to keep it from falling apart. 

Mariah Mundi (Aneurin Barnard) and his younger brother Felix (Xavier Atkins) don't take their parents' (Ioan Gruffudd and Keeley Hawes) jobs seriously. The adults are professors at a university in England, but secretly work for an organization tasked with protecting ancient artifacts. One of these artifacts is the Midas Box, a box thought to turn everything placed inside to gold. Of course, the box is supposed to by a myth, but Otto Luger (Sam Neill) is searching for the box, myth or not, and is close to finding it. 

When Mariah's parents vanish and Felix is kidnapped, Mariah is sent to a remote island hotel by Charity (Michael Sheen) to spy on Otto. He gets help from Sacha (Mella Carron), a maid in the hotel, and they set off on their own adventure to find the Midas Box before Otto and his accomplice Monica (Lena Heady) and protect it from misuse. 

The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box sets out to be a grand adventure that families can enjoy, but is bogged down by a ridiculous plot, cringe-worthy dialogue, and wooden characters. The film boasts a lot of fantastical happenings that try to make sense of themselves, but fall short of making the plot any better. It is instead a tangled web that the writers have written themselves into with no plausible way out. 

The cast includes big names, most of which are over-the-top and badly written characters, and others, like Ioan Gruffud, are in the film for about three minutes. Blink and you'll miss him. Michael Sheen's character is meant to be the funny mentor, but his role isn't quite clear in the larger scheme of things. For example, he also comes to the hotel after Mariah does, only in a magician's disguise. But if he's also there to investigate, then why not tell Mariah what his plan is, instead of leaving the teenager to his own devices and hoping he'll figure everything out? That sounds irresponsible and unnecessarily complicated.    

Also, Aneurin Barnard has no charm, charisma, or any real will as Mariah. And as the lead character, he comes off as too flat and not someone we can get behind. A lot of the time, his expression remains severe, and his trust of Sacha proves unreasonable, seeing as how she does nothing to prove she is trustworthy. Instead, her inclusion into the story stems from the need to have a female protagonist somewhere in the movie, which doesn't add anything to the film except for the audience's confusion. 

The dialogue and the need to include several side adventures and information are the major drawbacks to the film outside of the characters. The film, which is based on the novel by G.P. Taylor, includes so much eye-rolling dialogue that it's hard to take the film seriously, even though it takes itself seriously. There's just too much going on sometimes, most especially in the finale, as though it's singularly trying to cram in everything at once and it can be headache-inducing. 

Unlike the title suggests, the film isn't really all that adventurous. There's no thrill to the tale that unfolds, and it frustrates far more than it excites. Uninteresting characters, questionable plot, and bad dialogue make this film rather stale and the complete opposite of what the expectation is. Forgettable and flat, the film tries and fails at being an adventure that the entire family can enjoy. 

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Willem Dafoe Joins 'John Wick'; Michael Sheen In 'Madding Crowd'; Jason Patric Enters 'Hotel 33'

* Willem Dafoe will be both a friend and foe to Keanu Reeves in the hit man flick, John Wick. Reeves stars as the title character, a retired assassin who tracks down the men responsible for stealing his 1969 Mustang and killing his dog, with Dafoe as his former best friend and fellow contract killer who puts a bounty on his head. [Deadline]

* Filming is underway on Thomas Vinterberg's adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd, with  Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Juno Temple, and Tom Sturridge already on board. Rounding out the cast now is Michael Sheen in the role of William Boldwood, one of the three men courting the beautiful Bathsheba Everdene. David Nicholls (One Day, Starter for 10) adapted the screenplay.

* Back in May we learned that Nicolas Cage was set to star in writer/director Kellie Madison's horror, Hotel 33. That deal has since fallen through, and now Cage has been replaced by Jason Patric. Quite a step down, to be perfectly honest. He'll play the detective investigating the disappearance of a friend in the same hotel where 33 people disappeared back in 1953. [Variety]

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Michael Sheen, John Malkovich, Armie Hammer, Teresa Palmer, and Ben Kinsley join indie 'Cut Bank'

How fair is it that Matt Shackman has been given a cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Teresa Palmer, Michael Sheen, John Malkovich, and Armie Hammer for his directorial debut? Well, it's not fair at all, but this is what happens when the script was one of the most sought after in all of Hollywood.

They've joined the cast of Cut Bank, based on the 2009 Black List script by Robert Patino. The indie crime thriller follows an ex-high school football star turned auto mechanic who desperately wants to escape him Cut Bank, Montana hometown that is frozen in time. Hammer is likely up for the lead role, while the others will play residents who get caught up in whatever scheme his character hatches.

Obviously this is a big move for Shackman, who has directed episodes of Mad Men, House, and other successful television shows. Filming is set to begin in the fall. [Variety]

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Trailer Time: 'Jesus Henry Christ', starring Toni Collette and Michael Sheen

Jesus Henry Christ seems to have all the right things going for it. Toni Collette and Michael Sheen, two immensely gifted actors take center stage in the film, which Julia Roberts saw enough potential in to executive produce. Dennis Lee, who led the star-studded Fireflies in the Garden last year(which also featured Roberts), is directing based on his own Student Award winning short film. Oh, and Stephen Hawking loves it enough to make a rare appearance as well. The story follows 10-year old genius James Hervin(Sunshine Cleaning's Jason Spevack), who wants to find his real father but learns he was conceived via sperm donation.  Ok, sounds good enough, so what's the problem?

While there's nothing really wrong with the newly released trailer, it bears too close a resemblance to the films of Wes Anderson for my liking. Lots of quirky, self aware characters with no real emotional center. Even the music sounds like pure Anderson. Mainly, Dennis Lee doesn't do much for me as a director, and as we saw last year he's perfectly capable of wasting a wealth of top notch talent. But I like every person in the film, including Spevack who was a joy to watch in Sunshine Cleaning and Ramona and Beezus, so hopefully my sensors are misfiring this time.

Jesus Henry Christ opens on April 20th. Check out the trailer below....

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