Benjamin Walker and Teresa Palmer make 'The Choice'; William Hurt Joins 'Race'

You won't get much of a break between Nicholas Sparks adaptations for awhile, fellas. The Best of Me opens this month, followed by The Longest Ride early next year, and the next one has already found its tragic romantic couple. Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) and Teresa Palmer (Take Me Home Tonight) will star in The Choice, which centers on a couple in a small coastal town and "spans a decade of their love affair, which is ultimately tested by life’s most defining events." Vague much? At the helm for this one is Ross Katz, who directed the buzzed-about festival comedy Adult Beginners.  Hollywood has been trying to turn Walker into a star and audiences just aren't buying it, but maybe this will do the trick. [Deadline]

Veteran actor William Hurt (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) will hit the starting line for Race, the Jesse Owens biopic from director Stephen Hopkins. Stephan James stars as the controversial Olympic athlete, with Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice Van Houten, and Amanda Crew co-starring. Hurt will play Jeremiah Mahoney, President of the Amateur Athletic Union who helped lead a boycott against the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

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Review: 'The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them', starring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy

Ned Benson's The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is a unique thing, especially for a debut feature director. Originally designed as two movies, titled "Him" and "Her", both telling the same narrative from differing perspectives, the decision was made to appease audiences with a more neutral version titled "Them". The other two will be in theaters next month but "Them" is out now, and Benson's inexperience shows in tackling such a complicated narrative, but a pair of truly great performances save the day.

Similar in corrosive tone to Blue Valentine, the film chronicles the crumbling of the marriage between New York couple Eleanor Rigby (Jessica Chastain) and Connor (James McAvoy), when once it had been gloriously happy. When we first meet them it's at one of those high points, the two showing their playful side during a mischievous dinner date. "There's only one heart in this chest. Please be gentle with me.", he says to her early one. Nothing remotely gentle awaits him or the audience, however. The very next scene is a dazed and distraught Eleanor attempting to end her life on the Brooklyn Bridge. How such a loving couple could reach such a horrible low is a mystery that Benson keeps at arm's length and tucked inside solemn conversations. There's been a tragedy; one that left her depressed and him unable to cope with the hopelessness. When two people grieve differently it can drive a wedge between them worse than the tragedy itself.

Recovering after the suicide attempt, Eleanor shacks up with her family, leaving Connor without a clue as to what happened. Her father (William Hurt) is a college professor and psychologist, always speaking in well-meaning if clunky platitudes like "Tragedy is a foreign country. We don't know how to speak to the natives." Yeah, okay. Her mother (the great Isabelle Huppert) always has a glass of wine at the ready, and Eleanor's sister (Jess Weixler) needs a date. Poor Connor is left to manage his failing restaurant with chef pal Stuart (Bill Hader), while trying not to ask his successful father (Ciaran Hinds) for help. Eleanor and Connor move on without the other but find it hard to redefine themselves as single people. She heads back to school and strikes up a friendship with her abrasive professor (Viola Davis) who, in stark contrast to Eleanor, has abandoned all maternal instincts. Connor is stuck in emotional limbo; wanting to reconnect with Eleanor but finding it impossible to do so. He goes to some pretty extreme lengths to get her attention but it works, for better or worse.

Benson has a lot to say, and in melancholic fashion he explores the different ways people communicate with one another after a personal loss. Eleanor feels she has lost herself and struggles for reinvention, and she's surrounded by a family who are perhaps too eager to help. Connor is basically running in place, but the fact is he and Eleanor are weighed down by the burdens of the past and may always be. It's tough material, and Benson approaches it honestly. He's got a great visual eye, and his version of Brooklyn has a real majesty to it. Less effective is his screenplay which has characters making the kinds of awkward-sounding statements you'd never hear in life but always hear in badly written Hollywood movies. They probably read as very clever on the word processor but are less so in execution.

Fortunately, it helps when you have a cast as great as this one reciting the dialogue. Chastain and McAvoy are the stars here and they are simply incredible as two pained people trying to put on a brave front. McAvoy gives us flashes of the playful guy we've seen him play so often, but there's something darker lurking underneath it all. Chastain is, as always, beyond reproach, but it's fair to say that Eleanor remains a bit formless as a character. She remains a wisp of a figure through to the end; an idea of a character rather than a fully realized one. Despite this being a his and her story, Eleanor really is the focus and not being able to connect with her is an issue that perhaps only the "Her" version of the film can fix, and that should not be the case.The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby doesn't quite live up to the talent it's been gifted with, but Benson's bold first effort is worthy of attention.

 Rating: 3 out of 5

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James McAvoy & Jessica Chastain Fall Out of Love in 'The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby' Trailer

For his directorial debut, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Ned Benson has done something rather special. He's giving audiences as many ways to see the film as possible, each presenting the same love story from a different perspective.  There are the two 95-minute versions titled The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him, which played the festival circuit last year. And then there's the combined 2-hour version The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them, which opens this fall. The hope is that audiences will be so invested they'll want to see all three, and the new trailer makes a pretty good case why they should.

James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain are at the heart of this one, playing a married couple who have lost what they once had for one another. As their relationship deteriorates the story goes back to the beginning to find out where things went wrong. So basically this reads, and occasionally looks, a lot like Blue Valentine with many of the same joys and pains explored. William Hurt, Viola Davis, Nina Arianda, Bill Hader, Isabelle Huppert, and Jess Weixler make up a supporting cast more than capable of keeping up with the two stars.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them opens September 26th with the other movies arriving later this year.

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Review: 'Winter's Tale' Starring Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe

There's a reason Mark Helprin's quasi-religious book of spiritual hokum Winter's Tale has sat around for thirty years waiting to be adapted into a feature film. Dense, messy, and largely inept as a piece of romantic fantasy, it sits idle on the page no matter how many soaring speeches, flying horses, or fateful expressions of eternal love he poured into the voluminous tome. But superstar writer/producer Akiva Goldsman has always had an aching to adapt the material for his directorial debut, and while he dialed up all of his celebrity pals to get the project off the ground, no amount of star power can pump life into such an inert offering.

It's not totally Goldsman's fault as the source material is an incomprehensible, unwieldy slog, forcing the filmmaker to kick to the curb huge chunks of the story and numerous important characters. Without the streamlining effort we'd be talking about an incomprehensible 5-hour epic that by the end of it would still have audiences wondering what the sh*t they just sat through. As it stands, fans who plowed through the novel will be left disappointed that so much has been altered without any real benefit. Those new to the story will be curious how a film with such glowing rhetoric about fate, destiny, and the power of love can have so little heart.

Colin Farrell puts on his Irish charm to modest effect as Peter Lake, a petty thief navigating the tough streets of 1814 New York City. Lake's family had been immigrants turned away from entering the country, but they floated their baby boy to America in a replica ship. Growing up an orphan he turned to crime and fell in with brutal gangster Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe, scarred and sneering), who for unknown reasons now wants to kill Lake. Cornered by Soames' gang, Lake happens upon a magical white horse that becomes his "guardian" and friend, saving him on numerous occasions. The horse, which in the novel is known as Athansor, has a richer backstory that the film largely ignores, leaving us to wonder what the animal is and why it chooses Lake. We also come to learn that Pearly isn't just another crime boss; he's literally on the side of the demons battling against the forces of good and taking his evil marching orders from Lucifer himself, played with hysterical awfulness by Will Smith. Goldsman must have incriminating I am Legendphotos stashed away somewhere

After escaping on his magical steed, Lake is encouraged by the horse, not quite in Mr. Ed style but kind of telepathically, to rob the mansion home of a wealthy newspaper editor (William Hurt). The decision proves to be a fateful one as he meets the beautiful, flame-haired Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay), and despite his coming to rob the place, the two fall instantly in love. Not just an ordinary love, but the type of love that transcends time and space. And transcend their love does as the film inexplicably leaps forward in time to the present with Lake as a stumbling amnesiac drawing images in the pavement and easing his way rather easily into the life of a mother and her sickly daughter (Jennifer Connelly and Ripley Sobo). Neither seems all that concerned about the incredible circumstances surrounding Lake's presence in our time. Nobody seems all that concerned about anything, really. Except for Smith, who seems positively appalled that he's in this movie. Crowe is cheesy enough that we can assume he's having fun helping out his Cinderella Man scribe.

Beautifully shot in storybook flourishes by Caleb Deschanel, it's forever burdened by Goldsman's bloated script and Hans Zimmer's intrusive score. Not even the acclaimed musical maestro can get any emotion to ring true as Goldsman explores existential themes with the deftness of a lead weight.
Belief in miracles and the power of faith form the backbone of Helprin's story, and perhaps to an audience of the converted that's enough to overlook all of the fantastical contrivances that remain unexplained. But for those who require at least a little bit of plotting and characterization, the utter lack of either will be a constant frustration that Goldsman never seeks to correct. Often ranked high on the list of books deemed unfilmmable, it would have been better if Winter's Tale remained unfilmed.

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New Trailer for 'Winter's Tale' Starring Colin Farrell

There was a time when Mark Helprin's quasi-religious fantasy novel Winter's Tale was considered unfilmmable.After all it combines some pretty weird elements, from a flying time-traveling spirit horse to resurrection to a thief who acquires super powers in the wake of the apocalypse. But Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman decided it was the perfect film to make his directorial debut on, and in just a few short days we'll see the end result. But first we're being treated to a new trailer.

Starring Colin Farrell, the story centers on Peter Lake, a thief who breaks into the home of wealthy man, only to fall in love with his terminally ill daughter (Jessica Brown Findlay). Meanwhile Peter's being chased by his old gang (led by Russell Crowe), the narrative jumps ahead about 100 years, flying horses and the ideas of fate and reincarnation are introduced into the mix, and basically this could be one huge clusterbomb of a mess if Goldsman can't get a handle on it.

Co-starring William Hurt, Jennifer Connelly, and Will Smith, Winter's Tale opens February 14th.

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'The Gambler' Adds John Goodman; William Hurt is a 'Midnight Rider'; Olivia Thirlby in 'The White Orchid'

 
* John Goodman has been busy of late, as he can currently be seen in Inside Llewyn Davis, and will soon be a part of George Clooney's Monuments Men. The sought-after actor never stays idle for long, and has now joined Mark Wahlberg, Brie Larson, and Jessica Lange in a remake of The Gambler. Directed by Rupert Wyatt, the original 1974 film centered on an English professor who gets into gambling debt with the mob, but can't kick the habit because of the thrill gambling provides. The Gambler is expected to open in 2015. [TheWrap]

* CBGB director Randall Miller is moving on to another music biopic, only this one centers on the Allman Brothers. He's directing Midnight Rider, and coming aboard to play the older version of Gregg Allman is William Hurt. Tyson Ritter of All-American Rejects fame is playing the younger version, and the story will have the older Gregg looking back on his career as he attempts to get clean. [THR]

* It's a shame we haven't really seen much of Olivia Thirlby since Dredd, but hopefully that's about to change. She'll star in The White Orchid, a noir thriller from writer/director Steve Anderson that co-stars Jennifer Beals, Nichelle Nichols (the original Uhura from Star Trek!), Brendan Sexton, and John Carroll Lynch. Thirlby will play a social services investigator helping to track down the murderer of a blonde woman known as The White Orchid. [THR]

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Magical First Trailer for 'Winter's Tale' Starring Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe

It pays to be uber-producer Akiva Goldsman because you have no problem calling up a few friends to help out with your directorial debut. To his credit, Goldsman is taking on a film many considered to be unfilmmable, Mark Helprin's mystical, quasi-religious fantasy Winter's Tale. And now that the first trailer is here, it looks like all the hard work he's been putting into making this ambitious project happen has paid off.

Starring Colin Farrell, Jennifer Connelly, Jessica Brown-Findlay, and Russell Crowe, the time-hopping film follows Peter Lake, a petty thief who breaks into a rich man's Manhattan home, only to fall in love with his ailing daughter, Beverly Penn. While their relationship blossoms, Lake must also stay clear of the gangster Pearly Soames who wants to kill him. As suggested but not really spelled out in this beautiful but confusing trailer, there's a time jump of about 100 hundred years that takes place, along with other magical elements like a guardian angel in the form of a white horse. Surprisingly we don't get a chance to see Will Smith, who cameos as a judge integral to the story.

The film looks great, and like something that would probably play well during the holiday season. However we'll Winter's Tale arrive a couple of months later on Valentine's Day.

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Sure Shots: Christian Bale; William Hurt; 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

* It's been a long wait for those longing for another film from multi-Academy Award nominated filmmaker Todd Field(In the Bedroom, Little Children), but that time may finally be coming to an end. About a year ago we learned that Leonardo Dicaprio was circling a role in The Creed of Violence, an adaptation of Boston Teran's western novel set during the Mexican Revolution. While financing was always the major problem, that appears to have been resolved, and now word has emerged that Christian Bale has come aboard. It remains to be seen if Dicaprio is still interested, but if so that would make for one Hell of a pairing. The story follows an assassin and a Bureau of Investigations agent involved in a scheme to deliver illegal weapons across the border.




* The always reliable William Hurt has joined Akiva Goldsman's long developing adaptation of Winter's Tale, based on the quasi-religious fairy tale from Mark Helprin. With Colin Farrell and Jessica Brown Findlay(Downtown Abbey) starring, the film follows a small time thief who breaks into a wealthy family's home and falls in love with the terminally ill daughter who resides there. Time shifts, flying horses, and other crazy twists all factor into the story. Goldsman, a super-producer and writer with a string of hits under his sleeve called in a few favors getting Will Smith and Russell Crowe for smaller roles, and now he's got Hurt to play the sick girl's father. Must be nice to have such an extensive Rolodex. [Deadline]



* Even though the rumors had been flying around for weeks, many who aren't familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy were likely surprised when Marvel announced the film for August 1st 2014. The space-faring team is sort of the black sheep of the Marvel comic book universe(along with New Warriors), and has a quirkier tone than most others. What else would you expect from a team that has a gun-toting talking Rocket Raccoon and a giant tree monster named Groot? Fortunately, a writer known for off-kilter scripts has just come aboard with the addition of Chris McCoy. The Black List approved scribe will rewrite the script, initially penned by Nicole Periman. [THR]


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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Viola Davis, Bill Hader, Isabelle Huppert and more join 'The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby'

Already boasting a unique two-film premise that tells the same story from differing perspectives, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is looking like one of the more unique movies we'll see in 2013. Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy are set to play the husband and wife couple at the center of the story, and now as production kicks off, the rest of the cast has been filled out with some major names coming aboard.

Written and directed by Ned Benson, the film has now been joined by Viola Davis, William Hurt, Isabelle Huppert, Bill Hader, Ciaran Hinds, and Jess Weixler(Teeth), making for one incredibly strong cast that promises this will be an actor's showcase. Nina Arianda, who recently snagged the lead in Sean Durkin's Janis Joplin biopic, is set to play the couple's therapist, but we don't know anything about the other roles yet. The story is set in New York City, and has Chastain playing a wife who makes the surprising decision to return to college, while McAvoy is her restauranteur husband. Doesn't sound all that thrilling on the surface, but there must be something more to it with so many eager to be a part of it.

The two movies are said to be totally stand-alone, but make up one complete story when put together. It's an ambitious story, but with a cast like this that shouldn't be a problem nailing it just right. [ScreenDaily]

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