Production has commenced on George Clooney’s fifth feature directorial effort, the action-thriller The Monuments Men.  The Columbia Pictures/20th Century Fox co-production tells the true story of an unlikely World War II platoon made up of museum directors, curators, and art historians tasked by FDR with going into Germany and rescuing artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves before they are lost forever.  Clooney directs, stars in, and produces the film alongside his Smokehouse Productions partner Grant Heslov, with whom he also co-wrote the script.  Moreover, Clooney has assembled a truly remarkable cast that includes Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, John Goodman, and Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey).

Unfortunately Daniel Craig is not listed as part of the cast in the official press release, so it appears that he may have dropped out of the film.  Hit the jump for more, including the full press release.

Wes Anderson has never had much problem lining-up impressive ensembles for his movies.  Even his earlier movies have great casts albeit less famous ones.  In a recent interview with THR, Anderson revealed his next film, Grand Budapest Hotel, will have one of his best casts to date.  First, Anderson confirmed Ralph Fiennes, Bill Murray, and Saoirse Ronan were in the flick (Fiennes and Ronan are the leads).  But they’re only a small part of the large cast.  Anderson will reunite with Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Tilda Swinton, and Jason Schwartzman. Owen Wilson might also have a small role.  The movie will also include Jeff Goldblum, F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, and Mathieu Amalric (Quantum of Solace).

Hit the jump for more.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  Hyde Park on Hudson opens today in limited release.]

Hyde Park on Hudson is two stories: one is a bizarre, deeply misguided “love story” about a mistress; the other is a charming fish-out-of-water story set on a historical stage. Blended together, they make a film that’s unintentionally funny in its brazen schizophrenia where the plotlines overlap in terms of setting and nothing else. Director Roger Michell doesn’t seem to notice how different these stories are, and instead of choosing the superior one, his vacillation makes the picture a captivating train wreck where I couldn’t help but wonder if Michell was being subversively hilarious. How else do you explain a scene featuring cinema’s most romantic handjob?

Opening this weekend, in limited release, is director Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson.  The film stars Bill Murray as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and centers on a weekend in 1939 which marked the first ever visit to America by a British monarchy when King George VI (Samuel West)  and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Coleman) visited FDR’s upstate New York cottage.  The monarchs’ concerns over German aggression must compete with Roosevelt’s wife (Olivia Williams), mother and cousin Daisy (Laura Linney), who are all vying for attention

During the press day I got to speak with Linney.  We talked about how she got involved in the project, what it was like working with Bill Murray, whether playing a real person made her more nervous, how she prepared for the role, and more.  In addition, towards the end of the interview I brought up Love Actually (one of my favorite holiday movies).  Hit the jump to watch.

The first trailer for writer/director Roman Coppola’s A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III has been released.  The film stars Charlie Sheen as a successful graphic designer whose fame and fortune have made him irresistible to women.  After his girlfriend breaks up with him, he heads into a downward spiral that forces him to look back on his failed romantic history.  We previously saw some rather strange teaser posters for the film, and this trailer is certainly a trip.  Sheen is joined on his journey by Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, who look to be playing a couple of suitably colorful characters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Aubrey Plaza, Patricia Arquette, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Katheryn Winnick.  A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III opens on February 8th. [Update: A batch of high-resolution images has been released and are now included after the jump.]

We recently got a promising look at writer/director Roman Coppola’s (Moonrise Kingdom) upcoming film A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III by way of a few new images, and now a curious batch of teaser posters has been released.  The pic stars Charlie Sheen as a successful graphic designer whose fame and fortune have made him irresistible to women.  After his girlfriend breaks up with him, he heads into a downward spiral that forces him to look back on his failed romantic history.  These posters boast the name of the film’s stars alongside a corresponding sexually suggestive image, and while I’m not exactly sure what it all means, I’m sufficiently intrigued.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and a brief bit of the first footage from the film.  Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza, and Patricia Arquette also star.  A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III opens on February 8th.  [Update: We've updated the article with hi-res versions of the posters along with the first images from the film.]

A couple new images from writer/director Roman Coppola’s upcoming film A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III have emerged.  The pic stars Charlie Sheen as a successful graphic designer whose fame and fortune have made him irresistible to women.  After his girlfriend breaks up with him, he heads into a downward spiral that forces him to look back on his failed romantic history.  We previously saw a few images that focused on Sheen’s character, but this promising new batch gives us a look at Cowboy Bill Murray, an afro’d Jason Schwartzman, and the very funny Aubrey Plaza.  Based solely on these pictures, I’m already itching for a spinoff focusing solely on Schwartzman’s character.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images.

Three new clips have gone online for director Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson.  Starring Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt, the film centers on a visit of England’s King George VI (Samuel West) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Coleman) to Roosevelt’s upstate New York home, Hyde Park on Hudson.  The monarchs’ concerns over German aggression must compete with Roosevelt’s wife, mother and mistress who are all vying for attention.  The following clips do a nice job at establishing the relationships between the various parties.  You can read Matt’s review of the film here.

Hyde Park on Hudson opens domestically on December 7th.  Hit the jump to view the new clips.

George Clooney has lined up an incredible cast for his next film, Monuments Men.  As we previously reported, the story centers on a group of art experts selected by the U.S. Government to chase down the stolen art of Europe during World War II.  Aside from the terrific premise, Clooney, who co-wrote the film with partner Grant Heslov, will star alongside a cast that includes Daniel Craig, Jean Dujardin, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett.  Dujardin, Murray, and Blanchett had previously been mentioned in connection with the film, and Craig is a strong addition along with other new cast members John Goodman, Bob Balaban, and Downton Abbey‘s Hugh Bonneville.

Hit the jump for more.

Wes Anderson is a very specific filmmaker.  Flip on a couple seconds of any of his seven feature films and you’ll instantly recognize it as distinctively “Wes Anderson-y.”  Not everyone loves his peculiar style and controlled aesthetic choices, but fans of Anderson relish being enveloped by a wholly new world with each subsequent feature.  The filmmaker’s output has been met with varying degrees of success over the years, but his latest film is a prime example of the bliss that results from the perfect marriage of director and material.  Hit the jump for our review of Moonrise Kingdom on Blu-ray.

Here’s what we have in store for our latest poster round-up:

• Iron Man 3, featuring a close-up of Iron Man (fitting, since the film will now be released in 3D).  Starring Robert Downey Jr., Ben Kingsley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau, Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 opens May 3th, 2013.
• Jack Reacher, the Christopher McQuarrie adaptation of Lee Child’s novel, stars Tom Cruise as the titular tough guy.  The film, also starring Rosamund Pike, opens December 21st, 2012.
• This Must Be the Place, starring Sean Penn as a Nazi-hunting former glam rocker, opens November 2nd, 2012.
• Hyde Park on Hudson, featuring Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt, opens in limited release starting December 7th.

Hit the jump to see the posters and synopses. 

Writer/director Wes Anderson’s wonderfully entertaining Moonrise Kingdom remains one of the best films of 2012, and now the aesthetically inclined filmmaker is already gearing up to start shooting his next feature.  We learned in July that he was courting some big names for his new film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and recently it was confirmed that Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Edward Norton, and Owen Wilson would definitely be joining the cast.  Now we have confirmation that frequent collaborator Bill Murray and Murder She Wrote legend Angela Lansbury will also be a part of the ensemble.  Hit the jump for more.

Hyde Park on Hudson is two stories: one is a bizarre, deeply misguided “love story” about a mistress; the other is a charming fish-out-of-water story set on a historical stage.  Blended together, they make a film that’s unintentionally funny in its brazen schizophrenia where the plotlines overlap in terms of setting and nothing else.  Director Roger Michell doesn’t seem to notice how different these stories are, and instead of choosing the superior one, his vacillation makes the picture a captivating train wreck where I couldn’t help but wonder if Michell was being subversively hilarious.  How else do you explain a scene featuring cinema’s most romantic handjob?

Writer/director Wes Anderson has a close relationship with the wonderful folks at the Criterion Collection, and now one of his films that previously got the Criterion DVD treatment has finally gotten the Blu-ray upgrade.  When The Royal Tenenbaums opened in 2001, it marked Anderson’s first major film as a “known” director.  He burst onto the scene with 1996’s Bottle Rocket, but it was Rushmore that really launched his career.  As such, The Royal Tenenbaums came with some pretty lofty expectations.  Anderson honed the script with his partner Owen Wilson and went about assembling a truly remarkable ensemble cast.  The results are kind of a mixed bag of humor, drama, and wit, but the film works more often than it doesn’t.

Hit the jump for my review of The Royal Tenenbaums Criterion Blu-ray.

We recently learned that Charlie Sheen’s new TV series Anger Management has been picked up for a whopping 90 episodes, but Sheen also has a fairly high profile feature film role coming up soon.  The actor stars in Roman Coppola’s A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III in which he plays a successful graphic designer whose fame and fortune have made him irresistible to women.  After his girlfriend breaks up with him, he heads into a downward spiral that forces him to look back on his failed romantic history.

The first images from the film have landed online today, giving us a look at Sheen and co-stars Bill Murray and Jason Schwarztman in character.  Moreover, we’ve also got some enticing plot details from Coppola, who’s probably best known professionally for his collaborations with Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom, The Darjeeling Limited).  Hit the jump for more.