Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures announced today that filming has begun in Vancouver on director Gareth Edwards’ (Monster) new Godzilla film. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Juliette Binoche lead a cast that also includes David Strathairn and Bryan Cranson.  Additionally, the press release notes that Ken Watanabe has now joined the film as well.  Though plot details are firmly under wraps, we know from the film’s brief Comic-Con appearance last year that Edwards is taking a grounded, realistic approach to the classic monster.  His take attempts to answer the question, “What would it be like if all of this really happened?”

Edwards is working from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Frank Darabont, and Dave Callaham.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.  Godzilla opens in 3D on May 16, 2014.

Check out the latest casting announcements below:

• David Strathairn (Lincoln) is in talks to join director Gareth Evans’ Godzilla reboot, also starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and Bryan Cranston.  Godzilla is due to open May 16, 2014.
• Emily Blunt (Looper) has replaced Emma Watson as journalist Emma Forrest in the upcoming memoir adaptation Your Voice in My Head, which previously had director David Yates attached.

Hit the jump for more.

Although the last quarter of this year is positively stacked with fantastic films, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln should be on your short list. The period piece is less a cut-and-dry biopic of America’s 16th President, played perfectly as always by Daniel Day-Lewis, and more of an examination of the burdens placed on Lincoln to keep a nation from falling apart while abolishing slavery and attempting to hold his personal life together.  While the film is excellent overall (you can read my review here), a highlight of Lincoln is the excellent supporting cast.  A previous selection of clips focused mainly on the President, but this new batch  shows off snippets of the performances by Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader and David Strathairn to name a few.  Hit the jump to check them out.

Lincoln, also starring Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lee Pace and Hal Holbrook, opens November 16th.

Just in time for Election Day, a new international trailer for director Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln has been released, and it’s by far the best one yet.  This trailer actually delves into the central focus of the long-in-the-works drama—the passing of the 13th Amendment—and gives us a much better idea of what kind of biopic Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner have crafted.  Much of this trailer is reminiscent of The West Wing, with Daniel Day-Lewis’ Lincoln and his advisers working to secure enough votes to ensure that the amendment will pass.  The trailer also teases the multitude of strong performances from the ridiculously talented ensemble, and I can’t wait to see the whole thing unfold onscreen.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Oyelowo, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, John Hawkes, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Strathairn, Walton Goggins, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill, Jackie Earle Haley, Lee Pace and Jared Harris.  Lincoln opens on November 16th.

We posted the first teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln earlier this week in anticipation of the full trailer being released during the Google + Q&A.  Now that the full trailer is online, we finally get a chance to hear Daniel Day-Lewis speak as Abraham Lincoln.  If I’m being honest, his choice of tone and inflection is not exactly what I had expected, but who am I to tell Day-Lewis what to do?  There are plenty of scenes in the legislative houses, on the streets and on the battlefield, and they all give a sense of scope and tone to the film, just like Spielberg said it would during the Q&A.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Oyelowo, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, John Hawkes, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Strathairn, Walton Goggins, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill, Jackie Earle Haley, Lee Pace and Jared Harris. Lincoln opens on November 16th. [Update: We added 7 new images after the jump]

The first teaser trailer for director Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln has been released.  The teaser comes just days ahead of the first full trailer and live Google+ Q&A with Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  The teaser gives us our first look at Daniel Day-Lewis in motion, though we only see glimpses of him as the titular President.  There’s also a shot of who appears to be David Oyelowo dressed in Union attire as he turns and walks away from Lincoln.  A narration of the Gettysburg address plays over scenes of Civil War combat, but who is speaking remains unclear for the moment.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, John Hawkes, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Strathairn, Walton Goggins, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill, Jackie Earle Haley, Lee Pace, and Jared Harris. Lincoln opens on November 16th.

[With The Bourne Legacy set to open this Friday, we'll be taking a look back at the original Bourne trilogy.  These reviews will contain spoilers since the movies have been out for years.  Click here for my review of The Bourne Identity and click here for my review of The Bourne Supremacy.]

In 2004, the post-9/11 American had begun to take shape and The Bourne Supremacy reflected that change.  It provided a conscious subtext, but the movie remained first and foremost an action-thriller.  But by 2007, the change in our country was no longer worthy of a simple observation.  The change had produced a feeling, and that feeling was anger.  We had been misled into a war, and the government was taking extraordinary powers against Americans in the name of protecting Americans.  The Bourne Ultimatum is unapologetically political, which is its greatest weakness and its greatest strength.  Director Paul Greengrass still delivers a pulse-pounding blockbuster that retains the same intensity of Supremacy, but he pushes audiences to not only recognize the seismic shift in our country, but to confront our complicity in it.

Steven Spielberg‘s Abraham Lincoln movie, Lincoln, has landed a release date.  We previously reported that the film would open after the 2012 Presidential election so to as avoid any accusation that the movie was making a political statement (we’ll let the trailers and other advertising allow pundits to bloviate and fill airtime draw their own conclusions).  Disney has announced that the movie will open in limited engagement on November 9th before expanding nationwide on November 16th.  It’s worth noting that Lincoln will still be fighting vampires, except this time it will be at the box office.  The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 also opens on November 16th.

Lincoln stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th President, and the all-star cast also features Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, John Hawkes, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Strathairn, Walton Goggins, David Oyelowo, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill, Jackie Earle Haley, Lee Pace, and Jared Harris. Hit the jump for a synopsis of the source material.

A new trailer for The Bourne Legacy has gone online. Rather than just a reboot, this feels like a direct sequel with Jason Bourne’s actions from the previous films creating the conflict for the new movie.  This time around, a government task force led by Edward Norton‘s character is assassinating all their genetically-modified assets to prevent another Bourne situation.  However, one member of the program (Jeremy Renner) manages to escape with a scientist (Rachel Weisz), and the two go on the run for their lives.  There are some cool stunts in the trailer, but I want to see more of the characters’ personalities rather than just the conspiracy/chase angle.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Stacy Keach, and Oscar Isaac.  The Bourne Legacy opens August 3rd.

Oscar-nominee David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck.) has been cast in the Steven Spielberg-directed Abraham Lincoln biopic, Lincoln. Straithairn will make a turn as Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward, in the film which is scheduled to begin filming this fall in Virginia in time for a fourth quarter 2012 (a.k.a. “Oscar season”) theatrical release. The actor joins a cast that already includes Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. Spielberg had this to say of Strathairn’s casting:

“Throughout his career, David Strathairn has consistently delivered  performances of strength and character. That’s why I am so pleased that he will portray the Secretary of State, who became such a dominant figure in Lincoln’s ‘team of rivals’ cabinet.”

For those unaware, Lincoln is written by Oscar-nominee Tony Kushner (Munich) and is based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin book, Team of Rivals. Last month, we reported that Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon Levitt, James Spader, John Hawkes and several others were in serious talks to join the pic as well. As for Strathairn, he can next be seen alongside Rachel Weisz in the drama The Whistleblower which hits U.S. theaters on August 5th. Hit the jump to check out a synopsis of Goodwin’s book.

The US trailer for The Whistleblower has gone online.  Based on real events, Rachel Weisz stars as a UN peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia who uncovers rampant corruption and a massive cover-up of criminal activity.  The film played the festival circuit last year to positive notices and I’m glad I’ll finally get a chance to see it in the near future.  In addition to Weisz, the impressive cast features David Strathairn, Monica Bellucci, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jason Isaacs, and Vanessa Redgrave.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The Whistleblower opens August 5th.

David Strathairn, Molly Parker, Parker Posey, Rodrigo Santoro, Tony Shalhoub, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, Santiago Cabrera, Saverio Guerra, Peter Coyote, and Diane Baker have joined the cast of Hemingway & Gellhorn.  The HBO film tells the story of Ernest Hemingway (played by Clive Owen) and Martha Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman), two literary minds who challenged each other throughout a “tumultuous romance and subsequent five-year marriage.” (Gellhorn reportedly inspired one of Hemingway’s most acclaimed novels, For Whom the Bell Tolls.)  Philip Kaufman (Quills) is set to direct; James Gandolfini will executive produce.

Hit the jump for the character breakdown.

James Franco, 2010’s most oddly ubiquitous entertainer, played two real life figures onscreen last year: poet Allen Ginsberg and survivalist Aron Ralston. While Ginsberg is presumably still the better known name, far more moviegoers checked out 127 Hours than Howl, the little seen biography about the Beat founding father from acclaimed documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Although Howl marks the duo’s narrative film debut, they break from traditional biopic form by utilizing a unique mix of documentary-style interviews, Hollywood-style courtroom dramatics and animated sequences to depict the inspiration behind, creation of and aftermath of Ginsberg’s most famous poem, “Howl.” While pretty boy Franco is a somewhat odd choice to play the less-than-beautiful, but never less-than-charismatic Ginsberg, the actor adeptly portrays the poet’s repressed romantic yearnings, heartbreak over friend’s and family’s treatment by mid-century mental health professionals and, most importantly, his electrifying ability to manipulate the English language. The film itself, however, is a mixed bag: poetic where it should be prosaic; diffuse where it should be focused.  My review after the jump:

With writer-director Julie Taymor’s The Tempest opening December 10 in New York and Los Angeles, we’ve been given 5 clips and 15 high resolution images from the film.  Adapted from William Shakespeare, Taymor has added a twist to the material by switching the gender of the sorcerer Prospero into the sorceress Prospera (who is played by Oscar winner Helen Mirren).  In addition, Taymor has brought along an all-star cast featuring Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Alan Cumming, Ben Whishaw, Reeve Carney, Felicity Jones, and Tom Conti.

Hit the jump to check out the clips and images.  Look for interviews with the cast next week.

New images have been released for the upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest starring Helen Mirren and Russell Brand.  Written and directed by Julie Taymor, who also helmed 2007’s Across the Universe as well as the fantastic stage adaptation of The Lion King, the Shakesperean comedy features a fantastic cast that includes David Strathairn, Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, Chris Cooper and Alan Cumming.  We recently brought you the visually impressive trailer for the film, which hits theaters on December 10^th. Hit the jump to check out the new images.