You might think that two-time Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman has done pretty much everything in his prolific career, but his upcoming film, Quartet, will be his directorial debut.  Centering on a nursing home for retired opera singers, Quartet shows that not everyone ages gracefully as the egos of a few threaten to disrupt plans for the home’s annual concert.  But the show must go on!

Quartet stars Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay and Michael Gambon opens domestically in limited release on December 28th and in the U.K. on January 4th 2013.  Hit the jump to watch the trailer and clip.

We’ve got a few new release dates for you this evening.  Check them out at a glance:

• Last Vegas, directed by Jon Turteltaub and starring Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline will open December 20th, 2013.
• Stand Up Guys, the Fisher Stevens comedy starring Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Julianna Margulies and Alan Arkin, opens January 11th, 2013.
• Quartet, Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay, and Michael Gambon opens domestically December 28th of this year and in the U.K. January 4th 2013.

Hit the jump for more on each film, including synopses.

Before the 2012 Emmy Nominations are officially announced (July 19th), I wanted to jump in and highlight some of what I believe to be some of the best underrated performances on television this year.  Putting aside some of the perennial winners, the following discussion for each of the major categories is likely to mention plenty of names who won’t get Emmy mentions this year, but certainly should (and others who may get a nod, but likely won’t win).  Hit the jump for the (spoiler-free!) list that is not meant to be exhaustive (after all, I do watch an unhealthy amount of TV but I’m not caught up on everything), but hopefully brings at least a few of those dark horses to light with the recognition they deserve.

The first trailer for Quartet has gone online.  The film is Dustin Hoffman‘s directorial debut, and stars Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay, and Michael Gambon as opera singers at a retirement home.  Smith plays a new resident who decides not to participate in the year’s annual concert.   “This is not a retirement home,” Maggie Smith’s character proclaims.  “This is a madhouse.”  Indeed, the movie looks incredibly slight, and yet perfectly geared to the audiences that have helped The Exotic Marigold Hotel to $121 million worldwide.  In a nutshell: your parents will probably want to see it.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Quartet opens in U.K. on January 4, 2013; there’s currently no U.S. release date.

The official premiere of Luck just aired this past weekend on Sunday night, but HBO is already so pleased with the series that the cable network announced today that a second season has already been ordered. Director Michael Mann and Deadwood creator David Milch delivered quite the dramatic pilot set in the world of horse racing and gambling with Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte really adding gravitas to the series, likely joining Steve Buscemi and Boardwalk Empire with Emmy nods later this year. The second season will consist of 10 episodes with production resuming at the end of next month and a premiere set sometime in January of 2013. For the full press release, hit the jump.

With the midseason premieres of several new and returning series just around the corner on network television, cable has plenty of new stuff in store as well. Deadline reports HBO has just brought their midseason premiere schedule to the table with the return of the third (and possible final) season of Danny McBride in Eastbound & Down returning on February 19th at 10/9c. Then following immediately after on the same night at 10:30/9:30c Ricky Gervais brings yet another one of his British successes to the cable network with Life’s Too Short. But before all that, the new drama series Luck, starring Dustin Hoffman, will debut on January 29th. However, the series will actually have a sneak preview after the season finale of Boardwalk Empire on December 11th as well. After the jump you can check out the trailers for all three series.

Two masters have had two of their great works hit Blu-ray. Both are tie-in releases. Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill – which stars Angie Dickenson, Michael Caine and Nancy Allen – is hitting because Scarface is also hitting Blu-ray. Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs – Starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George – has been released in conjunction with the remake. These discs don’t offer much reason for upgrade unless you want 1080P picture quality, but both are essential viewing. Our reviews of both follow after the jump.

HBO has released a new trailer for David Milch and Michael Mann’s upcoming horse-gambling drama Luck.  If Milch (Deadwood) and Mann (Heat) didn’t already get you excited for the show, here’s the cast: Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, Richard Kind, Kevin Dunn, and Michael Gambon.  The main plotline focuses on as Ace Bernstain (Hoffman) a man who, after three years in prison, teams with his longtime chauffeur and muscle (Farina), to craft a complex plan involving the Santa Anita racetrack.  Of course, this is HBO where there are 3 or 4 plotlines per episode and you have to learn the names of 18 or 19 regular cast members.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Luck premieres January 2012.

Dustin Hoffman is looking to finally try his hand at directing, as the Academy Award-winning actor is set to make his feature directorial debut with Quartet. Based on the stage play of the same name, the film centers on a quartet of celebrated opera singers whose yearly plans to put on a concert in order to raise funds for their opera singers-only retirement home go awry when four of the finest singers in English operatic history living under one roof leads to trouble.

Hoffman has assembled a cast of British veterans that includes Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Sheridan Smith, and Michael Gambon. Production got underway today in and around Buckinghamshire and will last for nine weeks. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

Every so often Hollywood produces a grand-scale film with a sweeping narrative and epic storyline that it becomes destined for greatness. No, not summer blockbusters, like Avatar or The Dark Night, with budgets in the hundreds of millions.  The storylines are not epic in the sense that they make way for explosions and breathtaking action, but rather they follow a simple character, and detail every little aspect of their incredible lives. Like The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp, Forrest Gump, and countless others, these films often contain Academy Award-winning or nominated performances, and usually a best picture nomination or win. They go on to be considered classics and live on in lists detailing the best films of all time. Barney’s Version is one of these films, and it needs to be one that goes on these lists.

With its release on Blu-ray, Barney’s Version has a chance to become the hit it deserves, and gain the recognition and acclaim that are justified for such a film. If you haven’t yet seen or heard of this movie, check out the review and watch it immediately afterwards. My review of this masterpiece of cinema on Blu-ray after the jump.

With Kung Fu Panda 2 opening this weekend, I recently got to interview Dustin Hoffman and Jack Black for our partners at Omelete.  While some sequels spend a lot of time reminding the audience who the characters are, one of the many things that’s great about Kung Fu Panda 2 is that it starts like you know the world and it never slows down.  In addition, while I’ve been very vocal about bad 3D, Kung Fu Panda 2 features some incredible 3D and the best part is the filmmakers used 3D to help tell the story.  If you have the option, you really want to see this in 3D.

While I’ve been doing interviews for almost six years, my conversation with Hoffman and Black is without a doubt one of the craziest I’ve ever had during a press junket.  Even though I don’t want to spoil what happens, I’ll say that wearing my Threadless t-shirt that says rub me on your butt was not my best idea.  Or maybe it was.  Judge for yourself after the jump.

Two Kubrick films left out of the original Kubrick Box set and Papillon. What do these films have in common? All three have recently been put out by Warner Brothers. For Lolita and Barry Lyndon, it’s a bare bones affair, but for Papillon, it’s got a nice book casing, and a period featurette. Actually with Papillon the best supplement is the packaging itself. Still, these are catalog films that it’s good to see on the format, and our reviews of Lolita, Barry Lyndon and Papillon on Blu-ray follow after the jump.

Dakota Fanning and Sundance breakout Elizabeth Olsen have joined the cast of Very Good Girls alongside Dustin Hoffman, Sissy Spacek and Peter Sarsgaard. Written and to be directed by Namoi Foner (Running on Empty), the film tells the story of two teenage girls in New York City who decide to lose their virginity the summer after they graduate high school. Things get complicated, however, when they both fall for the same charismatic street artist (I hate it when that happens).

Olsen broke out in a big way at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, thanks in part to her harrowing turn in the drama Martha Marcy May Marlene, the creepy trailer for which was just released last week. Variety reports that production on Very Good Girls starts this September.

The cable network just premiered their brand new spectacular fantasy series Game of Thrones last night (read my review here), but HBO is already giving us a taste of another new series in their future. The network recently premiered a short featurette on the horse racing series Luck starring Dustin Hoffman with a pilot directed by Michael Mann (Collateral). The series takes a provocative look at horse racing including the owners, gamblers, jockeys and diverse gaming industry players.

Once again, with little effort, HBO has me interested in yet another one of their new drama series. And with a cast that also includes Joan Allen, Michael Gambon, Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, Kevin Dunn, Richard Kind, Jason Gedrick, Ritchie Coster, Ian Hart, Tom Payne, Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens, and Nick Nolte, this should be something worth seeing down the road. Check out the featurette after the jump for your first look at Luck.

Along with the teaser trailer and poster for Puss in Boots, DreamWorks Animation has released a new trailer and poster for their summer tentpole, Kung Fu Panda 2.  The new trailer for Kung Fu Panda kind of explains the plot, but also shows there really isn’t much of it: Po and the Furious Five go on a road trip to defeat a new villain.  Granted, Po is now a Kung Fu master, but that only seems to improve the movie in terms of the visuals.  As far as the humor and the characters, expect more slapstick and fat jokes.

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer and poster.  Kung Fu Panda 2 features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Victor Garber.  It opens in 3D on May 26th.