[This is a re-post of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.  The Awakening opens today in limited release.]

You can keep your modern ghost stories. I understand why they would terrify some people, but those films tend to leave me cold. They use modern science to find something which cannot be scientifically explained, but trying to find ghosts the same way special ops teams try to find terrorists diminishes the illusion. You can only shake the camera so much before I wonder if the ghosts have access to a tripod. The stories also tend to lack any subtext and generating scares is their sole mission. I prefer my ghost stories gothic and foreboding and that’s why I adored Nick Murphy‘s The Awakening. The film still uses the same conceit of using the scientific to explore the paranormal, but does so with early 1920s technology and it’s far more exciting to see an investigator who uses cameras which rely on a trip-wire and a magnesium flash than someone who went down to the local Best Buy and asked for a quality camcorder. In addition to its creativity, Murphy paints a gorgeous picture that delivers the thrills, chills, and terrific performances from Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, and Imelda Staunton.

The first 10 minutes of director Nick Murphy’s horror film The Awakening have been released online for your viewing pleasure.  The story takes place in England shortly after World War I, and centers on a hoax-buster (Rebecca Hall) who is called in to investigate the recent death of a student at an all-boys boarding school.  When she gets there, she discovers that there might be something truly supernatural going on around her.  Matt caught the film last year at TIFF and called it “a damn fine piece of gothic horror,” and this clip promises a great deal of moody atmosphere.

Hit the jump to watch the first 10 minutes of the film.  The pic also stars Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.  The Awakening opens on August 17th.

The trailer and poster for Nick Murphy‘s The Awakening have gone online.  I caught the film last year at the Toronto Film Festival, and thought it was a damn fine piece of gothic horror.  The story takes place in England shortly after World War I, and centers on a hoax-buster (Rebecca Hall) who is called in to investigate the recent death of a student at an all-boys boarding school.  When she gets there, she discovers that there might be something truly supernatural going on around her.  Part of what makes The Awakening great is the atmosphere and pacing, and the trailer foregoes that in favor of creepy photographs, hands on doorknobs, and other clichéd imagery that does Murphy’s film a disservice.  The trailer doesn’t outright spoil anything in the movie, but it does take a lot of moments from the third act, so consider yourself warned.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster.  The film also stars Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.  The Awakening opens August 17th.

Director Robert Stromberg just took a major step forward in assembling his cast for Disney’s live-action fantasy Maleficent.  Angelina Jolie is already set as the titular lead in this retelling of the Sleeping Beauty tale from the villain’s point of view, and we recently learned that District 9 star Sharlto Copley had joined the cast as the male lead.  Now it appears that Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Kenneth Cranham (Hot Fuzz), Sam Riley (On the Road), and Lesley Manville (Another Year) have been added to the roster.  Hit the jump for more.

[Update: Variety adds that India Eisley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) will play a younger version of Jolie's character in the opening sequence of the film.]

Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits packs the frame with sight gags, constantly throws out clever asides, and has more wit than a dozen other animated family films combined.  And yet, it’s rarely laugh-out-loud funny.  Being clever, witty, and fun usually lead to a film that constantly has you gasping for air from laughing so hard, but those hard laughs never come in The Pirates!.  Instead, the movie generates both admiration for the intelligence of its jokes and the frustration that those jokes can only muster grins and chuckles.

Sony Pictures’ The Pirates! Band of Misfits have launched a new interactive site with lots of visual goodies for fans of The Pirates! and Aardman Animation. If you’re not familiar with the name, you’ll probably still recognize their previous works, such as Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run and Flushed Away. Aardman has a unique and appealing animation style that Steve got to take and up-close-and-personal look at when he visited the set.

Directed by Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt (Chicken Run), The Pirates! Band of Misfits stars Hugh Grant, in his first animated role, as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain who is trying to win the Pirate Of The Year Award with the help of his rag-tag crew (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen).  To win, Pirate Captain must contend with a diabolical queen (Imelda Staunton) and bitter rivals like Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek). The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens April 27th. Hit the jump to meet the pirates. 

Toby Jones should’ve received more praise for his turn as Truman Capote in the film Infamous, but Philip Seymour Hoffman and the superior film Capote just got more traction and attention when awards season came around. However, now Jones will get a chance to shine for BBC2 as the UK network has announced the actor will play iconic filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in a TV film called The Girl. Rather than being a standard biopic, the film will focus on the director’s “obsessive relationship” with his The Birds star Tippi Hedren, who will be played by Sienna Miller (The Factory Girl). Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane) will direct the film from writer Gwyneth Hughes which also features the acting talents of Imelda Staunton (Another Year) and Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey) with Hitchcock biographer Donald Spoto also working on the film for authenticity and accuracy. More after the jump.

A new trailer for Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits has gone online. This trailer maintains the delightfully goofy tone we’ve seen from past trailers, and delves a bit more into the plot. The story centers on a pirate captain named Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) who’s on a quest to win the Pirate of the Year award. We also get a look at the character voiced by Jeremy Piven here. This trailer didn’t grab me as much as the last two, and it kind of feels like a more Americanized version targeted at audiences here in the States. Nevertheless, I’m still very excited to see the finished film, as Aardman’s next picture Arthur Christmas has been rounding up some very positive reactions.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also features the voices of Salma Hayek, Brendan Gleeson, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, and Martin Freeman. The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in 3D on March 30th, 2012.

Aardman Animation—the studio behind Chicken Run and the charming adventures of Wallace and Gromit—has sent over 5 clips from their latest effort, Arthur Christmas.  The film reveals the answer to the age-old question: “So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?”

For more on Arthur Christmas, check out Steve’s thoughts on the first 30 minutes and interview with director Sarah Smith.  James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen comprise the voice cast in the November 23 release. Watch the clips after the jump.

The international trailer for The Pirates! Band of Misfits has been released. This may be my favorite trailer for the film yet, as it delves more into plot and maintains that delightfully goofy tone that Aardman (the studio behind Wallace & Gromit) does so well. We also get some good stuff from the character Charles Darwin (yes, that Charles Darwin) and lots of kooky pirates. The story centers on a pirate captain named Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) who’s determined to win the Pirate of the Year Award. This one is definitely high on my most anticipated list for 2012.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also features the voices of Salma Hayek, Brendan Gleeson, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, and Jeremy Piven. The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in 3D on March 30th, 2012.

The full theatrical trailer for Arthur Christmas has gone online. The film comes from the fine folks at Aardman Animation (the people behind Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run), and centers on Arthur, Santa’s son, and his quest to deliver the last Christmas present for a forgotten child on Christmas Eve. The teaser trailers were amusing enough, but we never really got a sense of the story. This full trailer gives us a good idea of the plot, and features the nutty humor that we’ve come to expect from Aardman. It’s goofy and doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it also hints at a good amount of heart sure to come through from the unassuming Arthur. We were shown a full scene from the film at Comic-Con (which Matt and I both really liked), and you can read my recap of that panel here.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer. The film features the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, and Imelda Staunton. Arthur Christmas opens in 3D on November 23rd.

The international trailer for director Nick Murphy’s period psychological/supernatural thriller The Awakening has been released. The film stars Rebecca Hall as a woman bent on exposing all séances and ghost stories as exploitative shams following the death of her husband. However, when she’s called to investigate a disturbance at an all boys’ school, she’s forced to rethink her conceit. I’m really digging this trailer. The scares come from a genuine Gothic creepiness, and the mood and feel of the period really shines through. The performances don’t look too shabby either. Matt caught the film at the Toronto Film Festival and really liked it, so I’m definitely looking forward to checking it out when it hits theaters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The Awakening also stars Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.

You can keep your modern ghost stories.  I understand why they would terrify some people, but those films tend to leave me cold.  They use modern science to find something which cannot be scientifically explained, but trying to find ghosts the same way special ops teams try to find terrorists diminishes the illusion.  You can only shake the camera so much before I wonder if the ghosts have access to a tripod.  The stories also tend to lack any subtext and generating scares is their sole mission.  I prefer my ghost stories gothic and foreboding and that’s why I adored Nick Murphy’s The Awakening.  The film still uses the same conceit of using the scientific to explore the paranormal, but does so with early 1920s technology and it’s far more exciting to see an investigator who uses cameras which rely on a trip-wire and a magnesium flash than someone who went down to the local Best Buy and asked for a quality camcorder.  In addition to its creativity, Murphy paints a gorgeous picture that delivers the thrills, chills, and terrific performances from Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, and Imelda Staunton.

I want to see a good pirate movie this year and I certainly didn’t get one with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  But there may be hope in Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits.  For those who don’t know, Aardman are the folks behind Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run and judging by the trailer for The Pirates! they’ve done another terrific job.  Not only do they once again provide their charming claymation, but there were numerous jokes in the trailer that had me cracking up.  The film will be getting a presentation at Comic-Con and I’m excited to see more.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film features the voices of Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek, Brendan Gleeson, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, and Jeremy Piven.  The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in 3D on March 30, 2012.

Aardman Animation has assembled an impressive voice cast for their upcoming stop-motion 3D animated film The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists.  Variety reports that Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Salma Hayek, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Jeremy Piven, Brendan Gleeson, Brian Blessed, and Ashley Jensen will all lend their voices to the film.  The movie will be the first voice acting role for Grant and he’ll play the lead role of a “bearded Pirate Captain who travels far and wide in a quest to win the much coveted Pirate of the Year Award.”  I’m already smiling at the thought of someone with Grant’s signature foppish, befuddled delivery playing a pirate.   Chicken Run co-director Peter Lord will direct alongside Jeff Newitt.

While Pixar is usually dubbed the “Animation Studio with the Perfect Track Record” I’ve always been incredibly charmed by Aardman’s films.  They’ve only done three feature films to date (Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Flushed Away) and I’ve enjoyed all of them.  Their latest film, Arthur Christmas, opens in 3D on November 23rd.