The Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer’s Cloud Atlas was tragically the most under-appreciated and under-seen film of 2012.  It had to be a marketing mishap.  How else do you explain the poor performance of a film that encompasses multiple genres over vastly different time periods with high-caliber actors like Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant and Jim Broadbent (just to name a few) taking on multiple roles?  But wait, there’s hope!  You can help remedy this glaring oversight by picking up the ambitious and epic movie on DVD and Blu-ray now.  Hit the jump for my review of Cloud Atlas on Blu-ray.

A new international trailer for director Jon S. Baird’ adaptation of the Irvine Welsh crime novel Filth has been released online.  If you want to see James McAvoy doing drugs, having rough sex, and angrily masturbating, then this trailer is for you.  McAvoy stars as Bruce Robertson, the chauvinist cop who is enlisted to solve a murder while also trying to stop his colleagues from taking his much-coveted promotion in the force.  The film’s first red-band trailer made it clear that Baird isn’t holding back from the madness of the novel, and this international trailer seems to amp the craziness up even further.  McAvoy looks to be giving a delightfully deranged performance as Robertson, and it’ll be interesting to see how the full film plays out.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Jamie Bell, Imogen Poots, Eddie Marsan, and Jim Broadbent.  Filth opens in the UK in September and is currently without a US release date.

Focus Features has released a trailer and poster for the thriller Closed Circuit.  Per the official synopsis, “Two ex-lovers, Martin (Eric Bana) and Claudia (Rebecca Hall), find their loyalties tested and their lives at risk when they are joined together on the defense team in a terrorism trial.”  That may be the simple plot description, but judging by the trailer, the film looks far more complicated.  The title comes from the closed-circuit cameras that litter London, and the plot also involves the legal drama as well as the machinations of MI-6 and terrorist cells.  I’m curious to see if director John Crowley has found a way to bring all of these aspects together into a solid flick.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster.  The film also stars Riz Ahmed, Jim Broadbent, Kenneth Cranham, Anne-Marie Duff, Ciarán Hinds, and Julia Stiles.  Closed Circuit opens August 28th.

Lionsgate has released a red-band trailer for director Jon S. Baird‘s Filth, the adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s popular crime novel about a crooked and devious police officer who goes on cocaine binges and has rampant sex ventures as part of his annual vacation to Amsterdam.  The film stars James McAvoy as Bruce Robertson, the chauvinist cop who is enlisted to solve a murder while also trying to stop his colleagues from taking his much-coveted promotion in the force.  The trailer lives up to its red-band classification.  With an abundance of profanity from a visibly coked-out Robertson, plenty of coercive sex scenes and brief nudity, the film is sure to live up to its name.  Just watching this trailer made me feel filthy.  Personally, I haven’t read the novel, but I hear a tapeworm is used as a narrative device and now I’m highly intrigued.

Filth will open in September in the UK, a US release date is yet to be announced.  The film also stars Jamie Bell, Imogen Poots, and Jim Broadbent. Hit the jump to watch the red-band trailer and to view the newly-released poster.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  Cloud Atlas opens today.]

“My life exists far beyond the limitations of me,” a character notes in Cloud Atlas. By the same token, The Wachowski Siblings and Tom Tykwer‘s film exists far beyond the limitations of genre, narrative, identity, and time. It is a work of sweeping ambition, engrossing stories, compelling characters, and powerful emotions. The filmmakers have taken David Mitchell’s novel, and rebuilt it into a captivating sextuplet filled with love, hate, redemption, damnation, bravery, cowardice, and more. Through skillful editing and astounding performances, Cloud Atlas is a cinematic experience like few others, and it will leave viewers in awe.

The wildly ambitious adaptation of Cloud Atlas is a brilliant piece of filmmaking from writers/directors Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, but it’s also a very hard sell for general audiences.  The film takes place across multiple settings and time periods, with the fantastic ensemble cast taking on a number of different characters.  In order to entice those who may be a bit apprehensive about the film, an extensive 13-minute featurette has been released that features interviews with the directors and the entire cast explaining how the film works.  It’s a fascinating watch not only to see how The Wachowskis and Tykwer pulled this thing off, but also to get a look at the whole cast in their various make-up and costumes.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette, and click here to catch up on all of our previous coverage.  The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Doona Bae, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Keith David, Ben Whishaw and James D’Arcy.  Cloud Atlas opens on October 26th.

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, because this is Cloud Atlas weekend.  Since I was convinced by the word Wachowski from day one, I have stubbornly avoided watching too much beyond the first trailer to go in as fresh as possible for what looks to be one of the few truly ambitious wide releases this year.  Thankfully Dave is still around to help provide context for a “ridiculously cool” featurette.  Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Keith David, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Grant, and Jim Broadbent discuss the multiple characters they get to play in the five-minute clip—titled “An Actor’s Dream”—which features plenty of behind-the-scenes footage.

Co-directed by Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, and Tom Tykwer, Cloud Atlas opens on October 26.  Watch the featurette after the jump.

Warner Bros. has released a new behind-the-scenes featurette for The Wachowski Siblings and Tom Tywker‘s Cloud Atlas.  The studio has a difficult task of selling the movie because it’s so different than what audiences are used to, and yet the film is surprisingly accessible if you’re willing to go along with its central conceit: six storylines with overlapping themes and shared actors.  The trailers and TV spots are pushing glowing pull quotes and the overarching plot devices, and this new featurette is in line with that marketing approach.  The only hurdle is in trying to get audiences to go in even though they don’t know the individual plotlines.  It’s a challenge viewers need to meet or else they’ll be missing out on one of the year’s best films.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette, and click here for my review of the film.  The movie stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant.  Cloud Atlas opens October 26th.

An insane amount of images from the upcoming adaptation of Cloud Atlas has been released.  The film comes from writers/directors Lana and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix trilogy) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), and early word has been enormously positive.  Our own Matt Goldberg considers it one of the best films of the year and notes that it’s “an important film in terms of how it breaks the boundaries of cinema and challenges the audience to cast aside preconceived notions of how genres and narratives have to work.”  You can read his full review right here while you patiently await the impeding release date.  Here’s hoping audiences spark to what sounds like a very special piece of filmmaking.

Hit the jump to check out over 80 images.  The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant.  Cloud Atlas opens October 26th. 

Seven new poster banners for the epic adaptation of David Mitchell’s sprawling novel Cloud Atlas have gone online.  The film comes from writers/directors Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer and features a large ensemble cast of actors who play multiple roles across different time periods and settings.  These banners help to delineate some of the storylines, as they appear to be highlight the separate time periods.  We learned yesterday that the film will be getting an IMAX release, which is good news since the pic looks to be absolutely epic in scope.  You can read Matt’s positive review right here.

Hit the jump to check out the banners along with two new TV spots.  The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, and David Gyasi.  Cloud Atlas opens on October 26th.

“My life exists far beyond the limitations of me,” a character notes in Cloud Atlas.  By the same token, The Wachowski Siblings and Tom Tykwer‘s film exists far beyond the limitations of genre, narrative, identity, and time.  It is a work of sweeping ambition, engrossing stories, compelling characters, and powerful emotions.  The filmmakers have taken David Mitchell’s novel, and rebuilt it into a captivating sextuplet filled with love, hate, redemption, damnation, bravery, cowardice, and more.  Through skillful editing and astounding performances, Cloud Atlas is a cinematic experience like few others, and it will leave viewers in awe.

A new trailer for Cloud Atlas has arrived, and it’s unsurprisingly great.  Directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), this ambitious adaptation of the David Mitchell novel features an all-star cast taking on multiple roles across numerous time periods and locations.  This trailer is a shorter version of the phenomenal first trailer that was released in late July, but it includes a few enticing new bits of footage as well as a Susan Sarandon voiceover that attempts to put this original take into perspective for unfamiliar audiences.  We recently learned quite a bit about the incredibly tough road to production for the film, but if these trailers are any indication then The Wachowskis and Tykwer have crafted a worthwhile, sprawling epic unlike any other.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film also stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, and David Gyasi.  Cloud Atlas opens on October 26th.

Writer/directors Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, and Tom Tykwer recently unveiled their ridiculously ambitious adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas with an awe-inspiring extended trailer, directors’ commentary, and poster, and now we’ve got a closer look at some of the film’s characters.  The pic spans multiple time periods and locations, with the cast assuming numerous roles across different races and genders.  The idea is that we’re all connected, and relationships can play out the same way no matter the time or place.  The official site has now released images of the actors in all their character makeup, and it’s a sight to behold.  Where else can you see Hugh Grant playing a futuristic tribesman, Tom Hanks done up as a gangster, and Halle Berry as a white woman?

Hit the jump to take a look at the images.  The film also stars Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, David Gyasi, and Susan Sarandon.  Cloud Atlas opens on October 26th.

Warner Bros. has released a six-minute trailer for Cloud Atlas along with a director’s commentary video and a poster.  The ambitious movie is based off David Mitchell‘s novel of the same name, and tracks how the lives of multiple characters intertwine across multiple eras.  Yesterday, we showed you the first images from Cloud Atlas, but they’re nothing compared to what this trailer shows in terms of the film’s scope and visuals.  Of course, no one expected directors Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski (The Matrix Trilogy), and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) to go small, but it looks like they’ve made something that’s truly a sight to behold.  My only concern is with how the dialogue will be executed.  If it’s done in narration, then it will probably be okay, but if it’s conversation, then we might want to prepare for the “Let me read you a philosophy textbook” dialogue from The Matrix Reloaded.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, directors’ commentary, and poster.  The directors’ commentary explains the difficulty in getting the film made and why they chose to make an extended trailer. It’s also noteworthy since the Wachowskis never comment on their movies.  The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant.  Cloud Atlas will play at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and open on October 26th.

Yesterday, we reported that The Wachowski Siblings and Tom Tykwer‘s Cloud Atlas would be part of this year’s excellent line-up for the Toronto International Film Festival.  We had seen some concept art of Seoul in the year 2144 and behind-the-scenes photos, but now we have the first look at stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Ben Whishaw, and Jim Broadbent as a few of the multiple characters they’ll play in the movie.  The ambitious project, which also includes Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, James D’Arcy, Jim Sturgess, and Susan Sarandon, spans multiple eras with the cast playing different characters in each era.  For example, Berry said she’s playing a Jewish woman in the 1930s and an old tribal woman, and Grant revealed he’s playing six “incredibly evil” characters.

Hit the jump to check out the images and to learn more about the film.  The 2012 Toronto Film Festival runs from September 6 – 16th.  Cloud Atlas opens October 26th. [Update: Check out 20 new images after the jump.]