Kelly Macdonald

Recap of BOARDWALK EMPIRE Academy of Television and Science Panel; Creator Terrence Winter Talks Season Three

by Tommy Cook    Posted: April 29th, 2012 at 2:07 am

The other night, The Academy of Television and Science hosted an exclusive panel with the cast and creator of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk recounts the rise of the duplicitous Nucky Thompson torn between the political upheaval and criminal birth of the Prohibition.  His rise is cast against the downfall of his surrogate son, Jimmy Darmondy, a War Veteran scarred by his time over there.  It is the tense interplay between the two characters that gave Boardwalk Empire much of its dramatic heft during its first two remarkable seasons – which is probably what made Season Two’s conclusion so… surprising.

During the panel, Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt discussed the controversial finale, costar Michael Shannon lamented always playing “the crazy person”, and creator Terence Winter previewed Season Three, among many other topics of conversation.  For highlights from the panel (which also included costars Kelly Macdonald, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Kenneth Williams, Vincent Piazza and Gretchen Mol) hit the jump.

New BRAVE TV Spot Capitalizes on NFL Draft

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 26th, 2012 at 12:14 pm

The first round of the NFL Draft kicks off tonight, and while fans across the country are busy prognosticating/praying, Disney is capitalizing on the excitement with an NFL Draft-inspired TV spot for the upcoming Pixar flick Brave.  It’s actually a pretty smart product integration, as it’s been obvious from the previous trailers that the Mouse House has been trying hard to lure the male crowd to the female-centered movie.  It’s a bit ridiculous to think that young males won’t go to a movie just because a female is the main character, and we’ve learned from The Hunger Games that strong, independent female protagonists are an enormous draw when done well.

Nevertheless, this spot does have some fun jokes and is packed with NFL-related references.  Also, somewhat surprisingly, there’s a pretty racy gag involving a certain female body part.  I guess we can expect a scandalous PG rating for the latest Pixar pic.  Hit the jump to watch the spot.  The film features the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

New Trailer and Clip for Pixar’s BRAVE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 24th, 2012 at 7:25 am

The full trailer for Pixar’s Brave has gone online along with a new clip.  The past trailers have tried to blend the comic and dramatic sides of the film, and done so with varying levels of success.  The latest trailer puts up a clear wall between the two, showing off the amusing antics of the protagonist Princess Merida’s family (I love her father’s impression of his daughter) and then making a jarring, abrupt cut to the dramatic, mystical side of the adventure where Merida makes a wish to change her fate of being married off to another clan and losing her freedom.  The first half of the trailer made laugh, and the second half gave me chills (I love the use of Julie Fowlis‘ “Tha Mo Ghaol Air Aird A’ Chuain”), but I’m still looking for the connective tissue that will bring the two tones together.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with the clip (which falls on the comic side of Brave‘s schizophrenic advertising).  The film features the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

New BRAVE Featurette Focuses on the Heroine, Merida

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 10th, 2012 at 11:17 am

A French featurette for Brave has gone online.  The featurette focuses on Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), the film’s heroine and protagonist, who accidentally sets loose an evil curse when she wishes for the freedom to escape her restrictive life.  Once again, we see how Disney is trying to show off the film’s humorous side while still showing the daring adventure, but not quite bringing the two into a cohesive picture.  However, getting a better sense of the lead character does make some headway into easing the schizophrenic tone of the advertising.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  The movie also features the voices of Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

Fantastic First TV Spot for BRAVE

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 27th, 2012 at 4:00 pm

The first couple of trailers for Pixar’s Brave weren’t terrible, but they left something to be desired. The tone seemed a bit scattershot and the reliance on jokes and action over story and character felt uncharacteristic of a Pixar trailer. It made sense that Disney would be targeting young boys with the first trailers who otherwise might blow off “that fairy tale cartoon with a girl,” and I felt confident that the first peeks weren’t telling the whole story. A few days ago Disney released a full clip that I really enjoyed, and last night during the Oscars they debuted the film’s first TV spot. Both the clip and the TV spot are fantastic, and they hint at the kind of movie I was expecting when I first read the logline for Brave: “a young princess in the Scottish Highlands defies an age-old custom, inadvertently unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom.” I really, really love the tone and the atmosphere of this TV spot and I can’t wait to see the full film this summer.

Hit the jump to watch the spot. The film features the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters. Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

New Trailer for Pixar’s BRAVE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 23rd, 2012 at 6:57 am

A new trailer for Pixar’s Brave has gone online.  Rather than show off a bunch of scenes from the movie or even give an overview of the plot.  The movie follows Merida, young princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) in the Scottish Highlands who defies an age-old custom, inadvertently unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom.  This trailer doesn’t explain any of that and instead ops to show one scene.  The scene has three less-than-desirable men trying to win an archery contest for Merida’s hand in marriage.  Merida, none-too-happy with the situation, eventually has to show everyone what an utter bad-ass she is.  I still want to see more of the film’s scope, but the new trailer does a good job showing the movie’s comic and dramatic sides.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here to see the poster that was released yesterday. The film also features the voices of Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters. Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

New Poster for Pixar’s BRAVE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 22nd, 2012 at 11:15 am

Disney-Pixar has released a new poster for their upcoming animated film, Brave.  The story is Pixar’s first fairy tale and revolves around a young princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) in the Scottish Highlands who defies an age-old custom, inadvertently unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom.   Brave is also the studio’s first film with a female protagonist.  I’m loving the film’s art design and the new poster does a great job of highlighting it.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  The film also features the voices of Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.  A new trailer goes online tomorrow.

BOARDWALK EMPIRE Season One Blu-ray Review

by Rob Vaux    Posted: January 2nd, 2012 at 7:00 am

HBO’s Boardwalk Empire follows in a long line of prestige series produced by the cable network, which actually works against it a little bit. It’s hard to get excited about yet another must-see series from them, especially after the infamous letdown of The Sopranos finale and the way the network botched other great shows like Deadwood and Carnivale.  One hopes, however, that those harsh lessons have been well-learned, and with Boardwalk Empire now a bona fide hit, HBO has a chance to capitalize on the very high standard that the first season sets. The new Blu-ray collection does the show justice, and makes an exquisite New Year’s present for faithful fans. Hit the jump for my full review of the first season of Boardwalk Empire on Blu-ray.

New Trailer for Pixar’s BRAVE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 16th, 2011 at 9:22 am

A new trailer for Pixar’s upcoming film Brave has been released. The pic is the studio’s first fairy tale and revolves around a young princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) in the Scottish Highlands who defies an age-old custom, inadvertently unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom.  The tone of the trailer is a bit scattershot.  On the one hand, there are grand statements about changing your fate and wanting freedom.  On the other hand, there’s a guy in a kilt mooning his fellow Scot.  Tone aside, the visuals look fantastic. Overall, the trailer is alright, but I think Brave still has the potential to be a great movie.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also features the voices of Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22, 2012.

Guy Pearce, Ben Foster, and Kelly MacDonald to Star in Steve Buscemi’s Adaptation of QUEER

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 2nd, 2011 at 1:16 pm

Steve Buscemi has lined up quite the cast for his next directorial effort. The Boardwalk Empire actor is poised to direct an adaptation of William Burroughs’ novel Queer, and Vulture reports that Guy Pearce, Ben Foster, and Buscemi’s Boardwalk Empire co-star Kelly MacDonald are set to star. The book was written in 1952, after Burroughs accidentally shot and killed his wife. The story, which mirrors Burroughs’ emotional and psychological state at the time, centers on an American named William Lee living in Mexico City, weighed down by drugs, guilt, and lust. The project is still in the early stages, and financing isn’t yet firmed up, but Rampart director Oren Moverman wrote the script and told Vulture that the plan is to shoot the film during Buscemi’s next hiatus from HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Hit the jump to read the synopsis for the novel.

New Synopsis for Pixar’s BRAVE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 25th, 2011 at 10:22 am

A new synopsis for Pixar’s Brave has gone online.  We already knew the film was set in the mystical Scottish Highlands and revolved around a young princess (voiced my Kelly Macdonald) who defies a sacred custom of the land, inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom, and then makes an ill-fated wish in order to set things right.  The new synopsis adds a bit more color to the previous synopsis although it doesn’t add much in the way of new plot details.  However, it’s looking like that for everyone who was unimpressed with Cars 2 (i.e. everyone), Brave will be the terrific experience we’ve come to expect from Pixar.

Hit the jump to check out the synopsis.  Click here, here, and here for our Brave interviews at D23.  The film also stars Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22, 2012.

Exclusive: Kevin McKidd and Kelly Macdonald Talk About Pixar’s BRAVE at D23

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: August 22nd, 2011 at 4:25 pm

At this weekend’s D23 (essentially Disney’s Comic-Con), I got to speak with Kevin McKidd and Kelly Macdonald about Pixar’s Brave.  In the upcoming animated film arriving June 22^nd, 2012, Macdonald plays an unruly daughter and an accomplished archer who defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom.  McKidd plays one of the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin.

During the interview, they talked about being at D23, who they play in Brave and what it’s about, how Brave is the first Pixar movie with a female protagonist and what that means, how the movie has changed during the recording process, and I also got in a question about the second season of Boardwalk Empire.  Hit the jump to watch.

New Trailer for Season Two of BOARDWALK EMPIRE

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: August 9th, 2011 at 3:52 pm

We’ve already gotten a taste of the forthcoming second season of Boardwalk Empire, and while this new trailer released by HBO doesn’t show us any new footage, it certainly gives us a taste of what’s to come. All eyes seems to be on Nucky Thompson and everyone seems to be after a piece of the puzzle in some form or another as they beckon to him and call out his name. But who is that whispering his name there at the end? You’ll see what I mean after you check out this cool new trailer after the jump. Season two of Boardwalk Empire premieres on September 25th.

Intense First Trailer for Season Two of BOARDWALK EMPIRE

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: June 27th, 2011 at 9:40 am

We’re still months away from seeing the premiere, but HBO has unveiled the first trailer for the anticipated second season of Boardwalk Empire, and damn does it look intense. Sounds like there’s going to be plenty of sneaky liquor trafficking, Jimmy stepping up his business in organized crime and even some action with the Ku Klux Klan. Hopefully this season keeps up a steady pace throughout its entirety as I found the first season to slow down quite a bit, sometimes frustratingly, towards the end of the first season. Of course, the drama is still leaps and bounds better than plenty of other series on television, so you can bet I’ll be giving my attention to the second season this fall. See the trailer after the jump.

New High Resolution Image from Pixar’s BRAVE

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: June 24th, 2011 at 8:14 am

With Pixar’s Cars 2 opening this weekend, the studio is taking the opportunity to ramp up awareness for their next film, the fairy tale Brave. The story centers on Princess Merida, a skilled archer who accidentally sets evil upon the Scottish highlands when she is granted an ill-fated wish. The gorgeous teaser poster was released a couple of days ago, and it hinted at a film that’s a bit darker than what we’re used to from the studio (especially when compared to the super bright and flashy Cars 2). This image gives us a better look at our lead character, Merida (this is the studio’s first female protagonist).

Personally, I can’t wait to see more from this flick. I love the idea of Pixar doing a fairy tale, and the thought of their incredible animation team tackling the Scottish highlands is delectable. Hit the jump to check out the image. The voice-cast includes Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters. Brave hits theaters June 22^nd, 2012.

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