Director Gus Van Sant is an auteur capable of dropping an award-winning character-driven film (Good Will Hunting) with big-name actors one year, and small, provocative films where characters barely talk to each other the whole time (Last Days) the next.  No matter which Van Sant flavor is your favorite, the man is great at both of them.  For his latest, Promised Land, he goes the mainstream route – taking A-list actors into a farming community for a fracking debate.  The film was originally supposed to be Matt Damon‘s (School Ties) directorial debut, but scheduling conflicts threw it in Van Sant’s lap with just over a month to prepare.  Despite some solid direction and acting, Promised Land suffers from a few hiccups.  But how does it hold up on Universal’s Blu-ray?  Hit the jump and I’ll tell you all about it.

The 2013 Cannes Film Festival begins today, and new images have been released for these movies in the fest’s line-up:

• Behind the Candelabra – Directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Dan Aykroyd, Rob Lowe, and Debbie Reynolds.
• Nebraska – Directed by Alexander Payne, starring Bruce Dern, Will Forte, Stacy Keach, and Bob Odenkirk.
• The Immigrant – Directed by James Gray, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Renner.
• As I Lay Dying – Directed and starring James Franco, co-starring Tim Blake Nelson, Logan Marshall-Green, and Danny McBride.

Hit the jump for the images and synopses.  The 2013 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 15 – May 26th.

Fresh off the release of an extended 12-minute featurette, a new UK trailer and a batch of new images from director Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming Liberace film Behind the Candelaba have landed online.  The plot centers on the tempestuous relationship between the musician (Michael Douglas) and his lover Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) throughout their secretive five-year love affair that began in 1977.  This UK trailer goes deeper into the film’s story, as we see the beginnings of the relationship and start to see some of the great interplay between Douglas and Damon. You can go ahead and wrap up Douglas’ Emmy right about now.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and to see the new images.  The film also stars Rob Lowe, Debbie Reynolds, Scott Bakula, Dan Aykroyd, Cheyenne Jackson, Paul Reiser, and Boyd Holbrook.  Behind the Candelabra will premiere on HBO on May 26th at 9pm/8c.

HBO has released a new extended featurette for director Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming Liberace film Behind the Candelabra.  The 12-minute video takes us behind-the-scenes of Soderbergh’s possibly final feature film, as we get an intimate look into how the filmmaker crafted his chronicle of the tempestuous relationship between Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his lover Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) throughout their secretive five-year love affair that began in 1977.  Much of the featurette’s focus is on the insane costume and production design of the film, but we also get some footage of Sodbergh operating the camera himself and of a nearly unrecognizable Rob Lowe as Liberace’s plastic surgeon.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  The film also stars Debbie Reynolds, Scott Bakula, Dan Aykroyd, Cheyenne Jackson, Paul Reiser, and Boyd Holbrook.  Behind the Candelabra will premiere on HBO on May 26th at 9pm/8c.

From time to time I like to use the opening paragraph to discuss my latest screenprint investments and/or dream items. This week I’m playing a similar note as I recently picked up Olly Moss‘ “Batman’s Rogues Gallery” set on eBay for very close to what the timed edition went for originally. Those of you who follow posters and prints know how redeeming it can be to finally get an item you originally missed out on without having to pay exponentially more than its original asking price. Now, if only Ken Taylor‘s Halloween print would stop being so rare/expensive, I could officially run out of room on my walls.

I’ll stop gushing and leave any more in-depth poster/print talk to our own Limited Paper. For my part, this week’s Top 5 includes the first trailer and a video blog recap of 10 minutes of footage from Neill Blomkamp‘s Elysium, our White House Down set visit recap, an exclusive interview with Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, the first trailers for Ron Howard‘s Rush, and an extended interview with Mondo CEO Justin Ishmael. As is customary, a brief recap and link to each is ready and waiting for your attention after the jump.

Following on the heels of the debut trailer and poster, Sony Pictures has released eight new images from Neill Blomkamp‘s Elysium.  The movie is set in 2159, and two classes of people are divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  Matt Damon plays a desperate man who must reach Elysium in order to find a cure that will save his life.  I’m digging everything I’m seeing from this film, and with four months until the release date, this is only the tip of the political-sci-fi iceberg.

Hit the jump to check out the images, and click here for Steve’s thoughts on the footage he saw yesterday.  The film also stars Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Wagner Moura, Diego Luna, and William Fichtner.  Elysium opens August 9th.

The first trailer for District 9 director Neill Blomkamp’s highly anticipated sci-fi film Elysium has been released.  The story takes place in 2159 where two classes of people are roughly divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  The trailer begins by showing us the luxurious world of Elysium before revealing the grungy, desert-like Earth.  Blomkamp looks to have crafted an incredibly detailed and vast sci-fi world here, and the visuals are absolutely stunning.  The action sequences look excellent as well and Damon appears to be kicking all kinds of ass, but most importantly Blomkamp has crafted yet another timely, socially-conscious story that speaks volumes to the current issues facing our world.  A wholly original sci-fi property that asks audiences to think while also providing entertainment value in spades?  Count me wholeheartedly in.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here for Steve’s video blog recap after seeing 10 minutes of footage and interviewing Blomkamp.  The film stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner and Diego Luna.  Elysium opens on August 9th.

Did you like District 9?  Imagine if writer-director Neill Blomkamp had 100 million more dollars to play with and access to huge movie stars like Matt Damon and Jodie Foster to help tell his next story.  You’d then have Elysium.

Ever since the movie was first announced, we’ve been covering it here on Collider, including its presence at last year’s Comic-Con.  Since it’s the follow up to a great movie, we’ve definitely had high expectations.  If the ten minutes of footage and the new trailer that I watched today at the Arclight in Hollywood are any indications, not only will our lofty expectations be met, they’ll be exceeded by far.  We might be talking about the film of the summer.  Continued after the jump.

Sony has released the first poster for Neill Blomkamp‘s Elysium.  The movie is set in 2159, and two classes of people are divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  Matt Damon plays a desperate man who must reach Elysium in order to find a cure that will save his life.  Earlier today, a group of movie journalists were brought to a special event for the film.  Steve was among those invited, and I’m sure he’ll have his full thoughts online soon, but he tweeted “Just saw the new trailer and 10 min from #ELYSIUM. All I can say is WOW. Footage was incredible.  Cannot wait to see this.”  It’s not a surprising reaction considering that very early footage was shown at last year’s Comic-Con, and it was a huge success.

Hit the jump to check out the new poster, and come back tomorrow for the first trailer.  The film also stars Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Wagner Moura, and William Fichtner.  Elysium opens August 9th.

After a couple sneak peeks, a full trailer has been unveiled for Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra.  The film stars Michael Douglas as the famous musician Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson.  The plot centers on the tempestuous relationship between the two throughout their secretive five-year love affair that began in 1977.  Judging by the new trailer, the story seems to be heavily from Thorson’s perspective as he took a unique relationship with Liberace.  It’s intriguing.  Not quite as intriguing as Rob Lowe‘s hairstyle, but close.

Hit the jump to check out the full trailer.  The film also stars Dan Aykroyd and Debbie Reynolds.  Behind the Candelabra premieres on HBO on May 26th at 9/8c.

One of my most-anticipated films of the year is Neill Blomkamp‘s Elysium.  The film was originally slated to open in March, but Sony Pictures decided to put it in the summer movie season, so we’re going to have to wait a little longer.  The movie is set in 2159, and two classes of people are divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  Matt Damon plays a desperate man who must reach Elysium in order to find a cure that will save his life.  The film definitely looks like it will carry on the smart, blockbuster sci-fi Blomkamp created with District 9, and hopefully we’ll see a trailer soon.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Wagner Moura, and William Fichtner.  Elysium opens August 9th.

Before tonight’s season premiere of Game of Thrones, HBO aired a brief new trailer for Steven Soderbergh‘s ultimate film before retirement, Behind the Candelabra.  The film stars Michael Douglas as the famous musician Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson.  The story centers on the tempestuous relationship between the two throughout their secretive five-year love affair that began in 1977.  Like the teaser trailer, the tone is fun, but this time we’re getting our first footage from the picture, and I like the look of the flamboyant hair and costumes.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Behind the Candelabra airs on HBO on May 26th at 9/8c.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has already announced their dates for the 86th and 87th Oscars, and if you want to play long-term prognosticator, you should keep an eye on George Clooney‘s The Monuments Men for 2013 nominees.  The Columbia Pictures/20th Century Fox co-production tells the true story of an unlikely World War II platoon made up of museum directors, curators, and art historians tasked by FDR with going into Germany and rescuing artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves before they are lost forever.  In addition to producing and co-writing the script, Clooney stars alongside an outstanding cast that includes Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, John Goodman, and Hugh Bonneville.  The first set photos have leaked online, and they show Damon in uniform, and Clooney rocking a mustache.  This should go over well with pro-mustache members of the Academy.

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  The Monuments Men is due out December 18th.

Production has commenced on George Clooney’s fifth feature directorial effort, the action-thriller The Monuments Men.  The Columbia Pictures/20th Century Fox co-production tells the true story of an unlikely World War II platoon made up of museum directors, curators, and art historians tasked by FDR with going into Germany and rescuing artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves before they are lost forever.  Clooney directs, stars in, and produces the film alongside his Smokehouse Productions partner Grant Heslov, with whom he also co-wrote the script.  Moreover, Clooney has assembled a truly remarkable cast that includes Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, John Goodman, and Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey).

Unfortunately Daniel Craig is not listed as part of the cast in the official press release, so it appears that he may have dropped out of the film.  Hit the jump for more, including the full press release.

HBO has released the teaser trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s final film before retirement, Behind the Candelabra.  The film stars Michael Douglas as the famous musician Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson.  The story centers on the tempestuous relationship between the two throughout their secretive five-year love affair that began in 1977.  Judging by the teaser trailer, there’s a fairly cheeky tone, which isn’t too surprising when you consider Liberace’s flamboyant personality and charm.

Hit the jump to check out the teaser trailer.  Behind the Candelabra premieres on HBO on May 26th.