Melissa Leo

Sundance Film Festival Adds PREDISPOSED, JOHN DIES AT THE END, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, and OSLO AUGUST 31ST; First Images from the Films

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 19th, 2011 at 2:25 pm

While earlier this month the line-up for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival was announced, the fest has added four more films to the fest. Predisposed, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Melissa Leo, and Tracy Morgan will screen as part of the Premieres line-up and John Dies at the End starring Paul Giamatti, Chase Williamson, and Rob Mayes has been added to the Park City at Midnight line-up. Additionally, This Must Be the Place starring Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, and Judd Hirsch and Oslo, August 31st starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, and Ingrid Olava will screen as part of the Spotlight line-up.

Hit the jump to check out the first images from the films as well as a brief synopsis for each. The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19 – 29th. Click here for all our coverage.

Casting Call: Hayden Panettiere and Melissa Leo Race OVER THE WALL; Alona Tal and Natalie Martinez Join BROKEN CITY

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: November 3rd, 2011 at 6:38 pm

Over the Wall, a racing thriller written by debut director Steven Christopher Young has landed two new cast members. Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) and Melissa Leo (The Fighter) will join Nick Stahl (Sin City) and Freddy Rodriguez (Planet Terror) in the love story set in the world of stock car racing. The plot follows the characters as they get past the turmoil of a tragic event.

Alona Tal (Supernatural) and Natalie Martinez (Death Race) will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Broken City. The Allen Hughes picture follows an ex-cop private eye (Wahlberg) who is investigating a murder while a mayoral candidate (Russell Crowe) is embroiled in an election scandal. The film also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hit the jump for more on both projects.

Melissa Leo and James Badge Dale in Talks for Robert Zemeckis’ FLIGHT

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: September 30th, 2011 at 3:10 pm

Robert Zemeckis continues to fill out the cast for his next live-action feature Flight, and he’s looking to add two more names. Melissa Leo and James Badge Dale are in negotiations to join the drama, which stars Denzel Washington as an alcoholic and drug-addicted pilot who rises to fame after flying a damaged plane to safety. THR reports that Leo will play an investigator who is determined to expose the fact that Washington was under the influence while flying the plane, while Dale will be playing a dying cancer patient. Based on her past performances, Leo will most likely be shrill and incessantly mean. The impressive cast now includes Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, and Brian Geraghty. Production on the alchy pilot movie is set to begin next month in Atlanta.

TREME Season 1 DVD Review

by Jake Lasker    Posted: April 21st, 2011 at 7:00 am

New Orleans as a setting is a tough place for outsiders. Between the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, generations of racial tension and the hyper-exclusive music scene, the world of New Orleans could be very intimidating to viewers. But if there was one man who could help usher audiences into this unfamiliar landscape, it was David Simon. After taking viewers through the gritty Baltimore crime scene for 5 years on The Wire, Simon returned to TV with HBO’s Treme. Following the lives of dozens of people in the Treme district of post-Katrina New Orleans, the show introduces viewers to all different walks of life and the things that connect them. Less explosive and more of a slow burn,Treme is still another Simon triumph. Continue reading for my full review.

THE FIGHTER Blu-Ray Review

by Kevin Panasiewicz    Posted: April 6th, 2011 at 12:01 pm

It’s easy to write off sports movies nowadays, as they’ve become predictable affairs that do their utmost to cram messages about overcoming social inequalities and unearned feel-goodness down our throats. The days of Rocky and, although I hesitate to label it a sports film, Raging Bull, have seemingly long since passed. I’d chalk that up to the respective games themselves and the popular theme of sportsmanship taking precedent when the focus should be on the player and his journey, and as you might guess from its title, The Fighter totally gets that…otherwise it would have been called Boxing. I mean, why root for a guy when you know nothing about him? Here, the family fights hold just as much dramatic weight as the ones in the ring, and through this The Fighter has made itself a top contender in its genre alongside the aforementioned boxing-drama heavyweights Rocky and Raging Bull. If you don’t believe me, its Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor and its wins in the latter two categories should instill confidence. My full review of the Blu-ray after the jump.

THE DEAD CIRCUS to Start Filming This Summer with James Marsden, Melissa Leo, and Michael C. Hall Set to Star [UPDATED]

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: March 29th, 2011 at 6:30 pm

The film adaptation of John Kaye’s novel The Dead Circus is about to get rolling, with producers eyeing a summer start date. The film stars James Marsden, Melissa Leo, Michael Shannon and Michael C. Hall and tells a fictious story based on the non-ficticious death of singer Bobby Fuller. Written by Adam Davenport and John Kaye, the film is set to mark the directorial debut of Davenport. Deadline reports that Palermo pictures wants to shoot the flick this summer.

Marsden is set to play Charles Manson, with Leo playing a Manson Family matriarch who comes out of hiding to give a few hints to a screenwriter trying to solve Fuller’s mysterious death (ruled a suicide, even though the singer was battered and had gasoline poured down his throat). Shannon and Hall will play Fuller’s managers. Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel. [Update: Deadline has updated their story to report that Shannon will not be in the movie.]

CONVICTION Blu-ray Review

by Ben Begley    Posted: March 1st, 2011 at 6:28 am

When a movie is based on a true story, it goes one of two ways, dipping into the realm of over-sentimentality or actually portraying the events in a real and human way.  Luckily Conviction is the latter.  The film is based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters and her 18-year struggle to free her brother, Kenny Waters, after he is wrongfully imprisoned for murdering an elderly neighbor.  This film is confident that the story itself is powerful enough and doesn’t try to sprinkle too much extra on top.  After watching this movie, it reminds me again how Sam Rockwell is one of the most overlooked actors by Awards season every year.  Hit the jump for my review of the Blu-ray of Conviction.

Jesse Eisenberg, Melissa Leo, and Tracy Morgan Are PREDISPOSED

by Jason Barr    Posted: February 28th, 2011 at 6:27 pm

Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter), and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan have reportedly signed on to star in the indie comedy Predisposed. According to Vulture, the trio will play a Julliard-hopeful, his drug-addicted mother, and said mother’s drug dealer, Sprinkles, respectively. Predisposed will be directed by Oscar nominated scribe/co-writer Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) with Philip Dorling sharing co-writing credit as well. Briefly, the comedy will center on the dysfunctional relationship between Eisenberg and Leo’s mother and son pair. The story is set on a day in which the son is interviewing for Julliard while his mother is busy feuding with her drug-dealer/checking herself into rehab while intoxicated so as to overcome her lack of health insurance.

Leo should be well prepared for her role as Eisenberg’s junkie mom as she made the same turn when Predisposed screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival as a short directed by the aforementioned Philip Dorling. Shooting on this promising feature length version of Predisposed is set to begin this summer.

THE KING’S SPEECH Wins Best Picture; Full List of Oscar Winners

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 27th, 2011 at 8:57 pm

In what easily had to be one of the most painful, unfunny Oscar ceremonies in recent memory, The King’s Speech finally reached the end of its inevitable march to Best Picture.  It was the first Best Picture winner to win less than five Oscars (it won four, including Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay). [Correction: Crash, which won Best Picture in 2006, only won 3 Oscars]  Does that make it more or less unworthy of the Best Picture crown?  I don’t know.  I don’t care.  I’m drained after live-blogging the awful show and 50 minutes of terrible pre-show.

Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

Matt Live-Blogs the 83rd Academy Awards

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 27th, 2011 at 4:41 pm

Like any good Oscar ceremony, the 83rd Academy Awards will most likely drag on unto infinity.  Categories will blend together and you’ll find yourself waiting to see who wins “Best Costume Design for a Live-Action Short Starring Winter’s Bone“.  I’m trying to stop myself from being on auto-snark and hoping that the show is genuinely entertaining.  I find hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco to be charming so hopefully they’ll have some good material.  Last year, I didn’t expect much from Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin and I thought they did a terrific job.  While the Oscars are a show for rich people to congratulate themselves on a job well done, the host doesn’t have to tear the room down to make us poor slobs at home feel better.  There’s a balancing act and hopefully Hathaway and Franco can pull it off.

So get your Oscar ballots ready and hit the jump as I live-blog the 83rd Academy Awards.  Also, you can click here for my predictions.

Matt’s 2011 Oscar Predictions

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 25th, 2011 at 1:20 pm

I will be so happy once Oscar season is over.  I won’t have to hear about who’s up, who’s down, who deserves to win, and how Best Picture nominee A is more historically accurate than Best Picture nominee B.  For all the needless pomp and circumstance, the awards do serve a purpose.  Sure, studios like the kudos, but they really like the big business an awards film can generate.  Audiences like the awards because it’s a way of telling them “There were so many great movies last year, but here’s the one you must see because Hollywood agreed it was the ‘best’.”

But since the awards show appeals to our competitive spirit, I’ve decided to give my predictions for this year’s winners along with who I think deserves to win among the nominated films.  As a reminder, I will be live-blogging the Oscars, which air Sunday, February 27th, at 8pm on ABC.  Hit the jump for my semi-educated guesses.

WELCOME TO THE RILEYS Blu-ray Review

by Scott Wampler    Posted: February 14th, 2011 at 7:50 am

With Welcome to The Rileys, director Jake Scott has created a quiet, thoughtful, very watchable drama, a film where James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo (up for an Oscar this year for her work in The Fighter), and Kristen Stewart play a trio of damaged people all looking for someone to fix them.  The film didn’t set the box office on fire, but now that it’s on Blu-ray and DVD, should you pick up a copy?  Find out after the jump:

2011 SAG Awards: THE KING’S SPEECH and THE FIGHTER Each Win Two Awards

by Jason Barr    Posted: January 30th, 2011 at 8:16 pm

The Screen Actors Guild handed out awards for the 17th time tonight with The King’s Speech and The Fighter each taking home two wins.  Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech won awards in the “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture” (more or less, SAG’s equivalent to the Academy’s “Best Picture” category ) and “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role” for Colin Firth.  Meanwhile, David O. Russell’s The Fighter dominated the supporting categories by landing “Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role” awards for both Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.  In what should be (in my opinion, at least) an open-shut case for the Academy, Natalie Portman was awarded “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role” for her stellar work in Black Swan.

For those wondering what, if any, effect the SAG Awards may have on the eventual Academy Awards, it’s important to note that the event is believed to be a better gauge of Oscar winners than its most recent predecessor (the Golden Globes).  This is because the Screen Actors Guild is comprised mostly of American actors (the largest branch of the Academy) as opposed to the Globes which is made-up of a smaller group of foreign journalists known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.  Long story short (though certainly not etched in stone), look for The King’s Speech to take home Best Picture next month.

Hit the jump to check out the complete list of winners (television included) from the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Sundance 2011: RED STATE Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 24th, 2011 at 3:08 pm

Confidence is a crucial quality in a filmmaker.  Unlike the artistic expression of a painting or a novel, a film requires marshaling a small army to execute thousands of decisions in order to achieve a filmmaker’s vision.  Kevin Smith is not a filmmaker who exudes confidence.  After the noble failure of Jersey Girl, he retreated to the safety of Clerks II and then followed it up with the simple-yet-enjoyable Zack and Miri Make a Porno and the widely-despised Cop Out.  His new film, Red State, is a radical departure for Smith and yet he lacks the confidence to properly execute the action-horror-thriller he’s devised.  Visually and aurally impressive and featuring a phenomenal performance from Michael Parks, the film never completely comes together as it’s undermined by poorly-timed humor, clumsy exposition, and a refusal to trust the audience with ideas more complex than “fascism is bad.”

THE SOCIAL NETWORK Wins 4 Golden Globe Awards Including Best Motion Picture (Drama)

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 16th, 2011 at 8:15 pm

I have just endured three painful hours of the Golden Globes.  Thankfully, folks who deserved awards got them (except for Community, which wasn’t even nominated, so way to screw that up, Hollywood Foreign Press Association).  You can click here to check out my live blog of the entire ceremony, but if you just want a listing of who won what, then hit the jump.  The Social Network took home four Golden Globes including Best Score (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross), Best Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin), Best Director (David Fincher), and Best Motion Picture (Drama).

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