Michelle Williams

New Photos from CHERNOBYL DIARIES and TAKE THIS WALTZ with Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: May 1st, 2012 at 1:59 pm

A few new photos have popped up online for director Bradley Parker’s Chernobyl Diaries and Sarah Polley’s indie drama, Take This Waltz starring Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams.  First up from writer/producer Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) comes Chernobyl Diaries, the supernatural horror tale set on the site of the famous nuclear meltdown of 1986.  Six tourists hire a travel guide to take them on an “extreme” sight-seeing tour of the abandoned area and find they are not alone and the inhabitants are none too friendly, which this trailer clearly shows. Chernobyl Diaries opens May 25th.

Take This Waltz features Rogen and Williams as a young married couple whose relationship is threatened when a handsome artist (Luke Kirby) enters the equation.  Polley’s directorial debut, Away From Her, earned her an Oscar nod for best writing and adapted screenplay.  The buzz around the indie has been quite positive; you can watch a sampling of it in this trailer.  Hit the jump to see the new photos.

Robert Rodriguez Considering Michelle Williams and Mel Gibson for MACHETE KILLS; Filming Might Begin in the Next Few Weeks

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 13th, 2012 at 9:03 am

Yesterday, we reported that directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller had finally secured financing for Sin City 2 (officially titled Sin City: A Dame to Kill For), and filming was scheduled to begin this summer.  As you may recall, Rodriguez also has another sequel in the works: Machete Kills.  Back in February, we reported that the plot had Machete (Danny Trejo) “taking down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space.”

Hit the jump for more on Machete Kills.

New Trailer for TAKE THIS WALTZ Starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 4th, 2012 at 2:51 pm

A new trailer for writer-director Sarah Polley’s romantic drama Take This Waltz has gone online.  Michelle Williams stars as a woman who’s married to a good-natured cookbook author (Seth Rogen) but then she finds herself attracted to a handsome artist (Luke Kirby).  The movie actually looks really, really good, with Williams, Rogen and Kirby promising some strong performances.  I was fearful that the film would come off as too “indie”-feeling for its own good, but Polley seems to have captured the perfect tone for her second feature as a director.  Though the trailer has many moments of levity, the troubled conscience of Williams and issues of morality appear to play a big part in the film.  Polley’s directorial debut, Away from Her, earned the actress/writer/director an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Sarah Silverman.  Take This Waltz opens in limited release on June 29th.

2012 Tribeca Film Festival Spotlight and Cinemania Selections Announced; Titles Include TAKE THIS WALTZ and Morgan Spurlock’s MANSOME

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: March 8th, 2012 at 11:06 am

The rest of the selections for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival have been announced. We previously shared the selections for the festival’s world narrative and documentary competition categories as well as out-of-competition viewpoint titles. Today the fest unveiled selections for the Spotlight and Cinemania sections. Some of the films set to screen include Take This Waltz starring Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams, Morgan Spurlock’s new documentary Mansome, and Struck By Lightning written by and starring Glee star Chris Colfer.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of selected films. The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 18th – 29th.

2012 Oscar Nominations Announced; HUGO and THE ARTIST Lead the Pack

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 24th, 2012 at 6:05 am

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

2012 Golden Globe Winners Announced; THE ARTIST and THE DESCENDANTS Take Top Prizes

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 15th, 2012 at 8:20 pm

I’ve just spent the past three hours watching and live-blogging the 2012 Golden Globe Awards.  My brain feels mushy.  After the jump and presented without comment is a list of this year’s winners. If you don’t even want to hit the jump, The Artist and The Descendants won Best Comedy/Musical and Best Drama, respectively.  If you want to awards prognosticate, I’ll save you the trouble: both were nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.  Those nominations haven’t been announced yet, but they were nominated.  Trust me.  I’m a professional.

Also, feel free to sound off on the winners and losers.  Lord knows I’ve been doing it for the past three hours.

Independent Spirit Awards Nominations Announced; DRIVE, 50/50, and THE ARTIST Up for Top Prize

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 29th, 2011 at 9:15 am

The nominations for the 27th Annual Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning with The Artist and Take Shelter each nabbing five nominations. In addition to The Artist and Take Shelter, Drive, 50/50, The Descendants, and Beginners will duke it out for the top prize. Absent from the Best Feature list is Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, though the film was recognized in Best Supporting Male (Corey Stoll) and Best Cinematography. Also of note, Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes landed nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Male for Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Ryan Gosling and Woody Harrelson were both singled out in Best Actor for Drive and Rampart respectively.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominations. Recognizing the best in independent film, the awards will be handed out on February 25th, the day before the Oscars.

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Review

by Bill Graham    Posted: November 25th, 2011 at 8:16 am

Sometimes a memoir has to be taken with a grain of salt. In My Week With Marilyn, a retelling of a young man who has the time of his life on and off-set with Marilyn Monroe, things can become a bit eye-rolling. How much actually happened manages to be less important. What is essential is a small glimpse into something we may already know but remains heartbreaking nonetheless: Marilyn was an imperfect creature trying to keep from being swallowed alive by her fame. Despite not answering much of the whys and remaining mostly fluff, director Simon Curtis gives Michelle Williams the daunting task of playing Monroe near the peak of her popularity and she nails it. You can look at stills as much as you want, but the moving image allows Williams to blend into the role and become something audiences can fall in love with all over again. Hit the jump for my full review.

New Images from SHAME, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, and Many More

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 16th, 2011 at 3:35 pm

With the holiday movie season upon us, a few new images from some of the upcoming Oscar contenders have been unveiled. We’ve got a new look at Michael Fassbender in the extremely well-received drama Shame. Fassbender plays a sex-addict opposite Carey Mulligan, and our own Matt Goldberg loved the flick. There’s also a new image of Rooney Mara from David Fincher’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, another look at Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, and an ominous image of Gary Oldman from the spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Additionally, we’ve got another look at Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, and an image of Sandra Bullock and Thomas Horn in the adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

But that’s not all! We’ve also got new images from We Bought a Zoo, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Haywire, Underworld: Awakening, In the Land of Blood and Honey, New Year’s Eve, and One for the Money. Hit the jump to check them out.

Sarah Polley’s TAKE THIS WALTZ Picked up by Magnolia for Early Summer 2012 Release

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 17th, 2011 at 12:57 pm

It’s a sad truth that you can’t see everything you want at a major film festival and I was bummed that I missed Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz when I was at TIFF.  However, I rested easy in the knowledge that movie starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen would probably find distribution and now it has.  Magnolia has sent out a press release announcing their acquisition of the relationship drama and plan to run it through the festival circuit before releasing it into theaters in early summer 2012.

For those unfamiliar with the film, Williams plays a woman who’s married to a good-natured cookbook author (Rogen) but then she finds herself attracted to a handsome artist (Luke Kirby).  I really enjoyed Polley’s previous flim, Away from Her, and I’m glad I’ll be seeing Take This Waltz in the not-too-distant future.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

First Trailer for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: October 5th, 2011 at 5:22 pm

The first trailer for My Week With Marilyn has gone online. Based on the memoirs of Lawrence Olivier’s assistant Colin Clark, the film details a week in the life of Marilyn Monroe as seen through the eyes of Clark. The trailer looks pretty great, and Michelle Williams looks to be going all out for the role of Monroe. It’s impressive to see her play the dichotomy of the public Marilyn and the private Marilyn, and Williams seems to be holding nothing back. I like the character-centric plot, and I’m interested to see where the overall arc of the film goes.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Kenneth Branagh, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormond, Judi Dench, Emma Watson, and Eddie Redmayne. My Week With Marilyn opens on November 4th.

TIFF 2011: TAKE THIS WALTZ Review

by Phil Brown    Posted: September 11th, 2011 at 7:52 am

Take This Waltz is a tough film to take in. You wouldn’t guess it from the casual romantic tone and the star-heavy cast that features the likes of Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman, but the film is intriguingly (even frustratingly) morally ambiguous. We’re given the standard rom-com set-up of a semi-content married girl who meets a tall dark stranger who she finds wildly attractive and appealing. Yet, hometown TIFF favorite writer/director Sarah Polly never makes it clear whether her protagonist should be sticking with her comfortable marriage or embarking on a new adventure. It’s nice to see a movie like this that makes you draw your own conclusions, but there’s a pretty big catch. You see, because it’s difficult to tell if the main character makes the right decision, it’s also difficult to tell if she’s even a character even worth liking. Ambiguity is nice, but walking out of a theater feeling like you despise a character who you just spent two hours with isn’t particularly satisfying. Hit the jump for more.

First Posters for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN and TEXAS KILLING FIELDS Starring Sam Worthington

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: August 26th, 2011 at 1:16 pm

We’ve got a couple new posters for you today. First up is the stunning first poster for My Week With Marilyn. Based on the memoirs of Lawrence Olivier’s assistant Colin Clark, the film details a week in the life of Marilyn Monroe. Michelle Williams stars as the titular Marilyn and she looks absolutely perfect in this stellar one-sheet. The film also stars Kenneth Branagh, Dominic Cooper, Judi Dench, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson, and Eddie Redmayne. My Week With Marilyn opens in limited release November 4^th.

Additionally, we have the first poster for the thriller Texas Killing Fields. Based on a true story, the film centers on the tracking of a sadistic serial killer who dumps his victims’ bodies in a Texas marsh. The impressive cast includes Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jason Clarke, and Chloe Dean Moretz. The film also has a new release date, as Texas Killing Fields will open in select theaters October 14^th.

First Synopsis for Sam Raimi’s OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL Starring James Franco

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 26th, 2011 at 11:34 am

Principal photography has begun on Sam Raimi’s next film, Oz The Great and Powerful and now we have the first official synopsis for the film.  We now know that the eponymous’ wizard’s real name is Oscar Diggs.  Diggs is “a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics” who finds himself transported to Oz and drawn into a battle between the three witches Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams).  The film also stars Zach Braff as Diggs’ circus assistant, and Braff will also lend his vocal talents to one of the CGI creatures in the story — Finley, the winged monkey who accompanies the magician on his journey to Oz.  I’ve always said that the only thing better than a monkey sidekick is a flying monkey sidekick.

Hit the jump for the full synopsis and press release.  Oz The Great and Powerful is set to open on March 8, 2013.

BLUE VALENTINE Blu-ray Review

by Monika Bartyzel    Posted: June 6th, 2011 at 3:56 am

Not all romances end with rousing music and fairy tale happy endings: The Break-Up gave us the finite side of love; the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset franchise offered soulmates with bad timing; and that’s to say nothing of the doom that faced lovers like Romeo and Juliet. Yet on top of the decades and centuries of creative coupling, Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine finds new ground by unleashing the infrequently-visited aspects of romance as Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams meet, love, and leave. Hit the jump for my review of Blue Valentine on Blu-ray.

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