The Awakening

New Images from THE HUNGER GAMES, MEN IN BLACK 3, THE GANGSTER SQUAD, and Many More

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 16th, 2012 at 8:12 am

2012 has begun and that means fresh optimism!  Fresh movies!  Fresh images from those movies!  After the jump you’ll find 21 new images from upcoming movies like  The Hunger Games, Men in Black 3, Rock of Ages, The Five-Year Engagement, The Gangster Squad, and plenty more (for our purposes, plenty =  16).

TIFF 2011 Award Winners and Film Sales Announced

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 18th, 2011 at 9:29 pm

The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival has come to a close.  We covered the hell out of it and we’ve got loads of interviews still to post.  Today, TIFF announced the winners in three award categories for Canadian films and the winners of the Cadillac People’s Choice Awards.  Nathan Morlando’s crime drama Edwin Boyd (pictured above) won Best Canadian First Feature Film, Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar picked up the award for Best Canadian Feature Film, and Ian Harnarine’ Doubles With Slight Pepper was awarded Best Canadian Short Film.  As for the Cadillac People’s Choice Awards, Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now? won the top prize, Jon Shenk’s The Island President won in the documentary category, and Gareth Evans’ The Raid picked up the award for The Cadillac People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.

Hit the jump for the full press release along with a list of all the films that were sold to distributors.  Keep in mind that just because a film didn’t sell during the festival, that doesn’t mean it won’t be picked up for distribution in the near future.

International Trailer for THE AWAKENING Starring Rebecca Hall

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: September 15th, 2011 at 9:42 am

The international trailer for director Nick Murphy’s period psychological/supernatural thriller The Awakening has been released. The film stars Rebecca Hall as a woman bent on exposing all séances and ghost stories as exploitative shams following the death of her husband. However, when she’s called to investigate a disturbance at an all boys’ school, she’s forced to rethink her conceit. I’m really digging this trailer. The scares come from a genuine Gothic creepiness, and the mood and feel of the period really shines through. The performances don’t look too shabby either. Matt caught the film at the Toronto Film Festival and really liked it, so I’m definitely looking forward to checking it out when it hits theaters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The Awakening also stars Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.

TIFF 2011: THE AWAKENING Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 12th, 2011 at 1:50 pm

You can keep your modern ghost stories.  I understand why they would terrify some people, but those films tend to leave me cold.  They use modern science to find something which cannot be scientifically explained, but trying to find ghosts the same way special ops teams try to find terrorists diminishes the illusion.  You can only shake the camera so much before I wonder if the ghosts have access to a tripod.  The stories also tend to lack any subtext and generating scares is their sole mission.  I prefer my ghost stories gothic and foreboding and that’s why I adored Nick Murphy’s The Awakening.  The film still uses the same conceit of using the scientific to explore the paranormal, but does so with early 1920s technology and it’s far more exciting to see an investigator who uses cameras which rely on a trip-wire and a magnesium flash than someone who went down to the local Best Buy and asked for a quality camcorder.  In addition to its creativity, Murphy paints a gorgeous picture that delivers the thrills, chills, and terrific performances from Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, and Imelda Staunton.

TIFF 2011: First Images from THE AWAKENING, HYSTERIA, WINNIE, and WUTHERING HEIGHTS [Updated]

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 16th, 2011 at 9:00 am

With the announcement of new additions to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, new images have gone online.  After the jump you’ll find the first images from The Awakening (starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, and Imelda Staunton), Hysteria (starring Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal), Winnie (starring Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard), and Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

Hit the jump to check out the new images and a synopsis for each film.  The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 – 18th. [We've updated the story with the trailer for Hysteria]

TIFF 2011: PAGE EIGHT, SLEEPING BEAUTY, VIOLET & DAISY, and More Added to Galas and Special Presentations Line-Up

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 16th, 2011 at 8:09 am

A task can’t get “more impossible”, but the prospect of seeing everything I want at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival just got more impossible.  We’ve already shown you the incredible line-ups for the Galas & Special Presentations, Real-to-Reel (Documentary), Midnight Madness, Vanguard, TIFF Kids, City to City, Canadian Features, and Canada First! programs. Now even more must-see movies have been thrown into the mix.  TIFF has announced that the spy thriller Page Eight (starring Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, and Ralph Fiennes) will be the closing night film in the Galas section.  Other films added to Galas and Special Presentations include Sleeping Beauty (starring Emily Browning), Winnie (starring Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard), Intruders (starring Clive Owen), Violet & Daisy (starring Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel), and more.

Hit the jump to check out the additions to the Galas and Special Presenations line-up.  The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 – 18th.  Click here for all of our TIFF 2011 coverage.

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