Last night I had the opportunity to check out a late showing of Pain & Gain during which I encountered a few thoughts that I couldn’t shake: 1) I wish Michael Bay would make more films like this and less of the transforming car variety. 2) Why can’t Dwayne Johnson be in every movie? 3) This is probably the craziest “Based on a True Story” movie I’ve ever seen. I’ve heard Bay say that some of the most extreme elements of the plot are also the most true to the original story. This is good to know because had someone written a lot of what shows up in the film I would likely call it too farfetched for my suspended disbelief to withstand. Make no mistake, this is a wild, entertaining ride that utilizes layers of action, crime, comedy, sex, and even a touch of sadism to keep you invested from beginning to end.

My mini-review aside, this week’s Top 5 includes the first trailer for Thor: The Dark World, Pain & Gain interviews with Michael Bay, Mark Wahlberg, and more, a recap of our visit to Pixar for Monsters University, news that Zack Snyder could take the helm of Justice League pending Man of Steel‘s success, and the first entry in a new interview series from Steve: “Breaking Down the Movie” with The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance. As is customary, a brief recap and link to each of the above is ready and waiting after the jump.

It was the only game in town, so Oblivion’s first place finish this weekend didn’t come as a shock. Universal’s sci-fi release had a solid debut – earning an estimated $38.1 million from 3,783 locations, or just under what G.I. Joe: Retaliation managed three weeks back. Oblivion also topped its initial domestic projection of $35 million, though the real strength of the Tom Cruise vehicle is overseas.

As the only new release of the week, it should be no surprise that Oblivion took first place at Friday’s box office. The sci-fi feature, starring Tom Cruise, earned an estimated $13.3 million from 3,783 locations yesterday, though it is unclear if that includes the $1.1 million it made from Thursday and midnight previews. Oblivion is expected to take in $38 million through Sunday. That number is slightly ahead of the film’s pre-release forecasts and would stand as Tom Cruise’s highest opening since Mission: Impossible III, if realized.

The Place Beyond the Pines expanded from 514 to 1,542 theatres on Friday. The Derek Cianfrance drama fell just short of the top five and is on track for a $5 million three-day total.  We’ll have full details and analysis tomorrow.

While it recently expanded its theatrical release, Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines deserves a bit more awareness.  A new TV spot and six new images featuring star Ryan Gosling are now available for your enjoyment.  Steve recently talked to Cianfrance in an extensive interview that breaks down the director’s process scene by scene.  We’ve also got more conventional interviews with Emory Cohen, Dane DeHaan, Eva Mendes,  Ryan Gosling and Derek Cianfrance, plus Matt’s review of the film here.

Hit the jump to check out the images and new TV spot.  The film also stars Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn and Rose Byrne.  The Place Beyond the Pines is now playing. 

Over the past eight years I’ve interviewed a lot of directors, and I’ve always wanted to shake up the format.  After all, almost every interview you read in print or online consists of a lot of the same questions and answers, and I wanted to offer the readers of Collider something different.  After a bit of brainstorming, I decided to do an interview series that allows a director to talk about what they do in greater detail: directing.  Instead of focusing on the basic questions (why they cast a certain actor in a role or how tough it was to land financing) this new interview series – which I’m calling “Breaking Down the Movie” – will showcase a director speaking at length about specific footage from their movie and explaining how and why they made key decisions on set.  And for episode 1 I landed The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance.

During the interview Cianfrance breaks down a few clips from his film and talks about how he likes to shoot a scene, the amount of improv, how many takes were used, the look of Ryan Gosling‘s character and how that affected his performance, the benefit of shooting out of chronological order and shooting a take without dialogue, trying to shoot with real people in the background, future projects, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

The Jackie Robinson biopic 42 made history this weekend, scoring the all-time highest domestic opening for a baseball movie. From 3,003 locations, the film earned an estimated $27.2 million, or $7.5 million more than 2006’s Benchwarmers, the former genre title-holder. In second place, Scary Movie 5 earned $15.1 million from 3,402 runs, or just 37% of what Scary Movie 4 took in on this same weekend seven years ago.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens tomorrow in wide release.]

Writer-director Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines is a rich, multi-layered narrative dripping with fatalism, guilt, honor, and no easy answers. It is an epic family saga that defies easy explanation, and rebels against the structure of a traditional narrative. His gripping tale shows split-second connections that last lifetimes, and old sins that reach across generations. Cianfrance has created a remarkable work that reaches a grand ambition with an intimate tale. And I have to tell you why it works without divulging the twists and turns of its razor-sharp script.

Now playing in limited release and expanding nationwide this weekend is one of the best films you’re going to see this year: director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines.  The pic centers on a professional motorcycle rider turned bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper).  Saying more would be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film, and I would encourage you to be very careful when reading about it.  Pines also stars Eva Mendes, Bruce Greenwood, Dane DeHaan, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, Emory Cohen, and Rose Byrne.   For more on the film, here are images, clips, and everything we’ve previously posted on the film.

At the New York City press day, I got to speak with Cohen.  We talked about how he prepared to make sure his character looked real and authentic on screen, how the script changed on set, improv, deleted scenes, waiting for the film to get released, future projects, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Now playing in limited release and expanding nationwide this weekend is one of the best films you’re going to see this year: director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines.  The pic centers on a professional motorcycle rider turned bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper).  Saying more would be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film, and I would encourage you to be very careful when reading about it.  Pines also stars Eva Mendes, Bruce Greenwood, Dane DeHaan, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, and Rose Byrne.   For more on the film, here are images, clips, and everything we’ve previously posted on the film.

At the New York City press day, I got to speak with Dehaan.  We talked about how he prepared to make sure his character looked real and authentic on screen, what the last year has been like for him having landed such high profile roles, the 3D Metallica movie (Metallica Through the Never), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and his reaction to Chris Cooper playing his father, and a lot more.

Now playing in limited release and expanding nationwide this weekend is one of the best films you’re going to see this year: director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines.  The pic centers on a professional motorcycle rider turned bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper).  Saying more would be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film, and I would encourage you to be very careful when reading about it.  Pines also stars Eva Mendes, Bruce Greenwood, Dane DeHaan, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, and Rose Byrne.   For more on the film, here are images, clips, and everything we’ve previously posted on the film.

At the New York City press day, I got to speak with Mendes.  We talked about how she landed her role, the way she prepared to make sure her character looked real and authentic on screen, how Cianfrance asked her to make the decision of who to cast as her on-screen mother, what’s it been like waiting for the film to come out after premiering at TIFF, and more.  In addition, she also talked about who she plays in Larry David‘s Clear History.  Hit the jump to watch.

Opening this weekend in New York and Los Angeles is one of the best films you’re going to see this year: director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines.  The pic centers on a professional motorcycle rider turned bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper).  Saying more would be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film, and I would encourage you to be very careful when reading about it.  Pines also stars Eva Mendes, Bruce Greenwood, Dane DeHaan, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, and Rose Byrne.   For more on the film, here’s images, clips, and everything we’ve previously posted on the film.

At the recent New York City press day, I got to speak with Gosling.  We talked about how he prepared to make sure his character looked real and authentic on screen, the motorcycle stunts, whether he’s seen the Mondo Drive posters, his directorial debut How to Catch a Monster, whether he has seen a cut of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives (Gosling says it’s “very very extreme.”), and reveals that they’ve asked some of the fans who made Drive posters to make some Only God Forgives posters!  Hit the jump to watch.

Opening this weekend in New York and Los Angeles is one of the best films you’re going to see this year: director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines.  The pic centers on a professional motorcycle rider turned bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper).  Saying more would be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film, and I would encourage you to be very careful when reading about it.  Pines also stars Eva Mendes, Bruce Greenwood, Dane DeHaan, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, and Rose Byrne.   For more on the film, here’s images, clips, and everything we’ve previously posted on the film.

At the recent New York City press day, I got to speak with Cianfrance.  We talked about what it’s been like waiting for the film to come out after premiering at Toronto International Film Festival, if he made any changes, why he wanted to go with Focus Features, deleted scenes, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Focus Features has released a new poster and images for Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines.  The film centers on a generational conflict involving two fathers: one a pro-motorcycle rider and bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie cop on the rise (Bradley Cooper).  This was one of my favorite films at TIFF 2012, and I’m glad that general audiences are very close to seeing it.

Hit the jump to check out the poster and images.  The film also stars Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne, Emory Cohen, and Dane DeHaan.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens Friday in limited release.

Check out the latest clips from the following movies:

• Spring Breakers – Recently premiering at SXSW, this new clip from Harmony Korine’s film features the introduction of James Franco’s character, Alien.  There’s also some bonus behind-the-scenes footage.  Also starring Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine, Spring Breakers opens in limited release on March 15th and expands March 22nd.
• The Place Beyond the Pines – A new clip from Derek Cianfrance’s crime drama stars Ryan Gosling and Ben Mendelsohn planning a heist.  Also starring Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes, The Place Beyond the Pines opens in limited release March 29th.
• G.I. Joe: Retaliation – The new clip from Jon M. Chu’s sequel pits Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) against Snake Eyes (Ray Park).  Also starring Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum, Adrianne Palicki, Elodie Yung and D.J. Cotrona, G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens March 28th.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.

We’ve got some new images, a clip and TV spot from Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines to share with you today.  The film stars Oscar-nominated actors Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) and Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) as two fathers on opposite sides of the law.  The film also stars Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Rose Byrne and Dane DeHaan.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens in limited release on March 29th.  Hit the jump to check out the clip, TV spot and new images.